History of Patriot Samuel Houston
Fifth (5th) Great Grandfather
B. @1735 PA; D. 1814 Iredell County, NC
Samuel Houston, 5th great grandfather of the Rice’s, was the son of Robert Houston who was born to Christopher and Martha Houston in 1712 in the lowlands of Scotland (probably near Glasgow). Christopher, Martha and their children migrated to America circa 1720.
Emigration to the American Colonies
“After 1700, large numbers of Ulster Scots, Welshmen, Huguenots, and Germans streamed across the Atlantic and into the colonies. The fundamental causes of this movement were economic. Repressive trade laws, rack-renting landlordism, famine, and the decline of the linen industry were major factors in stimulating the overseas movement of these Ulster Scots. The manufacture of woolens, northern Ireland’s staple industry, was restricted in 1699 by the passage of an act forbidding the exportation of Irish woolen goods to any part of the world except England. This act deprived the Ulsterites of their foreign markets.
A majority of these Ulster-Scots immigrants landed at Philadelphia, PA or New Castle, DE, where they immediately found themselves in an unfamiliar Quaker environment or caught up in the wave of Marylanders advancing northward up the shores of the Chesapeake. Scots-Irish streamed into Lancaster County after 1723.
(From: Ramsey, Robert W.. Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762. The University of North Carolina Press. Kindle Edition)
Christopher Houston, @1680 – 1726: 7th Great Grandfather
It is said that Christopher Houston was born in Scotland about 1680 to John Samuel Houston and Margaret Houston (born McClung). John was born in 1650 in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Margaret was born in Ulster, Northern Ireland. Christopher had 6 siblings: John McClung Houston, Robert Houston and four others. It is known that Christopher married Martha Mary (nee’ ?) and they immigrated to Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware in Colonial America sometime around 1720. They had eight children: James, Samuel, Christopher, Robert, Margaret Houston (Linn), Jennett Houston, Martha Houston and Ann Houston (Walker). Christopher apparently had a plantation called Phillips Bottom (per will of son, Samuel, who inherited it from his father but died without issue and returned the plantation to his brothers) and a small house which also served as a “shope” which Christopher left, at his death, to his wife Martha.
Robert Houston @1712 – aft. 1776: 6th Great Grandfather
Son, Robert, is believed to have been born in Scotland around 1712 and emigrated to the colonies with his parents. He is referenced in his father’s 1726 will (probated in Delaware) and would have been about 14 at the time. In 1734, records confirm he married Martha Worke, daughter of Dr. Abel Worke, in Philadelphia. Robert is reported to have been a successful wheat farmer; he and Martha had eleven children: Samuel, Robert, James, Christopher, Prudence, Ann, Mary, Rebecca, Joseph, John and Sarah. All of Robert and Martha’s children were born in Pennsylvania. It is believed that Martha died in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and that Robert moved to North Carolina following her death.
Samuel Houston, 1735 – 1814: 5th Great Grandfather and Revolutionary War Patriot
In the 1760’s, due to the lack of good, affordable land in Pennsylvania and the abundance of such land in the Carolina’s, we see the movement of Robert’s sons, Samuel, Christopher and James, out of Pennsylvania to Rowan County, North Carolina.
Why North Carolina?
“In 1728, seven of the eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina sold their lands to the crown; only John Carteret, Earl of Granville, kept his share, consisting of the country lying south of the Virginia border. On September 17, 1744, just before the Scotch-Irish began swarming down from Pennsylvania, King George II granted Granville the northernmost one-eighth of the whole original Carolina. In 1752, the southern line of that grant became the dividing line between Anson and Rowan Counties. This section of the Granville district lay between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers and consisted of a fertile, well-watered, virtually treeless meadow land.
Land here was plentiful, but not exactly free. The earliest settlers bought their land from the Earl of Granville, until about the end of the French and Indian War (1763), when he died and his heir refused to be bothered with making any more grants. Later settlers bought theirs from the independent state of North Carolina, after a law providing for its sale had been passed in 1777 and an entry officer had been appointed for Rowan County in 1778. During the 15 years between, settlers moved in, squatting on the land, marking off their tracts in hopes that the time would soon come when they could get a title to their holdings. It appears the Houston’s came to the area during this interim period.
