John Houston MATTHEWS
(1854 – 1919)
A little known fact about Lauderdale County Alabama is that it was originally called Houstoun County. Haywood's “History of Tn” says that portion of Alabama north of the Tennessee River was organized into a county by the Georgia legislature in 1785 and called Houstoun in honor of John HOUSTON, the governor of the state of Georgia in 1778 and 1784.
Whether or not Stephen James or Catherine MATTHEWS had any ties to the HOUSTONS, or to the state of Georgia is not known. However, they may have known that the county they lived in was formerly called Houstoun.
Whatever the case, they selected the name “John Huston” for their youngest son born ca 1854, in Lauderdale, Alabama. He was called Huston from early childhood on. We know this because of the information in the census records of Lauderdale Alabama and Lawrence Tennessee, as well as from family stories.
Huston married Margaret Elizabeth VENABLE in 1874. she was born in Tennessee. She and her mother lived in Giles in 1860. Her grandparents lived nearby. By 1870, Margaret's mother had married a second time to Richard POWELL and they were living in Lawrence County near Blue Water.
The MATTHEWS had eight children:
Nary Nora B. ca. 1876
Carrie Frances B. ca. 1877
John D. B ca. 1879
Thomas Marion B ca. 1881
Virgie Ann B ca. 1883
Solon Ernest B ca. 1887
Ad B 1890
William Price B 1890
Carrie died young. Virgie said that she became ill after they had been picking up mulberries to eat. When Carrie died that night, the family thought the mulberries contributed to her death.
I've never learned what the “D” stood for in John's middle name. And I don't know why Ad had only one name; and such a simple one at that!
Some family members think Solon was born seven months after the twins but according to census records, he was born in 1886/1887. The birth date on his tombstone must be incorrect.
Information gathered so far indicate that Huston and Margaret lived in Lexington where the older children were born. (His parents lived in Lexington) Then, in 1880 the MATTHEWS were in southern Lawrence County and neighbors of Margaret's mother, Mary MALONE VENABLE POWELL. This is a bit confusing because Virgie always said she was born in Lexington AL in 1883. Price and Ad (and possibly Solon) were born in Loretto TN.
The [1900] census for Lawrence County TN tell us Huston was widowed. The census taker noted that Huston had been married twenty-seven years. Children not in this household were his daughter Carrie (deceased), Virgie (married),and son Ad (? -he was never documented in census records). In the household was daughter Nora; widowed with a small child, and Huston's sons who were not married.
Tennessee death records for Margaret MATTHEWS may not exist. One record in Lauderdale AL in 1896 could be for her, but has not been proven.
One legend passed down through the family, states that Huston may have father a child by the mother of John D.'s wife.
Huston married Nancy E. FARRIS in 1904. Nannie was born in Giles County TN but was living with her brother and sister-in-law in Lawrence County in 1900. Huston and Nannie had five children: Floyd, Roy, Beulah, Viola and Maggie. Sharp (William Frank); age twelve, was in the household in 1910. His mother is unknown; although, Callie DAY (DESON, THOMAS,) MARTIN is listed as his mother on his military papers.
Nannie passed in April of 1912, and Little Maggie in June 1912. They are buried in the Landtroop Cemetery in Loretto. No further information on Beulah has surfaced.
Huston had to give up the family sawmill business about that time because he was also ill. John D. and Janie took the little girls to raise, and the boys stayed with Huston about a year before going to work for farming families in the West Point area. Huston lived with his daughter Virgie and her family until his death in 1919. He is buried in the Mount Zion Church Cemetery on West Point Road.
The census records referenced herein for Huston are District #2, Loretto, TN. He was not documented in West Point TN District #15 although; he was gradually moving his saw mill in that direction.
Huston MATTHEWS was considered one of the best saw millers in the county; he was often called on by other saw mill operators to straighten their saws for them. His son Floyd said that Huston and Solon were so good at their business that they could just look at the timber and tell exactly how much lumber it would yield. All the boys worked in the family business, some eventually ran their own sawmills.
Huston and Nannie's son Floyd lived to be one hundred and five. He had such an incredible Naval/Submarine career, that many Internet articles and stories have been written about him. He wrote poems and many stories about his life.
Research by S. Jane Harlan
05 DEC 2010
Whether or not Stephen James or Catherine MATTHEWS had any ties to the HOUSTONS, or to the state of Georgia is not known. However, they may have known that the county they lived in was formerly called Houstoun.
Whatever the case, they selected the name “John Huston” for their youngest son born ca 1854, in Lauderdale, Alabama. He was called Huston from early childhood on. We know this because of the information in the census records of Lauderdale Alabama and Lawrence Tennessee, as well as from family stories.
