Elijah Howton of Alabama and Texas (1832-1884)

This is the story of Elijah Howton (1832-1884). Historically, the surnames Howton and Houghton are often used interchangeably; and while the origins of the Howton surname is English, my Howton roots in the United States are found exclusively in the South. This is a family history account of my 3rd great-grandfather Elijah Howton, his family roots in Northern Alabama and descendants in Texas.

Elijah Howton was born on January 29th, 1832 in Fayette County, Alabama to the parents Abraham Howton (1794-1840) and Assella Darcus Castleberry (1796-1882). Abraham Howton was born in Rockingham, Virginia and his wife Assella Castleberry was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Abraham and Assella were married in Caldwell, Kentucky in 1812; their parents were both pioneers that must have opened up the Kentucky territory. They ended up settling in Hopkins County, Kentucky on 400 acres of land.

Abraham Howton’s father Jonathan Howton (1765-1826) (Elijah’s grandfather) was born in London, England. Abraham’s mother Ann Elizabeth Trover (1770-1840) (Jonathan’s wife and Elijah’s grandmother) was born in Virginia to a prominent English family.

Elijah was the 6th child of 10 children, there were 6 boys and 4 girls that became members of this rough-and-ready homestead family. All of the children of Abraham Howton and Assella Darcus Castleberry are:

• Darcas Howton (1824-1904)
• George W. Howton (1824-1861)
• Willis Howton (1828-1893)
• David Howton (1829-1917)
• Malissa Howton (1831-1922)
• Elijah Howton (1832-1884)
• John Trover Howton (1833-?)
• Sarah Ann Howton (1834-1912)
• Matthew Howton (1838-1916)
• Martha Howton (1838-?)

There seems to have been 2 sets of twins in the family! The first born Darcas and George W. and the last born Matthew and Martha. John Trover Howton and Sarah Ann Howton might also be twins.

Another interesting facet of the Howton family are the double-in-law or even multiple-in-law marriages that took place over successive generations. For instance are Elijah Howton’s mother and father. Abraham Howton married Assella Darcus Castleberry and Abrahams’ older brother David married Assella’s older sister Elizabeth.

The trend would continue to Elijah’s generation where 3 Howtons married 3 Manascos: 3 children of Abraham and Darcus Castleberry married 3 children of David C. Manasco and Jane Kirkland. They must have been the coolest kids in the county!

• Elijah Howton ~ Letitia Ann Manasco (m. 1854)
• David Howton ~ Priscilla Hollie Manasco (m. 1854)
• Sarah Ann Howton ~ William Carroll Manasco (m. 1854)

Elijah Howton was born in Fayette County, Alabama in 1832, just 11 years after his parents relocated from Kentucky around 1821. Alabama had only been a state for 2 years when the Howton family moved from Kentucky – it was admitted as the 22nd state in the union on December 14th, 1819 and celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2019.

A young Elijah and siblings would have grown up on a plot of land that his father purchased in 1826. Historically, Abraham Howton is recorded among the first people to patent lands in Northern Alabama: they hold “original patents.” Other allied families to the Howtons were also among the original patent holders, namely the Kirklands and the Manascos.

Abraham’s first piece of land totaled exactly 80.07 acres and recorded on: “Issue Date: 10/5/1826” according to the Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office (BLM-GLO) online records. Elijah’s father Abraham would also purchase more lands in 1839 (39.96 acres) and 1858 (80.15 acres).

It is worth noting that the original Fayette that existed in Elijah’s days was quite a bit different than it is today. The original Fayette County extended from its current easterly border all the way to the Alabama-Mississippi line to the west. That westerly tract was first given to a now-extinct Sanford County (1868-1876) which eventually became the current Lamar County in 1877.

For more information on the evolution of Alabama (and other US states) county lines, there’s a neat interactive map that displays state counties as they existed year to year. I have found that mapofus.org has been invaluable to my family history research.

The Alabama that a young Elijah Howton and family would have known from the 1830s until the 1860s was much like the map above indicates. Fayette County was much wider and Walker County was much taller to the north as there was no Winston County above it.

In 1850, at the age of 18, Elijah was listed on the Census living with his family in Fayette, Alabama. By 1854 (based on the triple-in-law marriage dates of his siblings), at the age of 22, Elijah was married and in 1858 he owned his first piece of land to start his family.

That year, Elijah purchased 122.19 acres of land in Fayette County, just south of where the city of Fayette currently sits and just east of his father’s property that was also purchased in 1858. You can see by the map below where Elijah was living in relationship to his father and other allied family members.

In 1854 Elijah Howton married the daughter of David C. Manasco (1802-1894) and Elizabeth Jane Kirkland (1803-1837), her name was Letitia Ann Manasco. She would bear him 7 children. She is my 3rd great grandmother.

I have always supposed how Elijah and Letitia met. Although Elijah’s family land was near to Fayette, the Manascos lived much further east in Walker County between Carbon Hill and Jasper in a small rural patch near Townley, Alabama. It was there in 1879 that my ancestor David C. Manasco founded his own town!

The only thing I can think of that would have brought this young couple together are the Kirklands who held land patents all around and adjacent to the Howtons. Indeed, we know that the Kirklands and Manascos were allied families as David C. Manasco married the daughter of the successful Archibald Kirkland (1780-1846) and Mary Chaney (1780-1846) in 1823.

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SIDEBAR: David Manasco held an 1834 land patent in Fayette County and was neighbors with a “John C. Kirkland.” I am not sure who this fella is, however I do know he was NOT a son of Archibald Kirkland (his son was named “John R. Kirkland” and also lived nearby).

