Life History

Notes

• Family Data Collection - Individual Records
  Joseph Horton
  Spouse Mary Webb
  Parents Anna
  Birth 1780 Surry County, NC
  Marriage Date 26 Aug 1800
  Death 22 Dec 1876 Carroll County, VA
  
  This Family Data Collection reports Surry County, North Carolina, as Joseph's place of birth.  This is reinforced by the census reports of 1850, 1860 and 1870.  However, the Virginia  Deaths and Burials Index reports his birth and death both in Virginia.  The place of birth here is reported as Grayson County, Virginia.  This is also the location of his and Mary's marriage.  This report of birth in Virginia conflicts with virtually all other family facts.  But he could have been born in Grayson County, since this is the neighboring county north of Surry across the border into Virginia.
  
  Before their marriage Joseph had been living in the area of Fruit Hill, the location of which is not clear.  There was another meeting there referred to as a preparative meeting.  In November 1799, the minutes also refer to Westfield Meeting as a Preparative Meeting, but the Fruit Hill and Chesnut Hill metings are associated with Westfield, also as Preparative meeitngs.  (Westfield was later called New Garden, then Guilford College.)  In their November 1799 meeting, the Westfield group approved the transfer of Joesph Horton's membership  to the Fruit Hill meeting.
  
  U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935
  Joseph Horton
  Residence 23 November 1799
  Residence Fruit Hill, Grayson County, Virginia
  "Joseph Horton 's Request having been for some time under the Cear [care] of Fruit Hill Preparative Meeting and now Request [sic] to be Joind [sic] in membership which this meeting grants."
  [It is not clear where Fruit Hill is (also referrred to in some minutes as Fruithill.]
  Westfield Preparative Monthly Meeting, Surry County, North Carolina, North Carolina Yearly Meeting, Records p 192
  
  Fruit HIll was in Virginia, across the border from Surry County where Westfield was located.
  
  "At this point let us point out the Quarterly Meetings of which Westfield Monthly Meeting has been a part. It was originally founded in 1786 as a member of the Western Quarterly Meeting. It was transferred to the newly organized New Garden Quarterly Meeting in 1787. Within the next few years, Westfield itself branched out and formed new Monthly Meetings at Lost Creek in Tennessee in 1793, at New Hope in Tennessee in 1795, Mount Pleasant and Fruit Hill in Virginia in 1797, at North Providence in 1801, and so in 1803 the Westfield Quarterly Meeting set off."
  --  "Westfield Meeting," Quakers RootsWeb, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers/westfield.htm
  
  It is this Fruit Hill meeting that requested Westfield Meeting to confirm their dismissal of Joseph for marrying contrary to their procedures.  Joseph Horton was censured for this marriage and dismissed from membership in the Westfield Friends Monthly Meeting minutes in 1801.  In November he is reported and dismissed, and in the December 1801 meeting, a reference is made to a report of the decision.
  
  U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935
  Joseph Horton
  Residence 21 November 1801
  Residence Place Surry, North Carolina
  "Fruithill Preparative Meeting Complains of Joseph Horton for Accomplishing his Marriage contrary to discipline for which this meeting tiestifies [sic] against and Disowns the sd [said] Joseph Horton from being a member of our Society until his condemn the Same to the Satisfaction of this meeting which that he may is Desired [sic].  Robert Commons is appointed to give him a Copy of this proceeding of the meeting against him and report his Care to the next meeting"
  Westfield Preparative Monthly Meeting, Surry County, North Carolina, North Carolina Yearly Meeting, Records p 219
  
  U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935
  Joseph Horton
  Residence 19 December 1801
  Residence Place Surry, North Carolina
  "The friends appointed to give Joseph Horton a copy of the proceedings of the meeting against him Report that it is complyd with." [ref November 1801 meeting minutes: for marrying "contrary to discipline" apparently because his wife was not a Quaker]
  Westfield Preparative Monthly Meeting, North Carolina Yearly Meeting, Surry County, North Carolina, Records p 220
  
  The date of the Virginia marriage record is August 1800, but the censure and dismissal did not occur until November 1801.  Some have referenced the 1801 date as the date (year) of marriage, but the Virginia marriage records indicate it was over a year before the Westfield Meeting acted on it.
  
  The article below refers to the marriage as occurring in 1801, probably in reference to the Quaker records, not the Virginia marriage record.
  
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  Mary WEBB was born about 1785.  She died about 1876.  She was also known as Mary Horton. She was buried in Webb-Thompson Cm, Snake Creek, Carroll County, Virginia.
  Mary is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave at the Webb-Thompson Cemetery.
  
  Mary WEBB and Joseph HORTON were married in 1801 in Grayson County, Virginia. Joseph HORTON (son of John HORTON and Anna (HORTON)) was born about 1780 in Grayson County, Virginia.  He died on 22 Dec 1875 in Carroll County, Virginia. [Alternate date from some sources:]  12 He died on 22 Dec 1876.  He was buried in Webb-Thompson Cm, Snake Creek, Carroll County, Virginia.
  
  Joseph Whorton and Mary Web on marriage register. Parents listed as John and Anna on the death register. The conflict in death dates must be the two different registers. Death register lists birth place as Grayson, not North Carolina.
  
