52 – Other Daughters of Daniel Haston? – Daniel Haston Family Association

52 - Daughter of Daniel Haston? One Yes, One Maybe, One No

I am confident that Daniel Haston had two or three daughters (and/or maybe a son) that we have never been able to identify. But there is one for-sure daughter who has emerged out of more recent research. There’s another who may or may not have been from Daniel’s family. And there is one young woman whom earlier researchers claimed as Daniel’s daughter who was definitely not his.

Peggy Hastings Ault

Some of the earlier Daniel Haston researchers stated unequivocally that Peggy Hastings, a daughter of Daniel, married John Ault in Knox County, TN on November 22, 1809. WRONG! Daniel and his family were already settled in White County by then. And the will of Bedford County, TN John Hastings clearly states that Peggy Hastings Ault was his daughter.

Mary/Polly Milliken

Early Haston research reports also state that Mary/Polly Hastings, a daughter of Daniel, married James Milliken (or Milligan) in Knox County, TN on September 4, 1805. Right or wrong? I can’t say for sure, but this may be correct.

Even if Daniel had moved to White County by this time, his oldest son David was still there, so a 20+ year old sister might have remained in Knox County with her big brother’s family–especially if she was courting a fellow she planned to marry.

Oh, and on January 22, 1804, big brother David and his wife Peggy named a baby daughter Mary/Polly–perhaps because David had a sister by that name living with them?

1830 Federal Census for Shelby County, IL - Precinct 2

Ridge Cemetery of Ridge County, IL

Here’s what we know about Mary/Polly Hastings and James Milliken:

There is evidence that Millikens and Hastons had connections that went back several years, and perhaps were neighbors in Washington County as well as Knox County.
After Mary and James married, at some point they moved to Illinois and are buried in the Ridge Cemetery of Shelby County, IL. https://bit.ly/36Ld8ma
Their grave stones have been broken but an earlier (1971-1972) transcription exists that says Mary died January 20, 1849 at age 67. That means she would have been born in about 1782, when there was a baby in Daniel Haston’s household.
The Find A Grave information for her says that her father was Henry Hastings of Orange County, NC, but he was still living in NC when Mary married in Knox County, TN. Other evidence tells us she was not the daughter of Henry Hastings of Orange County, NC!

Elizabeth Haston Roddy

Transcribing text from old documents can be extremely challenging, especially when the handwriting is sloppy. Such is the case with this December 21, 1793 marriage bond of James Roddy and Elizabeth H_____. Transcriptions interpret her to be Elizabeth Houston, and when you see how her family name was written we can understand why the transcribers made that choice. But that doesn’t mean the transcription was accurate.

See (below) how it was transcribed from the original document?

But a closer examination of Elizabeth’s family name reveals–I think–that she was Elizabeth Haston (spelled Haiston on the bond). Compare the “a” and the “i” and the “s” with those known letters in other words written by the same court clerk.

What a difference unclear handwriting can make! I just wish early American clerks would have understood that. Now, why didn’t they know there would be 21^st century genealogists and historians whose research would depend on the legibility of their handwritings?

Death of James Roddy - See Who Administered His Estate Settlement

About six years after the marriage of James and Elizabeth, James died. In January 1800, a time when Knox County, TN was being ravaged by typhoid fever, James Roddy died. One source says that almost no families completely escaped the epidemics of that winter.

Comments and Conclusions

Elizabeth Haiston of the December 21, 1793 marriage bond was Elizabeth Haston, not Houston.
James Roddy who deceased in 1800 in Knox County, Tennessee was the husband of Elizabeth Haston.
Elizabeth Haston was the daughter of Daniel Haston.

James Roddy (this one, not one of the others of the same name at that time) was a son of Philip and Mary McComiskey Roddy, neighbors of the Hastons in Knox County, TN. So James was an older brother of Margaret “Peggy” Roddy who married David Haston, Daniel’s son.

On April 9, 1801, a marriage bond was issued for Betsy (nickname for Elizabeth) Roddy and James Cox in Knox County, Tennessee.

In November of 1802, Daniel Haston sent his son Joseph to Guilford County, NC with a power of attorney document. Joseph’s mission was to sell some land that Philip Roddy’s son, James, had owned in North Carolina, where the family lived prior to moving to (what became) Tennessee.

So, YES, Elizabeth Haston Roddy was a daughter of our Daniel Haston.