b. Dec 15, 1862 Cove County, Pa
m. 1888, to Zula Leora Suydam, nine children.
d. Aug 27, 1937 Clackamas County, Or
During the First World War, a large number of Chinese laborers were used in France. My mother's grandfather, Thomas Watson Houston, learned Chinese while working in China as a missionary. He wrote these letters home while a Chinese interpreter in France.
Obituary of Thomas Watson Houston.
b. June 13, 1827 Coitsville, Ohio
My mother's great-grandfather, Col. David Watson Houston, wrote his life story in 1908. He was 82 years old and was considering homesteading for the second time. He had been an abolitionist, an army Colonel, the first Federal Marshal in the District of Kansas, and a Kansas state legislator. He believed he was the first person to appoint a black man to a U.S. jury. For opposing a bond issue that would aid railroads, he was burned in effigy.
It seems I am descended from Grietje Reiners/Reyniers, known as "the first prostitute in New Amsterdam." She was married to the son of a successful Dutch pirate and slave trader. I am indebted to Frank Clarke for his research on her.
Looking back even further, my maternal line of descent reaches The Mitochondrial Eve. My paternal line of descent reaches The Y Chromosome Adam. Even more distant ancestors are described in this old Usenet post from talk.origins on google or this copy on my site.