The Mother of Houston? Is there such a person? How?
Well (rubbing my head), I reckon I would have to sit back in the chair and ponder on that one for a while. I have heard of mother of pearl, but the mother of a town? That’s a mighty tall order indeed. Yes sir, it sure is.
(Leaning forward) What would her criteria have to be? Tell me, do you have any thoughts? Well, don’t think about it too hard; for, as I have learned, we don’t have to invent some fictitious character, or wonder what she was like. There is plenty written about her, and mother of pearl is going to have to take the back seat!
Aunt Nan Sutton, deemed the “Mother of Houston,” was born April 20, 1843; two years before the establishment of Texas County, and three before Houston. “Aunt Nan” as everyone referred to her, was born Nancy C. Killion, the daughter of Michael and Partheny Killion, who settled on Hog Creek, just south of Houston, in 1841.
Obviously, Aunt Nan, who passed in 1940, was a wealth of knowledge. Wealth of knowledge, you ask? Well, can you imagine visiting with someone who had lived here through the Civil War, World War I and part of II? But hold on before you answer that question – I am getting my cart before my horse. Are you sitting down? Because Aunt Nan told stories of when she visited the Indians at their hunting camps just south of Houston.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I reckon I would walk backwards from here to Arkansas to have a seat at that conversation!
Yes sir, she was raised right over there at what is now the Don Odle farm on Hog Creek Road. And I don’t mean around there, but right there.
And right there is where her Daddy, Michael Killion, helped organize the first church in the Houston area. Now, that may not matter to a lot of folks, but it should. For, how can you know where you’re going, if you don’t know where you’ve been? History is important, and we can learn a whole passel about the faith from looking at the past. See what folks did, and how they lived that were His: His story.
As many of you know, the little town of Houston was destroyed during the Civil War. Shortly after that, Aunt Nan married Nathaniel Brantson Sutton, “Uncle Brant,” on Sept 20, 1866. To this union, 10 children were born, with seven dying under the age of four.
Would anyone care to guess what a lady of faith Aunt Nan had to be to come out of seven tragedies like that with a sound mind? Now, a whole lot of men would call that grit or toughness. While that may be true to some extent, men and women can possess grit, yet not have one drop of love in their heart.
Such was not the case with Aunt Nan, for she possessed both. Archived letters within the Herald reveal how this lady earned her title of not only “Aunt,” but “The Mother of Houston.” Aunt Nan, who was a faithful member of the Houston Methodist Church, was said by the community (in their own words), “to minister to the needs of all.”
My mind immediately considered what the Apostle Paul said about knowing Jesus in the fellowship of His sufferings, and being made conformable unto His death (Phil. 3:10). Aunt Nan not only knew the Lord in the fellowship of His sufferings through her own tragedies, but in that of others also. Jesus was a servant, and He taught her to be one (Phil. 2:5-15).
Did you ever notice how godly mothers are always serving? It’s part of their being, like a bantam hen watching over her young. Well, no surprise that folks called Aunt Nan a “dear old mother,” their dear old mother.
One “thank you” posted in the Herald, revealed that at 95 years old, she was still growing her own garden, and sharing her produce with others. Again, the little bantam hen as an example.
Aunt Nan Sutton, “The Mother of Houston,” died with very little of this world’s goods, but she was rich in faith. Yes sir, she sure was! Yet, I wonder (leaning back in my chair), yes, I wonder, are we her children?
“They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham’s children ye would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39).
Michael Everett Jones is a Texas County native, old fashioned historian and purveyor of traditional Christian values. Email ozarksgrandpajones@gmail.com.