The original cost of a Granville grant was not much, usually three shillings, occasionally ten. The catch came in the quitrents. The 640-acre grant to John Oliphant, on which Statesville was later built, called for “paying therefor yearly and every year unto the Earl, his heirs and assigns the yearly rent and sum of twenty-five shillings and seven pence, which is the rate of three shillings sterling or four shillings proclamation for every hundred acres, at or upon the two most usual Feasts of days of payment in the year, that is to say the feast of Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary and the feast of St. Michael the archangel, in even and equal portions & to be paid at the Court House of the County of Rowan.”
Just how well those quitrents were paid in Rowan County we do not know. Over his vast tract, Granville’s agents did have trouble collecting them, so much so that in 1764 Granville’s heir gave up granting any more land.
By 1762, at least sixty-two pioneers had settled with their families on the fertile, undulating savannah land along the upper reaches of Third and Fourth Creek in Rowan County. The newcomers were Scottish and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians from Maryland and Pennsylvania.”
(From: Ramsey, Robert W.. Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762. The University of North Carolina Press. Kindle Edition)
Samuel Houston moved to Rowan County sometime shortly around 1762. He would have been about 27 years old. He married Jane Fleming in 1764, her father, Peter D. Fleming, had been one of the early settlers of the Fourth Creek Settlement, coming from Chester County, PA probably in the 1740’s. Her father died two years before her marriage to Samuel Houston. Here is a 1773 map of the Old Fourth Creek Congregation:
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/118
Samuel Houston was a farmer in Rowan County. He homesteaded on the banks of the Catawba River, in the Fourth Creek Settlement. He was Presbyterian, as were the majority of folks in this settlement, and he was a member of the Fourth Creek Congregation. Samuel and Jane had ten children: Peter, Martha, James, Elizabeth, Prudence, Sarah, Samuel, John, Robert and Jane. They were married for 50 years.
Below is the earliest land grant document I have found for Samuel where he is given the 350 acres he farmed on the Catawba River. As noted before, early settlers actually squatted on land hoping for title to their properties at a later date, thus this date of 1795, though we know Samuel was in Rowan County in the early 1760’s.
In 1765, Samuel’s brother, Christopher Houston joined a wave of settlers migrating from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas and late in the year arrived at Fort Dobbs in Rowan County. He also settled along the Catawba River by Samuel, and with his brother-in-law and his brother, James, established the first mill in the area at Hunting Creek, north of Fourth Creek and Statesville. [Note: Robert’s son, James, wrote a will in 1776 that left clothing to his father. At that time, James was living close to brothers Christopher and Samuel in Rowan County, NC. It is, thus, reasonable to assume that widower, Robert, had moved to Rowan County by 1776 to be near his sons.]
A 1773 map of the Fourth Creek Settlement shows Samuel’s land as well as that of his brothers Christopher and James. http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/118
Here is a sketch of the Presbyterian Fourth Creek Meeting House where Samuel was a member.
Some other pictures of Rowan County buildings that existed in Samuel Houston’s time:
Michael Braun House, built in Rowan County in 1766- 
Archibald Henderson’s law office built in Rowan County in 1796- 
John Steele’s house in Salisbury, Rowan County, 1799- 
1775 brought the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Historical accounts of the Scotch-Irish state they were a religious, brave, and liberty-loving people. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that Samuel Houston and brothers, Christopher and James, all served the cause to liberate the thirteen original colonies from the British. (For specifics on the Revolutionary War in the southern colonies, see the Revolutionary War discussion on this website).
Samuel served as a member of the Salisbury District Militia of North Carolina and had a post in the Commissary Department of the Revolutionary War.
Brother, Christopher Houston, played an active role in the Revolutionary War, both as a civilian and as a soldier. As a civilian, he was responsible for procuring goods for the community from Virginia. As a soldier, he served from 1776 to 1782 in the North Carolina Rangers along with his brother James. Both fought in the Battle of Ramsour’s Mill, near present-day Lincolnton, in which James was killed (I am still seeking documentation on his death). Christopher guarded Tories at the Forks of Yadkin River, North Carolina on day of Battle of King’s Mountain October 17, 1780.
