Life History

Notes

• Some Horton genealogists report the wife of John Brissell Horton as Anna Green.  Some sources name her Ann(e) Green.  These generally report no parents of Anna/Anne.  Some link this Anna to parents Meshack and Lucretia Green.  Others report his wife as the daughter of Meshack but have her name as Anna Nancy.  Green genealogies report the daughter of Meshack as Nancy or Nancy Ann(e).
  
  One Horton genealogy reports the wife of John Brissell Horton as Anna Nancy Greene, possibly the daughter of Meshack.  But very firm family evidence and historical records seem to indicate that Nancy Anne Green, daughter of Meshack W Green and Lucretia Franklin, married Jonathan Horton, John Brissell Horton's brother.  Sheri Horton has found records of them in the Missouri (state-recognized) Cherokee Nation, confirming Nancy Anne as the daughter of Meshack and Lucretia and the wife of Jonathan Horton.
  
  The problem is that most genealogies report Nancy Ann to have been born about 1758, which is before Meshack married Lucretia.  But they have no first wife of Meshack.
  
  Further, Jonathan Horton could not have been the son of Abraham and Martha Williams Horton.  Martha would have been 70 years old when Jonathan was born.  I discuss more details of these problem below.
  
  Two birth locations are reported, about 1750 in Guilford County, North Carolina and about 1756-58 in Pendleton District, South Carolina.  It is likely two different but similar Green lines are involved here, but there is not enough firm information in the sources to sort them out.  Note that the following tree reports that Anna Nancy Greene married in 1748, 10 years before she was born in "abt 1758!"  Likewise the 3rd marriage date is impossible, since she would have been only 8 years old in 1766.  It is unclear what this genealogist intended to communicate here.  It is presented here more as a curiosity and as a testimony to the state of the evidence.
  
  The second date here, 25 July 1778, is about right for her marriage to John Brissel Horton, in Surry County, North Carolina.  This location matches with a Friends (Quaker) North Carolina Annual Meeting that some Hortons were associated with.  One descendant tells us she has documentation that John was excommunicated from this Quaker meeting (church) for marrying outside the faith.  We have not seen that documentation.
  
  Anna Nancy Greene
  Birth ABT 1758
  Marriage 1 John Brissell Horton b ABT 1748 in Bucks Co, Pennsylvania
  Married 25 JUL 1778 in Surry Co., North Carolina
  Married 9 JAN 1766 in (Anna Nancy Greene d/o Mishck and Creory Green?) Unknown
  --  Vicki Peterson, Our Kith n Kin, RootsWeb, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hisandmine&id=I05238
  
  Some propose that the wife of John Brissell Horton is a daughter of Meshack Green and Lucretia Franklin.  Evidence seems to point in this direction.  The birth date of 1758 for Anna Nancy Greene is close to the common date of 1750 for Nancy Anne Green in other sources I have seen for Meshack and Lucretia's daughter.  Her birth date is also before the commonly reported date of 1770 for Meshack and Lucretia's marriage.  The location of Surry County, North Carlina matches the location of a Friends (Quaker) annual meeting in which some Hortons participated, including one Rachel Horton, who appears to be John and Nancy's daughter.
  
  Nancy Anne (or Anna Nancy if they are names of the same person) may be a step-daughter of Lucretia, due to the great difference in age between Meshack and Lucretia and their later marriage date.  Nancy Ann(e) is also called Nancy Anna or Anna Nancy in some Horton sources who also identify her with Meshack's daughter.  She is listed in genealogies variously as Anna Green, Nancy Ann(e) Green(e) and Anna Nancy Green(e).  No name has been found for a first wife of Meshack.
  
  In May 2014, I got a note from Sheri Horton, a researcher I have worked with in our research on this common Green ancestor.  Her research brought forward some information connecting John Brissell Horton to Cherokee lands.  In the 1817-1825 roll of Cherokee emigration, one John Brissell is included among those who have agreed to exchange their lands in the east for new lands in Arkansas.
  
