HORTON GENEALOGY;
OR
CHRONICLES
OF THE
Descendants of Barnabas Horton,
OF SOUTHOLD, L. I., 1640.
COMPILED BY GEO. F. HORTON, M.D.
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY THE HOME CIRCLE PUBLISHING CO.
1876.
[ERRATA.]
[Page 11, line 25], for Zenia read Zeruiah, and in the same line read case instead of cose.
[Page 18, line 13], for Elizabeth read Elijah, and in the same line read Pamela instead of Jarnella.
[Page 26, line 6], for Elizabeth read Jemima.
[Page 68, line 4], for 1698 read 1689, and in the 9th line instead of 1776 read 1767.
[Page 100, line 32], read Rowena Nancy M., Capt. Familton, Harry M., unmarried.
Errors in spelling, and occasionally discrepancies in dates may be found, but their correction will readily suggest itself to the reader.
Horton.
HORTON ARMS. DERBYSHIRE.
A stag's head cabossed, silver; attired, gold; and, for distinction, a canton ermine.
Crest, out of the waves of the sea proper, a tilting spear erect, gold; enfiled with a dolphin, silver, finned, gold, and charged with a shell.
[Cabossed means cut off short so as not to show the neck; attired denotes the horns; canton ermine, means the black spots upon the white field in the left-hand corner. In the picture the artist has not given the shell upon the dolphin.]
Motto.—"Quod Vult, Valde Vult,"—What he wills, he wills cordially and without stint.
Arms are hereditary, but the mottoes are not, and may be changed to suit the taste or fancy of any family. There are other Arms of the Horton family, varying somewhat from the above. The date of the grant of the arms I have not found—probably many centuries ago.
[PREFACE—INTRODUCTION.]
We give Barnabas Horton as the Preface and Introduction to this little volume of Chronicles. He was probably the son of Joseph Horton, of Leicestershire, England, and born in the little hamlet of Mousely of that shire. Of his history before he came to America very little is known. He came over in the ship "Swallow" in 1633–38. He landed at Hampton, Mass. How long he remained at Hampton is not known. But in 1640 we find him with his wife and two children in New Haven, Conn., in company with the Rev. John Youngs, William Welles, Esq., Peter Hallock, John Tuthill, Richard Terry, Thomas Mapes, Matthias Corwin, Robert Ackerly, Jacob Corey, John Conklin, Isaac Arnold, and John Budd, and on the 21st day of Oct., 1640, assisted by the venerable Rev. John Davenport and Gov. Eaton, they organized themselves into a Congregational Church, and sailed to the east end of Long Island, now Southold. They had all been members of Puritan churches in England, and all had families with them except Peter Hallock. They doubtless had been on the island previous to this time and looked out their homes. On nearing the shore they cast lots to decide who should first set foot on the land. The lot fell on Peter Hallock, and the place where he stepped upon the land has ever since been known as Hallock's Landing.
On coming ashore, they all knelt down and engaged in prayer, Peter Hallock leading, as had been determined by the lot. These were the first persons of any civilized nation that had ever attempted to settle on the east end of Long Island. See Griffin's Journal.
Barnabas Horton was a man of deep-toned piety, and a warm advocate of civil and religious freedom. He was one of the most prominent and influential men of Southold. He was for many years a magistrate, and several times a member of the General Court at New Haven and Harford. He built the first framed dwelling-house ever erected on the east of Long Island, and that house is still (1875) standing and occupied. It is a shingle-house, that is, shingles are used for weather-boards, and the sides have never been reshingled, and the roof but once, according to the statement of Jonathan Goldsmith Horton, the last Horton occupant of the old house.
It is said that Barnabas Horton I. was large in stature, and of a ruddy complexion, and of fine social qualities.
His tombstone is of English blue marble, five feet long and about three feet wide. It is placed horizontally over the grave. The stone was re-lettered about fifty or sixty years ago by Jonathan G. Horton. It is elevated about eighteen inches from the ground, on a good stone base. The original base was of brick, but it had all crumbled down many years ago. The present base was put under the stone at the time it was re-lettered by Jonathan G. Horton.
The inscription surrounds the border of the stone, and reads as follows:
"Here lieth buried the body of Mr. Barnabas Horton, who was born at Mousely, Leicestershire, Old England, and died at Southold, on the 13th day of July, 1680, aged 80 years."
In the centre of the stone we find the Epitaph, as follows:
"Here lies my body tombed in dust
'Till Christ shall come to raise it with the just;
My soul ascended to the throne of God,
Where with sweet Jesus now I make abode:
Then hasten after me, my dearest wife,
To be partaker of this blessed life;
And you, dear children, all follow the Lord,
Hear and obey His public sacred word;
And in your houses call upon His name,
For oft I have advised you to the same:
Then God will bless you with your children all,
And to this blessed place He will you call."
Heb. xi: 4.—"He being dead, yet speaketh."
It is said that this epitaph was written by himself, and that it, together with the inscription, date of his death excepted, was all put upon the stone before he died. He was the only one of the original thirteen who brought his tombstone with him, and this fact seems to indicate a commendable desire to see that his name and memory should not perish from the earth.
Note.—We have followed Griffin's Journal in relation to the thirteen old Puritans who first settled in Southold. But C. B. Moore, Esq., of New York City, who has been more thorough and faithful than any other person, in studying the history and genealogy of the early settlers of Southold—examining all the deeds and wills, and other authentic documents to be found, and also copying the inscriptions from every headstone, not only in Southold, but over nearly the whole Island—makes it very evident that some of those named were not there at so early a date, and he also says that Peter Hallock, who is named as one of the thirteen, was the grandson of the Puritan Hallock who settled at Southold, and whose Christian name was William. Mr. Moore is one of the best genealogists of the country, and in relation to Long Island, he is the best authority extant.