The 1860 Census for the second election district, Denton, Caroline County, Md. finds Rev. Houston to be 54 years of age. He was born in Maryland, and had real estate with a value of $700.00. His personal estate had a value of $300.00. His occupation is listed as “Meth. E. Minister”.
Also living in his home was his wife, Addie, age 40; daughter, Elizabeth, age 12; son, Liston, age 8 and daughter, Addie, age 6.
Rev. Houston served as a minister to Whatcoat U.M.C. in 1861-62.
In the years 1863-64 he served Mount Hope Methodist Church in Aston, Delaware County, Pa. In 1851 the church was part of Mount Hope Station, and in 1852 it became Village Green Circuit.
Source: History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania by Henry Graham Ashmead, Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1884
A death notice for Addie Houston stated:
HOUSTON, Adaline Pine, d. Nov. 11, 1879, Wilmington, Dela., b. Sep. 1, 1819, Kent Co., Md., m. James L. HOUSTON.
Source: March 25, 1880 issue of the 1New York Christian Advocate
He served the Blackiston Chapel at some point in time before 1888. The church is on the road to Smyrna, Delaware, from Millington, Maryland. Blackiston Chapel, Kenton Hundred, was the mother church for Methodism in that area for a time.
Source: History of Delaware, 1609-1888, Thomas J. Scharf Volume Two, Thomas J. Scharf, pp. 1123-1130.
Marriages performed by Rev. J.L. Houston:
Adeline Lusby WILSON, of Cecil Co., Md. to Dan M COCHRAN of Delaware on 29 Jan 1873.
Source: “Delaware Deaths and Marriages”, Fallon Richards
1The successful weekly newspaper of the Methodist Episcopal Church had its beginning in the United States in 1826 with the New York CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE which carried articles about church polity, its leadership, religious topics and as time passed, also carried were lists of marriages and deaths of members and others who paid the stated fee for publishing such information even among non-Methodists.Source: Genealogical Abstracts From Reported Deaths, The Nashville Christian Advocate, 1869-1871 by Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith, 1997.
This biographical piece is a work in progress. As more information becomes available, it will be included on this page.
– B.J. Peters