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If the Howtons and Kirklands were friendly then perhaps a young Elijah might have met a young Letitia Ann when the Manascos were on a visit to their in-laws the Kirklands in Fayette. In fact, Walker and Jasper are only about 30 miles away from Fayette. I do know because I’ve spent some time researching there.

Sadly, Letitia Ann Manasco would not have remembered her mother Jane Kirkland as she passed away in 1837 (only 34) when Letitia was just 1 years old. Letitia would somewhat repeat her mother’s fate as she died at the young age of 39 years in 1875 after the family had moved to Texas. I have a very dear spot in my heart for both of them, God rest their souls.

Shortly after being married, having 2 daughters, and purchasing their first piece of land, war broke out in 1861! It must have been a tough time. Elijah Howton heeded the call to service and enlisted in Company A, Alabama 26th Infantry Regiment (O’Neal’s) to fight for the Confederacy.

Not only Elijah, but also his brothers Matthew, David, George, and Willis enlisted in the Confederate Army. Inexplicably, middle brother John Trover is not on this list. Although Elijah and Matthew survived the war without major injury, brother George died at the Yorktown siege, brother Willis was a prisoner of war in Illinois and Ohio, and brother David, also a prisoner of war, lost his right arm due to an amputation from a field injury.

It is somewhat of a strange feeling for me to try and piece together this period of history for my ancestor Elijah Howton when considering the fact that his father-in-law (David C. Manasco) was an ardent UNION supporter during the Civil War. I’m not sure exactly how it played out in their relationship, but it is worth noting.

After the Civil War came to a close in 1865, Elijah and his two brothers Willis and David decided to leave home and move to Texas. They must have moved between 1867 and 1868 based on the birth of their last children (including my 2x great grandmother) in Alabama and their appearance on the 1870 Census in Limestone County, Texas.

On that 1870 Census we find Elijah and Willis Howton living right next to each other with their respective families in Limestone County, Texas. Brother David was in Burnet County, Texas about 128 miles away.

Although brother David stays in Burnet County, Elijah and Willis move to Brown County, Texas a hop, skip, and a jump away. Brown County is situated right in the heart of Texas with acres of running water, rolling hills, lakes, and very fertile soil.

Having found a good area to settle for himself and his family, in 1872 Elijah Howton purchases 160 acres of homestead land in Brown County, Texas. His lands were next to the Pecan Bayou in current Owens, TX, a literal one-horse town if there ever was one! Owens is located between Early and May, TX just up the road from Brownwood near the beautiful Lake Brownwood.

Having visited the area on a family history trip with 2 of my other cousins, I have to say that the area is some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. Perhaps my eyes were a bit biased based on my family connection to that locale but it was a trip that I will never forget! For someone who has traveled around the world, my trip to Brown and Eastland Counties in Texas will always be among my favourite memories!

My other 3rd great-grandfather, John Rufus Tune (1851-1924), was living just up the road from the Howtons in Rising Star, Texas and that’s how he must have met the daughter of Elijah Howton. Her name was Luina Howton (1862-1942) and they would marry in 1877. (See map above).

John Rufus Tune was born in Bedford, Tennessee and moved to Texas about 1875 when he was 24. He came with his Father Wiley T. Tune (1822-1900) who was born in Halifax County, Virginia and then moved his large family around quite a few times before finally settling down in Texas. Records indicate that John Rufus Tune purchased land in Brown County before moving just north up the road to Rising Star in Eastland County.

The same year that the Tunes arrived in Brown County (1875) also markes the same year that Elijah Howton’s wife, Letitia Ann Manasco, passed away. She was taken away from her family way too soon and I believe it brought the Howtons and the Tunes even closer.

I say that because in 1877 Elijah Howton, then 45 years old, marries Frances Green Tune who was also a widow [sic] (her late husband was a Finis E. Hutchinson (1847-1871)). Frances Tune was the eldest sibling of John Rufus Tune, Elijah’s son-in-law. Homestead life in the 19th century was tough business and their union was sure to have brought mutual comfort and support. They had one daughter together.

Below is a photograph I took of the final resting place of Frances Green Tune Howton (“Fannie Howton”) while I was in Dallas, Texas. She resides in Grove Hill Memorial Park.

Elijah Howton and his bride “Fanny” Tune Howton lived peacefully for a few more years when in 1880 Elijah seems to have had some health issues. On the 1880 Census he is listed as “sick” which may give us an indication to that effect.

Elijah Howton passes away sometime before 1884. On the 1900 Census his wife is listed as “widowed.” I am uncertain of the circumstances of his death, this requires further research. I do know that he was survived by 8 children.

Researching the life of Elijah Howton has been one of my favourite branches of the family to get to know. What an exciting life he lived, what an amazingly robust family he came from! It is comforting to know that the Howtons are still very much prevalent in northern Alabama and central Texas. His memory continues to inspire me as one of his descendants.

If you are a Howton, Houghton, or any other variant, perhaps you too may be connected somehow as my Elijah Howton’s story traverses the English channel, lands in Virginia, pioneers Kentucky, settles Alabama, and then becomes a part of Texas.

FINAL NOTE. Although family pictures of Elijah’s brothers exist I have yet to find any PICTURES of my ancestor Elijah. If anyone reading this knows of any in existence please get in touch using the comments section below or via this site’s contact page.

*Thank you to Cyndi’s List for featuring this article on their website!