Houston

THE ILLUSTRATED R.K. HOUSTON FAMILY TREE—as of 12 December 2009 1

The Illustrated Robert Kern Houston Family Tree

Robert Kern Houston and Sarah Rebecca WrenRobert and Sarah were neighbors in the Itawamba County hills. When they married in 1855, he was 26 and she was 17. In the 1860 census, they lived next door to Sarah’s parents and two doors from Sarah’s sister, Nancy, and her husband, Tillman Howell.

Robert and Tillman joined Company K of the 42nd Mississippi Infantry in May of 1862, 10 months after the war began. Robert was 32 and a fifth-sergeant when he went off to war and Tillman, a corporal, was 30. They did not join the army until the war had been going for a year, so they may have been pressured by the local enlistment board. A year after joining the army, Tillman was wounded and captured at Gettysburg on 1 July 1863 and languished at Fort Delaware, a federal POW camp on Pea Patch Island, Delaware, for 13 months before dying on 26 August 1864. Robert was with Tillman at Gettysburg, and also fought at Falling Waters on July 14, 1863, and Bristoe Station in October of 1863. Then, for reasons we can no longer discern, Robert left the army and went home to Sarah after picking up his pay of $81 on January 3, 1864.

Robert and Sarah are buried side-by-side in the Salem Baptist Church Cemetery in Itawamba County, Mississippi, just a mile or two from the ridge-top farm on which they eked a living.

Their children are Belvadere “Belle,” George “Bud,” Nancy Margaret “Nan,” Jane, Mary, and Robert Lee.

Robert Kern Houston and Nancy WrenSarah died in October of 1867 at age 29. The following October, Robert married his sister-in-law, Nancy, who died before the census was taken in the summer of 1880. She would have been about 47. No one knows where Nancy is buried. Claims of her burial at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery are mistaken. The Nancy Wren buried there is our Nancy’s 12-year-old niece.

Nancy married James A. Moore in 1853; she was 15. He must have died because she


married Tillman Howell two years later. His father, Tillman Howell, sr., was the pastor of Concord Baptist Church in Fayette County, Alabama, before moving to Itawamba County, Mississippi. Tillman’s father moved to Arkansas in 1858. Tillman and Nancy had three children—Alonzo (b. 27 Dec 1855), George C. (b. Feb. 1860), and Matilda Jane “Mattie” (b. Sep 1862).

Robert and Nancy’s children are Sarah Ruth, a set of twins for which there is no known proof, and Biddy. It may be possible that Nancy died giving birth to twins. If so, she—and apparently they—died after Biddy was born and before the 1880 census. Sarah and Biddy are largely unknown to family members in Mississippi because they accepted an invitation from their half-brother, Dr. Alonzo C. Howell, to live with him in Oklahoma.



The info on this family line is attached to the back. It is incomplete and in some places wrong, but it is an excellent start.

Nancy Margaret Houston Bennett, the third child of R.K. and Sarah Rebecca Wren Houston.b. 26 Dec 1860Where: Itawamba County, MSDied __________ 1945, Belmont, Prentiss, MSMarried 15 Nov 1879 Itawamba County, MS

Frank Bennett, Nancy’shusband.b. Feb 1858 … Alabamad. _____ 1902 Both are buried at Old Bethel Cemetery off Red Bud Rd.

The Robert Kern Houston Family TimelineYEAR DATE EVENT1829 18 Aug R.K. Houston born in South Carolina to George and Margaret McCoy.1835 ----- Nancy Wren born in Alabama to George Washington Wren and 1838 27 Feb Sarah Rebecca Wren born


1847 13 Jul Mary Francis Wright born1853 3 Oct Nancy J. Wren marries James A. Moore—Itawamba Co. Marriage Book 41855 7 Sep R.K. Houston marries Sarah Rebecca Wren—Itawamba Co. Mar. Bk 41855 --- Nancy marries Tillman Howell. She was 20 and he was 23.1855 27 Dec Alonzo C. Howell born to Nancy and Tillman1856 10 Mar Laurana Waddle born1856 6 Aug Belvadier Unice “Belle” Houston born to R.K. and Sarah1858 6 Oct George “Bud” Houston born to R.K. and Sarah1860 Summr

CensusRobert & Sarah Houston lived in Dwelling 1543 / Tilman and Nancy Howell lived in Dwelling 1545 / George and Mary Wren lived in Dwelling 1546.

1860 26 Dec Nancy Margaret “Nan” Houston born to R.K. and Sarah1862 14 May R.K. Houston enlists in Co. K, 42nd MS Infantry1862 Sep Matilda Jane “Mattie” Howell born to Nancy and Tillman four months after Tillman

and R.K. joined the army. Mattie died 1 Jul 1954 in Oklahoma.1863 --- Jane Houston born to R.K. and Sarah1863 1 Jul Tillman Howell wounded and captured at Gettysburg1864 15 Mar Mary Houston born to R.K. and Sarah1864 26 Aug Tillman Howell dies in a federal POW camp.1866 9 Mar Robert Lee Houston born to R.K. and Sarah.1867 Oct Sarah Rebecca Wren Houston dies. She was 29.1868 6 Oct R.K. marries Nancy Wren Howell. She was 33; he was 39.1870 10 May Sarah Ruth Houston born to R.K. and Nancy 1875 23 May Biddy Houston born to R.K. and Nancy1879 8 Dec George “Bud” Houston marries Laurana Waddle. 1880 ---- Twins born to R.K. and Nancy—maybe. They and Nancy may have died of