In Rowan County, N.C., Samuel Houston’s family became intimate friends of Squire Boone, father of Daniel. The Boone’s lived a few miles away from Samuel in what is now called Yadkin County, N.C. Daniel Boone was older than Samuel Houston’s sons. Based on Daniel Boone’s reports of his pioneering in Kentucky, Samuel Houston hoped to move there from North Carolina as soon as the Revolutionary War ended. In the fall of 1779, Daniel Boone was determined to move his family from Yadkin NC to Kentucky. Samuel Houston, however, was not at liberty to leave his post with the Commissary, so he sent his eldest three sons, Peter, Robert and James to Daniel Boone with a letter of instruction asking Boone to take the three with him to Kentucky. Boone was to help locate them where they could build a cabin and prepare the land for a crop of corn in the spring. Samuel sent a bull with his sons as a good work animal. Peter and James Houston built Fort Houston on Houston Creek, about one hundred yards northeast of the present site of the Paris courthouse in Bourbon County, KY. They lived there for about three years. Peter lived until he was 90 and died in Monroe County, Indiana. Robert died at 68 years of age in Pike, Missouri. James lived to the age of 84 and died in Bourbon, KY.
For whatever reason, Samuel Houston and the remainder of his family did not move to Kentucky, but stayed in the Fourth Creek area of Rowan County and continued farming. In addition to the 1795 land grant of 350 acres, we see in 1800 and 1808 that Samuel purchased more property, adding 180 acres with those two purchases.
Samuel died in 1814. His wife, Jane, died in 1832.
For some really great reading on life in Rowan County during Samuel and Jane’s lives: https://archive.org/details/oldfourthcreekco00rayn and http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/rowan/history/rowanhis.txt
Samuel Houston, Jr. 1776 – 1865: 4th Great Grandfather
Samuel Jr. farmed in this area his entire life, dying in Iredell County in 1865. In 1803, Samuel Jr. married Sarah “Sally” Simonton. Her father, William Simonton (our 5th great grandfather), had been an early settler of Fourth Creek. In Colonial times William was the Constable of the Crown’s Court in this District, and his brother, Robert Simonton, was the Magistrate. However, William was not a loyalist and throughout the Revolutionary War he served as a Processioner (like a land surveyor) and Juror for the State of N.C (See William Simonton history on this website).
It is most likely that Samuel, Jr. farmed his father’s property, with his father, until his father’s death and assisted his mother with the land until her demise in 1832. Samuel Sr.’s land was to be sold when Jane died and the proceeds divided among his heirs. We see Samuel Jr. purchasing 80 acres for himself in 1816. He lived on this land for the remainder of his life.
Samuel Jr. and Sally Simonton Houston had seven children: Franklin P., twins Jane and Mary, Agnes, William, Samuel Theodore, and Sarah. Samuel Jr. and Sally were married for 33 years. She died in 1836. Sometime between 1836 and 1853, Samuel Jr. married a woman named Eliza. Her last name is unknown. Samuel Jr. died in 1865 at the age of 89. He left his property to Eliza for the remainder of her life and then willed that his acreage (at that time – 65 acres) be given to twin daughters, Mary and Jane, who never married.
Franklin P. Houston, 1804 – 1880: 3rd Great Grandfather
Franklin P. Houston, Samuel Jr. and Sally’s eldest son was born in 1804 In Iredell County, N.C. Around 1827 Franklin married Mary A. Eidson, daughter of Edward Eidson and granddaughter of Henry Eidson (our 5th great grandfather who was from Hanover County, VA and served in the revolutionary war as an ensign with the Bedford County militia of Virginia. See the history of Henry Eidson on this website). Franklin and Mary had three children: Sarah Emmaline, Edward J. and Samuel Theodore “Ted” Houston. Franklin and Mary lived in Iredell (formally Rowan) County, N.C. until 1852 when they moved with Franklin’s brother, Samuel Theodore, to the Mullins Militia District, Cherokee County, GA. Franklin was about 48 at the time of the move.
Cherokee County, Georgia: Mullins Militia District of Cherokee County (818):
During the mid-1800s, the Etowah Valley of Cherokee County became the industrial hub of north Georgia. In addition to gold, there were other minerals mined in the county such as iron ore, copper, titanium, quartz, mica, granite and marble. During this time Cherokee County had as many as ten grist mills, fourteen saw mills, seven flour mills, and twelve distilleries in operation and a population of around 12,000. The years leading up to the Civil War were prosperous ones for Cherokee County. Agriculture was the main industry in the area and small farms dotted the landscape.
Franklin is found in the U.S. 1860 Census in Mullins, Cherokee County GA where he was farming. During his farming years he had about 280 acres of land. Below are examples of the water and grist mills in his county.
The Civil War started on April 12, 1861 with the confederates attacking Fort Sumter. Initially there was great fervor in serving in the war, the assumption being the conflict would be short. But the initial war fever soon dissipated in both the North and South as the war dragged on, and each side was compelled to resort to conscription. The South instituted a draft in 1862, requiring three years of service for those selected between the ages of 18 and 35; later, as the war prospects dimmed, the pool was enlarged by taking in ages 17 to 50.
