49 - Jeremiah Haston - Lost Son of Daniel Haston Found by DNA
Sometimes you may see his name as Jeremiah MC Haston, but there is no existing evidence that I have found to prove that Daniel’s son Jeremiah had a middle “MC” name, but his youngest son was definitely Jeremiah MC “Mac” Haston.
DNA = Was the Missing Link
When I began researching the Daniel Haston family in 1999, the people I learned from knew a lot about Daniel Haston’s sons David, Joseph, and Isaac. They had learned a little about Jesse Haston and knew that one daughter, Catherine Haston, was the second wife of White County’s John Austin. But, to my knowledge, none of my White and Van Buren County, Tennessee-based Haston research mentors knew that Daniel had a son named Jeremiah Haston. So, obviously, neither did I.
Then, there was the “out-there” (out beyond Middle Tennessee) knowledge (or lack thereof) of Daniel Haston’s children. Some very avid Isaac Haston/Hastings researchers from Missouri and the West Coast admitted they weren’t sure if Isaac was a son of Daniel or not. The same was true with a long-time Haston family researcher in Missouri who descended from Daniel’s son Jesse Haston.
Carol Haston, wife of Jeremiah Haston descendant Howard Haston, contacted me to inform me about her husband’s ancestors. For several years, Carol had sought to find a link from Jeremiah Haston back to Daniel Haston. Carol had become acquainted with Dave and Estelle Haston in Sparta, Tennessee who had done extensive research on Daniel’s family. But Dave and Estelle knew of no link from Jeremiah back to Daniel.
Then I received an email from Claire Aufrance who told me her grandfather (Wallace Martin Davis) was a descendant of Daniel Haston through Jeremiah Haston. The definite nature of Claire’s assertion caught my attention. I learned that Claire had inherited research documents from her grandfather who received them from his cousin, Joan Moore Gillett, who grew up in Greene County, Missouri–not far from where Jeremiah Haston settled in Dallas County, Missouri.
Soon after this connection with Claire, DNA testing became available. Nathan, son of Howard and Carol Haston, submitted DNA which matched perfectly (43 out of 43 markers) with my David Haston’s line DNA and the DNA of descendants from other sons (Joseph, Isaac, and Jesse) of Daniel Haston. All of these DNA samples matched known descendants of Henrich Hiestand, SWISS-German Mennonite immigrant to America. The long-sought link was found!
Then, later we discovered that (unknown to Carol and Claire) there were other descendants of Jeremiah Haston–Jacquelyn Haston and Natalie Swader, for example–who descended from Daniel Haston but were unaware of the final links back to him.
The circumstantial evidence had been there all along:
- The date and place of birth of Jeremiah Haston fits the Daniel Haston family.
- The “Jeremiah” name fits Daniel Haston’s Old Testament naming pattern for his sons. (David, Joseph, Jesse, Isaac, and a Daniel, Junior.)
- Even though referred to by census takers in the early years by the surname of Hasting, Jeremiah’s family gravitated to and generally settled on the Haston surname, which was a move that was contrary to the natural drift away to other variant spellings (as all of us “Hastons” know). That tells me that Jeremiah’s family knew they were connected to the Middle Tennessee family that had chosen to lock-in the “-on” spelling of the family name.
- Jeremiah moved to Polk and Dallas County area of Missouri in the late 1830s, only about 25 miles from where Isaac Haston settled in Greene County, Missouri at about the same time. Further research indicates that Jeremiah’s family almost certainly interacted with Isaac’s family.
- Jeremiah married Esther Riddle and we know that Thomas and John W. Riddle owned land on Cane Creek, near Daniel Haston, as early as 1818. Esther was the son of Thomas (senior) and brother of John W. Riddle.
- Shortly after their marriage, Jeremiah and Esther Riddle moved to Gallatin County, Illinois where some of Esther Riddle’s brothers lived at the time.
- According to the 1840 Federal Census for Polk County, Missouri, a Thomas Riddle and a John Riddle lived near Jeremiah Hasting soon after Jeremiah moved to Missouri.
- Jeremiah Haston had a son, John Wesley Haston, who was born in White County, Tennessee on October 12, 1818. John Wesley Haston married Mary Caroline Forester, who was also a former Tennessean, in Greene County in 1846. The minister who performed their marriage, John Gilmore, lived a few houses away from John Wesley’s Uncle Isaac Haston in Greene County.
Jeremiah Haston - The Three Stages (States) of His Life
As with Jeremiah’s brother, Isaac Haston, his life story unfolds in three states of the USA. But for Jeremiah, these states are Tennessee, Illinois, and Missouri. In this article, I will give you a brief peek at his life in Tennessee and Illinois. In the following article, I’ll focus on Missouri, where he eventually settled spread out his roots, and died.
Tennessee - Where He was Born, Grew Up, and Married
March 28, 1799 – According to a family record created by Joan Moore Gillett, her great-great-grandfather Jeremiah Haston (Senior) was born on this date. If so, he probably was born in East Tennessee, prior to the family’s move to what became White County. Perhaps she got that information from one of Jeremiah’s grandchildren, orally or from a family document.