complications.1880 ---- Nancy dies before the 1880 summer census. She would have been about 47.1883 3 Oct R.K. marries Mary Francis Wright.1884 27 Nov Belvadere Unice “Belle” Houston marries John Robert Rouse.1885 1 Oct Robert Knox Houston born to R.K. and Mary.1887 21 May Fannie C. Houston born to R.K. and Mary.1892 8 Aug Alonzo C. Howell dies in Oklahoma. He was 36.1900 17 Jul Sarah Ruth Houston Campbell dies in Oklahoma. She was 30.1905 4 Nov R.K. dies.1912 11 Jun John Robert Rouse and son Cleveland (age 15) are murdered by a neighbor.1938 11 Mar George “Bud” Houston dies.1940 15 Mar Belvadere Unice “Belle” Houston Rouse dies.1941 18 Jun Mary Francis Wright Houston dies.1945 ---- Nancy Margaret “Nan” Houston Bennett dies.1949 25 Aug Laurana Waddle Houston dies.

Robert Kern Houston and Mary Wright Robert married Mary Francis Wright married three years after Nancy died. Robert and Mary’s children are Robert Knox and Fannie C. Houston. (See Knox’s letter.)


Children of Robert Kern Houston and Sarah Rebecca Wren

Belvadere Unice “Belle” HoustonBelle Houston married John Robert Rouse when she was 28. They had five or six children, depending on whether you believe S.R. Rouse belongs to them. Most collectors of family history suggest that S.R. was a boy but I wonder if S.R. stands for Sarah Rebecca, in honor of Belle’s mother. I know nothing of this child except he or she did not live long, and he or she was born only seven months before Birdie.

Belvadere Unice “Belle” Houston b. 6 Aug 1856 in Itawamba County, Mississippi; d. 15 Mar 1940. Buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery, Itawamba County, MS.m. John Robert Rouse 27 Nov 1884 in Itawamba County, Mississippi. He was born 6 Aug 1856 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, and was murdered 11 Jun 1912. (See the story below.) Buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery, Itawamba County, Mississippi.

Children of Belvadere Unice “Belle” Houston and John Robert Rouse

Birdie—b. 21 June 1887, Itawamba County; d. 4 May 1941. She married G. Andrew Cleveland, who was born 8 April 1890 and died 11 November 1950; both are buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery

John Robert Jr.—b. 18 Mar 1889 in Itawamba County; d. 22 Apr 1963. He married Sarah Wynona “Nona” Parker, b. 3 Jul 1894; d. 24 Nov 1964. Both buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery.

Annie Mazie—b. 17 Jun 1891 in Itawamba County; d. 18 Nov 1930. Buried in Sandy Springs Cemetery in Itawamba County.

J.A. Cleveland—b. 2 Dec 1896 in Itawamba County; d. 11 Jun 1912 (See story below.) Buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery in Itawamba County.

Noah—b. 11 Sep 1899 in Itawamba County; d. 17 Jan 1900. Buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery in Itawamba County.


Children of Birdie Rouse and G. Andrew Cleveland

Unnamed daughterb. and d. 19 May 1930Buried at Salem Baptist Church CemeteryHaron Clevelandb. 3 Feb 1928; d. 31 Aug 1987m. Dorothy Mayhall b. 7 May 1929; d. 19 Mar 1991Haron and Dorothy are buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery.PICTURED: Birdie Rouse as a young woman

Children of John Robert Rouse, Jr. and Sarah Wynona Parker

Troy Lafayette Rouse (b.31 Jan 1915-Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.Jan 2002-Austell, Fulton, Georgia) sp: Hilda Catherine Pittman (b.9 Aug 1915-Maysville, Banks, Georgia; m.6 Nov 1938)

Robert Claud Rouse (b.27 Oct 1916-Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.26 Mar 2002-Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA) sp: Eyrah Pearl Booker (b.11 May 1915-Morris, Jefferson, Alabama, USA; m.29 Jan 1940; d.28 Feb 2005-Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA)

Roy Rouse (b.11 Jan 1919-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.31 Jul 1966-Tupelo, Lee, Mississippi) sp: Loyce Montgomery (b.24 Sep 1917-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; m.5 Jul 1942; d.9 Nov 1973-Tupelo, Lee, Mississippi)

John Robert Rouse, Jr. (b.18 Mar 1889-Near Fulton, Itawamba, Mississippi; d.22 Mar 1963-Dennis, Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Sayrah Wynona Parker (b.3 Jul 1894-Dennis, Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.24 Nov 1964-Tupelo, Lee, Mississippi)

Troy Lafayette Rouse (b.31 Jan 1915-Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.Jan 2002-Austell, Fulton, Georgia) sp: Hilda Catherine Pittman (b.9 Aug 1915-Maysville, Banks, Georgia; m.6 Nov 1938)

Robert Claud Rouse (b.27 Oct 1916-Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.26 Mar 2002-Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA)sp: Eyrah Pearl Booker (b.11 May 1915-Morris, Jefferson, Alabama,USA; m.29 Jan 1940; d.28 Feb 2005-Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA)