  This seems to be John Brissell Horton, husband of the Cherokee Nancy Ann Green, daughter of Meshack Green.  John's lands would have come to him by rights of his wife Nancy Ann Green.  The Hortons also had various land grants for various reasons, including purchase in Virginia and North Carolina.  Arkansas was at that time part of New Madrid District of Louisiana Territory, newly obtained from the French Empire.  New Madrid District included part of Missouri, where the town New Madrid retains the old name of the Spanish province.
  
  This does not mean that Meshack was fullblood Cherokee, since Cherokees were intermarrying with whites since before the American Revolution.  Sheri did report that on the basis of the connections she had proven, she received membership in the Missouri Cherokee Tribe.
  
  "I just got my card from the Northern Cherokee Nation for proving John Horton, wife Nancy Anne Green daughter of Meshack Green(e).  I found therm on the Emigration rolls of 1817-1835 That Meshack, Creasy, and Nancy Anne were full Cherokee!  [The rolls themselves do not state this; I have not seen documentation to this effect.] ... They are recognized by the state of Missouri and are working on Federal recognition."
  --  Sheri Horton, Ancestry Message to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 10 May 2014
  
  Sheri originally had the name Jonathan for the husband of Nancy Ann Green, and then a son named Jonathan, but that was later corrected to John Brissell Horton as Nancy Ann's husband and the son was Jonathan or John.  I can find the name Jonathan in no other source, and on John and Nancy's son's grave reports his name as John Brissell Horton Jr.
  
  "Meshack Greene m Creasy (Franklin ?) Daughter Nancy Anne Greene married Jonathan [John Brissell] Horton son of Abraham and Martha Brissels Horton.  Jonathan of Quaker faith was excommunicated from the church for marrying out of the faith leading me to believe that my gggggrandmother Nancy Anne Greene was of Cherokee descent.  Jonathan and Nancy's son John married Susan Grider and the family moved to Washington Co Mo John a soldier in war of 1812 had a land grant The family remains in the Washington and surrounding counties."
  --  Sheri Horton, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 19 October 2010
  
  I find the name Jonathan Horton and the connection with the Quakers confusing.  There are Hortons in the Quaker meetings, an some of them appear to be this Horton family.  That conflicts with their involvement in battled in the Revolutionary War.  Details are unclear, but it is reported that John Brissell was excluded from the fellowship for marrying outside the faith, when he married Nancy Ann Green.
  
  And various members of this Horton family were involved in the Battle of Kings Mountain in the American Revolution against Great Britain.
  
  Sheri Horton reports the chain of relationship to her from John Brissell and Nancy Ann Horton.
  
  ---------------
  Nancy Anne Green  (Cherokee) m John Brissell Horton
  Johnathan (John) Horton m. Susan Grider
  Mary Ann Green m. Isaac Horton (s/o Abraham / Martha B Williams
  Christopher Columbus Horton m. Achsah [Alsie, Alsy] Montgomery
  Isaac Haywood Horton m. (Achsah Montgomery's niece) Rachel Minnie Montgomery
  Bert Horton m. Essie Mae Byington
  Eugene B Horton m Lois Jean McDuffie
  Sheri Horton
  --  Sheri Horton, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 27 August 2015
  ---------------
  
  But Horton names do appear on some records of the Friends Annual Meeting in Surry County, North Carolina.  However, Sheri Horton points out that John was also excommunicated from the Quakers when he married a Cherokee (Nancy Ann).  His sons may never have joined the Quaker Meeting.  Details are uncertain.
  
  Sheri does say that John Horton and his household were the only Horton family living in that area.  So it would be this John Horton who was listed in the Cherokee rolls of 1817-1835 who had agreed to exchange their eastern Cherokee lands for new lands and considerations in Arkansas, part of the new Louisiana Territory.
  
