I. Lieut. Israel, son of [Jonathan Horton and Elizabeth Goldsmith] (Jonathan, Caleb I.), born at Cutchogue, about 1728; married in 1755, to Sarah Lee, daughter of Rev. John Lee, of Lyme, Conn., born about 1730. The Rev. John Lee had two sons who were preachers.
Israel and his family moved from Cutchogue to Goshen Township in 1762. He was a farmer. In the Autumn of 1771, he went to Newburgh with a load of grain. On the way home, he was taken sick, succeeded in getting home, but died in a day or two after. About 1782, his widow married Parshall Terry, formerly of Southold. He was a widower, was living with his family in Wyoming Valley in 1778. He and his family were in the famed Forty Fort the night after the Indian battle and massacre. The next morning they fled to the mountains and after suffering great hardships, crossing the "big swamp," afterwards known as "Swamp Dismal," or the "Shades of Death," they reached Stroudsburg, Pa., in safety. Leaving his family here, he hastened to Orange Co., N. Y., for assistance. During his absence his wife was taken sick with "camp distemper" (malignant dysentery), and died leaving a large family of children, the youngest but three years old.
He took his family to Little Britain, Orange Co., N. Y., and as above-stated, married the widow Horton. The two families, all told, numbering twenty-two persons. The house in which they lived being an old-fashioned double log-house, they hired a school-master and made one part of it a school-house, thus evincing a laudable determination to have the education of their household properly cared for. The writer obtained these facts in 1828, from Benjamin Horton, son of Israel, who was one of the pupils. But this arrangement was not of long continuance, for in 1786, Sarah, the mother and step-mother died, and was buried by her first husband in Warwick Cemetery.
Israel Horton had children as follows, the first four born in Southold, the rest in Goshen, Orange Co.:
1. [Israel], born 23 Sept., 1756; married Anna Van Devort. 2. [Jason], born 18 Dec., 1758; married Mary Terry. 3. [Jeremiah], born 12 Nov., 1760; married Mary Goldsmith. 4. [Eunice], born Dec., 1761; married George Howell. 5. [John], born 30 July, 1763; married Deborah Terry. 6. [Joseph Lee], born 27 April, 1765; married Hannah Todd. 7. Sarah, born in 1767; died young. 8. [Mary], born 6 Dec., 1768; married John Clark. 9. [Samuel], born in 1770; died of small-pox; unmarried. 10. [Benjamin], born 7 Feb., 1772; married Hannah Vance.
Israel Horton and his wife were pious people, active members of the Southold Church, and after removing to Orange County they became members of the Presbyterian Church of Warwick. Their children were trained up to love and fear the Lord and keep his commandments. He was a soldier in the old French war, and, in 1758, bearing the commission of Lieutenant, he had charge of Fort Stanwix, N. Y., and remained there until the close of the war.
II. Jonathan, son of [Jonathan Horton and Elizabeth Goldsmith], born at Cutchogue, L. I., about 1730; married Bethia Horton about 1752, and moved to Orange Co., N. Y. He was a zealous Whig, and early espoused the cause of the colonies against the mother country. He was one of the signers for the Pledge for Independence, in 1775.—Vide "History of Orange County," page 499.
Children, probably born in Orange County:
1. [John], born 1753, went to Wyoming Valley; married Mary De La Montayne. 2. Caleb, went to New Jersey; married a Jayne. 3. Benjamin.