Roy Rouse (b.11 Jan 1919-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.31 Jul 1966-Tupelo, Lee, Mississippi)


sp: Loyce Montgomery (b.24 Sep 1917-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; m.5 Jul 1942; d.9 Nov 1973-Tupelo, Lee, Mississippi)

Ava Rouse (b.17 Aug 1920-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.2 Jan 1921-,Tishomingo, Mississippi)

Truman Wilburn Rouse (b.8 Nov 1921-,Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Lovie June Boyd (b.8 Aug 1930-,,Oklahoma; m.17 Apr 1948)

Edith Rouse (b.6 Sep 1923-Belmont, Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.18 Oct 2005-Iuka, Mississippi) sp: Hautis Sparks (m.11 Aug 1941(Div))

Orville Thomas Rouse (b.18 Feb 1925-,Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Essie Mae Parker (m.25 Mar 1950)

Robert Junior Rouse (b.1 Aug 1926-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.23 May 1984-,Fulton, Georgia) sp: Pearlie May Rainey (m.24 Jun 1950(Div); d.29 Jan 2003)

N R Rouse (b.9 Apr 1928-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; d.19 Feb 1991-,Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Helen Fuller (b.27 Sep 1929-Belmont, Tishomingo, Mississippi; m.2 Oct 1948)

Vera Nell Rouse (b.23 Dec 1929-,Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Howard Paul Pharr (b.29 Feb 1920-,Tishomingo, Mississippi; m.11 Sep 1949; d.6 Feb 1981)

Robert James Rouse (b.16 May 1932-Belmont, Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Lora Marie Hutcheson (b.25 Mar 1935-Baldwyn, Mississippi; m.6 Oct 1951)

Nellie Quay Rouse (b.4 Nov 1933-Belmont,Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Lyle Dean Messer (b.31 Mar 1935-Belmont, Tishomingo, Mississippi; m.22 Apr 1952; d.18 Apr 2003-Red Bay, Franklin, Alabama)

Billy Ray Rouse (b.14 Jul 1935-,Tishomingo, Mississippi) sp: Peggy Joyce Davis (b.2 Feb 1938; m.10 Jul 1955)


The Rouse MurdersBy Jerry Foster

Find a good map of the American South and put your finger on the Gulf of Mexico, then slide it around and around like a hurricane until you find Mobile Bay. Push your finger up the bay, up the Tombigbee River, up through western Alabama, up through the vineyards and olive groves planted by aristocratic exiles of France’s Napoleonic wars, up past the mounds heaped over time by ancient Americans.

Keep moving upward into Mississippi, up past the rich black prairie around Aberdeen, even up past Tupelo aways. Rest there a moment at what is now called Saucer Creek State Park. Leave the Tombigbee now and follow the creek eastward into oak-forested hills. From the 1830s, subsistence farmers scraped a living off of small fields on broad ridge-tops and canyon bottoms.

John Rouse was such a man. He farmed a few acres behind a mule and plow. He also dammed Saucer Creek to run a water wheel that powered a corn mill, cotton gin, and shake splitter. The dam was a 10-foot-wide wooden frame filled with dirt. He built his house and a neighborhood grocery store next to the water wheel, and another store in Belmont, six or seven miles northeast as the crow flies. His wife, Belle, minded the store on Saucer Creek and their daughter, Birdie, managed the store in town. When they went for supplies, they’d get up early on a Monday and drive the wagon until sundown and camp for the night north of Tupelo. Sometimes they bought supplies in Tupelo, sometimes in Booneville or even Aberdeen. Then they’d head back and camp south of Saucer creek and make it home Wednesday morning (1).

Through all of these enterprises, John Rouse might have been better off than many of his neighbors, but it was still a hard life because hard was the only life that folks knew in the Mississippi hills.

Above and west of his place, a broad grassy ridge stretched north to south. In about 1910 or 1911, Jeff Warren moved back into the area and built a house on the south end of the ridge near what is now the intersection of Ryan-Salem and Otto Forrest roads. He was a part-time deputy U.S. Marshal (2) and the meanest man in three states, and that was probably his only qualification for being a marshal (3). He was an orphan, adopted by N.B. Warren, a local doctor who had no wife or children of his own (3).

Warren didn’t pay for the roofing shakes John cut for him, so, despite Warren’s reputation, John took him to court—and lost. In the court room, John told Warren that if he ever crossed his property again, he’d kill him—and that went for his dogs, too. (4). Everyone in the court room heard it, and soon enough everyone in the hill country had heard of it.

A neighbor thought it would be funny to lock up Warren’s red-bone hounds and see what would happen (1).


Jeff Warren loved fox hunting and loved his dogs (4), so when they disappeared, someone told Warren that John Rouse had killed his dogs (7). Warren got angry and then he got drunk. He told his son, Sid, 20, to get the wagon. They were going to have it out with Rouse. That was June 11, 1912.

Down into Rouse’s hollow they drove and followed the trail northward less than a mile until they came to the mill pond. John’s son, Garfield, 15, was plowing, but stopped to talk. No one knows what they said. Garfield turned away and started plowing when Warren shot him in the back with a shotgun. Garfield fell into a heap and died (1).

