Wednesday, May 2, 2012

INTRODUCTION TO THE HYTEN - HITEN RESEARCH


This Hyten Family Tree started innocently enough in a motel one day in 1967 when I picked up an Indianapolis phone book and found a HYTEN listed. I thought then that I must have found the only other HYTEN in the world. After all, a name like HYTEN is different. When I wrote that first letter to David Hyten I had no idea that I was beginning a lifelong journey into the world of genealogy. The journey began by following only the HYTEN name.

Future trips and additional phone books were to add the names of more HYTEN s. Their correspondence in turn added even more names to my files. For years the problem remained that those notes and lists were not joining into a family tree. I was finding that there were a lot of HYTEN s out there, but despite some common threads, I could not locate the source of the family. Even now, over thirty years after I started, I still do not know for sure what country our ancestors came from nor do I even have all of us joined together on one family tree. What I do have though, thanks to many people, are the names of over 640 HYTENs.

In April of 1986 I published a draft copy of the family tree book in order to allow everyone who read it a further chance to fill in missing information. The draft copy served its purpose well. In the year and a half after it was published I had doubled the amount of information available, allowing me to add story lines to what had been more like a collection of dates.

By the time I published the 1988 edition of the HYTEN family tree I was down to only three deceased males that I was not able to trace until their death in order to determine if they had heirs. For a family with its roots beginning in the 1700s that is a pretty fair accomplishment.

I established five distinct branches of the Hyten family tree. Three branches descend from the sons of Josiah Heighton and date back at least to 1790. They are the William Caywood, Stephen Henson, and Thomas Otho Hyten branches. The latter is my family branch. Another branch, the large William Hyten one, goes back to his 1821 birth. The Texas branch of Samuel Gwinn Hyten turned out to be HYTEN s by choice as I found that Samuel had changed his name from HYDEN to HYTEN.



LILA HYTEN-STITES

I can not possibly list everyone who has contributed information to me although I wish that I could. There are two people though that provided me with the keys which allowed me to join together the disjointed information I then had. Their help resulted in a family tree of which I think they and any genealogist would be proud. It was Lila Hyten - Stites that got me going on this final push and Pat Douglass-Smith who provided much of the properly documented data that I have used. My role was more that of detective and editor than that of researcher. I have done just enough of the latter to respect those who do it.

Others who contributed were Eleanor Douglass-Embree, Arlene Hyten-Rainey, David Lawrence Hyten, who was the first HYTEN that I contacted, Floyd James Hyten, David Lee Hyten, Donald William Hyten, Harry Alexander Hyten, Jerry Lester Hyten, Becky Ingram, (Todd) William Todd Hyten, Norine Cuddingham-Hyten, Cole Wesley Hyten, both of whom have since passed away, Blaine Warren Hyten, and my parents, Mary Josephine and Robert Spencer Hyten, Sr. There is also Sara Lynn Hyten whose only contribution was to give me the name of her aunt Lila who in turn provided me with the key to putting it all together. Don't you ever be one of those people who thinks that he or she has nothing to add.

After a long rest I began to slowly review information on the HITENs which I had set aside during my quest of the HYTEN roots.
By 1999 I had assembled seven distinct family trees of HITENs. Over the next couple years I tried to connect them as well as attach stragglers to the various trees. It took a lot of work during 2001 to finalize what you see in this latest edition of the HYTEN family tree book now renamed A History of the HYTEN / HITEN Families. There were HITEN mysteries remaining but, if I had waited to solve them I might have never gotten the book out.



In 2009 I placed some of the contents of the book on the Internet in a blog at www.hytenhiten.blogspot.com . This resulted in connecting the Unconnected Willim Hytens to the HYDEN families. In 2012 nearly 50 people had joined me on Facebook resulting 47 new HYTEN names and 15 new HITEN names. All new information is now gathered into this 2012 publication of the latest form of the book; this Internet blog site.

I am presenting the information that I have gathered un-footnoted. This may not be considered scholarly, but at this point I consider it more important to get this book out to those who would use and enjoy it. I do have a bibliography and lists of my sources which should help future researchers avoid covering old ground again. Heaven only knows how many times I looked at some of those standard source books before I realized what I was doing. I should admit though that sometimes it took a couple readings to find valuable facts. For now I have in my files the documentation to share with anyone who cares to challenge any of the information herein and I welcome any such inquiries.

Information in the stories was gathered from both historical documents and stories passed on from generation to generation. As you read, you might want a map in front of you to find all the places mentioned in this story. I tried to avoid bogging the story down with too much numerical data, but I am a numbers man so there are plenty of dates in the text.

This book is written in four parts. The first chapters are about the lives of the earliest HYTEN s and HITENs. The second section of chapters is about the HYTENs and the third about the HITENs. The final section of chapters contain background material and unfinished business.

My unpublished name lists contain 641 HYTENs, 373 alive and 268 dead. There are 169 HYTEN households. The list contains 123 HYTEN men, 127 HYTEN women, and 123 wives who are alive. There are 95 men, 101 women, and 72 wives who have passed away.

There are 311 HITENs including 122 alive and 189 dead. There are 54 HITEN households. The list contains 34 HITEN men, 49 HITEN women, and 39 wives who are alive. There are 71 men, 61 women, and 57 wives who have passed away.

When this all began thirty years ago I had no idea that there were 40 HYTENs let alone 952. It has been a labor of love. I hope that you get as much enjoyment out of reading this book as I did writing it.

CHAPTER 1: HYTEN or HITEN ?

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Hyten, Heighton, Hiton, Hiten, Hyton, Highton.  No matter what the spelling, they are all pronounced the same. 

You leave a phone message; "Tell him that Bob Hyten called."   The voice on the other end says, "How do you spell Hyten?"  What would you say if you could not read or write as was the case with most people before 1800?  It would then be up to the person writing the message to decide how to spell Hyten. To him any of the above spellings could be right.

