Houston, John

Born: 1793-XX-XX Kentucky

Flourished: Palestine, Illinois

Houston migrated from Kentucky to the Illinois Territory with his father and brother Alexander in about 1806. John's father, a Presbyterian minister, had broken with church in Kentucky in 1803 and taken up the Shaker faith. He and his sons settled in an old Shaker village in what would become Crawford County. John and Alexander abandoned the Shaker faith as youths, and both left the Shaker village, Alexander going to Nashville, Tennessee, and John remaining in the Wabash region. During the War of 1812, John served in the Rangers operating in the area. After the war, he ran keel and barge boats up the Wabash and Ohio Rivers. He settled permanently in Palestine in 1818, purchasing a lot and constructing a building to serve as a dwelling and business. In 1819 or 1820, Houston and his partner Francis Dickson brought a stock of goods to Palestine and opened a store. In 1821, Houston married Jane M. Stark; the couple had no children. John bought out Dickson in 1822, and Alexander joined him in a mercantile business. John Houston & Co., was among the first merchants in Palestine. The company owned an ox mill, one of only two mills in the area. John and Alexander remained partners until 1835, when Alexander left to move to Rockville, Indiana. John remained in Palestine, living there for the next sixty years. Houston became prominent in county politics, serving as sheriff from 1823 to 1826, and as county treasurer from 1824 to 1826. In 1831, he was one of the founding members and elders of the Presbyterian Church of Palestine. Houston represented Crawford and Jasper counties in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1838 to 1840. In August 1840, he won election to the Illinois State Senate representing Jasper, Lawrence and Crawford counties. He remained in the Senate until 1844. In 1850, Houston was working as a clerk in a store and owned $4,000 in real estate. By 1860, he listed his occupation as "gentleman," and owned $7,000 in real estate and had a personal estate of $10,000.

Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 315, 331; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 207, 208, 210; William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Crawford and Clark Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1883), 50, 51, 131, 139-40, 141, 143; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Crawford County, 12 April 1821, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Crawford County, IL, 243; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Palestine, Crawford County, IL, 28.