Working nearby, John Rouse ran toward the wagon and shot Warren—and Warren simultaneously shot John. Warren fell out of the wagon, dead. John also fell to the ground. On hearing the first shot, Belle Rouse ran out of the house. John was closer and alive, so she knelt beside him to hold his head up against her breast.

Sid Warren jumped down from the wagon and picked up his father’s 410 shotgun, and walked toward Belle and John.

Belle begged Sid to leave them be, but Sid walked closer. Don’t shoot, she screamed.

But Sid Warren raised the barrel and shot John in the face (3 & 7). He was so close, the muzzle blast ripped Belle’s clothes and caught her apron on fire. Pellet craters are still clearly visible on the stock of John’s shotgun (1 & 7).

Nothing is ever the same after something like this.

Sid Warren put his father into the wagon and drove home. The family buried Jeff Warren 20-or-so miles away at the Methodist cemetery in Marietta. Sid Warren was later acquitted of murdering John Rouse because, the court found, he had acted in self defense.

It was said that Garfield was engaged (1), and the only girl within walking distance was Beulah Warren. She was a year younger than Garfield, and when she was old enough, she moved to Golden, where she served as postmaster for years. She never married (1).

Family members were astounded by both court cases, so many of them moved to the Booneville area after the killings.

Belle Rouse “was off in the head after the shooting (1), grouchy, too (7). At her son Bob’s house, a neighbor came to the door one day and asked for Bob. She said he was “out in the field, working—where you ought to be” (5).

She’d sit and mumble to herself. When one of the kids would ask, “What you talking about, Grandma,” she’d say, “Nothin. Just talkin’.” She was high-strung and noise of kids aggravated her (5).


After the killings, Belle lived with her son Bob and daughter-in-law Wynona on Red Bud Road, about two miles north through the woods from the old Rouse home place where her life had suddenly unraveled. Sometimes she’d tell Wynona, “Noner, I’m goin’ over to home and Truman is going with me” (5). She carried a grudge against the Warrens until the day she died and she always carried a pistol under her apron (6).

Belle dipped snuff. Everyone did, but it would have been scandalous if she’d smoked a cigarette. “Do you know how you can tell when someone is level-headed, Truman,” she asked on one of their walks. “No, Grandma,” he said. “When tobacco juice drools out both sides of his mouth.”

Truman said Belle was smiling with her mouth shut. “Are you level-headed, Grandma?”

“S’pect I am, Truman.”

He said they walked on aways through the trees without saying anything (5).

Other times, she’d just disappear, and they’d find her at the house beside the water wheel. The porch had fallen down, so she’d have to almost crawl to get inside, but that’s where they’d find her, sitting alone in the shadows (1).

Sources:1. Rabern Thomas, Golden, MS2. U.S. Marshal’s Service, Washington, D.C.3. Michael Warren, Tremont, MS4. Nell Rouse Messer, Golden, MS5. Truman Rouse, Ardmore, OK6. James Bennett, Booneville, MS7. E.G. Lindsey, Booneville, MS


Belle Houston Rouse and family, circa 1902.

From left: John Robert “Bob” Rouse Jr., Annie Mazie, J.A. Garfield Rouse (front), John Robert Rouse Sr., Birdie, and Belle. Photo is dated based on Garfield’s age. He looks to be about 5 years old.

John and Belle Houston Rouse family, circa 1905-1907

Photo is dated because Garfield looks to be about 10 years old. If the photograph was taken in 1905, at the death of Belle’s father, Robert Kern Houston, Garfield would have been about 8 in this picture. The funeral scenario would account for them being in their best clothes.


Scenes from the Rouse home place

Rabern Thomas at the site where John and Garfield Rouse were killed.This is a Y in a road on John Rouse’s property. The right branch leads to the home of Bob Rouse Jr. on Red Bud Road, about two miles north and a little east of here. After the death of John and Garfield, Belle lived with Bob and sometimes walked from Bob’s house to this place without telling anyone where she was going. The left branch is the levy that created a mill pond covering about two acres of this canyon-bottom meadow. Rabern is a grandson of G.A. and Birdie Rouse Cleveland.

This is the stem of the Y in the road seen in the previous picture, but looking south. Jeff Warren’s ridge-top home was past the tree-top horizon less than a mile. His house was located on what is now Ryan-Salem Road near the junction with Otto Forrest Road. Jeff and Sid Warren drove their wagon down this road and killed Garfield and John about where I stood when I took the photograph.


John Rouse’s dam and mill site on Saucer Creek in Itawamba County, MSNotice the wood in the creek bed and bank on the left side of the picture. That is what's left of the wood frame that held the soil dam. It was about 10 feet thick and 10 feet high. John Rouse’s water-powered mill ground corn to meal, ginned cotton, and split tree segments into roofing shingles. Saucer Creek was only a trickle in the summer drought of 2006. Rouse’s house and neighborhood store sat on the bank to the right.

Where John and Belle’s house and store stoodThe site of the Rouses’ house and store on the west bank of Saucer Creek. John and Garfield were killed across the creek and on the far side of what was then the mill pond on the left of the picture. This flat area was created when John excavated dirt from the hillside to make the dam and levy.


