Famous Early Americans Our Hastons Met and Knew, Part 2
General/President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)
Daniel Haston’s paths may have crossed Andrew Jackson’s multiple times in Upper East, TN, and afterward in Knoxville, TN. They were contemporaries in Washington County, TN, in the 1780s, 1788 for sure. Even after Jackson moved to Nashville, in Middle Tennessee, and Daniel’s family moved to Knox County, TN, Jackson’s visits to Knoxville were frequent, especially after 1796 when Tennessee was a state and Knoxville was its capital. But, on October 7, 1801, Daniel Haston faced Andrew Jackson in a courtroom in Knoxville. Daniel was a juror and Jackson was a defendant (and a judge for the same case!) in a court case in the Hamilton District Superior Court. You should read that story! I don’t know how much personal contact they had then or in some other setting, but their eyes must have met in that courtroom. Neither of them would have had any idea that Daniel’s son, Isaac Haston, would fight for General Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans–and near to where General Jackson directed his army against the British. And, during his political years, Jackson passed through White County (Sparta), TN back and forth from his Hermitage home east of Nashville and Washington, DC.
Tennessee Governor Willie Blount (1768-1835)
You know a lot about Andrew Jackson, but I doubt that you know anything about his Tennessee friend and political ally, Willie Blount, who was governor of Tennessee for three terms, 1809-1815. He was Tennessee’s governor during the War of 1812, the war that made Andrew Jackson famous. He was General Jackson’s “boss” during the war. When the war ended, Willie Blount was at the height of his popularity. J.G.M., the famous early Tennessee historian, stated: “Willie’s popularity with the masses has rarely been equalled.” He would easily have been elected to a fourth term as Tennessee governor in 1815, but constitutional term limits prevented him from seeking another term.
Although I don’t have solid proof for my assumption, I believe that Daniel’s son David was a friend of Willie Blount when both were living in Knoxville. David named his first son, “Willie (Wiley) Blount Haston.” Bount was nine years older than David, but they would have been young men at the same time in the tiny village of Knoxville, when and where most everybody knew everybody.
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