Isaac Houston
PHOTO
ALBUM
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SPOUSE: THEODOCIA KEYES
Marriage: 19
July 1827
Place: Acworth,
Sullivan, New Hampshire
Birth Date:
5 October 1799
Birth Place: Acworth,
Sullivan, New Hampshire
Death Date:
23
August 1856
Burial: Salt Lake City,Salt
Lake, Utah
CHILDREN
Jane Mariah Houston
Louisa Houston
Sisson Chase Houston
Emeline Houston
Mindwell Houston
Alma Houston
Isaac Houston
OCCUPATION(S):lumber
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FAMILY
Father: SAMUEL HOUSTON
Mother:PHOEBE
MAYO
SIBLINGS
Isaac
Houston
Nancy Houston
Phoebe Houston
Deborah Houston
Alexander Houston
Maria Houston
Emeline Houston
INDEX TO HISTORY
Notes
Research Ideas: Look up court papers for incorporation 9
Apr 1853 |
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Isaac Houston: Pioneer of
1850
by his great-granddaughter, Theodocia
Shelley Melville
Bishop Isaac Houston was
the eldest of Samuel and Phebe (Mayo) Houston, born the fifteenth
of October, 1779, in Acworth, Sullivan Co., New Hampshire. A
son of sturdy energetic pioneers, living in a section where thee
very atmosphere developed intergrity and manly attributes.
Of his grandfather, Alexander
Houston, it si written in the Centennial History of Acworth,
that he settled in Acworth, Sullivan, N.H., in 1775. He was a
deacon in the Congragational Church. He was large of stature,
moderate in his movements, amiable in disposition, and upright
in his dealings. He fought in the Revolutionary War.
While a young man, Isaac
taught school and at the age of 28, July 19, 1827, he married
Theodocia Keyes, a daughter of Amos and Mary (Grout) Keyes. They
moves to Lincoln, Addison Co., Vermont, where he was engaged
in the Lumber and farming business. Seven children were born
to this couple. Jane Mariah, Louisa, Sisson Chase, Emeline, Mindwell,
Alma, an Isaac. They embraced the gospel of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints in the year 1839.
It is related, that one evening
while Isaac was attending his horses, the spirit of tongues came
upon him and he was compelled to speak aloud, to the astonishment
around him that "the Gospel was true and from God."
He asked his wife, Theodocia, what she thought of the Latter-day
Saints Church. She replied that their "religion was true
and that if she only had a bark roof to cover her head she would
gather with the Saints to live and die."
In the spring of 1842 they came
with the Saints to Nauvoo, in the company of Elder Peletiah Brown.
Here two sons, Isaac and Sisson and one daughter died.
They were acquainted with the Prophet
Joseph Smith, and labored in the building up of the City of Nauvoo
the Beautiful. They passed through those trying times of the
martyrdom of the Prophet, Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum,
the mobbings and driving of the Saints, without murmuring or
wavering of faith.
They moved in 1846
to Winter Quarters, here they lost their only son from sickness
due to moving and insufficient shelter.
In 1847, one daughter, Jane
preceeded them to the Great Salt Lake Valley. She arranged to
travel with her cousin, Samuel Alexander, and care foir his two
small children. She later married him, and died at the birth
of a son, before her parents arrived.
Father and Mother Houston
and the two remaining daughters, Emeline and Mindwell, moved
across the Missouri River and lived for a time in Springfield,
Iowa, where they engaged in farming and trading to get means
for an outfit and provisions, to gather with the main body of
the Church in the West.
In the spring of 1850 they came
on to Utah driving two ox teams, one of the animals being a cow
which furnished food along the way. Theodocia would put the milk
in a crock in the back of the wagon, and by night it would be
churned into butter.
They lived first at Lehi, but in
the fall they moved to Alpine where they built their home, the
farm being north of where the town of Alpine is now. He built
a saw mill in connection with his son-in-law, James W. Preston,
Emeline's husband.
Isaac Houston was ordained the
first Bishop of Alpine, Sept 18, 1852, by Elder George A. Smith,
his Counselors being William Niswanger and Morris Phelps.
They were very hopsitable, Theodocia
being a very good cok and a neat , particular housewife. They
entertained many of the heads of the Church in their two room
log home. They were very honest, industrious, frugal and hard
working people. Firm believers in all the principles of the gospel,
including plural marriage, he having married a second wife, Mrs.
Eliza (nee Dyer) Brown April 19, 1853.
He died of pneumonia, August 23,
1856, and with his wife, Theodocia, lies buried in the Salt Lake
City Cemetery, because at the time of his death Brigham Young
said all the Bishops should be buried there.
At the time of her husband's death,
Theodocia gave Aunt Eliza the land and the home. She took the
cattle and went to live with her daughters at American Fork.
Mindwell having married Washburn Chipman Dec. 2, 1855.
It is said of Isaac, that after
delivering some lumber in American Fork one day, he came home
and told his daughter, Mina that he had seen her future husbandm
and said he, "He is not a Mormon yet but he will be."
Theodocia lived in American Fork
until her death August 22, 1869, having been an invalid the last
three years of her life from paralysis. She was a very ambitious
woman, full of faith and a great reader of the Bible and Church
works, After she was stricken so she couldn't work she would
sit and cry and rock her daughter's babies, but with her speech
affected she talked very little. (This, from her granddaughter
Louisa J. Chipman Herbert, who was the member of the family designated
to care for her during her helplessness.)
From The History of Provo Fourth Ward p. 26
"On May the 9th, Isaac Houston,
James W. Preston, and George Patten, residents of Mountainville,
were declared a corporation, probably the first corporation in
the county, by the County Court; with the right to build a dragroad,
allowing a charge of ten cents a load. A strict account to be
kept and reported to the Court, till the original cost was realized
back. The court was held at the residence of the clerk."
Ad from Deseret News 25 May 1854
Deseret News 24 Oct 1855
Des News 1893
Obituary for Bishop Thomas Jefferson McCullough
Deseret News 22 July 1857
"History of Joseph Smith"
Des News 1 Oct 1856
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History of Provo Fourth Ward
by J.E.Booth
BYU call no. BX 8677.9224.P94b
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