Family/Spouse: Rebecca Ann GRADY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Maxwell

Hugh married Repsey GRADY on 12 Nov 1846 in Decatur County, Georgia.. Repsey (daughter of Alexander GRADY and Charity OUTLAW) was born on 15 Jan 1820 in Albertson Twp, Duplin County, North Carolina; died on 10 Jul 1881 in Duplin County, North Carolina; was buried in Grady Family Cemetary, Pink Hill, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Maxwell

John married Mary HOUSTON on 06 Jun 1813 in Duplin County, North Carolina. Mary (daughter of RS Griffith HOUSTON and Ann Martha PATSEY) was born on 18 Dec 1779 in Greene County, North Carolina; died on 18 Apr 1860 in Greene County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alexander married Charity OUTLAW in 1800 in Duplin County, North Carolina. Charity (daughter of Captain Captain James OUTLAW and Elizabeth GRADY) was born on 20 Feb 1783 in Duplin County, North Carolina; died on 23 Jul 1830 in Duplin County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Elizabeth Grason CROOM on 24 Aug 1769 in Duplin County, North Carolina. Elizabeth died on 31 Jul 1822 in Duplin County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Notes for Griffith Houston:( From Jacqueline B. Perrin)
Received much material from his descendant, David V. Brooks, at Brooks, Steven, and Pope, PA. Suite 150, 2000 Regency Parkway, Cary, NC. 27511; 919-481-9103

Context of North Carolina Will Abstracts, 1760-1800 the North Carolina Wills J. page 34
1782 JONES, GRIFFITH, Wife (not named); Margaret McRee and Mary White (daughters); Griffith Houston (grandsons).

FROM DUPLIN COUNTY DEEDS, BOOK 1A PAGE 21, May 13, 1784
A tract of land granted to William Houston Senr. of Duplin County It being part oof 840A granted to Henry McCulloh Esqr. March 3, 1745. It was granted to William Houston Esqr. May 1780, beginning at a maple & ash on the branch of Cape Fear River, William Hubbard's lower corner William Houston and wife had use of wood and said land for their plantation. On May 13, 1784 for $1 a tract of 256A on the Eastside of the Northeast River of Cape Fear. It was granted to Griffith Houston son of William Houston Esqr.
Witness: Charles Ward, Joseph Bray, Senr.
July Court 1784

Note 2./
Duplin County and Sampson Countys were formerly a part of New Hanover County, and about the year 1749 was divided from New Hanover County. In 1784, Sampson County was erected from the portion of Duplin

NOTE 3./ The Year Was 1780 Historical Note:

The year was 1780 and the American Revolution wasn't going well for the Americans in the South. British forces captured Charleston and 5,400 American troops garrisoned there. During the siege, South Carolina Governor John Rutledge managed to escape and when word reached the British General Cornwallis, he sent Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton to chase Rutledge and troops under Colonel Abraham Buford who were escorting him to North Carolina. Tarleton's men caught up with Buford's troops near the Waxhaws District six miles south of the North Carolina state line, as Governor Rutledge continued north. Buford's men put up a brief fight during which Tarleton's horse was shot from under him. As the American troops began to surrender, Tarleton's men, thinking he had been killed began renewed their attack on the surrendering Americans. More than one hundred men were killed outright and perhaps another hundred died of their wounds shortly after.

Up to that point, most thought that the South was going to remain loyal to Britain, but the Waxhaws Massacre became a rallying point for the rebels, with "Tarleton's Quarter" becoming synonymous with "no mercy."

The divisions in the South were apparent in the Battle of King's Mountain, which was fought between two American forces--Tories under the command of Major Patrick Ferguson, and the "Overmountain Men," American frontiersmen from what is now Tennessee and parts of Virginia. The Americans surrounded the Tories and this time it was they who gave "no quarter" to the surrendering Tory troops. Eventually American officers were able to reign in the troops and the battle was over. The defeat was a turning point in the Revolution in the South and forced General Cornwallis to retreat further south.

To the north, a British spy was captured with correspondence revealing that Benedict Arnold, who had recently been given command of West Point, planned to surrender it to the British. When news that the spy had been caught reached Arnold, he fled to the safety of a British ship and became a brigadier-general for the British, siding with them for the remainder of the war.

There was trouble in England as well. In 1778 a Catholic Relief Act had been passed, which reversed some of the Penal Laws of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It allowed Roman Catholics to join the armed forces with an oath amenable to Catholics and gave them the ability to hold longer leases on land. It also ended the requirement that a Catholic distribute his lands evenly among his sons upon his death. The Catholic Relief Acts weren't popular with some Protestants though and in 1780 Lord George Gordon established the Protestant Association in 1780. In June of that year an estimated 60,000 people marched on the House of Commons demanding the Relief Acts be repealed. The huge crowd turned violent and a week of rioting left two hundred and ninety people dead, and devasted Roman Catholic churches and related buildings, as well as the homes of prominent Catholics and supporters of the legislation. Troops had to be called in to end the rioting. Twenty-five of the leaders of the riot were hanged, but Gordon was found "not guilty" of treason.

May 19th was a dark day in New England--literally. A low-lying dark cloud that at times had a yellow and at times reddish hue descended on New England and was noted from Maine to as far south as New Jersey. It was darkest around northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire and Maine, where it became so dark that candles needed to be lit to see. The cause is thought to have been a combination of low clouds that mixed with smoke and ash from a forest fire, but at the time it wasn't known and the event caused panic for many.

New England's dark day was a minor event though in comparison to the hurricane season of 1780. Eight storms struck in various parts of America and the Caribbean. British fleets off American shores took heavy hits during several storms. (Hurricanes in the 1780s were the cause of more British Naval losses than battle.) The worst storm struck on October 10th devastating Barbados and the Windward Islands, and claiming an estimated 22,000 lives.

RS married Ann Martha PATSEY about 1778 in Dobbs, North Carolina. Ann was born about 1745 in Duplin County, North Carolina; died after 1800 in Duplin County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Note 1./ from TENTH GENERATION at

In 1800 there was a Patsey Houston household enumerated in Duplin County. She was over 45 years
of age. In her household were 4 females age 16-25, 1 male age 10-15, and 1 female age less than 10.
She had one slave. Thus Patsey had apparently been widowed less than 10 years. Patsey was probably
a nickname for Martha Houston, wife of Griffith Houston. Griffith Houston apparently deceased prior to the 1800 census.

Alexander married Anna Nancy THOMAS. Anna was born on 06 Jul 1745 in Duplin County, North Carolina; died on 30 Sep 1825 in Duplin County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Captain married Elizabeth GRADY. Elizabeth (daughter of John GRADY and Mary Elizabeth WHITFIELD) was born on 09 Feb 1749 in Bertie County, North Carolina; died on 03 Sep 1830 in Duplin County, North Carolina. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]