Now you are in the shoes of those of us who have sought the origins of the HYTEN family.  The HYTEN family has been in the United States at least since the 1700's. That was a time before it was common for everyone to  read and write.  Every one of those spellings above was used for the name of a person that I can definitely tie to the family tree.  One could not even begin to guess how many people out there who now spell their names differently might have descended from those we have at the head of our HYTEN family tree. 

It appears fairly certain that the H-Y-T-E-N spelling became the standard around 1800 when the sons of Josiah Heighton adopted the HYTEN spelling.  Legal documents of Josiah Heighton exist but his signature is an "X" indicating he could neither read nor write.  It is in a manuscript by Arthur Leslie Keith, The Caywood Family, which traces the family of Josiah's wife, Rebecca Caywood, that the spelling HYTEN appears.  Keith's manuscript first lists Josiah Heighton and his wife Rebecca and then all further references to their children are in the name HYTEN.  This information tracing the Caywood family  back to the 1600s in Maryland is in the Newberry Library  in Chicago. 
To Illustrate how these various spellings can perpetuate, Josiah's son William Caywood Hyten was a resident of Montgomery County, Kentucky near Mt. Sterling in the early 1800's.  The 1814, 1815, and 1816 census/tax rolls list his name successively as Highton, Hiton, and Hyton even though there is absolutely no doubt that it is the same man. 
At about the same time the names Heton  and Hyton and Hiten  appear on the rolls of nearby counties.  The H-I-T-E-N spelling begins forty miles away in Harrison County, KY, near Cynthiana in the 1820s. While there is little doubt in my mind that HITENs share common ancestors with the HYTENs, I am not yet able to absolutely prove it.

Likewise I can not say for sure exactly what nationality the HYTEN name is.  In my immediate family most people felt that our origins were in England.  Many other HYTENs think they are German.  My guess would be that both main theories could be at least partially right.  In the Middle Ages many battles were fought to consolidate the power of the English throne. Often German mercenaries were brought in to aid one side or the other.  Many of these soldiers stayed on in England when they finished fighting and eventually became English citizens.  HYTEN could very well be an Anglicized version of a German name like Heighton.  Certainly the name Heighton looks Germanic.
With that said, I must report that in 1988 just a month before completing the Second Edition of the book, HYTEN: An American Family, Becky Ingram gave me a transcription of a manuscript written by her great-grandfather, William Henry Hyten, in which he states that his grandfather, who would have been Josiah Heighton,  came from Scotland as a child. 
At first I doubted that because the name HYTEN didn’t sound Scottish to me. Since then I discovered the Scottish clans named Aiton and Ayton and I‘ve heard Scots speak often enough to realize that when spoken by a Scot, Hyten and Ayton sound very much alike.  Strengthening the  theory is the fact that the area in Maryland in which our Hyten family first appeared in the records was a prime destination of Scotch-Irish immigrants. 

There are several Heighton families in mid-1800 censuses whose family head lists his place of birth as England.  While this at least establishes that Heighton is an English name, none of these families appear to be related to us.  Don Heighton, 8024 Arlie Dr., N. Richland Hill, TX, 76180, has extensively researched the Heighton name going all the way back to Thomas Heighton (1550-1622) in England. While he too has unconnected and dead-end branches, we have not been able to come even close to tying HYTENs to Heightons.

The book, Surnames of the United Kingdom, lists Hyton about which it says: "Hyton (Eng.) Bel. to Hyton, or Dweller at High Enclosure or Farmstead [ME hy, oe high; high+ME-ton, OE tun; enclosure]."  The book Surnames of Scotland includes the names Hayton and Heiton as well as Aiken, Aitken, and Atian. I cannot find any other possible matches in similar books of names for Germany or Wales.

The name Hyden will repeatedly surface during this writing.  While it is possible that HYTENs came to America as Hydens, I feel certain in saying that in America there is a Hyden family separate from the HYTENs.  Gene Hyden, P.O. Box 6575, New Orleans, LA, 70174, has helped me to identify individual census records as Hyden not HYTEN records. We have even been able to identify two HYTEN and two HITEN family branches as actually being Hyden. His meticulous research charts Hydens from Lee County, Virginia, to Tennessee and then throughout the country. My research plots the HYTENs from Maryland to Kentucky and westward.  While it is possible that both groups are from the same original stock back in Europe, the families seem to have remained separate in the United States.

 In attempting to tie the HYTEN and HITEN families to Scotch-Irish origins, I have contacted sources in Dublin, Belfast, and even South Africa without success. It would now appear that the only way that might be accomplished is by searching individual church records in Northern Ireland. These records are neither indexed nor computerized. They are ancient records in sometimes illegible script. If one had the time it would still be likely that he could read right past the name even if it is spelled HYTEN. It’s not likely this task will ever be undertaken. The hunt for Scotch-Irish roots will probably not be able to proceed until these individual church records have been codified.

CHAPTER 2: THE EARLIEST HYTENS


It amazes me how much documentation exists on the citizens of the American Colonies. I greatly admire Lila Hyten-Stites (a William Caywood Hyten heir), Pat Douglass-Smith (Stephen Henson Hyten), and Gene Hyden for all the research that they had to do to come up with so much of the following information. Unfortunately when it comes time to identify the national source of the HYTEN family roots, it is still not possible to do it.

My family tradition said that the HYTEN name was English. There is some information that could support that theory ... the passenger lists of British ships arriving in America in the 1600's and 1700's. Nell Marion Nugent's Cavaliers and Pioneers lists Henry Hitton coming to Warwick River County, VA, in 1643; Hester Heytens arriving in Northumberland County, VA, in 1649; James Heyton into Accomack County, VA, in 1667; and James Heyton transported into Tower Norfolk, County, VA, in 1687. Any of these names are close enough in spelling to have been the beginning of the HYTEN family in America but there is nothing further about them in the records of the Colonies.
A March 9, 1731 ship's manifest lists William Highton on the ship Patapscoe, which left New Gate, England for Maryland captained by Darby Lux. This could be the beginning of the HYTEN name in America but it does not seem likely that this is true. I am not just saying that because that list is from Peter Coldham's English Convicts in Colonial America, Volume I. I reached my conclusion because the person I regard as the head of our family tree, Joseph Hyten, Sr., was probably born in 1731. Since neither a child nor a wife of William Highton are listed on that ship or any other during that time period, I feel that it is unlikely that they are related.
In Passengers to America edited by Micheal Tepper, on page 276 under the March,1774 sailings from Liverpool, England, is listed one Richard Hiton , 22, a butcher from Yorkshire who sailed on the York Packet to New York City. This arrival is probably too late to be one of the HYTENs I have traced.

