Volume 18 , Issue 13

1916 - Family Reunion of Houstons & Other Branches Proposed

It was in The Houston Post, Houston, Texas, dated 24 April 1916, Monday, page 2, we found this article concerning "Family Reunion of Houstons and Other branches Proposed." It seemed back then that Sidney H. Huston had planned for assembling the Houstons, Hustons, Houstouns, Houstowns and Housesits in the city of Houston as Prelude to monument to Sam Houston.

Found on Newspapers.com

The Houston Coat of Arms
The description in the terms and em lets of heraldry is as follows: A sand-glass winged,P. Pr., supporters. On either side a greyhound, P. Pr., collared and changed (borne by the family on right of their ancient hereditary barons of Scotland.) Crest - "In Time."

At an early period, John Houston, with a body of soldiers, rescued an almost defeated command, and was consequently knighted. Hour glass - Perilous condition.Greyhounds - His fleetness in rescuing. In Time - Victory.

Since 1900 Sidney H. Huston, who is the only remaining grandson of general Felix Huston, has had in his desk what seemed to be a true history of the origin of the family name of "Houston" or "Huston." Mr. Huston secured this from a New York gentleman during the Beaumont oil boom, and his investigations since and the utmost detail of the genealogy indicated that it was correct.

In looking over some old title papers of general Felix Huston in 1916, Sidney Huston was reminded of this data and a re-reading so impressed him with he notable events and characters in the family line that he felt inspired to try to connect up the history of General Felix Huston back to the John Huston who assisted William Penn in platting the city of Philadelphia, and immediately his mind broadened to the fact that many other Hustons and Houstons would like their genealogy connected up.

While in the North March, 1916 Mr. Huston visited a family of Hustons who were engaged in the manufacturing of automobiles, and they were thoroughly in accord, and so Mr. Huston's desire now is to have a grand family reunion or convention of all the Houstons, Houstouns, Houstowns, Housesons and Hustons in the city of Houston, which was named after the victor of San Jacinto, and which convention would be a forcible reminder that this city had not yet erected a monument to General Sam Houston.

The paper which had been preserved by Mr. Huston, disclosed the following facts; A. J. Houston, Dallas, Texas:
Bedford, Iowa, July 2, 1899, - Dear Sir: Inclosed find family tree of the Houston family. I understand that the James Houston, whose name I marked on the printed page, had a son named Christopher, who was your father's great grandfather. If you know anything of your father's ancestors I would be pleased to learn them. The family tree was compiled by F. M. Houston of Bourbon county, Kentucky. I was at your office a few years ago while in Dallas, but did not find you at home. Yours truly, G. C. Houston.

The lineage of the Houston and Huston family, 1899:
According to the family register of my ancestry the names, Houston and Huston, are but different spellings of the same original name, which was "House Son." The remotest member of the family whose name has descended to me was Robert House Son, a native merchant of Dublin, Ireland, who was of Celtic origin.

Robert House Son was born in Dublin, July 5, 1450. He had several sons, one of whom, being a youth of promise he sent over to Scotland to be educated at St. Andrew's college, on the German coast.

This son's name was John House Son, born June 2, 1475. John, having completed his education, was honored with a position int he college as professor and teacher of languages, and on the 8th day of January, 1500, he married a Scotch lady named Martha Scot, daughter of Nehemiah Scot, a professor int he college. There were born to him one son and two daughters. The son was born September 3, 1523, and was named Samuel. He, too, was educated at St. Andrew's college, and, after the death of his father, was chosen to take his place in the college.