In 1863, with the Civil War becoming more and more taxing on the South’s resources and pressure from the Union Army building, the Confederacy reached further into its population to recruit men for short, specific service. The Cherokee Legion was formed in that year, by volunteers primarily from Cherokee County, Georgia. They were to resist the anticipated Union incursion into northern Georgia. The Legion was mustered for six months service within an area bounded by the borders of the state north of a line from West Point, Georgia, to the Elbert County Courthouse, to the Savannah River. The Legion did most of its service around Rome, Georgia, and apparently saw no significant action.
Over 700 men and boys reported for enlistment of which only 200 were needed. Many were “detailed” (released) to get the Legion down to authorized strength. Franklin Houston enlisted in July 10, 1863 in Canton Georgia. He was 59 years old. He was a private under Captain Perkins’ Company of infantry. Company muster rolls show his service in August and September. Some of his co-volunteers were soon conscripted into regular service in the Confederate Army. Franklin refused to “muster in” and was permanently detailed out of the unit November 7, 1863.
During the Civil War, Canton (the seat of Cherokee County, Militia District 792) which had a population of about 200, was burned November 1–5, 1864, by the Union Army under the command of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman. Canton was destroyed by a foraging party of the Ohio 5th Cavalry under the command of Major Thomas T. Heath. Union troops were ordered to burn the town because of Confederate guerrilla attacks coming from Canton and directed against the Western and Atlantic Railroad near the town of Cassville. The railroad was a vital supply line for the Union Army from the captured city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to newly captured Atlanta.
Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 required Southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment, draft new state constitutions and register voters both black and white. In order to vote, men had to swear an oath of allegiance to the United States, and some were disqualified for their participation in Confederate government posts. Franklin signed the Oath of Reconstruction in August, 1867.
For the remainder of his years Franklin continued his farming in Cherokee County. He died in January, 1880 and is buried in the Harbin-Freeze Cemetery in that county. Mary lived with daughter Sarah Emmaline and her husband, Richard Freeze, until her death sometime after 1880. She, too, is buried in Harbin Freeze Cemetery.
Samuel Theodore “Ted” Houston: 2nd Great Grandfather
Samuel Theodore “Ted” was born to Franklin and Mary in Iredell County, NC in 1836. In 1858 he married Martha Alice “Mattie” Fincher in Cherokee County, GA. In 1860 he was farming in Woodstock, GA.
April, 1861 saw the beginning of the Civil War. The Confederate Provisional Congress passed a number of laws to create a national army at that time. By the end of the year upwards of 200,000 men were under arms and the volunteer and militia systems provided the bare minimum of men needed to defend a large country. But by the beginning of 1862 it became obvious to members of the Confederacy’s political and military elites that once the terms of enlistment for the volunteers started to expire, and many men decided not to re-enlist, the country would face a manpower shortage. Earlier legislation attempted to address this problem by offering liberal incentives to reenlist, but these incentives proved to be ineffective. In recognition of this problem, Jefferson Davis sent a message to the Confederate Congress on March 28, 1862 recommending the enactment of a system of conscription.
On April 16th, the Confederacy adopted a law that provided for support of the army by extending the terms of enlistment of currently enrolled soldiers to three years from the date of original enlistment. In addition, the law made all white males between the ages of 18 and 35 who were citizens of a state in the Confederacy subject to national military service for a term of three years, unless released at an earlier date by the President.
Less than a month later, on May 10, 1862 Samuel Theodore Houston joined the 3rd Georgia Cavalry under Capt. James A. Fowler’s Company F (Cherokee Rangers), Crawford’s Regiment. Ted and Mattie had three children prior to his conscription: Josephine, Alice Drucilla and their third child, Laura Jane Houston, who actually was born in June, 1862, a month after Ted joined the confederate army. He mustered in at Athens, Georgia and enrolled for three years, as was required. He had to supply his own horse (valued at $175) and equipment (valued at $25). He was paid a bounty of $50 for joining the Confederate Army. Ted was 25 years old.