A Conversation with Truman RouseJerry Foster

Truman is the son of Bob Rouse, who was the eldest and only surviving son of John and Belle Rouse. Truman lives in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Each spring, we’d catch the ducks and pluck them. We’d use the down for beds and pillows and the ducks would waddle around naked, except for their neck and tail.

We’d set duck eggs under the chickens, and after they hatched, the baby ducks waded into the water and the chicken paced on the bank, clucking frantically for babies that could swim. Sometimes the hen would wade into the water to chase the babies out. Then the hen would get indignant about being wet, and the duck babies were very satisfied. That’s what you call a generation gap.

We used to put flower on bees so we could see them better and follow them to their hive. Once when we found a hive, my father backed the wagon under the swarm tree, and said, “Unhitch the mules, boys, and take ‘em way off yonder. Stand back, everybody.” Then he climbed into the back of the wagon bed and opened a box. He thought the swarm would fall into the box like cold molasses. Maybe the weather was colder that other time or maybe it was about dark. Anyway, my father shook the tree limb and the bees swarmed and covered his face. He jumped out of the wagon and ran for the branch (creek). “Get ‘em off boys,” he said as he jumped into the water.

On another occasion of beehive breaking and entering, Bob had a hole in the upper part of his shoe and he whooped as he ran because a couple of them had got inside his shoe and stung him.

Bees got into Edith’s hair once and stung her lots and lots of times. She got sick and puked green vomit. Mother sorted through her hair, looking for welts so she could remove the stingers with tweezers. Edith nearly died.

We used to kill two or three hogs a day for a week. Papa liked to butcher them at about 500 pounds so we’d get plenty of lard to cook with. We’d scald them by dipping the whole hog and then we’d scrape the hair off. We’d cut the legs off, the ribs off, strip the backstrap, midlins, and jowls.

We liked to scramble the brains with eggs and maybe some fresh tenderloin. We washed and dried the intestines and fried them. We called it chitlins.

We spread salt on the floor of the smoke house a couple of inches deep and lay the meat in the salt. Then we’d cover the meat in salt and add another layer of meat and another layer of salt.

After six weeks, we’d rinse the meat in a pot of boiling water and hang it in the smoke house. We’d wrap it in feed sacks to keep the flies off.


Inside the smokehouse, we built a fire in a wash tub that was set on rocks. We fed the fire two or three times a day. Smoke came out of every crack in the smoke house.

We ground some of the meat, added sage and dried peppers and packed it into flour sacks and smoked it. We put some of it into jars and topped it with hot lard. Lids didn’t seal well in those days, so we turned the jars over after the lard got hard.

Truman recalled a hot afternoon prank with his cousins—Annie Mazie’s girls. They were all about 13 or 14, and they made tea for the hired man who was plowing down in the bottom.

But it wasn’t ordinary tea. It was made with Black Drought, an herbal purgative.

The hired man appreciated the drink—mighty refreshing. Then they left and watched from the bushes as he finished his row. When he returned to the spot where they’d given him the jug, he stopped plowing and took another big drink. He finished his row and turned around and headed back.

Plowing was so slow when you wanted something to happen. Then, all of a sudden, the hired man did the “green-apple quick step” into the bushes. Pretty soon he threw his clothes over the bushes, and the cousins laughed and ran home.

The out-house humor came naturally because Truman and his siblings walked two miles to their one-room school house, where a blanket separated the older kids from the younger ones. When nature called, they went outside and did their business in the brush. When the schools consolidated, a neighbor made a make-shift bus out of a Ford Model-A and hauled kids seven miles to the new school. The new school had an out-house built on stilts over the branch.

Truman remembers the family’s first radio. Bob brought it home one day in the early ‘30s and hooked it up to a car battery and a clothes line. Neighbors would drop by to listen to the Grand Ol’ Opry on Saturday nights.



George “Bud” HoustonBud was named in honor of R.K.’s father, George, and was called Bud so two heads didn’t pop up when someone said George. He was born at home on 6 Oct 1858 and died 11 March 1939. He married Laurana Waddle, b. 10 March 1856; d. 25 August 1949. Both are buried at Salem Baptist Church Cemetery.

George “Bud” Houston and wife Laurana Waddle

Children of George “Bud” Houston and Laurana Waddle Houston

Rotchford—b. 5 Oct 1880, Itawamba County; d. 15 Oct 1973, Fulton, Itawamba, MS. Buried at Hillcrest Masonic Cemetery, Fulton. He married Lesby Graham and had six children.

Lunsford—b. 8 Sep 1882, Itawamba County, MS; d. 28 Feb 1978, Prentiss County, MS.He married Minnie Belle Moore on 6 December 1908. She was born 8 July 1890 in Prentiss County, MS, and died 26 Dec 1981 in Booneville, Prentiss, MS.

Mittie Mae—b. 1885. She married Willie O. Wood.

Jessie—b. 5 Apr 1888, Itawamba County, MS; d. Dec 1977, Booneville, Prentiss, MS. She married Hightower Lindsey (b. 22 Feb 1883, Itawamba County, MS; d. 18 Jul 1958, Prentiss County, MS) and is buried at Gaston Baptist Church Cemetery, Booneville, MS


Winona—b. 21 May 1890, Itawamba County, MS; d. 18 May 1964, Forest City, Arkansas. She married James Sullivan Tynes, b. 18 May 1964. He was born 6 Aug 1889, Tishomingo County, MS; d. 22 Mar 1978, Forrest City, St. Francis, AR.

