Rick, Dave and I visit our Horton relatives in 2025
My father’s mother’s maiden name was Horton. Her family immigrated from England and settled in Virginia in the mid-1600s. The name is common in English history, and several places are named Horton in England. The name Horton derives from Old English hour ‘dirt’ and tΕ«n ‘settlement, farm, estate,’ presumably meaning ‘farm on muddy soil.’
Notes on this research
Within the past couple of years, a link was established on Ancestry.com to the historical data originally researched by Dad. It added the individuals listed below as ancestors and the immigration to America. I did a bit of research and questioned its validity entirely. After arrival in America, a majority of the research was done by Dad, and I believe it to be valid, including references.
Medevil England – De Horton
In Middle English, the prefix ‘de’ can represent where someone is from. The name ‘De Horton’ is seen in many of the names from the first Horton in 1190. His name was Rodger. This name became quite popular after the Norman Conquest of 1066. He was shown to be from Horton in Northamptonshire, England.
Horton is 8 miles southwest of Northampton. It is primarily known as the location of the now-demolished Horton House. This was the manor of the first governor of the Bank of England, among others.
Human settlement in Northampton dates back to 3500 BC. Roman settlements from the Roman Period (41-450 BC) have been found nearby. During the Anglo-Saxon period, it was subject to occupation by the Danes. After the Norman Conquest in 1068, the town rose to national significance. Early meetings of the government (Parliament) took place there, and several Kings had residences there.
Around the time that Rodger de Horton was born, Richard I granted the city a charter in return for money to support the Crusades.
Immigration to America
William Kimble Horton (1626-1702) was born in Staunton, Gloucestershire County, west of London, near the Welsh border.
Staunton is a village near the larger town of Gloucester. During this period, England was rife with many wars, collectively called the English Civil War. In 1642, the Seige of Gloucester was part of a Royalist campaign by King Charles I to take control of the Severn Valley from the Parliamentarians. Gloucester was a port town, and it is likely he immigrated with his wife from here.
His first daughter, Virginia, was born in 1652 in Westmoreland, Virginia.
Eastern Virginia
The Hortons resided in the Richmond, VA vicinity for the subsequent four generations.
Hugh Horton 1661 – 1724
Henrico County, VA (Richmond), Westmoreland County, VA. Married once with 3 children.
Hugh Danbury Horton 1687 – 1766
Henrico County, VA (Richmond), Mecklenburg County, VA. Married once, four children.
John Horton 1718 – 1792
Hanover County, VA (Richmond). Married once, ten children. There is a record of military service in 1778 at the age of 60. This would have been during the American Revolution.
John Horton Jr. 1749- 1817
Henrico County, VA (Richmond). Married once and had nine children.
Western Virginia
John M Horton III 1777 – 1860
After the American Revolution, John M. Horton III relocated from Stafford County to Scott County, all the way west across the state. The rest of his Horton ancestors resided in this county or nearby Big Stone Gap. He was one of ten children. At the age of 23, he married Jane Sargent in 1800 and went on to have 12 children.
Note: I visited the cemeteries of the rest of the Hortons on the Dead Horton Tour with my brothers in 2025.
G-3 Thomas Horton 1801 – 1884
He appears in records from Scott County, Lee County, Virginia, and Hancock County, Tennessee, to the south. These records indicate that he was a farmer and a pastor at an Episcopal church, later transitioning to a Baptist church. He was married twice and had fifteen children. We are related to his first wife, Martha Wilson. He is buried with his second wife, Martha Catherine, in the Miles-Craft Cemetery located between Big Stone Gap and Gate City.
G-2 William Patton Horton 1831 – 1910
He served as a first lieutenant in the 22nd Virginia Cavalry during the Civil War. He was also an adjutant to his commanding officer. Additionally, records indicate that he was a farmer and later a merchant. He was married twice: first to G-2 Eleanor Marie Ewing with whom he had 6 children, and then to Mattie Ferguson Dixon with whom he had a single daughter. He is buried with his first wife in her family cemetery (Ewing) located about 7 miles east of Gate City near Moccasin Junction.
G-1 Lucien Beauregard Horton 1861 – 1913
Born in Scott County, Virginia, and passing away in Gate City, Virginia, where he was laid to rest, he was a medical doctor who also held the title of attorney. He was married once and had ten children. His wife, G-1 Mollie Isom, preceded him in death by a little over a year.
Grandmother Sarah Horton
My grandmother, Sarah, was the fourth child, born in 1900. Tragically, she was in her early teens when both her parents passed away at relatively young ages. She was raised by one of her fatherβs uncles, Nelson Horton, and his wife Evelyn Stewart.
We heard quite often about her adoptive parent’s daughter Virginia Howard, although it was never actually clear who she was. Other than that we were not aware of her large family. She was always a bit of a mystery. She was 7 years younger than granddad and was a school teacher before they married.
We have no history of how they met, but we do know they started out in a coal mining town of Coxton in Harlan County, Kentucky. This was a coal boom town when Dad was born in 1929. They moved every five years or so each time to the northeast before ending up in Grant Town, West Virginia.
We visited her and my grandfather, Edward Bernard Tubridy, every summer growing up until I got old enough to get out of it! There wasn’t much for us to do there, but we did have some good memories of visiting the sites in the local area.
After my grandfather died, she lived in their home in Gate City for another ten years. After a bad fall in the Tubridy, she came to live with Dad and Mom in 1977. They were getting ready to move back to Florida from California. She moved with them and lived with them for most of the rest of her life.
Eventually, she started suffering with Alzheimerβs-like symptoms and was moved to a nursing home. She did not recognize my father at the end. She died right before Lisa and David had Adam in 1986. She was as old as the year.
Horton Descendants