I have tentatively concluded that Joseph Hyten / Hyton / Heighton, Sr. (to differentiate him from the next Joseph) is the head of our family tree. To reach that conclusion requires a little "creative" deduction. While it seems there is a path that leads one from Joseph Hyten, Sr. to Josiah Heighton and his sons who spell their name Hyten, it cannot be said for certain that this is a direct descendancy. At no point in actual records are the names of Joseph, Sr.’s sons given . It is only by location and time sequence that one can deduce the relationships.
The first mention of Joseph Hyten is in the parish records of King George's Parish of Prince George's County, Maryland, which is just south of Montgomery County where later my solid path of HYTENs begins. Therein is noted the birth on September 28,1773 of a daughter Cloe to Joseph and Sara Hyten. It is the only mention of the name HYTEN in those records.

Joseph Hyton is fifth up from bottom. This is first recorded document of a HYTEN.

Maryland Records, Volume I-Caius Marcus Brumbaugh has a census of St. Johns and Prince George's Parishes in Port Tobacco upper hundred which is in Charles County, MD, in the same general area as Prince George County, which was taken August 31,1776 by Capt. Dent aided by Samuel Smallwood, constable. Among the inhabitants, we find "HYTON, JOSEPH, age 45,9 mo.,7 da.; Ann, his wife, age 41,11 mo.; 2 sons between 10-16; 1 son between 18-26; and 1 daughter," (No age is mentioned for the daughter.) From a different source they are listed with boys aged 7 and 9 and a daughter 11. The later ages would fit with Josiah (b. ca.1769) and Elizabeth (ca.1765) whom I will discuss later.
These two records could refer to the same Joseph. If so the daughter could be Cloe rather than Elizabeth. The problem with the one Joseph theory is that in the1776 census Joseph's wife is named Ann. It could be that there is one woman named Sarah Ann or Ann Sarah. It is also possible that Sara died between 1773 and 1776 and he remarried to a woman named Ann. More probably the 1776 Joseph is a different one from the one in the 1773 church records and it’s on that assumption that I proceed.

CHARLES COUNTY, MARYLAND, IS WHERE HYTENs FIRST APPEARED IN DOCUMENTS.
 The 1790 census of Montgomery County, Maryland, which is a northwest of Charles County, lists two Heightons. Josiah Heighton is listed as living alone and Joseph Heighton with a family consisting of 2 males, over 16 ; 4 males under 16; 1 female over 16; and 4 females under 16. This could be the Joseph of the 1776 census if his older boys had moved out and others were born, but that’s not likely.
More likely, this Joseph is a different Joseph, possibly one of the sons of the 1776 Joseph Hyten. One of the unnamed sons of the 1776 Joseph Hyten had a birth date between 1750 and 1758 thus making him the age right to fit the Joseph in the 1790 census. Following this assumption and information from Gene Hyden which I will note later, I named the 1776 one Joseph Hyten, Sr. and the 1790 one Joseph Hyten, Jr.


The problem is that there remains a challenge to these suppositions. In a remembrance written by Dr. William Henry Hyten on September 3, 1894, he says "my paternal grandfather (who was Josiah Heighton/Hyten) come (sic) to Maryland from Scotland, when a child." To fit this scenario Joseph, Sr. had to come to America somewhere in the early 1770s bringing with him a son Josiah Heighton/Hyten who was born around 1769. The person I identify as Joseph, Jr. is too young to be the father of Josiah. Then again Dr. William Henry Hyten could be wrong as Pat Douglas-Smith has researched the immigration-passenger lists of that period and did not find any HYTENs spelled any way on ships of that period.

The History of Pioneer Families of Missouri, 1876 Bryan & Rose, updated in 1935, Elwang & Lucas Brothers, says under Hyten:
"Joseph Hyten, of Maryland, married Prisilla Caywood and their son Josiah married Rebecca Caywood and settled in Maryland County, KY. in 1810. Their children were William, Stephen, and Otho (the name which my family tradition lists for Thomas Otho). Stephen H. was in the War of 1812. He married Nancy McGary and settled in Callaway County, MO in 1830."
There are two things wrong with this statement. First, I assume they meant Montgomery County, KY, since I don't think that there was a Maryland County. Secondly, I’m sure Josiah was in Kentucky as early as 1800.
Using this narrative reinforces the idea that there was a Joseph Hyten, Jr. and he was the father of the Josiah Heighton. I reached this conclusion because Joseph Hyten of the 1773 church records was married to Sara and 1776 Joseph Hyten, Sr. to Ann Cox. This Joseph, Jr. is married to Prisilla Caywood. (Note that the name Cox will come up again later.)
Gene Hyden, in the research of the Hyden clan, identifies two Joseph Hytens; Joseph Hyten, Sr. (1731-) who is married to Ann Cox (1736-), and also Joseph Hyten, Jr. who married Priscilla Caywood and had two sons, James (ca.1784-) and John. It is interesting to note that Arthur Leslie Keith’s The Caywood Family does not mention this Caywood marriage. What it does say is that the mother of Josiah’s wife, Rebbeca, was named Priscilla McDonald/McDanial Caywood.