Effie—b. 10 Mar 1893, Itawamba County, MS; d. February 1987, Prentiss County, Mississippi.

Children of Rotchford Houston and Lesby GrahamOzelle—b. 27 Jan 1905, Itawamba County, MS; d. November 1983, Fulton, Itawamba, MS. R.K.—b. 31 Dec 1907, Itawamba County, MS; d. 4 Apr 1972 Fulton, Itawamba, MS.James Quincy—b. 27 Mar 1909, Itawamba County, MS; d. 6 Apr 1978, Fulton, Itawamba, MS.Lucy—b. Feb 1910, Mississippi; d. before 1920, Mississippi.Opal—b. 1911, Itawamba County, MS; d. 2000, Itawamba County, MS.Costelle—b. 12 May 1913, Itawamba County, MS; d. 15 Sep 2000, Mantachie, Itawamba, MS.Lera Mae—b. 11 May 1915, Itawamba County, MS; d. Mantachie, Itawamba, MS.

Children of Lunsford Houston and Minnie Belle MooreFreddie Lee—b. 1910Harlis—b. 1912Myrtle—b. 1913Trecia—b. 1915Earline—b. 1917RG—b. 1919Hershel—b. 11 Jun 1920, Prentiss County, MS; d. 11 Mar 1940 in Prentiss County, MSMittie Sybil—1923Lelia Faye—b. 1926Ila Mae—b. 1928

Lunsford Houston and wife, Minnie Belle Moore with their earlier children. Lunsford is the son of George “Bud” Houston (the first son of Robert Kern Houston) and Laurana Waddle Houston.

Children of Mittie Mae Houston and Willie O. WoodClara Wood—Clyde Wood—Reggie Wood—


Clytra Wood—TrumanWood—Tulon Wood—Corrine Wood—

Two of R.K. Houston’s granddaughters married into the Walter Lindsey family.

Front row from left: Lucas, Walter, Baby Will, Ducilla Cromeans Lindsey, Lona, Vel, Hightower and Jessie Houston Lindsey. Jessie is a grand daughter of Robert Kern Houston. Her parents are George “Bud” Houston and Laurana Waddle Houston.

Back row from left: Thomas, George Martin Lindsey, who would later marry another of R.K. Houston’s grand daughters, Annie Mazie Rouse (not shown), daughter of John and Belle Houston Rouse. The little boy in the back row is Zechariah Benjamin.

Children of Jesse Houston and Hightower LindleyGeorge H.—b. 13 Feb 1906, Mississippi; d. 31 Aug 1988, McCracken, Paducah, KY. Buried at Booneville Cemetery, Booneville, Prentiss, MS

Louris Mae—b. 13 Sep 1908, Mississippi; d. 13 Sep 2001, Booneville, Prentiss, Mississippi. She married Oscar Bonds, b. Mar 22 1913; died September 1973, Booneville, Prentiss, MS. Both buried Forrest Memorial Park Alcorn Corinth, Ms

Winnie B.—b. 16 Apr 1911, Mississippi; d. 6 Mar 1977, Booneville, Prentiss, Mississippi. She married Eulas E. Manley, b. Sept 2. 1913; d. Dec 8, 1980, Booneville, Prentiss, MS. Both buried at Booneville Cemetery, Booneville, Prentiss, MS

Clyde Stone—b. 23 Aug 1913, Mississippi; d. 20 Feb 1993, Booneville, Prentiss, Mississippi. He married Zera M., b. April 8 1917; d. Dec 15 1988, Booneville, Prentiss, MS. Both buried at Oakland Memorial Garden, Booneville, MS

Houston D.—b. 12 Jul 1927, Booneville, Prentiss, Mississippi; d. 15 Jul 2002, Booneville, Prentiss, Mississippi. Buried at Gaston Baptist Church Cemetery, Booneville, MS

Children of Winona Houston and James Sullivan TynesVeladimer—b. 16 Jul 1915, Tishomingo County, MS; d. 16 Jun 1954, Arkansas. Velera—b. 23 Feb 1917, Tishomingo County, MS; d. 17 Aug 1973, Pine Bluff, Jefferson, AR. She married Joe Stimpson, 2 Feb. 1938, St. Francis County, AR.


Lucius—b. 1920, Tishomingo County, MS; d. 2000, Texas.George Houston—b. 29 Jun 1922, Tishomingo County, MS; d. 3 Apr 1995, Forrest City, St. Francis, AR.Billy Bob—b. 30 Jun 1929; d. 4 Ap 1998, Pine Bluff, Jefferson, AR.


Nancy Margaret “Nan” Houston

Nancy Margaret “Nan” Houston, is the third child of Robert Kern Houston and Sarah Rebecca Wren. She and her husband, Frank Bennett, began a large line of Bennetts.

Nan Houstonb. 26 Dec 1860 inItawamba County, MS. Died in 1945 in Belmont, Prentiss, MS. Married 15 Nov 1879 in Itawamba County, MS

Frank Bennettb. Feb 1858 … Alabamad. 1902

Both are buried at Old Bethel Cemetery off Red Bud Road.

