Eliza Allen

Eliza (née Allen) Houston Douglass (December 2, 1809 – March 3, 1861) was the first wife of Sam Houston. Their marriage, over after just eleven weeks, ended Houston's career as governor of Tennessee, United States. Houston resigned and went to the home of his foster father John Jolly, a leader of the Cherokee people. Allen returned to her family in Sumner County. For years, their marriage was the subject of rumors and theories about what made the marriage unsuitable to both Allen and Houston. They did not publicly expose any information about their marriage and they both seemed to be protective of one another's reputation. Allen's brother, Judge Benjamin Franklin Allen offered his opinion: "like many other couples they were not congenial".

After her brief time with Houston, Allen lived a quiet life. She took care of her younger sisters after her mother's death in 1832 and her father's death six months later. Houston and Allen's divorce was finalized in 1837. In 1840, Allen married a widower, Dr. Elmore Douglass. They had one son and three girls.

Early life Artist's depiction of flatboats carrying settlers led by American explorer John Donelson down the Cumberland River in route to what is now Nashville, Tennessee, in 1784. Born on December 2, 1809, near Gallatin, Tennessee, Eliza H. Allen, was the daughter of Laeticia Saunders and John Allen, a wealthy plantation owner of Allendale. His plantation was located along the Cumberland River near Gallatin in Sumner County, Tennessee. John Allen was one of the wealthiest planters in the county; he had 39 slaves according to the inventory of his estate in 1833.

The first of ten children born to the couple, she was described by a relative as "dignified, graceful, and queenly in her appearance… [with a face of] sweet, gentle, and winning expression."

John's brother was Robert Allen, a Tennessee congressman from 1823 to 1827. Houston came to know the John Allen family through Robert and General Andrew Jackson.

Marriage to Sam Houston

Courtship Houston first met Allen when she was thirteen. At that time, he and her Uncle Robert both served in the United States Congress. Andrew Jackson and John Allen believed that the marriage would infuse Houston's political fortunes. Even so, Allen married Houston, at that time the Governor of Tennessee, at Allendale on January 22, 1829, becoming the First Lady of Tennessee. She was nineteen, and Houston was 35.

On their wedding night, Houston felt that Allen was cool to him. (Allegedly, one day he found Allen crying over old love letters when he returned to their rooms.) She was just nineteen years of age, inexperienced in love, perhaps only having had a boyhood sweetheart. which had made several stops to load freight. Heavily armed and excited, they explained to Houston that there were a number of rumors about their separation, one of which was that he was so upset to learn of Allen's crime that he went insane. They wanted Houston's denial of the accusations. Houston told the brothers to "go back and publish in the Nashville papers that if any wretch ever dares to utter a word against the purity of Mrs. Houston I will come back and write the libel in his heart's blood." What caused the demise of the marriage was something that Houston kept secret throughout his lifetime.

He traveled on to the home of John Jolly, also known as Chief Oolooteka, who took him in as a boy. He later said of that night, "When I lay myself down to sleep that night I felt like a weary wanderer returned at last to his father's house."

Allen's return to Allendale Allen secluded herself when she returned to Allendale. She shut herself in her room and refused to eat. She dressed plainly and focused her energy on the care of her younger sisters. Her mother gave birth to her tenth child and a week later died in November 1832. In April 1833, John Allen died in an accident. She moved into Gallatin with the family and a few servants. She was said to be well-respected among her family and her few intimate friends. However, she had only one living child (Susie) at that time, and was said to have died of stomach cancer. She was interred at the Gallatin Cemetery. Eliza and Elmore were buried together near their youngest daughter, Susie Miller Douglass. Her gravesite remained unmarked for 100 years. Nothing in her handwriting has been found.

In response to rumors of Allen's character after her death, Josephus C. Guild of Gallatin states that Allen "was a modest, retiring lady from her early youth until her death. There was not, nor is there now [anyone who] believed that Houston's wife was guilty of any impropriety, or ever in her intercourse, either before or after her marriage, did anything affecting her unsullied honor." He mentioned governors, a judge, generals, and a colonel who "sympathized with her in her misfortune".

In popular culture Allen is the subject of the historical novel The Raven's Bride by Elizabeth Crook. Joan Fontaine portrayed Allen in Man of Conquest, a 1939 American Western film Allen was portrayed by Claudia Christian in Gone to Texas.