I did a little research on the Caywood and Darnall families hoping to find references to the HYTENs and HITENs which would clear up connections between Joseph, Sr., Joseph, Jr, and Josiah. I didn’t find what I was looking for but I did find that Dr. William Henry Hyten was probably right in saying his ancestors had been in America for 200 years. He was also probably right in contending “I have never met or heard of any of the name Hyten, Turpin, Darnell, Caywood, or Carrington that we, the Hytens are not akin to.”
From The Darnall Darnell Family I found out that the great-grandfather of Dr. William’s grandfather, Henry Darnall, was Edward Darnall (1671-1754). Edward came to the Colonies in 1688 as an indentured servant to Phillip Lynds. From Arthur Leslie Keith’s The Caywood Family I found out that Rebbeca Caywood Heighton/Hyten’s great-great-great grandfather, Stephen Caywood, came to the Colonies in 1670, also as an indentured servant.
As you work your way down these two family trees you find repeated entries with the names Dr. William Hyten noted. Three Darnalls married Turpins and three married Caywoods. Two Caywoods married Carringtons and both Darnalls and Caywoods married McDanials. Later generations of HYTENs would marry Darnalls, Carringtons, and McDanials. Also note that around 1690 the second of three Stephen Cawoods married Mary Cox ... the second reference to that name.
The Darnall-Cawood Family Tree in this chapter shows how closely the two families were interwoven up to the time they both married HYTENs.

The following two records are the first on file applying directly to the HYTEN family:
On May 19, 1787, a bill of sale was recorded in Montgomery County, MD, in which Joseph Heighton transferred to William Vears many household items as well as livestock and crops. That would seem to indicate that he was moving so I take this to be about the time he moved to Kentucky. This document that was signed by Joseph with an "X", indicating that he could not read or write thus could not verify that particular spelling of his name which was on that document.
What I consider the first direct documented mention of the Hyten family came in the will of Stephen Caywood which was filed in Montgomery County, Maryland on Jan. 17,1802 and probated on March 10 of that year. In it Caywood leaves a portion of his estate to his daughter Rebecca and her husband Josiah Heighton and their children William, Milly, Stephen, and Thomas.

In early July, 1992, I visited my son, Mark, who at the time was then a Navy test pilot stationed at Patuxant NSA at the southern tip of Maryland. This is about 30 miles from where my records of the HYTEN family begins so while I was there I did a little searching in the local records.
The August 31, 1776 census of St. John's Parish, Port Tobacco, Upper Hundred, lists Joseph Hyton and his family. This area is in Charles County, Maryland, just northwest of LaPlata, the county seat. St. John's Parish still exists near the intersection of Livingston and Bumby Oak Roads just east of Indian Head, MD.
None of the records I looked at contained any further reference to HYTEN in any of the recognized spellings. The land records of Charles County and neighboring St. Mary's County are very complete and well indexed. They did contain lots of Haydens as well as Heaton and Heydon. The latter might be of interest in that it was dated 1678 which could be our arrival time in the colonies if the 1894 recollections of Dr. William Henry Hyten are accurate. That man was Thomas Heydon and that first name Thomas is often repeated in the HYTEN family. Even without HYTENs these records were interesting because they contained the previously mentioned names Cawood, Carrington, and Darnell.
The name Cawood was prominent in all kinds of 1600 and 1700 records in both Charles and St. Mary's Counties. Among the 18th Century land records was Stephen in 1713 and 1751 and Rebecca Caywood-Hyten's father Stephen Caywood, Jr. in 1765, 1771, 1787, and 1795. The 1765 sale to a man named Berry was that of a piece of property called "Hull" which was "situated on the main branch of the Mattawoman". That's a creek which extends from Indian Head past St. John's Parish up north into St. George's County. The land was "from the will of Stephen Cawood grandfather of aforesaid Stephen Cawood bequeathed to his son John" who was Stephen, Jr.'s brother.
The 1771 £25 "sale" by John Ford was actually a lifetime indenture to the widow Sarah Cawood for some more Hull land "beginning at the end of Samuel Berry's land". Records show Stephen Cawood had Hull surveyed in 1675 and that it contained 600 acres, a substantial piece of land in those days. Other references indicate that Berry sold something to Cawood in 1704 so maybe they were neighbors trading land.
The St. Mary's County Debt (tax) Books of 1753 thru 1758 list Stephen Cawood owning "part of William's Purchase, 100 acres; part of Westham, 200 ac.; and Cawood's Expense, 157 ac." According to the 1774 tax of St. Mary's County, Stephen Cawood, Jr. was enrolled in the militia. He was also on the 1799 roles of the Chaptico Church (Christ Church Episcipal) which was also the parish of the family of Francis Scott Key who wrote the national anthem. This latter date conflicts somewhat with the 1790 Montgomery County (quite a distance northwest of St. Mary’s County) census which lists a Stephen Cawood family of 13 as well as Joseph and Josiah Hyten families. It could be a different Stephen Cawood since that was a very popular name in the family.
The 1787 and 1795 land documents deal with the same piece of land which was called Long Thought. It was in an area called Jorden's Swamp which is still on the St. Mary's County maps just east of Maryland Route 5 a few miles southeast of Waldorf, MD. The 200 acres were sold for 4000 pounds of tobacco. The buyer was Daniel McDaniel and that's another name that Dr. Hyten connects to the HYTEN family by marriage. What's really interesting is that the 1795 document was filed by a lawyer named Alexander Hamilton whom local historians tell me had to be the Alexander Hamilton from American history books.


Also in the Charles County records are Carringtons and Darnells. In 1748 Timothy Carrington transferred parcels of his "Carrington's Folly" to his sons (I guess) John and Timothy, Jr. "Carrington's Folly" was located in Port Tobacco, East Hundred, which is in the Waldorf area between St. John's Parish and Jorden's Swamp. Marriage records list Leonard in 1789, Levin in 1796, and Alexander in 1797. (Note that the Samuel Carrington family from Maryland and Kentucky married into the family of Stephen Henson Hyten in Missouri.) I think that was the same Samuel Carrington who witnessed Stephen Cawood's 1795 land document.
In 1816 William Caywood Hyten married Elizabeth Darnell, the daughter of Henry and Sally (Turpin) Darnell. Dr. Hyten says that Henry's ancestors came to Maryland in the 1600's. As I found the Darnell name in these old records, a most interesting possibility entered the HYTEN family tree.... that of royalty.