Children of Nancy Margaret “Nan” Houston and Frank BennettAlbert Robinson “Albe”—b. 1880, Prentiss County, MS; d. Feb 1966, Dennis, Tishomingo, MS; m. Maud Moore 15 Apr 1898 in Prentiss County, MS.

Roxie Allie—b. 8 Sep 1881, Itawamba County, MS; d. 8 Mar 1962, Prague, Lincoln, Oklahoma. Married 1 Nov 1902 to Christopher Columbus Terrell, b. 16 Mar 1884, Fulton, Itawamba, MS; d. 30 Mar 1977, Shawnee, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma. Both are buried at Garden Grove Cemetery, Prague, OK.

George W.—b. 1881, Prentiss County, MS; d. 1968, Prentiss County, MS. Buried in Booneville.


Elbert Knox “Elbe”—b. 27 Nov 1884, Prentiss County, MS; d. 1935 in Prentiss County, MS.

Roddie Houston—b. 20 Aug 1886 in Itawamba County, MS; 5 Sep 1967 at Tupelo, Lee, MS. Buried at Massey Cemetery, Marietta, MS.

Carrie Ida —b. Abt 1889.

Robert Kern—b. 28 Oct 1891 in Itawamba County, MS; d. 5 Nov 1975 at Herlong, Lassen, California.

Lee Ernest —b. 10 Mar 1897 in Prentiss County, MS; d. 7 Apr 1986 at Tupelo, Lee, MS. Married Fannie Katherine Taylor 12 Jan 1922 in Prentiss County, MS.

Sallie L.—b. 14 Jun 1901 in Mississippi; d. 15 Feb 1969 at Bay, Craighead, AR. Married Swimmer Yeager in 1919 at Marietta, Prentiss, MS.


Jane and Mary Houston

What does anyone know of Jane and Mary Houston? Does anyone find them in a family Bible or in letters? Does anyone know where they are buried? I’d love to have gravestone photos—or at least the name and location of the cemetery and the inscriptions on the stones.

They were counted in the 1870 Census on the 13th or 15th of August—Jane was 7 and Mary was 5. Unfortunately, that’s all I know.


Robert Lee HoustonRobert Lee Houston was born 9 Mar 1866 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, and died 26 Apr 1955 in Amarillo, Texas. The 1870 census refers to him as Robert, but as an adult he


was known as Lee. The 1880 census shows him still at home in Itawamba County; sometime after that, he went to Oklahoma, probably to be with his half-sisters, Biddy and Sarah Ruth (known as Sallie Ruth), who were R.K.’s daughters with his second wife, Nancy Wren. Biddy and Sallie Ruth had gone to Oklahoma to live with their half-brother, Alonzo Howell. He was the son of Nancy and her previous husband, Tillman, who had gone off to war with R.K., but was wounded and captured at Gettysburg.

Robert Lee Houston and family in Amarillo, Texas. Lee is the son of Robert Kern Houston and his wife is the daughter of James Edgar Jarman who was reared in Monroe County Mississippi. Eula Georgia Campbell is Jerry Foster’s grandmother. Her mother died in childbirth in the summer of 1900, when Eula was 4 or 5, so she was reared by uncle and aunt, Lee and Lucy Houston, in Amarillo. When Eula was 16, she eloped with Lucy’s nephew, Robert Lee Foster.

I found a Lee Houston in the 1900 census, enumerated with about 98 other others in Township 10, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, which later became Oklahoma. It sounds like a labor camp, but the territory was not developed enough to need large-scale labor. More likely, it was a camp of people waiting for more Indian lands to open. The Lee Houston in this census is reported to have been born in Texas, but I believe it is our Lee for two reasons: 1) because it is the area where Sallie Ruth lived with her husband,


James Nathan Campbell, and their three little girls, and 2) because it was near the home of Lee’s soon-to-be wife, Lucy Jarman.

In the 1900 census, Lucinda Belle Jarman, 29, was living at home with her parents in what is now Pottawatomie County, Indian Territory. I suspect she and Lee were seeing each other—maybe were already engaged—because they appeared to have married soon after the July 24, 1900, census. Sallie Ruth died in child birth on July 16. Because Sallie Ruth’s husband was a drunk—or became one when she died—he could not take care of their three little girls. The girls were sent away to be reared by friends and relatives. Jerry Foster’s grandmother, Eula Georgia Campbell, was one of those girls, and she went to live with her uncle, Lee. Lee and Lucy lived most of their married lives in Amarillo.

Children of Robert Kern Houston and Nancy Wren

Sarah Ruth “Sally Ruth” HoustonI’m not sure when Sally Ruth was born. In 1900, her father, then 71, listed her on the census as if she still lived at home, and gave her birth date as December 1872. Her daughter, Ruth Sewell, listed her birth date as 10 Mar 1874. When she died in the summer of 1900, her obituary said she was 30—which places her birth date in 1870.

Julia Lucinda Campbell—b. 1 Mar 1893, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory; d. 12 Dec 1983, Oklahoma City, OK.

Eula Georgia Campbell—b. 2 Apr 1895, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory; d. 14 Apr 1986, Franklin, TN. Buried at Belle Passi Cemetery, Woodburn, OR.