Huston married Margaret Elizabeth VENABLE in 1874. she was born in Tennessee. She and her mother lived in Giles in 1860. Her grandparents lived nearby. By 1870, Margaret's mother had married a second time to Richard POWELL and they were living in Lawrence County near Blue Water.
The MATTHEWS had eight children:
Nary Nora B. ca. 1876
Carrie Frances B. ca. 1877
John D. B ca. 1879
Thomas Marion B ca. 1881
Virgie Ann B ca. 1883
Solon Ernest B ca. 1887
Ad B 1890
William Price B 1890
Carrie died young. Virgie said that she became ill after they had been picking up mulberries to eat. When Carrie died that night, the family thought the mulberries contributed to her death.
I've never learned what the “D” stood for in John's middle name. And I don't know why Ad had only one name; and such a simple one at that!
Some family members think Solon was born seven months after the twins but according to census records, he was born in 1886/1887. The birth date on his tombstone must be incorrect.
Information gathered so far indicate that Huston and Margaret lived in Lexington where the older children were born. (His parents lived in Lexington) Then, in 1880 the MATTHEWS were in southern Lawrence County and neighbors of Margaret's mother, Mary MALONE VENABLE POWELL. This is a bit confusing because Virgie always said she was born in Lexington AL in 1883. Price and Ad (and possibly Solon) were born in Loretto TN.
The [1900] census for Lawrence County TN tell us Huston was widowed. The census taker noted that Huston had been married twenty-seven years. Children not in this household were his daughter Carrie (deceased), Virgie (married),and son Ad (? -he was never documented in census records). In the household was daughter Nora; widowed with a small child, and Huston's sons who were not married.
Tennessee death records for Margaret MATTHEWS may not exist. One record in Lauderdale AL in 1896 could be for her, but has not been proven.
One legend passed down through the family, states that Huston may have father a child by the mother of John D.'s wife.
Huston married Nancy E. FARRIS in 1904. Nannie was born in Giles County TN but was living with her brother and sister-in-law in Lawrence County in 1900. Huston and Nannie had five children: Floyd, Roy, Beulah, Viola and Maggie. Sharp (William Frank); age twelve, was in the household in 1910. His mother is unknown; although, Callie DAY (DESON, THOMAS,) MARTIN is listed as his mother on his military papers.
Nannie passed in April of 1912, and Little Maggie in June 1912. They are buried in the Landtroop Cemetery in Loretto. No further information on Beulah has surfaced.
Huston had to give up the family sawmill business about that time because he was also ill. John D. and Janie took the little girls to raise, and the boys stayed with Huston about a year before going to work for farming families in the West Point area. Huston lived with his daughter Virgie and her family until his death in 1919. He is buried in the Mount Zion Church Cemetery on West Point Road.
The census records referenced herein for Huston are District #2, Loretto, TN. He was not documented in West Point TN District #15 although; he was gradually moving his saw mill in that direction.
Huston MATTHEWS was considered one of the best saw millers in the county; he was often called on by other saw mill operators to straighten their saws for them. His son Floyd said that Huston and Solon were so good at their business that they could just look at the timber and tell exactly how much lumber it would yield. All the boys worked in the family business, some eventually ran their own sawmills.
Huston and Nannie's son Floyd lived to be one hundred and five. He had such an incredible Naval/Submarine career, that many Internet articles and stories have been written about him. He wrote poems and many stories about his life.
Research by S. Jane Harlan
05 DEC 2010
John Huston Matthews
John Huston and Nannie
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Written by Jane Harlan
I've been very reluctant to pen a story about my great-grandfather John Huston MATTHEWS, because stories about the man continue to come our way. I've researched the MATTHEWS for some time now and discovered that some speculations about his life already in print are unfounded, and need correcting.
Stories passed down through the years from my Dad (Glynn PERRY], my grandmother (Virgie Matthews PERRY), and other family members help substantiate the legends about the man. Huston's granddaughter [Glynn's sister] Mary COATS, has been a wonderful source of information over the last few years. She has dispelled some rumors and validated others. Dad loved to tell funny stories about his grandfather who was called Huston; not John.
The first rumor to investigate was how many times did Huston marry? The Mormons' Salt Lake City “Family Search” Site has records submitted by Eva McCAFFERTY about the MATTHEWS family. Eva stated that Huston married five times; and maybe he should have but only two marriage licenses exist for him on “Ancestry.com” where most historical records are found.