  "Issac Horton, bro of Jonathan, married Nancy's sister Mary Anne and they moved to Gwinnett Co GA.  Jonathan's brothers James (killed by Indians in Indiana, where he moved with his wife's family), Issac, Abraham Jr (married Aditha Clark) and Daniel are all Rev War Patriots. Jonathan wasn't born till ca 1796, and one more bro Joseph b ca 1800."
  --  Sheri Horton, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 20 October 2010
  
  Various researchers have connected the daughters of Meshack Green in various ways.  Dates of birth vary quite a bit.  Nancy Ann Green (or Anna Nancy or Anna) is reported born from 1750 to 1758, while Jonathan is reported born in 1796, 38 or so years later.  So generations are crossed here.  Other Horton sources report that Anna Nancy (b abt 1759) married John Brissell Horton, son of Abraham and Martha.  This matches the report here of Jonathan as a son of Abraham and Martha, but differs from the unworkable birth date in 1796, since John was born in 1748.  Some report John Brissel's birth year as 1746, a more workable scenario.
  
  One or more genealogies report a daughter of Lucretia and Meshack named Nancy Anne Green who was born in 1792.  But this would be too late to be the wife of John Brissell Horton, who was born in 1748.  The place of death in Missouri matches the reports of Nancy Ann Green Horton, wife of John Brissell Horton. But maybe her husband John Horton was not John Brissell Horton, but his son or another younger member of the same family.  The following genealogy reports no husband for the Nancy Anne reported as the daughter of Meshack and Creasy Green of Georgia.  Two other similar ones likewise have the later birth date but no husband for Nancy Anne.
  
  Nancy Anne Green
  Birth 1792 in Pendleton, Anderson, South Carolina
  Death 1850 in Washington, Missouri
  Parents:
  Meshack W Green 1720 - 1799
  Lucretia Creasy Franklin 1725 - 1800
  --  Johnson Family Tree, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/25805264/person/12451365083
  
  Nancy Anne Greene
  Birth 1750 in ninety-sixth dist N C Cherokee Territory
  Death 1850 in Washington, Missouri
  Parents:
  Meshack Green 1720 - 1799
  Creasy Franklin 1725 - 1800
  Spouse John Brissell Horton 1750 - 1827
  Children:
  Leah Horton 1776 - 1820
  Joseph Horton 1782 - 1876
  Rachel Horton 1785 - 1860
  John Horton 1789 - 1870
  Lucretia Horton 1791 - 1872
  HEZEKIAH Horton 1808 - 1880
  --  Sheri Horton, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/906160/person/6861082401

Sources

• 1. Ancestry Trees
  • http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm-cgi?op=GET&db=*v133t0575&id=I1176&ftm=1
• 2. RootsWeb Trees
• 3. Ancestry Trees
• 4. Bolt American
  • as quoted in Grigg & Fuhriman, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~griggandfuhriman/griggandf/pafn16.htm
• 5. Glenda Pool, William Green Genealogy
  • Name: private, received through Green-Bearden family channels;
• 6. Email Sources
• 7. Family Data Collection - Births
• 8. Family Data Collection - Individual Records
• 9. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 10. Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917
• 11. 1850 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia
  • 3 September, District 11, page 346, Hse/Fam #412
• 12. 1860 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia
  • 7 July, page 53, Hse #34, Fam #351
• 13. 1870 Federal Census, Carroll County, Virginia
  • 1 August, Laurel Fork, PO Hillsville, page 1 (scan 423), Hse/Fam #2
• 14. 1850 Federal Census, Raleigh County, Virginia
  • 30 August, District 59, page Hse/Fam #268
• 15. 1860 Federal Census, Raleigh County, Virginia
  • 18 July, Peach Tree, PO Coal River Marshes, page 6, Hse/Fam #48
• 16. 1850 Federal Census, Washington County, Missouri
  • 18 September, Concord, page 253 (scan 127), Hse/Fam #537
• 17. The Horton Connection
  • Location: Compiled by Arnold Horton Wilson and Bonnie Imogene (Rains) Wilson; Date: 1995;