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Data Description:Biography: John Huston and Alice Armstrong
Submitter: James Houston
Date Posted: 26 August 2001
MIGRATION John Huston and Alice (Elsie) Armstrong came to Long Cane around 1763. Not sure they were married before or after they arrived in Long Cane. I Don't know where John came from. Alice came from the Fork of the James community in Augusta county, VA, and came to Long Cane with her brothers Robert and John Armstrong. ORIGINS John was of Scotch Irish ancestry although we don't know who his parents were. Alice's parents Robert Armstrong and Mary (?) migrated form Ireland in about 1735 and settled in Chester, PA. Then moved to Augusta county, VA, in about 1751. Some say Alice's mother was a Calhoun. LIFE IN LONG CANE John petitioned for a 100 acre tract on Long Cane Creek and the plat recorded on July 4, 1763; the Royal Grant made on March 2, 1764 described it as 100 acres on a branch of the NW Fork of Long Cane Creek, bounded NW part on vacant land and part on land of John, James & Catherine Calhoun; NE on land of Ezekiel Calhoun, deceased; SE part on land of Mary Noble and part on land of Aaron Alexander; SW on vacant land. On April 18 & 19, 1770, Robert Armstrong (possibly Alice's brother or father) deeded 200 acres that had been granted to Aaron Alexander on November 4, 1762. Land described as on NW Fork of Long Cane Creek bounded on NE land of Mary Nobel; SW on land of hugh Calhoun and part vacant; W & NW on land of William Calhoun and John Messer. John's will listed a 300 acre plantation. John and Alice had six children, all born in Long Cane: Robert, John, Joseph, Benjamin, Alexander, and Catherine. The children all spelled the name Houston although in John Sr's will dated June 1, 1778, it is spelled Huston. John died sometime between 1778 and 1793 (when his will was probated). He possibly died during the Revolutionary War, however we have no proof of his service. Houstons were Presbyterians. Fort Boon was built by the Calhouns, Houstons, and Nobles about 1773. The Fort Boone congregation services were held in the Fort which later became the Lower Long Cane Presbyterian Church, and then the Hopewell Meeting House in 1788. In his will he left his wife, Alice (Elsie), 1/3 of his personal estate and control of the 300 acre Plantation. He named his children and they were all under age as he directed Else to "keep all the children together on said lands & plantation and raise & school them out of the profits to that may be made off said lands with their assistance and the Negro fellow called George." Of the children: Robert, 1765-1834, and moved to Tennessee with his mother Alice, about 1790. In 1792 he became the first Sheriff of Knox county. In 1819, he received through John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, a commission from the President of the United Sates appointing him to part of the survey lines of the reserved tracts of land in Tennessee according to the treaty of 1819 with the Cherokee nation. He married Margaret Davis in 1794 and they had six children. John Houston Jr., married Mary Waddell and died sometime before 1793. Benjamin Houston married Betsy (?) and died before 1824 Joseph Houston - some descendants say he married Elizabeth Oswald, others say it was Elizabeth Waddell. Alexander Houston (1777-1855), buried in the Houston cemetery near Calhoun Mill. Alexander was my gg-grandfather. Married first Susannah Elizabeth Clark and had eight children. Susannah died in 1825 at age 47. He then married Jane Catherine Bertwhistle Postell and had seven more children, one of whom was my great grandfather Armstrong Postell Houston Armstrong graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Pennsylvania and served as a Confederate surgeon in the Civil war. He moved to Clarkesville, GA, had a medical practice, and died there in 1901. Catherine Houston married George Route. Seems most of the descendants scattered across the South and none that I know of with the Houston name still live in the Long Cane area. James Houston Hickory Creek, TX