The first Henry Darnell (1645-1711) was the son of Phillip Darnell the secretary to Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore and founder of the Maryland colony. The holder of numerous government and military positions, Col. Henry Darnell was also a cousin of Charles Calvert, the third Lord Baltimore. Henry's mother, Mary Calvert, was a sister of Lord Talbot. At his death he left £3505, 105 slaves, and 26,000 acres. That land, a tremendous holding in those days, was in parcels spread all over between Annapolis and the Charles River to the south. It probably contained much of present day Bowie, MD.
His son, Henry II, (1682-1759) also served in various appointed posts. The 1776 census of St. James Parish (Ann Arundel County) lists him with two women and 110 slaves. That same year Charles County's census lists Benjamin Darnell in Bryantown Hundred, just south of Jorden's Swamp where Stephen Cawood lived, and Issac and Susanna Darnell in Port Tobacco, Upper Hundred, where the Hyton's were.
The history of St. George's County, just north of Charles County, says that Henry Darnell III from Upper Marlbough Hundred was attorney general (1744-1755) and naval officer of the Patuxant (1755-1761). He left the latter post and the territory under a cloud of suspicion over the mishandling of monies.
This Henry Darnell could have been Dr. Hyten's maternal grandfather Henry (ca.1730-1837). The dates don't quite fit but Henry held appointments including land surveyor which led him to acquire title to important lands in Lexington and then Louisville, Kentucky. The fact that he squandered these holdings fits with Henry III's money problems in Maryland.
Reality came crashing home after I told Lila Hyten Stites about my find. It seems she already had traced down our Henry Darnell. He was the great grandson of a Edward Darnell (1671-1754) who came to this country as an indentured servant in 1688. Benjamin and Issac whom I found in Charles County records are of this/our family. The Henry Darnells with great land holdings in St.George's and Ann Arundle Counties are probably of royal blood but not our blood.

Josiah Heighton (ca.1769) married Rebecca Caywood (?-1869) on Dec. 23, 1790, in Frederick County, MD. which is just north of Montgomery County. Kieth’s book says “Unconfirmed tradition has indicated that they were first cousins, a fairly commonplace occurrence in those days.”
They had four children. William Caywood Hyten was born in 1790 in Montgomery County, MD. His son, William Henry, said that his father was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, but that town is north of Montgomery County. Stephen Henson Hyten was born in 1795. Thomas Otho Hyten is listed in a family Bible as having been born in 1803 but since he is mentioned by name in the January, 1802 will of Stephen Cawood which was probated in March, 1802, it can be assumed that 1801 is a more likely birth year for Thomas Otho. A daughter, Milly, died young according to Kieth but it is not known where she fit in the birth order.

The exact location where they lived in Montgomery County, MD, which is just northwest of present day Washington, D.C., is not known. Stephen Henson Hyten recalled as a boy living at the edge of the Potomac, which borders Montgomery County, MD on the southwest. On Sundays at a place where the river was a mile wide, he would swim across holding on to a mare's tail.



After the 1802 will of Stephen Caywood there is no mention of HYTENs in Maryland records. As early as 1787, or as late as 1802 after the death of Stephen Caywood, the family of Josiah Heighton/Hyten moved through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. They went up the trail blazed by Daniel Boone into Kentucky's Montgomery County. Later members of the family were to follow Boone's footsteps into Missouri and Iowa.
 
Carrington family histories say that Samuel Carrington and his wife Mildred McDonald-Carrington moved from Montgomery County, MD to Mt. Sterling, KY in the Grassy Lick Creek area in 1804. In 1835 their son Thomas Carrington and his wife Elizabeeth Caywood-Carrington (the sister of Josiah Heighton/Hyten’s wife Rebecca) moved on to Indiana County, IN, where William Caywood Hyten then lived.

Two of Samuel Carrinton’s children married Caywoods and two married McDaniels.

The HYTENs were not exactly trail blazers but they were pioneers as they went into territories which were then only sparsely populated. Right up to their participation in the Oklahoma land rush, they were on the frontier. I have found very little indication of rich or famous HYTENs but I think that in following their migrations into the frontier you will see that they were the kind of people that built pioneer America. That is why I dared to title my first book about them HYTEN: An American Family.

The more I look at these pre-1800 records the more a muddle it all becomes. Every time I go over these records I come up with a new, slightly different explanation about the top of our family tree. The only thing that is sure is that from Josiah down through his sons, William Caywood, Stephen Henson, and Thomas Otho, I have clear and definite connections.
One might ask why publish a book about your family when such an important set of links is unresolved. At this point in time every avenue seems to have been searched and the answers not found. While I certainly will continue to pursue a more definite answer to this question of succession, I do not want to withhold all the other information I have while seeking information that I may not soon find.

All of this brings to mind something I once read about memories. The question was whether a memory could be “an original look at a point in our past or was it a recollection of a recollection”. In other words, were we just remembering the last time we thought about the topic rather than the original occurrence. In that case each successive remembrance has to have been colored by the time during which the thought was evoked. This means we can’t be sure that our memories are fully true.
In the case of trying to put these people together in an ordered family tree, I frequently find a past theory doesn’t fit with what is in front of me today. Because of this every time I try to accomplish this family tree it becomes more and more frustrating. Maybe one day in the process of reconstructing these thoughts I will put them together in a way which will provide me with the key to how they fit ... or more properly, direct me to the missing key.

On the "Hytens before 1800" page are several trees developed from the various sources of pre-1800 information. A good case can be made for connecting all the people listed but there are no real records to prove their relationships. For now that part of the HYTEN/HITEN family tree will have to remain a mystery.