  Joseph Horton was "born a Quaker and went from Westfield, N.C. to Carroll County, Va., and was the first of the name to go to this county.  He fought in the War of 1812 and his father was killed in the Revolutionary War.  [Other sources report his father moved to Missouri and died there in 1827.]  All of his family left to go West and were never heard from again.  It was thought that they were killed by the Indians.  I have heard my grandmother say that he had to build fires around his flock of sheep to keep the wolves away, the country was so wild and unsettled at that time.  He married the daughter of Henry Webb, the ancestor of the Snake Creek Webb family.  I have heard my grandmother recite the poem in which he asked Henry Webb for the hand of his daughter, Mary....  When he married outside of the Quaker religion, he was dropped from the meeting." (Tillinghast, Some Things I Learned)
  
  They were dismissed from the Westfield Meeting in November 1801.
  
  It is believed he spent most of his life with his in-laws and that he and Mary are buried in the Webb-Thompson Cemetery on Snake Creek although there are no grave markers. (Alderman, The Settlements, p.82)
  
  The first records from the Snake Creek Primitive Baptist Church dated Sat. Oct. 1848 (the first Saturday of the month) stated that Joseph Horton and his wife Mary W. Horton were two of the thirty founders of the Snake Creek Primitive Baptist Church. It is possible that they previously belonged to the Laurel Fork Primitive Baptist Church. (from Archie Goad).
  Joseph's death record says he was born in Grayson County. Most writers believe he was from North Carolina.
  
  --  Janice K Smith, Rootsweb Trees, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~janiceksmith/webb/b564.htm#P564 (Thanks to Lynne Burgess for this source)
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  1850 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia, 3 September, District 11, page 346, Hse/Fam #412
  Joseph Horton 68 M Farmer $100 Real Estate Value b North Carolina
  Mary Horton 65 F b VA Cannot read & write
  William R Horton 18 M Farmer b VA Cannot read & write
  
  In th 1960 census they are living in the household of their son William and his family.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia, 7 July, page 53, Hse #34, Fam #351
  William R Horton 28 M Farmer $500 Real Estate $165 Personal born VA [b abt 1832]
  Anici Horton 20 F born VA Cannot read or write [b abt 1840]
  Pauline C Horton 4 F born VA [b abt 1856]
  Ellis F Horton 1 M born VA [b abt 1859]
  Joseph Horton 78 M Farmer born NC Cannot read or write [b abt 1782]
  Mary Horton 75 F born VA [b abt 1785]
  
  1870 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia, 1 August, Laurel Fork, PO Hillsville, page 1 (scan 423), Hse/Fam #2
  Horton, Joseph Sr 90 M W Farmer $360 Real Estate $500 Personal born No Carolina cannot write [b abt 1780]
  Horton, Mary 85 F W Keeping House b VA [b abt 1785]
  
  Their son William's family was next door, enumerated as family 1 on the page.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia, 1 August, Laurel Fork, PO Hillsville, page 1 (scan 423), Hse/Fam #1
  Horton, William R 38 M W Farmer $500 Real Estate $275 Personal born VA [b abt 1832]
  Horton, Annis 30 F W Keeping House b VA [b abt 1840]
  Horton, Paulina C 14 F W At Home born VA [b abt 1856]
  Horton, Ellis F 11 M W At Home born VA [b abt 1859]
  Horton, Mary A 9 F W At Home born VA [b abt 1861]
  
  Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940
  Joseph Wharton
  Marriage 26 Aug 1800 Grayson County, Virginia
  Spouse Mary Webb
  Register 1, p 41
  
  U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815
  Joseph Horton
  Company 7 REG'T (SAUNDER'S) VIRGINIA MILITIA
  PRIVATE
  Roll Box 103
  
  Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917
  Joseph Horton
  Birth abt 1780 Grayson County, Virginia
  Death 22 Dec 1875 Carroll, Virginia
  Age 95, Occupation Farmer, Widowed
  Father John Horton
  Mother Anna Horton
  
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  Joseph Horton
  Birth 1780
  Death 1876
  
  Pvt - Va Militia War of 1812
  
  Spouse Mary Webb Horton (1785 - 1876)
  Children:
  James Horton (1803 - 1893)
  Rachel Horton Gardner (1807 - ____)
  Jacob Horton (1820 - 1890)
  Andrew  Horton (1828 - 1864)
  William Riley Horton (1831 - 1920)
  
  Other children born to Joseph & Mary Webb Horton:
  Benjamin Horton 1804-1887
  Susanna Horton Brisendine 1808-?
  Henry Horton 1811-?
  Lucy Horton 1813-?
  Isaac Horton 1815-?
  Mary Horton 1821-?
  Joseph Horton, II 1825-1915
  Johanna Horton 1827-?
  John Horton 1833-?
  Abraham Horton
  
  Burial Webb Cemetery, Hillsville, Carroll County, Virginia
  
  Maintained by Denise Drake Horton, Originally Created by Donna Sutphin Armentrout Jul 31, 2010
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #55665610, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55665610
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Sources

• 1. RootsWeb Trees
• 2. Ancestry Trees
• 3. Family Data Collection - Individual Records
• 4. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 5. Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917
• 6. 1850 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia
  • 3 September, District 11, page 346, Hse/Fam #412
• 7. 1860 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia
  • 7 July, page 53, Hse #34, Fam #351
• 8. 1870 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia
  • 1 August, Laurel Fork, PO Hillsville, page 1 (scan 423), Hse/Fam #2
• 9. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935
• 10. Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940
• 11. Thea Sparks