Census records consistently indicate that Jeremiah Haston was born in Tennessee. He knew it and his children knew it. But documentation for Jeremiah in Tennessee is non-existent, as far as I have been able to determine. I attribute that to the probability that he moved out of Tennessee before he was old enough to show up in tax and court records. Decent farmland around Daniel Haston’s family had been “bought up” by the time Jeremiah needed land to farm.
About January 1818 – The tombstone for Jeremiah’s firstborn, John Wesley Haston, indicates he (John Wesley) was born October 12, 1818. From his birthdate, we can speculate that his parents—Jeremiah and Esther Riddle Haston—may have been married very early in that year or sometime in the latter part of the previous year.
Jeremiah married Esther Riddle, a neighbor girl that he probably had known most all of his life. Even though I don’t have a marriage record for them, there is ample evidence to assert that she was the daughter of John W. Riddle, who lived on the lower end of Cane Creek, probably very close to the Daniel Haston.
October 12, 1818 – John Wesley Haston, son of Jeremiah, was born on this date, according to his tombstone in the McGee Cemetery of southwestern Dallas County, Missouri, near where he had lived. He was the oldest of three (known) sons of Jeremiah and Esther and probably the oldest of their children. Undocumented family records say he was born in White County, Tennessee and that is probably accurate. Isaac and Agnes Haston/Hastings also had a son named “John Wesley” and often family researchers have confused them, but they can be clearly distinguished if you study their lives. In fact, they took very different paths in their lives, especially during and after the Civil War.
Illinois - The Prime Years of His Life
Places to notice on the map:
- Golconda – landing for the Lusk Ferry.
- Gallatin County – county in which Jeremiah Haston’s family lived.
- Monroe Township – township in which Jeremiah and family lived; In 1839, Hardin County was carved out of Gallatin County but Jeremiah’s family had moved to Missouri
- Shawneetown – county seat of Gallatin County, major river town for early 1800s.
- Equality – the location of the main mining operation.
- Cave in Rock – where river pirates lived and robbed passing barges and boats. The infamous Harpe Brothers – who began their murderous rampage near our Hastons in Knoxville, TN – used this cave as a hideout.
Do you see Golconda, Illinois on the map? In the mid-1790s, Major James Lusk, a Revolutionary War veteran, moved his family from South Carolina to southern Illinois. In 1797 Lusk received a license from Kentucky authorities to operate a ferry across the Ohio River. The following year he built a house on the Illinois side and soon became engaged in building a road from his ferry to Green’s Ferry on the Mississippi River to connect pre-Illinois with pre-Missouri.
The Lusk ferry (named changed to Ferguson Ferry, then Berry Ferry later) was the major crossing point on the Ohio for white settlers moving into Illinois and Missouri in the early 1800s. Probably most, if not all, of Daniel Haston’s earlier descendants who moved to Missouri crossed the Ohio River on this ferry. Many of the “Trail of Tears” Cherokee Indians crossed the river on this ferry in 1837 and 1838.[i]
[i] “Golconda’s Illinois History Begins in Kentucky,” The Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL), May 4, 2006, accessed November 5, 2020, https://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/editorial/gelman/golcondas-illinois-history-begins-in-kentucky/article_caba856c-2e61-5779-88aa-a926ecbc3b6e.html.
It’s just a theory, so I can’t say for sure, but I think Jesse and Jeremiah Haston may have started to Missouri together. But, after crossing the Ohio River, they parted ways. Again – just my theory.
We know that Jeremiah sojourned in southern Illinois for 20 years. And there are probably at least two reasons why he did.
- Some of Esther’s (Riddle’s) brothers were there at the time that Jeremiah and Esther arrived there.
- There was a booming salt mining industry up in Gallatin County, Illinois (see the map) at the time. And Shawneetown in that county was a booming river town as well. Again–a theory–but I suspect that Jeremiah became occupied in some facet of the salt mining industry during the time he was in Gallatin County, IL. Again, just my guess.
December 25, 1819 – Andrew (A.V.F) Haston, Jeremiah and Esther’s second son, was born on this Christmas day, according to his grave marker. According to census records and a Civil War registration entry, Andrew V.F. Haston was born in Illinois in or about 1819.
About 1822 – According to the 1850 census, Minerva Haston was born in Illinois in about 1822.
September 1824 – According to the 1900 census, Malinda Hastings, the second daughter of Jeremiah and Esther, was born in Illinois in September 1824 and, at age 75, could not read nor write.[i] She married Martin Rose.
[i] Year: 1900; Census Place: Saint James, Phelps, Missouri; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 0101; FHL microfilm: 1240881.
About 1824 – Melissa, daughter of Jeremiah and Esther was born at about this time. Was she a twin of Malinda? Later, we will see that her middle initial was V. Her sister Malinda named some of her children after her siblings, one of which was named Verlene Malissa. That’s probably a good indicator that this 1824 Melissa’s middle name was Verlene. She married Matthew Webb.