NOTES:
While it is common I the now to say that families moved from Maryland to Kentucky or Illinois or Indiana because they objected to slavery, this notion is perhaps a bit romanticized based on modern political thinking rather than early pioneer realities.
The Hytens were poor farmers who apparently didn’t own land in Maryland. If they owned land in Kentucky, which I think they did, the records disappeared in 1800s fires. Poor farmers such as them found fault with slavery more because it allowed bigger farms to prosper while theirs struggled … and big land owner looked down on poor free men. Moving away from slavery put them on equal footing with other small farmers. The fact that many of these settlers brought with them a “free” black who worked for them basically as an indentured servant (one without pay) would indicate that all weren’t totally opposed to slavery.

That being said, family tradition was that Samuel Carrington moved because of the question slavery, while an 1824 Fleming County, KY, deed of sale is for William Caywood Hyten’s purchase of a slave.

The reason most people moved may have been more simple than a moral decision. Prior to 1750 in Maryland and 1800 in Kentucky there was no organized system of land registration. In other words, everyone was a squatter. When the territory got more heavily populated and formal government was organized, a system of recording land ownership was developed. The land had been made valuable by its development … so valuable that the poor farmers that squatted on it couldn’t afford to buy it. They were forced to move on to new territory. For most it wasn’t until they moved yet again (this time to Illinois or Indiana like the Hytens did …that they had enough money to buy cheap frontier land. It is there that their names first appear in land records in the 1820s to 1840s … and it is in these locations that the Hytens still reside.

CHAPTER 3: HYTENS IN KENTUCKY

Between 1796 and 1800, Josiah Heighton/Hyten moved his family to Kentucky. They settled in Montgomery County which at the time covered a great deal of Eastern Kentucky. Now Montgomery County, KY. is just east of Lexington, KY. Just forty miles or so to the northeast in Harrison County the 1810 census listed James Hyton the head of the HITEN families. John Heton, who may have been James’ brother lived fifteen miles to the north in Fleming County.

When William Henry Hyten was born in 1823, the family was on a farm five miles west of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, near Grass Lick Methodist Church*. A 1823 map shows Mt. Sterling, which is now the county seat of Montgomery County, at the intersection of six major roads that crossed the area. Right up to the 1980s the major crop grown in the area was tobacco just as it had been in Charles County, Maryland from which Josiah Heighton/ Hyten had brought his family. Only an occasional small plot of tobacco stands to-day. Most of the land in the area lies fallow.
(* Today in 2001 that church still exists. Grassy Lick Methodist Church claims to be the oldest Methodist church in Kentucky. The present brick structure was built in 1856 and has a plaque outside commemorating its longevity.
Heading west on High St., the street on the north side of the Montgomery County court house, it is 4.5 miles out High St. and Grassy Lick Road to a T-intersection. The church lies just around the corner to the left.)

In the fall of 1826 the Hytens moved two miles further down the road toward Cynthiana to a 105 acre farm that William Caywood Hyten bought from James Todd. The farm had a 2-story brick house and a stone stable. At that point in the road today there stands a modest farm on the south, a mansion-like house on the north, and a big church complex just west of that. It is easy to picture the entire area as it was in the early 1800’s as you drive the narrow winding road.
What is surprising is that there are no court records in Montgomery County, KY, that refer to HYTENs of any spelling.


The Beers and Lanagan “1879 Map of Montgomery County, Kentucky” doesn’t show any HYTENs owning property which isn’t surprising since they had all been gone at least thirty-five years by then. It does indicate several land owners whose names frequent the HYTEN / HITEN Family Trees. Using the Grassy Lick church as a reference point, J. McDaniel lived straight north. G.W. Goodpaster (a name from the HITEN Family Tree) was just east of him and C.O. Moberly and R. Goodpaster next further east. North of them was W.A. Boyd. In the far northern reaches of the county five miles away there was J. McDaniel, H. Caywood, J. Arnold, and W.Flanders. S.Carrington lived about two miles ENE of town.
Today there are a lot of Goodpasters in the Mt. Sterling phone book as well as Darnells, Carringtons, Caywoods, McDaniels, and Boyds.

When Josiah Heighton died is not known as he just seems to have disappeared after the 1810 census of Montgomery County, Ky. What we do know is that wife Rebecca remarried to James Gorrel on May 13, 1816 in Bath County, KY. which is immediately north of Montgomery County, KY. When Rebecca died in 1849 she was in Indiana with her son, William Caywood Hyten. Supposedly she was buried in the family plot on his farm but there is no legible stone with her name there.
Another source says that Rebecca had two children by Gorrel; a son, James, born in 1816, and a daughter, Harriet. It says she later moved with the two children to Indiana where they lived with her son James until she died. That may have been until he died since I know she was with William Caywood Hyten when she died.

CHAPTER 4: THE EARLIEST HITENS

The 1810 Kentucky census lists James Hyton in Harrison County and John Heton in Fleming County, both with children. Both are about the right age to be the sons of Joseph Hyten, Jr. as suggested in the last of the "Hytens Before 1800" Family Tree possibilities in Chapter 2. Combined with the fact that these two counties are just to the north of the HYTEN base in Montgomery County, it is not unreasonable to assume that we are looking at branches of the HYTEN family. That remains unproven. With the information available this would probably only be true if Joseph Hyten, Jr. and Josiah Hyten were brothers (see the second of the Family Tree possibilities). Unfortunately Joseph is enough older than Josiah to make that doubtful.
John Heton and his family of six females aged 10 to 16 and one male 10-16 disappeared but James Hyton can be linked to future generations of Harrison County HITENs. In the four censuses between 1810 and 1840 James’ last name would be spelled Hyton, Hiton, and Highton. In 1850 the spelling became HITEN. Arriving at James Hiten as the head of the HITEN Family Tree took a lot of research but also quite a bit of deductive reasoning, the kind that purest genealogists don’t readily accept.

