My Genealogy Hound

ISAAC W. HOUTS, M. D., who has been retired from active practice for several years, was formerly very successful as a general family physician, but is now giving his attention to the improvement of his valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Center View Township, Johnson County. Besides this tract he also owns twenty-two acres in Chilhowee Township.

The Doctor was born in Scott County, Mo., July 13, 1835. His father, Christopher G. Houts, who was born in Pennsylvania, July 23, 1789, and died in White County, Ill., August 30, 1840, came from a long line of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock. By occupation he was a farmer, and while a resident of New Madrid County, Mo., served as Clerk of the County Court. His first wife was Letitia G. Lewis, who was born January 31, 1793, and after her death he married, July 21, 1815, Sarah Myers, a native of Kentucky. By the first marriage two children were born, and by the second five, three of whom are deceased. Dawson is a retired farmer now living in Warrensburg. Mary L., who became the wife of Edward Eastham, was born September 29, 1828, and died in this county in 1858. George William, who was born in March, 1832, and died in June, 1893, was an attorney of Warrensburg, and was President of the County Court for four years. Green V., born November 25, 1837, was a minister in the Methodist Church and a member of the St. Louis Conference; he died in Butler, Bates County, about 1884. John G., a child of the first marriage, was a cabinet-maker, and spent most of his life in Posey County, Ind., but died in Warrensburg in 1893. His brother, Christopher, was born and passed his entire life in Cape Girardeau, Mo., following the carpenter’s trade.

In the War of 1812 our subject’s father served as Quartermaster of a Kentucky regiment, and at one time was wounded. While at New Orleans he was under General Jackson. About 1820 he came to Missouri, becoming a member of the First Constitutional Convention held in the state, and about 1832 moved to Illinois. In early manhood he joined the Methodist Church, and was a local minister and teacher at the time of his death, in 1840. In 1842 his widow entered forty acres of land in Johnson County, and her sons, assisted by neighbors, built a house on the farm and took charge of its cultivation.

Dr. Houts attended the local schools, and for one term was at Cape Girardeau Seminary. He had earned sufficient money as a farm hand to pay his way, and after obtaining a certificate taught two winter terms of school. During this period he commenced the study of medicine, and later went to St. Louis, graduating from the medical college there in 1861. Subsequently, going to Winchester, Kan., he commenced the practice of his profession, but did not long continue, on account of the troublous condition of the country. In 1864 he joined Company B, Seventeenth Kansas Infantry, being appointed First Lieutenant. He was stationed on the line between Kansas and Missouri for some time, but was principally located at Ft. Leavenworth. In the spring of 1866 he again came to this county, and for a year continued to practice. Afterward he moved to Wadesburg, Mo., and three years passed ere he came to his present farm, which is now under high cultivation. In 1889 he went to Oregon with his family and spent one year at Roseburg, in the Umpqua Valley.

January 6, 1867, Dr. Houts married Eliza, daughter of James Graham. She was born in Ireland, February 21, 1846, and has become the mother of two children, Oliver F. and Walter L., who are both on the home farm. James Graham and his good wife had a happy married life of over half a century together. Mrs. Houts is a member of the Methodist Church, and is a most estimable lady. The Doctor began life without means, and won success by his persistent and untiring efforts.