Houston, James Alexander

A medical doctor, the son and brother of Irish clergymen, and an emigrant from Ireland to the United States before 1845. Familiar with the Pitman method of stenography, Houston reported for both New York and Washington, D.C., newspapers. He had good friends in the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, including Gamaliel Bailey and Louis Tappan.

From the description of Incoming correspondence, 1845-1849. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122447787

Biography

Much of what we know of this interesting man must be deduced from the letters he received from 1845 to 1849, and from resorting to the Encyclopedia Britannica. From the former source, we know, for example, that he was a medical doctor, the son and brother of Irish clergymen, and an emigré from Ireland to the United States during some period before 1845. We also know that he was married, with sub-teen children, a Presbyterian, and adept at shorthand. A curious combination, a medical man who knew shorthand. But not so curious if a bit of the history of shorthand is noted. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, various schemes for shorthand date from Greco-Roman times to modern times, including Shelton's system, which was used by Samuel Pepys in his Diaries of 1660. However, stenography reached its developmental zenith in England in the nineteenth century with the publication of Isaac Pitman's method in 1837, which swept the British Isles and America, as well. One of its early uses was the verbatim transcription of clerical sermons for publication. Another was verbatim reporting for newspapers of the day. It was little wonder then that Houston found more work as a shorthand reporter than as Assistant Surgeon of the New York State Militia. The concession of vast amounts of land to the United States after the Mexican War (1848) rekindled the slavery question. Newly elected President Polk, whose views were expressed by the Union newspaper in Washington, D.C., publicly urged Congress to create Oregon, New Mexico, and California as territories, whereupon anti-slavery Congressmen persuaded Democratic Congressman David Wilmot, from Pennsylvania to add an amendment to a $2 million appropriation bill for boundary settlement. The "Wilmot Proviso" stipulated that slavery should not exist in any part of the territory acquired by the United States as a result of the Mexican War. Several times the House passed the amendment but it failed in the Senate. Yet it stimulated active debate between slavery proponents and anti-slavery forces. Throughout the electric days of 1846-47, Houston, the official Stenographer to the U. S. Senate, was kept busy reporting and publishing them in Houston's Journal. Testimonials to his ability and accuracy rained on Houston from Congressmen and the leading eastern newspapers of the day. Dr. Houston also found work on the New York Herald, founded in 1845. In Washington D. C., he reported for the Union, for George Gideon's Republic, and the Era, where he became close friends with its publisher, Gamaliel Bailey. The Era was the organ of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, which began publication in 1844. Houston was also a friend of Louis Tappan, a major figure in anti-slavery ranks and a publisher (co-founder with is brother Arthur of the Journal of Commerce in 1827, and the Emancipator in 1833). Houston divided his time between between Washington and New York depending on the sessions of the Senate, moving in the circles of well known individuals of his time and place-political figures, judges, publishers. However, something seems to have occurred at the end of 1849, when he moves out of the Era offices one step ahead of the sheriff who arrives to attach his belongings for what appears to be a debt. He goes back to New York (see letter of December 12, 1849, from James W. Simonton). Perhaps his debt was settled, for the last letters of 1849, have him successfully applying to George Gideon for work to be sent to Washington D. C.

From the guide to the Houston, James Alexander. Incoming correspondence, 1845-1849, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)