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The John Carrol Houston Family

John Carrol Houston, a Revolutionary War veteran of South Carolina, born about 1755, came to East Florida from Georgia about 1808. His wife was Jane Harvey,born about 1758 in Beaufort, South Carolina. He settled on Big Talbot Island, and at his death after Florida became a territory, and with his eldest son, John, had acquired several land grants. Information about these is indicated in "Public Lands in Florida" of the American State Papers, and the several volumes of the translations of the Spanish Land Grants. He had at least three sons who came with him to East Florida, but another Houston, Thomas A. Houston, may have been another son or relation. Thomas was born in Georgia in 1796, and married Asia (probably) Bayard before coming to East Florida.

Houstons came to America from Ireland some years before the Revolutionary War, possibly settling first in Maryland. General Samuel Houston of Texas fame is said to be related to John Carrol Houston through a brother who went to Tennessee. There may have been another John Houston earlier in Florida who was killed by the Indians before 1800.

The three sons of John Carrol and Jane (Harvey) Houston were:

• John Houston, sometimes called "Big John", born in South Carolina in 1789, and died on Big Talbot Island on 1 January 1856 in his 67th year. He was buried in the Houston-Christopher Cemetery on the Island, as are many of the Houston family. He married:

  • 1) Elizabeth Susannah Christopher on 2 May 1811, born in 1797, daughter of Spicer and Mary (Greenwood) Christopher of Amelia Island, from which marriage two known sons were born. Elizabeth died in 1824 at age 27 years after the birth of her second son.
  • 2) Mary (Greenwood) Braddock, daughter of John and Martha (Christopher) Greenwood. From this marriage there were at least 7 children.

• James Robert(son) Houston, born about 1800 in South Carolina, married about 1835 Eliza G. Mattair, born 1816, daughter of Lewis and Priscilla (Courson) Mattair of Amelia Island. There were at least 6 children of this marriage. James died about 1861 in Clay County, Florida.
• William Henry Houston married on 29 July 1824 Sarah Ann Harrison, born about 1805, daughter of Captain Samuel and Elizabeth (McQueen English) Harrison of Amelia Island. William and Elizabeth (Harrison) Houston had at least 8 children.

The children of the three sons married into such local families as the Dewees, LaMees, Mattairs, Johnsons, and Latimores, and to Christopher and Braddock cousins. A number of these families were river captains and bar pilots on the St. Johns River. Many of these Houston relatives are buried in the Houston - Christopher family cemetery on Talbot Island. See "Talbot Island Cemetery-History Lives on Tombstones", Jacksonville Journal, Wednesday, December 22, 1976.

Compiled by Edgar R. Taylor, Jr. (1070 Old Gate Road, Pittsburgh, PA  15235-2741) mostly from data from the research of Mrs. Winifred Bush Shepard, now deceased.