McCAFFERTY mistakenly used records of Enoch Houston MATHEWS to name Mary FRANKLIN as a 'wife' of Huston. When the iron ore mine closed where he worked, Enoch went back to Lawrence County Alabama to work the mines there. This MATHEWS was in the Westpoint Census at the same time my great-grandfather and his family were living in the Loretto TN district. In fact, Huston was never documented in the Westpoint district censuses. Chinubee was probably the dividing line between the two districts.
Huston never had a wife named “Margaret VANDIVER.” I think that rumor was started when my grandmother; in her later years, confused the name with “VENABLE.” [Virgie didn't remember her mother.] I'm guilty of keeping that rumor alive because I believed her. After months of searching for a lady that never existed I realized the error and marked her off the list.
Margaret Elizabeth VENABLE was Huston's first wife. They married in 1874 in Giles County. They had eight children. Margaret grew up in Giles, but she and her mother were in Lawrence County by late 1860. Her mother Mary [Malone] VENABLE married a second time to Richard Benjamin POWELL so they moved to his home near Loretto.
JOHN HUSTON MATTHEWS was born in Lauderdale Alabama in 1854 to Stephen James and Catherine PRICE MATTHEWS, their ninth child. Since SJM and Catherine lived in Lexington, I think Huston and his young family may have lived on the MATTHEWS property, near them, or in their household the first few years of marriage. [Has not been proved] The older children, Carrie Francis, Mary Nora, John D., and Virgie were born in Alabama so Bob must have been also. Ad stated on his Military registration papers that he was born in Loretto. Therefore, his twin Price would have been also. I don't know where Solon was born.
The 1880 census had Huston, Margaret and children in the Loretto district just across the state line from Lexington. A close neighbor was his widowed mother-in-law Mary POWELL.
By 1900 Huston was widowed; as was hi s daughter Nora. She was in his household along with her brothers. Mary COATS said Nora helped raise the twins Ad and Price. [And possibly Solon]
Margaret may have died between January 1890 and June 1900. There is an obituary in a Lauderdale newspaper for a Margaret MATHEWS who died September 5, 1899. I don't know if that was my great-grandmother or not. Huston told Virgie that Margaret was buried in the Bluewater Church Cemetery in Mitchelltown Alabama “near her people.”
Huston was apparently widowed for several years. Most of his descendants acknowledge that he may have fathered two children during that time period.
Ethel WATERS; born in 1896 believed Huston was her father. [She married Nath BLACKWELLl and had five children.] Huston's son John D. married Ethel's older sister Janie WATERS. Their mother was Eliza Jane “Doad” WATERS. In the 1900 census, Doad stated she had seven children but only five were living. She was in the home of her son James in 1910; where she lived until her death in 1917.
Mary COATS knew Ethel and loved to visit her whenever she could. She believes that Ethel and Sharp MATTHEWS were brother and sister. Mary said that when Sharp was born, Doad was unable to care for her infant so a relative in Ethridge raised him. She thought the name of the family was MARTIN. Mary stated in 2008 that Doad told someone -but couldn't remember who-that Huston was not Ethel's father. [Mary's beliefs cannot be proven.] There was another Huston and another John MATTHEWS living near the Waters, so who knows? Nevertheless, Huston did not have a wife named Sallie WATERS as stated by Eva McCAFFERTY.
The archives has an obituary from the local newspaper for William Frank “Sharp” MATTHEWS who died in 1972. His parents are listed as John and Callie Day MATTHEWS. There is no marriage certificate on file for the two. [MCCAFFERTY did not have Callie listed as Huston's wife.]
Huston married Nancy “Nannie” E. FARRIS in 1904. Irma PLOTT's notes state they married May 1, 1902 but that marriage was annulled; then they remarried in 1904. I haven't looked for those documents. Huston and Nannie had five children: Floyd, Roy, Beulah, Viola, and Maggie.
Bill MATTHEWS and Jesse CLAYTON made a video of Floyd and Roy in 1998. In it, they spoke about their father during the period after Nannie's death in 1912. Huston was in ill health so he gave up his family business and ceased to maintain a household. His older sons went to other sawmill jobs and his younger children by Nannie went to live with family or friends, except for Floyd who stayed with his father about a year, he said. Huston occasionally worked for other saw millers. He and his sons were well known as some of the best in the county; Huston and Solon being the best. Whenever saws became warped, the millers needed Huston to correct the problem. He and Solon also had the ability to just look at the timber and determine exactly how much lumber could be milled from a single log. Solon and John D. later operated sawmills of their own.
Floyd was living with a farming family before joining the navy in 1919. Six months later, Huston died of a stroke or heart attack at Virgie's home. Mary said they were eating their Christmas dinner at the time.