What I had was James Hiten with a fairly consistent family over a period of thirty years. Unfortunately it was a family without names as in those early censuses only the head of household was named. Adding to the confusion was the custom of grouping of others in the household into wide age brackets which differed from census to census. From later censuses I had three distinct HITEN families in the same region of Kentucky, those of William, James J., and John William, all born between 1812 and 1828.

Tying the latter three to James proved difficult because the census records began including family members’ names all of James’ children who had married. There are no birth or marriage records tying those early HITENs together. It is only through land transactions which I assumed to be made between family members that I can connect them to each other.

The 1810 census lists the James Hyton household as one male 16-26 and one female 10-16. This was probably James (1788- ) and Polly (Mary) (1785-1858) since neither had yet married although her birth date doesn’t quite match. Marriage records show the younger James marrying Nancy Polk or Pock (1786- ) in 1811 and Polly Hiten marrying John Adam Pock/Polk in 1812. (Although the name is spelled both ways in indexes it is Pock on the latter couple’s tombstones.)
In the 1820 Harrison County, KY census in addition to three boys and three girls, James Highton is listed with two 18-25 year old males. They are too old to be his sons so I assume they are his brothers which would complete the probable family grouping of Joseph Hyten, Jr.’s children. That could make John Heton who wasn’t listed anywhere in 1820 as one of them.
James Hiten’s family grew and then declined as members were married off. The number of HITEN families in Harrison County, KY grew as the size of James’ declined. Using the age spreads from the 1810-40 censuses I developed a chart comparing the ages of his children in each census. This led to the conclusion that he probably had ten children between 1800 and 1828. From the actual birth dates of HITENs that appeared in later censuses I tentatively identified eight of those children.
Two of those, James J. (1823- ) and John W. (1828-ca.1880) would be the heads of my two clear-cut Kentucky branches. A third branch under William (1812-1850/1) is less clear but I have pieced together a logical scenario from him to modern times. Four of James’ daughters were probably Polly (Mary), Emily, Catherine, and Elizabeth (1826-?). A son and daughter who were gone by 1830 remain unidentified.
Polly (Mary) (ca.1804/15-?) married twice. Her first marriage to Alphues Courtney, in 1829 resulted in three children while her second to Joel Fields, Sr. in 1837 yielded four offspring. Emily (ca.1811/20-?) married John (Cooper) Courtney in 1841 and they had a daughter, Nancy Catherine (1842-1917). Another daughter, Catherine (ca.1820/25-?), married another Courtney, Absolum, also in 1841. I don’t think they had any children nor did the final daughter, Elizabeth (1826-?). She married Job Funkhouser in 1850 and they were living with James and Nancy at the time of the census.

It was using information derived from the Harrison County, KY, First Deed Index during an August 13, 2001 visit to the county vault that I concluded that my theory about James and his off-spring was probably correct. Of those I assumed to be his children only Catherine Hiten - Courtney and Elizabeth Hiten - Funkhouser aren’t included somewhere in these deeds.

James Hiten first bought land in Harrison County, KY in 1815 when he purchased 55 acres from Jacob Fry. In 1836 he bought 36 acres from W. Holt and in 1841 sold parcels of 24 and 40 acres at Mill’s Farm to R. Madison.

The records from 1851 onwards are probably the transactions of his son James J. Hiten (1823-ca.1895) who married in 1848. In 1854 and 1857 he bought four parcels totaling 21 acres from various Fightmasters who could have been his in-laws. In 1857 he bought 15 acres from his brother-in-law John Courtney (Emily’s husband) and 1858 sold 17.75 acres to Jno. Hieton (his brother, John W. Hiten). Before his final purchase of land on Twin Creek from W.H. Fightmaster, he had bought some 67 acres from others.

John W. Hiten’s (1828-ca.1890-5) various deeds stretched from 1854 to 1895. His purchases totaled over 77 acres. In 1884 he bought 5 acres from Emily Courtney (his sister Emily Hiten-Courtney). In 1891 he bought land from W. Hiten (his nephew William I. Hiten) and from the J.J. Hiten (probably the heirs of his brother James J.).

William Hiton (1812-ca.1850-1) bought a couple 16 acre parcels in 1856. In 1860 Mary Hiten, who I assume to be his wife, Mary Ann Fields-Hiten (1818-1882), received 90 acres from Wm. Hieton which I assume is a settlement of his estate as he apparently passed away sometime between 8-24-1850 and 11-9-1851 when she remarried to Alfred Courtney. There is also an 1875 transaction of 69 acres between her and Elizabeth Hamilton who would have been her daughter, Sarah E. Hiten-Hamilton (1846-1928).

Three later transactions between 1888 and 1890 by Mary Hiten must be those of Mary E. Bowman-Hiten (1858-1900), particularly since the first is to one Edward Bowman. Since her husband Thomas Hiten (1858-1917) was still alive I assume that she was selling land she had inherited.

From 1884 to 1891 William Hiten sold five times and bought once. I’m guessing that these transactions were those of William’s son William Irwin Hiten ( 1844-1928). The first was to Mary Courtney, his father William’s wife’s remarried name. The final sale was to his brother, John W. Hiten.

Listed under the name William Hiton from 1866 to 1884 are nine deeds which I attribute to William Hiten’s estate. One for 18 acres is to his daughter Sarah E. Hiten-Hamilton, another of 75 acres is to his son, Brice, and one of 11 acres is to his brother, James J. Hiten. The last two in 1883 passed 112 acres to his son Wm. Irwin Hiten who hadn’t been married too long at the time.

(Wesley) William J. Hiten (1842-1907) and separately his wife Martha Jane Courtney-Hiten(1852-1926) made five and one transactions each. He bought one piece from James Fields who was probably his cousin and sold to Mary C. Day who is probably his sister, (Tina) Mary C. Hiten-Day McLoney (1850- ??). Martha bought land in 1893 from Elizabeth May.