1826 – Jeremiah Hastings signed a petition for the creation of a new county, Ohio County. The bill did not pass, because many of the other citizens of Gallatin County where he lived, as well as those in Pope County, were not in favor of a new county then and there
About 1827 or 1828 – Jeremiah M.C. Haston, third son of Jeremiah and Esther, was born in Gallatin County, Illinois.[i] A Bible record belonging to one of his great-granddaughters (granddaughter of his son who was also named Jeremiah M.C. Haston) stated: “Jerimiah McKinly “MAC” Haston and Elizabeth Cooper, his wife.”[ii] During the Civil War, his surname was sometimes incorrectly written “McHaston.”
[i] “Jeremiah Mc. Haston,” Fold3 by Ancestry.com, accessed November 13, 2020, https://www.fold3.com/image/228713063?terms=jeremiah,haston,mc.
[ii] Ruth Davis, email interactions between Sherry Mirkovic and Ruth Davis, December 2002.
Samuel Haston - A lost Son of Daniel?
At the same time Jeremiah Haston was living in Gallatin County, Illinois, a Samuel Hasten (also spelled Haston in Ancestry.com records) married Mary Lowry there on May 31, 1829.[i] But he does not appear on the 1830 census for Gallatin County. The Old Testament name “Samuel” fits the naming pattern of Daniel Haston’s sons. Was this another son of our Daniel? If so, where did he go and what happened to him? If not a son, was he a Hiestand/Haston relative of Daniel?
[i] “Illinois Statewide Marriage Index,” Office of the Illinois Secretary of State, accessed November 5, 2020, https://www.ilsos.gov/isavital/marriageSearch.do.
1830 – Jeremiah Hastings appears on the 1830 census in the Monroe Township* of Gallatin County, Illinois. There was one male in the 30 through 39 age range in the household, one male under five years old, and two males ages 10-14. The one female age 20 through 29 was probably his wife Esther (Riddle). And there were four girls, one under five and three, ages five through nine.[i]
[i] Year: 1830; Census Place: Monroe, Gallatin, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 22; Page: 276; Family History Library Film: 0007647.
May 30, 1830 – Hester Ann Elvira Haston was born in Illinois, probably Gallatin County. Hester married George Washington Stever, Jr. (born in Madison, Kentucky) on June 1, 1848. George (or “Wash”) married Elizabeth Hill in Missouri on October 24, 1844, but she died in 1848. During the Civil War, George was accused of being a Rebel and was tried by a Union Provost General. There is more about that trial that I’ll tell you about in a later article.
August 1833 – According to the 1850 census, Elizabeth Haston was born in Illinois in about 1833. She was 27-year-old Betsey A. Haston on the 1860 census.
About 1837 – Regina Anne Haston was born in Illinois in or about 1837. Sometimes “Regina” was an alternate name for “Virginia.” She was, as per the census, a deaf mute on earlier records, then by 1880 she was reported to be blind and insane. Regina was probably Esther’s last child. Perhaps Regina’s disabilities were in some way correlated with her birth—maybe indicating problems in child birth that took Esther’s life.
Death of Esther Riddle Haston
Apparently Jeremiah’s wife, Esther, died in Illinois at about this time. We have no record of her death or location of her grave, but family lore tells us she died there and it seems that she wasn’t with the family in Missouri.
November 26, 1838 – Jeremiah Haston owed $1.43 ¾ to the estate of Allen Moore who died in Gallatin County, Illinois on October 23, 1838. Jeremiah’s debt was flagged as “doubtful” (between “desperate” and “good”)[i] This debt appears to be related to medical care. Perhaps this medical care was related to Regina Anne’s birth and/or the death of her mother, Esther.
[i] “Allen Moore,” Gallatin County, Illinois Probate Files (1815-1860), “M” in Box 64.
1838 – According to the records of Joan Moore Gillet, this was the year that Jeremiah Haston moved his family to Missouri, and possibly the year that his wife, Esther, died. Jeremiah was probably gone from Illinois when the Allen Moore estate was settled.
A “Haston” entry in History and Families of Gallatin County, Illinois 1812-1988, states:
Jeremiah Hasting or Haston born 1795 in Tenn. came to Gallatin Co. Illinois before 1830. He and part of his family moved to Dallas Co. Missouri and were among the first families to settle there around 1840.[i]
Note: This information apparently submitted to the book’s editors by an unknown member of the Jeremiah MC Haston branch of Jeremiah Haston’s family. Is the “part of his family moved to Dallas Co. Missouri” statement accurate? IF so, what part remained in Gallatin County, Illinois or moved elsewhere?
[i] History and Families of Gallatin County, Illinois 1812-1988. (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, n.d.), 146.
“Stay tuned” for part 2 (the next article) – Jeremiah Haston and his family in Dallas County, Missouri.
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