Jimmie Ruth Campbell—b. 8 Feb 1897, Davis, Indian Territory; d. 28 Jun 1992, Refugio, TX. Buried at Memory Lawn, Natchitoches, LA.

Houston Campbell—b. 16 Jul 1900, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory; d. 30 Jul 1900, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory. Buried with his mother and twin sister at Pauls Valley, Garvin, OK.

Alice Campbell—b. 16 Jul 1900, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory; d. 23 Jul 1900, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory. Buried with her mother and twin brother at Pauls Valley, Garvin, OK.


Sarah Ruth “Sally Ruth” Houston on her wedding day. Sally Ruth is the daughter of Robert Kern Houston and his second wife, Nancy Wren Houston. See Knox Houston’s letter below. Sally Ruth married James Nathan Campbell in 1892 in Oklahoma.


Biddy HoustonBiddy traveled to Oklahoma with her sister, Sally Ruth, with the intention of living with their half-brother, Alonzo Howell. Young men distracted them and both married in 1892. Biddy married William Barnes.

Earl Herman Barnes—b. 30 Oct 1893, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory; d. July 1967, Anadarko, Caddo, OK.

Gustava Barnes—b. Apr 1895, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory.

Virgil Barnes—b. Aug 1899, Indian Territory.

Carl Barnes—b. About 1902, Oklahoma.



Twins HoustonI have no proof of twins. I don't even remember where the suggestion of twins came from. If they existed at all, I suspect that complications in childbirth explain the death of their mother, Nancy. She died sometime between the birth of Biddy in 1875 and the census of 1880. Nancy's grave site has not been found, so fixing the time of her death and possibly the death of twins is just a matter of guess work. Nancy's daughter, Sarah Ruth, also had twins, and died of complications in delivering them—coincidence or genetic proclivity? Who knows.

Children of Robert Kern Houston and Mary Francis Wright

Robert Knox HoustonKnox was born 1 Oct 1885 in Itawamba County, MS, and died 7 Jul 1965 in Prentiss County, MS. He’s buried at Booneville, MS. In 1960, he wrote a very informative letter , which follows. He married twice—to Lela Harris and to Arvella Scott. Other than names, I will not include his children because many are still living. The children of Knox and Lela are Cecilia, Hazel, Lex, Robert Knox Houston, Jr., and Etness. Knox and Arvella had Joyce and Emeral Lavell.

A LETTERLetter dated Nov 16, 1960, from Robert Knox Houston to his Aunt Ruth Sewell, sister of Julia Lucinda Campbell Henry and Eula Georgia Campbell Foster:

Mrs. Sam Sewell,Dear niece, I will write you all the information I have. I was so glad to get your letter. I do not havethe family Bible, and do not know what happened to it.

My Grandfather was George Houston and his wife was Margaret McCoy. They were born in Charlotte, NC. They had one boy and 3 girls, Easter, Emily and Adaline. The boy was Robert Kern Houston, my father. He married Becky Wren and they had 5 children; Bellvia, George, Mary and Nan and Lee, then she died and he married her sister Nancy Wren. They had two: Sally, your

Robert Knox Houston


mother, and Biddie, then she (Nancy) died and he married my mother, Mary Wright. I believe Biddie was around 3 years old at that time.

Then I was born, and 3 years later Fannie was born. Your mother was a grown lady when she left here. She taught school 2 or 3 years. She taught me my first year of school. I remember very well the day Sally and Biddie left us to go to their half brother in Oklahoma (he was a half brother on their mother’s side). They came by school to see me and their friends, and when they all began to cry I ran off into the woods and hid. And that was the last time I ever saw my two sisters.

General Sam Houston is related to us, but not my Grandfather. Probably my Grandfathers' cousin.

My sister Fannie lives in Jacksonville, Fla. She is a widow. Do you ever see or hear from Biddie? Or is she living? I never hear from her.

You have a cousin in your town—Mrs. Marsha McMullar. Her mother and your mother are first cousins. Her brother visited me last summer—I told him about you and he said his sister lives in the same town. Her husband is Willie (or Bill). She was Marsha Allen before marrying. This lady’s grandmother was Adaline Houston. This lady’s brother, who visited me last summer, went to school to your mother also. His name is Audie Allen and he lives at Pleasent Hill, LA. He said not so far from you.

And as for your grandfather's record—he was Sergeant, Co. K. 42 Miss., under General Lee's command. He fought four years - and he only had Bell when he left. And Bud was born soon after he left home. And four years later when he came home he went by his spring first and Bud was there playing around. He says "Who’s boy are you?" and he said "I'm grandma's boy." There was a southern monument put to his grave a few years ago. Gen Sam Houston was 35 years older than my father.

I have eight children, three boys and five girls—age ranging from 52 years to 28 years. If you know anything about Biddie, write me. Write me again; I enjoyed your letter. I'm living with my second wife. My first one died 38 years ago.

With love, your Uncle Knox - R.K. Houston 130 Hatchie St, Booneville, Mississippi

Children of Robert Kern Houston and Mary Francis Wright

Fannie HoustonFannie was born 21 May 1887 in Itawamba County, MS. She died in June of 1969 in Duvall, Jacksonville, Florida. I have no information on spouse or children.

THE END OF THIS RECORD—11 Feb 2010

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