Analysis:Christopher Houston of Mill Creek Hundred, and the Whitehorn Houston's

The following assessment of the potential relationship between Christopher Huston of Mill Creek Hundred and William Houston of Whithorn, was developed by Jim Houston, and used here by permission. Some of this is slightly reworded to fit the current format. Sources used include:

Source:Houston, 1973 Christopher Houston, 1829-1892. Compiled by Kenneth Houston (Chicago, Ill.: Adams Press, 1973, 20 pp.)

Known and Hypothetical Family Relationships for the Houston's of Cotreoch

....more to be added as it comes to hand.

See also: Known and Hypothetical Family Relationships for the Houston's of Cotreoch for a working descendancy diagram.

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Analysis

One avenue that I have been pursuing is that Christopher Huston of Mill Creek Hundred is descended from Anthony Houston of Drummaston and Prestorie in Whithorn Parish, Wigtonshire and his wife Susan Murray. The book, "Christopher Houston, 1829-1892" compiled by Compiled by Kenneth Houston makes the following claim:

Blue Dot: Wigton; Red Dot: Whitehorn

Anthony Houston [son of William Houston and Katherine Vaus] married Susan Murray, the daughter of Murray of Broughton. Their sons were:

John who succeeded at Drumastone;

Alexander who succeeded at Pretoris;

[There is also] evidence of a son who was banished from Scotland.

In 1643 Anthony Houston represented the regality of Whithorn in the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh. This family owned much of the property in Wigtonshire. Anthony Houston died in 1644. John was succeeded by Patrick Houston who built the Isle-of_Whithorn castle in 1674. Patrick Houston died by 1731, when a testament for his widow, Margaret Gordon Houston, was recorded in the Commissariot of Wigton.

This work also claims that Anthony Houston and Susan Murray may have had a child named Christopher who may have been of Castlederg as follows:

Location Map for Castlederg, Tyrone, Ireland

...Christopher Houston... was born in Galloway in 1630. He appears to have been the son of Anthony Houston of Drumastone ^[1] in Wigtonshire [West Galloway]....In 1660 Christopher joined an uprising of Covenanters who called themselves "The Saints" but they were defeated by the king's troops. Those were sad times in Scotland's history. Death and the cruelest forms of punishment were inflicted on these who chose to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience rather than in the established church, others were fined, imprisoned or banished from the country. It was in this maelstrom of religious conflict that Christopher Houston and a host of others were forced to flee their Scottish homes and seek a refuge in the north of Ireland. Christopher Houston and his family crossed the narrow North Channel in a small open boat and settled on a farm near Castlederg in the county of Tyrone...Christopher Houston had two sons, William and James. Christopher Houston died in 1700. He is buried in the Castlederg churchyard beside his wife.

I believe that this Christopher Houston may be the same Christopher Houston who married Mary Spreull about 1662 in the parish of Templemore, Londonderry, Ireland. William Houston would then presumably have been born after 1662. In a completely wild guess I am further speculating that Christopher Huston of Mill Creek Hundred was the son of this William Houston born after1662 and that this Christopher was named for his grandfather Christopher Houston of Castlederg.

The William Houston and Anthony Houston you mentioned in your message are, I believe, my 7th great-uncle and 7th great-grandfather. The Anthony Houston of Drummaston above was , I believe, my 9th great-uncle. Anthony Houston of Drummaston parents and the brother’s William and Anthony Houston’s great-grandparents were William Houston of Cotreoch and Katherine Vaus^[2]

Jim Houston

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