Azre (Ezra) Horton

This document describes the conflation of Azre Horton and Daniel Asbury Horton that exists in several Ancestry.com family trees and provides substantial proof that they are two different people. Although Azre Horton's origins remain unknown, and there is some confusion about his name, it is now clear that Daniel Asbury Horton, born to Hardy and Mary Polly Horton in South Carolina in 1822, was NOT the man we know as Azre or Ezra Horton, was NOT married to Sarah Hamby, and is NOT the father of Azre & Sarah's nine children.

1. Who was Azre Horton?

I learned the story of "Ezra" Horton from several of his grandchildren at Horton family reuinions in Quanah, Texas, between 1975 and 2000. In summary, "Ezra" Horton was reported to be a farmer from Tishomingo County, Mississippi. His wife, Sarah Hamby or Henby, died in Alabama, and he subsequently married Margaret Amanda Todd (nee Ross) in Dyersburg, Tennessee. They then migrated to Fannin County, Texas with their blended family. His children John, Lizzie, and Jimmy moved to Texas before he did, and his three youngest children accompanied him on his migration to Texas. The wagon carrying family records and heirlooms was lost when the family crossed a river during their migration to Texas. He died in Fannin County in north central Texas in the 1880's. Six of his children settled, at least for a while, in or near Quanah, Texas, on the road from Dallas to Amarillo. His second wife Amanda and her third husband James Williams also settled in Quanah, where they operated a store.

Unfortunately, the oral tradition did not cover the origins of "Ezra" or his first wife, Sarah Hamby, nor their date or place of marriage. Additionally, no death or burial records for him have been found in Fannin County, Texas, where he lived in 1880, and where some of his children and grandchildren were married or born in the 1880s. His second wife, Amanda, remarried in 1887, suggesting that he died before then.

To make matters even more confusing, the government records from 1840 through 1880 that clearly represent the man known to his descendants as "Ezra" never actually used the name "Ezra". Instead, he is identified as "Azwell", "Asbury", and "Azre" (once each), and three times as "A". Further, his inferred birth date (based on his census age) ranges from 1809 to 1821. (See the census data below.) Also, two of the censuses say that he was born in Tennessee, and two say that he was born in South Carolina.

Because "Azre" (from the 1870 census) sounds so much like "Ezra", I have chosen to identify him as Azre.

For a more complete story of Azre Horton, read this brief Horton Family History, which focuses on Azre Horton and his children. You don't need to read the entire document to understand the certainty of what we do know about Azre, and the confusion over his name and origins.

2. Who was Daniel Asbury Horton?

I do not know the genealogical basis of the data, but according to numerous Ancestry.com trees, Daniel Asbury Horton was the 9th of 12 children born in the early 1800s to Hardy J. Horton and Mary Baker Horton of Kershaw Co, South Carolina. Daniel Asbury Horton was evidently born in about 1822, which is very close to the latest of Azre Horton's reported birth dates, but if Azre were born in 1822, he would have been 16 when his first son was born).

Daniel Asbury Horton eventually moved to Shelby County, Alabama, along with several members of his family (including his parents). He married Mary Arnett, and later her sister Nancy, had several children in Alabama, and ultimately migrated to Pope County, Arkansas, where (like Azre) the last record we have of him is the 1880 census.

3. The confusion on Ancestry.com

Evidently, someone who was looking for "Ezra" Horton's origins on Ancestry.com saw that the 1860 census called him "Asbery", found Daniel Asbury Horton's, saw a plausible connection, and recorded Azre's name as Daniel Asbury Ezra Horton. Soon afterwards, someone recorded Sarah "Henby" and her 10 children with Azre Horton as a wife and children Daniel Asbury Ezra Horton. The conflation of the two men has now been copied to numerous Ancestry.com trees, some of which give Daniel Asbury Ezra Horton two simultaneous families, one born in Tennessee and Mississippi to Sarah Henby, and another born in Alabama to Mary and Nancy Arnett.

4. Evidence

5. Supporting Census Data

¹ The 1840 census recorded the name of only the head of household. All other household members were simply counted in age ranges. Thus, I can't prove that Azwell is the same person as Asbury, Azre, and A Horton, but it's pretty plausible, especially given the ages of the family members, the fact that the later censuses say that Azre's first few children were born in Tennessee, and that I did a reasonably exhaustive search of Hortons in Tennessee in the 1840 census without finding any other matches.

² The birth year is simply extrapolated from the age recorded in the census.

³I admit that I cannot explain "Asbery" and "Azwell".

⁴ "Sallie" was a common nickname for Sarah. M.A. was Ezra's second wife, Margaret Amanda Todd (nee Ross).

⁵ The name "Sarah" and its common variant "Sallie", plus the children's names and ages establish that 1850's A Horton, 1860's Asbery Horton, and 1870's Azre Horton are the same person.  ⁶ In 1880, A Horton is listed with his second wife Margaret Amanda and her daughter, Virginia Caroline.

¹ Note that Daniel's name (with the middle initial in 1880) is consistent across these censuses.

² All of the birth dates are inferred from ages recorded in the census records.

³ The children's names don't match perfectly across the censuses, but (especially given that some of them are unusual> they are certainly consistent enough to conclude that we're looking at the same family in each census.

⁴ Nancy C(aroline) Arnett is listed in the 1860 census as part of Daniel Horton's household with occupation "housekeeper"

⁵ Numerous Ancestry.com trees list Hardy and Mary Horton as Daniel Asbury Horton's parents. I don't know the source of that relationship.

⁶ Johnathon Horton is listed as Daniel Asbery's brother, born 1825, in a variety of Ancestry.com trees. In the 1850 census, Johnathon's household immediately follows Daniel's. (I did not look for Johnathon in the subsequent censuses.

⁷ Henry Bingham Horton is listed as Daniel Asbery's brother, born 1814, in a variety of Ancestry.com trees. In the 1850 census, Henry B. is in the same county as Daniel. In the 1880 census, Henry B Horton and Daniel A Horton are on the same page of the census ennumeration, separated by only one household.