Huston MATTHEWS and four of his children as well as other descendants were buried in the Mount Zion Knob Creek Cemetery; across the creek from the Mount Zion Methodist Church on Westpoint Road. He milled the lumber for construction of the church and a small schoolhouse next to it. Huston's son John D. preached and lead the singing there for many years.
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Written by Jane Harlan
I've been very reluctant to pen a story about my great-grandfather John Huston MATTHEWS, because stories about the man continue to come our way. I've researched the MATTHEWS for some time now and discovered that some speculations about his life already in print are unfounded, and need correcting.
Stories passed down through the years from my Dad (Glynn PERRY], my grandmother (Virgie Matthews PERRY), and other family members help substantiate the legends about the man. Huston's granddaughter [Glynn's sister] Mary COATS, has been a wonderful source of information over the last few years. She has dispelled some rumors and validated others. Dad loved to tell funny stories about his grandfather who was called Huston; not John.
The first rumor to investigate was how many times did Huston marry? The Mormons' Salt Lake City “Family Search” Site has records submitted by Eva McCAFFERTY about the MATTHEWS family. Eva stated that Huston married five times; and maybe he should have but only two marriage licenses exist for him on “Ancestry.com” where most historical records are found.
McCAFFERTY mistakenly used records of Enoch Houston MATHEWS to name Mary FRANKLIN as a 'wife' of Huston. When the iron ore mine closed where he worked, Enoch went back to Lawrence County Alabama to work the mines there. This MATHEWS was in the Westpoint Census at the same time my great-grandfather and his family were living in the Loretto TN district. In fact, Huston was never documented in the Westpoint district censuses. Chinubee was probably the dividing line between the two districts.
Huston never had a wife named “Margaret VANDIVER.” I think that rumor was started when my grandmother; in her later years, confused the name with “VENABLE.” [Virgie didn't remember her mother.] I'm guilty of keeping that rumor alive because I believed her. After months of searching for a lady that never existed I realized the error and marked her off the list.
Margaret Elizabeth VENABLE was Huston's first wife. They married in 1874 in Giles County. They had eight children. Margaret grew up in Giles, but she and her mother were in Lawrence County by late 1860. Her mother Mary [Malone] VENABLE married a second time to Richard Benjamin POWELL so they moved to his home near Loretto.
JOHN HUSTON MATTHEWS was born in Lauderdale Alabama in 1854 to Stephen James and Catherine PRICE MATTHEWS, their ninth child. Since SJM and Catherine lived in Lexington, I think Huston and his young family may have lived on the MATTHEWS property, near them, or in their household the first few years of marriage. [Has not been proved] The older children, Carrie Francis, Mary Nora, John D., and Virgie were born in Alabama so Bob must have been also. Ad stated on his Military registration papers that he was born in Loretto. Therefore, his twin Price would have been also. I don't know where Solon was born.
The 1880 census had Huston, Margaret and children in the Loretto district just across the state line from Lexington. A close neighbor was his widowed mother-in-law Mary POWELL.
By 1900 Huston was widowed; as was hi s daughter Nora. She was in his household along with her brothers. Mary COATS said Nora helped raise the twins Ad and Price. [And possibly Solon]
Margaret may have died between January 1890 and June 1900. There is an obituary in a Lauderdale newspaper for a Margaret MATHEWS who died September 5, 1899. I don't know if that was my great-grandmother or not. Huston told Virgie that Margaret was buried in the Bluewater Church Cemetery in Mitchelltown Alabama “near her people.”
Huston was apparently widowed for several years. Most of his descendants acknowledge that he may have fathered two children during that time period.
Ethel WATERS; born in 1896 believed Huston was her father. [She married Nath BLACKWELLl and had five children.] Huston's son John D. married Ethel's older sister Janie WATERS. Their mother was Eliza Jane “Doad” WATERS. In the 1900 census, Doad stated she had seven children but only five were living. She was in the home of her son James in 1910; where she lived until her death in 1917.
Mary COATS knew Ethel and loved to visit her whenever she could. She believes that Ethel and Sharp MATTHEWS were brother and sister. Mary said that when Sharp was born, Doad was unable to care for her infant so a relative in Ethridge raised him. She thought the name of the family was MARTIN. Mary stated in 2008 that Doad told someone -but couldn't remember who-that Huston was not Ethel's father. [Mary's beliefs cannot be proven.] There was another Huston and another John MATTHEWS living near the Waters, so who knows? Nevertheless, Huston did not have a wife named Sallie WATERS as stated by Eva McCAFFERTY.
The archives has an obituary from the local newspaper for William Frank “Sharp” MATTHEWS who died in 1972. His parents are listed as John and Callie Day MATTHEWS. There is no marriage certificate on file for the two. [MCCAFFERTY did not have Callie listed as Huston's wife.]