Samuel was married March 8, 1549, to Mary Scot, a daughter of Walter Scot of Aberdeen, who was a professor in Aberdeen academy. There were born to him two sons and four daughters. The elder son was called Alfred, who was born December 6, 1572. The other son he called Abnor, who was born October 10, 1577. Those two sons were educated in Aberdeen, and on the 13th of January, 1607, they married sisters, Ruth and Rachel Scense, daughters of Welch Scense, a merchant of Aberdeen. Abhor engaged with his father-in-law in the mercantile business and Alfred was given a position in the academy as professor of philosophy and mathematics. At this time, and for 20 years previous, the reformatory controversy between the Catholics and the distinguished reformer, John Knox, had been at red heat, and as Abnor and Alfred were amor the many who had seceded from the Catholic church and had become public supporters of Knox, they were selected as special objects of persecution by their quondam brethren. being unwilling to remain where they could not enjoy their religious freedom, they moved over to Dublin, Ireland, where their ancestor, Robert House Son, had lived and died. But they soon found that they had jumped "out of the frying pan into the fire." Among their persecutors here they found their kinsmen, the House Sons, the most intolerant, and so incensed were they by their intolerance that they resolved to "shake off the dust from their feet" against their kinsmen by a change of their name. Accordingly, Alfred suggested that they should adopt the name "Houston," but Abnor thought that there was too much of the sound of "House" in that and suggested "Huston," but before they had decided as to the change, Alfred resolved to emigrate to America, and on April 12, 1612, he and his wife and one child embarked with others for the new world and cast his lot with the London colony on the James river Virginia, which had been established in 1607 by the famous John Smith, whose life was saved by Pocahontas.

His brother, Abnor, whom he had left in the old world, moved over into Wales, and engaged in his favorite pursuit of merchandising.

There being no preachers yet int eh colony, Alfred, though a Knoxite, and differing from most of the Christians numbered among the colonists, was gladly prevailed on to preach for the colony, and soon became very popular, both as a preacher and as a colonist. Four years after he had joined the colony he wrote to his brother, abhor, to join him in the new world, and to his letter he subscribed the name Alfred Houston: The glowing account he gave his brother of the prospects of the new country inspired him with the spirit of emigration, and he at once responded to Alfred's letter, informing him that in September coming, 1616, he would embark with his family for America, and to his letter he subscribed his name Abnor Huston, showing that each brother had adhered to his views as to what he thought the spelling of the new name ought to be. The different spellings had become so interwoven with their respective histories, and as they had registered in their Bibles the names of their children to correspond, they concluded, when they met at Jamestown, on the James river, that each family should retain their choice of the new name. Abhor, according to previous notice to his brother, sailed for Jamestown, September 3, 1616, and owing to a very rough sea, did not reach his destination till October 20. Before Abnor left Wales there were born to him three sons, viz., Joseph, born October 9, 1609; John, born June 1, 1611, and Samuel, born in 1613. There were born to Alfred one son and three daughters. The son was named Robert, born on the ship en route to America April 18, 1612; Jemima, born in Dublin, Ireland, April 6, 1610; Clarinda, born at Jamestown, October 30, 1614, and Icoma, born April 17, 1617.

Abhor, being a business man, he soon became acquainted with John Rolfe, the Englishman who married Pocahontas, and with him entered into trade and transportation. Sir Walter Raleigh, on his return from his expedition in 1584 to Virginia, had taken back with him Irish potatoes and tobacco, two articles unknown to the English, but which proved to be very popular. The potatoes as a diet and the tobacco as an exhilarating stimulant, and Queen Elizabeth and her cavaliers at once encouraged the growth and importation of these articles. It was in the growth and exportation of these that Rolfe and Huston engaged, together with furs and skins of wild animals, so that hundreds of men were soon engaged in raising tobacco and potatoes, for which they found a ready market at the boats of Rolfe and Huston all along the James river. Tobacco was worth at the boats from 75 cents to a dollar a pound and the potatoes from $1 to $1.50 per bushel, and a large profit was made on them in England. Abhor and Alfred both mastered the Indian language, the former to facilitate his trade with the Indians and theater to enable him to preach to the Indians in their own language.

