This home was built by Henry C. Lea, brother of Margaret Moffet Lea, and it was the site of the marriage of Margaret Lea and General Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas in 1840. The year that the house was built is not known but it was prior to 1834 because this was the year that Henry Lea’s mother, Mrs. Nancy Lea, and her children, Margaret, Vernelle, and Antoinette, became members of his household following the death of her husband.
Margaret Lea and General Sam Houston were married on May 9, 1840, in the right reception room on the second floor. The parlor was decorated with flowers. Two little Moffet cousins were flower girls. Mrs. James L. Goree was matron of honor. Martin Lea served as best man and Henry Lea gave the bride away. Reverend Peter Crawford, Pastor of Siloam Baptist Church, performed the ceremony. Following their marriage, the couple spent a week at the LaFayette Hotel which was just across the street from the Lea house. Then the Houstons, with Margaret’s trunks packed with linens, silver, and clothing, her parlor grand piano dismantled and crated for shipment, and four slaves left to her by her father, Temple Lea, departed for Texas.
The Lea House is included in Marion’s Green Street Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located near downtown Marion on the north side of Green Street at the intersection of Green Street and Spring Street (GPS coordinates 32.633520, -87.321726).
Sources: 1) PerryCountyAlabamaChamber.com; 2) Perry County Heritage Vol. II