Huston married Nancy “Nannie” E. FARRIS in 1904. Irma PLOTT's notes state they married May 1, 1902 but that marriage was annulled; then they remarried in 1904. I haven't looked for those documents. Huston and Nannie had five children: Floyd, Roy, Beulah, Viola, and Maggie.
Bill MATTHEWS and Jesse CLAYTON made a video of Floyd and Roy in 1998. In it, they spoke about their father during the period after Nannie's death in 1912. Huston was in ill health so he gave up his family business and ceased to maintain a household. His older sons went to other sawmill jobs and his younger children by Nannie went to live with family or friends, except for Floyd who stayed with his father about a year, he said. Huston occasionally worked for other saw millers. He and his sons were well known as some of the best in the county; Huston and Solon being the best. Whenever saws became warped, the millers needed Huston to correct the problem. He and Solon also had the ability to just look at the timber and determine exactly how much lumber could be milled from a single log. Solon and John D. later operated sawmills of their own.
Floyd was living with a farming family before joining the navy in 1919. Six months later, Huston died of a stroke or heart attack at Virgie's home. Mary said they were eating their Christmas dinner at the time.
Huston MATTHEWS and four of his children as well as other descendants were buried in the Mount Zion Knob Creek Cemetery; across the creek from the Mount Zion Methodist Church on Westpoint Road. He milled the lumber for construction of the church and a small schoolhouse next to it. Huston's son John D. preached and lead the singing there for many years.
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Margaret Venable and John Huston John Huston Matthews Nannie Farris
NANNIE FARRIS STORY
Written by Jane Harlan
John Houston Matthews second wife and the mother of his last five children was Nancy ‘Nannie’ Farris. All evidence gathered recently leads me to believe that Nannie was born in Giles County, TN in December 1877 to William Franklin and Lydia L.J. Kelly Farris. Lydia died in December of 1879 in Giles County.
Nannie, her older sister Eunice and younger Brother William went to live with her father’s mother, Nancy Farris (Leander Farris died in 1878). Her other siblings; Leonard and Inez were raised by their aunt and Uncle, Molly and Judge Warren of Giles County. Nannie’s father William (or Frank, as he was called) boarded with one of his sisters and her husband, working as a laborer on their farm until later when he married Mary Hathcoat in the 1880’s and reared another family of five children.
Nannie was in the household of her brother Leonard and his wife Caroline ‘Callie’ Conway Farris in southern Lawrence County in 1900. This is the same area of the country where the Matthews lived. Leonard and wife Callie had a daughter named Margaret who lived in the Appleton area. She married twice, and has descendants still living in Lawrence County.
Houston and Nannie were married in 1904 and had the following Children: Floyd Houston, Roy Francis, Viola, Beulah, and ‘Little Maggie’. All the children were quite small when their mother Nannie became ill and died April 28, 1912. Little Maggie was barely ten months old. Maggie passed on June 15th, just weeks later.
John D. and Janie Matthews (older half-brother and wife) took the girls to raise. Beulah apparently died the same year as her father, Houston, in 1919. Floyd and Roy went to live with neighboring families.
It is so tragic that Nannie died young, leaving small children behind; just as her mother before her, when Nannie was only three.
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Nannie, her older sister Eunice and younger Brother William went to live with her father’s mother, Nancy Farris (Leander Farris died in 1878). Her other siblings; Leonard and Inez were raised by their aunt and Uncle, Molly and Judge Warren of Giles County. Nannie’s father William (or Frank, as he was called) boarded with one of his sisters and her husband, working as a laborer on their farm until later when he married Mary Hathcoat in the 1880’s and reared another family of five children.
Nannie was in the household of her brother Leonard and his wife Caroline ‘Callie’ Conway Farris in southern Lawrence County in 1900. This is the same area of the country where the Matthews lived. Leonard and wife Callie had a daughter named Margaret who lived in the Appleton area. She married twice, and has descendants still living in Lawrence County.
Houston and Nannie were married in 1904 and had the following Children: Floyd Houston, Roy Francis, Viola, Beulah, and ‘Little Maggie’. All the children were quite small when their mother Nannie became ill and died April 28, 1912. Little Maggie was barely ten months old. Maggie passed on June 15th, just weeks later.
John D. and Janie Matthews (older half-brother and wife) took the girls to raise. Beulah apparently died the same year as her father, Houston, in 1919. Floyd and Roy went to live with neighboring families.
It is so tragic that Nannie died young, leaving small children behind; just as her mother before her, when Nannie was only three.
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