The cavalry’s military role at the beginning of the war was limited to patrolling, scouting and guarding. But, as Ted entered the war, the cavalry’s role dramatically changed as the armies used their horse soldiers in more combat situations. During fighting at New Haven most of the unit had been captured. However, Companies G and F did fight at the battle of Perryville, KY with General Joe Wheeler. A detachment also saw action at Murfreesboro and after those captured at New Haven were exchanged, the command was assigned to J.J. Morrison’s, C.C. Crews’, and Iverson’s Brigade. It participated in the campaigns of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Atlanta, was involved in Northern Alabama and Georgia, and in 1865 participated in various conflicts in the Carolinas.
Battles:
• New Haven – Sept. 29, 1862
• Perryville – Oct. 8, 1862 (With Joe Wheeler)
• Murfeesboro – Dec. 31, 1862
• Tullahoma Campaign – June-July 1863
Note: From July 1 to September 31, 1863 we see that Ted was on “detached” service. “Detached Service” is when a soldier or company or battery is assigned to other than one’s own regiment for duty of some sort. It was often one with Artillery Batteries and Cavalry Companies to augment the forces of a regiment or brigade by assigning a company, a battery, or chosen group of soldiers to other commands for specialized duty. I don’t currently have records of where he was temporarily assigned during this three-month period. The hugely important Battle of Chickamauga happed during this time frame but Ted may have not participated in it, although his company did.
• Chattanooga Siege – Sept.-Nov. 1863
• Knoxville Siege – Nov.-Dec. 1863
• Atlanta Campaign – May-Sept. 1864
• Atlanta Siege – July-Sept. 1864
• Sunshine Church – July 31, 1864
• Skirmishes in Northern Alabama and Georgia
The March to the Sea Griswoldville
Carolinas Campaign – Feb – April 1865
Samuel Theodore “Ted” Houston’s duty ended with the surrender of the Army of Tennessee April 26, 1865. He was lucky to still be alive.
Upon Ted’s return to civilian life, he and Mattie had three additional girls and a boy. In 1869, Ted moved his family to Somerville, Morgan County, AL. This may have been based on his experience in North Alabama during the Civil War. Ted and Mattie lived out their days in Somerville. Mattie died April, 1903 (cause unknown) and Samuel died April 6, 1910 of “apoplexy” (cerebral hermorrhage/stroke). Both are buried in the Houston Cemetery in Somerville.
A few pictures from Morgan County during Ted’s life there:
Somerville County Courthouse built in 1837:
Union Soldiers working on Fortifications, Bank and Market Streets, 1864:
Bank Street, 1880:
Decatur, very early 1900’s:
Union Station, Decatur 1910:
Laura Jane Houston, 1862 – 1918: Great Grandmother
As noted, Laura Jane Houston was born in Cherokee County, GA 0n June 13, 1862. Third child to Samuel Theodore “Ted” and Martha “Mattie” Fincher. Mattie was pregnant when Samuel T. was conscripted into service and she delivered Laura Jane a months later. In 1869, Laura moved with her parents to Somerville, Morgan Co., AL. At the age of 18, Laura Jane Houston married George Washington Griffin in Somerville, at Ted’s home.
George W. Griffin was a farmer. He and Laura Jane had six children, their eldest being Minnie Lee Griffin (our “Nanny”) born in 1881 in Lacey’s Spring, Alabama. Laura Jane Houston Griffin died Nov. 15, 1918, she would have been 56 years old. She is buried, along with her mother, father, husband and other family members in the Houston Cemetery in Somerville, AL.
Minnie Lee Griffin, 1881 – 1963: Grandmother
In 1900, Minnie Lee (then 19 years old) married George W. Griffin’s friend, Hugh Welsh Rice. George W. Griffin and Hugh were the same age – Hugh was 46 years old. He, too, was a farmer but he was also a widower. He had been married to Mariah Walls for 25 years. They were childless when she died. Hugh and Minnie Lee had eight children, five girls and three boys. Two of the boys died as young children, leaving only one son, Harry Woodrow Rice, the baby of the family. Harry Woodrow Rice was born in Swancott, Limestone County in 1915. His story will be told later in the “ The Rice’s”.
To recap our lineage to Patriot Samuel Houston:
• Patriot Samuel Houston and Jane Fleming (5th great grandparents)
• Samuel Houston, Jr. and Sarah “Sally” Simonton (4th great grandparents)
• Franklin P. Houston and Mary A. Eidson (3rd great grandparents)
• Samuel Theodore “Ted” Houston and Martha Alice “Mattie” Fincher (2nd great grandparents)
• Laura Jane Houston and George Washington Griffin (great grandparents)
• Minnie Lee Griffin and Hugh Welsh Rice (grandparents)