When Sir George Yearly was sent from England to govern the colony, and after he had established 11 towns, he provided that each town should send two delegates to the church in Jamestown to make laws for the colony, and both Alfred and Abnor were chosen to represent Jamestown. The meeting of the delegates took place July 30, 1619. This was the first legislative body that ever met upon the American continent. Abhor's three sons and Alfred's son and daughters and other children were educated in Jamestown by Alfred when he was not engaged in preaching, and after Abnor's three sons were educated they for several years were associated with Rolfe & Huston in their business. They all married the same year and day, December 25, 1633. Joseph married (???) Lenox, John married Margaret Hathaway and Samuel married Rachel Alexander. Two of abhor's sons, Joseph and Samuel, left Jamestown with their families June 1, 1640, and located in what is now Fairfax, on the Potomac river, and established the first high school that was ever established in that section of the country. There the family register loses sight of them. The other son, John, remained with his father at Jamestown until May 4, 1654, when he and his family of four boys and two daughters and a company of seven young men emigrated to the Territory, called Pennsylvania, and located on the Delaware river, a few miles above where Philadelphia was afterwards established, and when William Penn arrived there in 1681 with a grant from King James, he employed John Huston as assistant engineer to survey the granted territory and lay it off into counties and to locate and plat the site for the town of Philadelphia. After the site had been located he was among the first that erected a dwelling in the city, and here the register loses sight of John Huston and his family, but it continued the lineage of Alfred's family. Alfred's son, Robert, became a minister, and on January 12, 1657, emigrated to the Shenandoah valley, where he continued to preach the John Knox Presbyterian faith, the confession of which had subjected his father and uncle in their native land of Scotland to persecution, and in defense of which they had fled to the new world. Robert, the year after his emigration to the Shenandoah, married Ruth Alexander May 3, 1658, by whom he had two sons, John Rolfe, born January 4, 1659, and James, born June 6, 1661. The first son was named in gratitude to John Rolfe for his exceeding kindness to his father and uncle. Being well educated himself by his father, he determined to imitate his example by educating his two sons, which he did at Alexandria. James, after finishing his education, became a teacher at Alexandria, and John Folfe located on the Potomac and engaged in trade and commerce, but returned to Alexandria, and on the same day, March 10, 1698, the brothers married sisters, James marrying Mary Hamilton and John Rolfe marrying Angelina Hamilton, by whom he had but one child, a son, born February 6, 1709, whom he named Samuel. This Samuel Houston was F.M. Houston's of Bourbon county, Kentucky. He was educated at Alexandria, and after completing his education he married Sarah Henderson on June 2, 1739, and on March 10, 1740, he emigrated to Iredel county, North Carolina, and located as neighbor to Squire Boone, the father of the distinguished Daniel Boone. Here he opened a farm and engaged in agriculture and carried on trade between the Indians and an English fur and hide company. When the revolutionary war broke out he and his son, Peter, enlisted and were in the battle against the British General Ferguson at King's mountain.

Peter had four sons and five daughters. The sons were born as follows:
Samuel, born January 10, 1749, who located at Hickory Flat, Ga., and his son, Samuel, was one of the delegates that formed the constitution of that State after the late war.

The second son, Robert, was born December 15, 1753. He emigrated to Missouri, became a farmer and raised a large family.

The third son, Peter, was born April2, 1764.

The fourth son, James, was born May 11, 1767.

The last two emigrated to Kentucky in 1780 with Daniel Boone, who that year removed his family to Kentucky the second time. The two brothers finally settled in Bourbon county, where F. M. Houston lived in 1899, and shared with Boone the hardships of his subsequent life until he left the State. Peter and Boone built the fort near where Paris now stands, which Boone named Houston Fort, and he also named the creek which flows nearby Houston creek. In this fort Peter Houston tanned buffalo and deer hides to make bed clothes and waring apparel for the incoming immigrants until he and his brother, James, located on farms on the famous Caneridge in 1801, preaching the reform doctrine that was associated with his name and the name of Alexander Campbell. They left the Presbyterian church and joined the Reformed, and Peter became a public advocate of the reformation. Peter had six sons, who were, respectively:

John, born April2, 1787, who located in Nashville, Tenn., and reared a family; Samuel, born March 1, 1790; Cary, born April 3, 1792; Richard, born September 9, 1794; Harry, born July 6, 1797, and Alfred, born April 2, 1799. The last named emigrated to Bloomington, Indiana, September, 1835. My father remained in Bourbon county, Ky. All of the boys reared large families, whose descendants are scattered over several States, and from whom all of the professions and occupations have obtained representation.

In 1916, the Houston and Huston families were traced back to the middle of the fourteenth century and shown them to be a compound of Scotch-Irish blood, the former distinguished for their learning and love of liberty and the latter for their full orbed brain, warm heart and sparkling wit, and for the irrepressible elasticity of their courage. Imprisoned for centuries have the Irish been, yet like pent-up flames, their genius has ever and anon burst through its prison walls and shot its incandescent light through the world.

The above was copied from printed pamphlet, dated 1899, compiled by F. M. Houston of Bourbon county, Kentucky, which G. C. Houston of Bedford, Iowa, furnished A. J. Houston of Dallas, Texas, who in turn gave same to General James Nelson Huston of room 831 No. 52 Broadway, New York city.
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