(Given that some of William Hiten’s land is transferred to his son William Irwin Hiten but none to Worthy or Wortley G. whose name only appears in census reports, it is my guess that Wortley is in fact Wesley (William) J. Hiten whose name may have been mis-transcribed as William J. when it was in fact Wesley J. Hiten. The fact that both had the same birth year and William J. can’t be attached anywhere else, makes me comfortable in declaring Wortley or Wesley and William J. are one and the same person.)




I apologize to genealogy purists because I realize virtually all my conclusions in this chapter are based on conjecture. For me conjecture is a tool, a starting place, which has very often been proven by facts that I may not have looked for if I hadn’t been convinced of my theories.

CHAPTER 5: WILLIAM CAYWOOD AND THE INDIANA HYTENs


William Caywood Hyten (1790-1882)was the oldest son of Josiah Heighton. He was born in Maryland but moved to Montgomery County, Kentucky with his parents sometime before 1810, probably before 1800. On November 30, 1816, he married Elizabeth Darnall (1802-1876). She was the daughter of Henry and Sally (Turpin) Darnall. Both those names appear frequently in HYTEN writings. Seven of their twelve children were to be born there in Kentucky. It was he who fathered the largest branch on the HYTEN family tree.
The tax lists of Montgomery County, KY, for 1814 list a William Highton, in 1815 a William Hiton, and in 1816 a William Hyton. The name isn't on the 1817 or 1818 lists but reappears in 1819 and 1820. The property that he owned on these tax lists was a single horse. The 1820 census of Montgomery County,Kentucky, lists a William Hyton and family. The ages in the 1820 census would correspond to that of William Caywood Hyten, then age 30, his wife, Elizabeth Darnell, then 18, his brothers Stephen (25) and Thomas (18), sister Milly,between 10 and 15, and someone else over 45. They were still in Montgomery County, Kentucky for the 1830 census though under William C. Hyton.

THE TOP OF THE WILLIAM CAYWOOD HYTEN FAMILY TREE

On or about October 12, 1833, William Caywood’s family left for Hendricks County, Indiana, which was near the end of the newly opened National Highway which eventually ran from Washington,D.C. to St. Louis. His son, Dr. William Henry Hyten, recalled that two days before the departure there was a big family gathering which included his maternal great-grandparents Henry and Sally (Turpin) Darnal who were 107 and104 years old at the time.
They moved to Indiana with the Turpins, Darnalls, and Caywoods, all said to be "anti-slave" families. It would seem that nearly 25 years before the Civil War the question of slavery was beginning to divide the nation.
Yet, in the letter William Henry wrote in 1908 he wrote "It was on my 10th birthday that we left the ‘Old Kentucky Home’. Of course everyone cried. Blacks as well as whites. they were allowed to choose their new masters regardless of price." Ironically in those days it was not unusual to be against slavery while still owning slaves.
The trip to Indiana took 11 to 18 days depending on the account one reads. Dr. William Henry said the trip was "on the road, or rather,getting through the woodsand the stick (?) ponds." When they arrived in Indiana they moved in with the family of his grandfather, Henry Darnall. Henry's family had gone to Indiana a year earlier but he remained in Kentucky, living with William Caywood’s family, because he could not resign his post as Montgomery County sheriff. The house in which they lived that first winter consisted of two separate 12' x 14' log cabins with an open entryway between, all under a single roof.
William Caywood soon bought a nearby 80 acre, wooded plot three miles north of Danville, IN, for $100. With the help of a couple of hired men he cleared the land using the logs to build a 11/2 story house that was 18' x 26'. William Henry said it remained the best house around for five years. Adjacent to this property was another 80 acre plot which was partially cleared. William Caywood bought it for $200 and was able to get ten acres of corn in that first season.
In Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 6, 1833, William C. Hyten bought 320 acres of land in Center Township, Hendricks County, IN, for $775.00 from John L. and Martha Avery. The deed was recorded in Hendricks County in Book 3, page 17, on February 22, 1834. The land is described as "NW quarter of section 27 Town 16 North of Range One West. also East half of SW quarter of Section 22 Town 16 North of Range One West. also West half of SE quarter Section 22 Town 16 North of Range One West." This purchase is the first actually recorded. This land is south of Danville, nearer to Belleville, IN.

At the time he established his first Indiana farm where he was to raise his family of twelve, Hendricks County had only 6 people per square mile. They were residing there when the 1840 census was taken. That census lists him as William Heighton. (Also listed in that census is a John Heighton in Vigo County, IN (Terre Haute). He is in fact a HEIGHTON.)
The 1850 census correctly spelled his name as Wm. C. Hyten, but in 1860 it was spelled Wm. C. Hyton. It seems his name was to endure every possible spelling.
Looking through deed indexes of Indiana land transactions, I found some other later HYTEN land deals involving his children.
On March 17, 1856, Julia L.Hyten, the wife of Johnson Allen Hyten,who had probably just died, bought 40 acres from Stephen Hardwick, the husband of her sister-in-law, Zerilda Hyten-Hardwick. A year after moving to Brick Chapel, on May 1, 1857, his son William Henry Hyten made his first land purchase in northern Putnam County where he was to practice medicine till his death in 1911. On Feb. 12, 1863, William Caywood's son Buckner P. bought 40 acres in Hendricks County.

William Caywood Hyten died of senile paralysis or senile gangrene of the right foot in Hendricks County, IN on June 23, 1882. He was buried on a hilltop on the old homestead in Center Township. His wife Elizabeth who died September30, 1876, is also buried there as were several others maybe including his mother although no tombstone marks her grave.
When Lila Hyten-Stites visited there in 1983 the only other stone that remained readable was that of Johnson Allen who died Oct. 28, 1856,having caught typhoid fever on a horse-selling trip to Chicago. When I made my first trip to Indiana I did not have the description of the property and no one there knew where it was, so I did not get to see if the cemetery is still there.
By the time my son Mark moved to Indianapolis in 1995 I knew where the farm was and how to get in touch with its present owner, Steve Meyers, but it was 1997 before I went there. By then Meyers had cleaned up the site and found a couple more stones. In November 1999, I returned to further clean up the site. That is a separate story told in Chapter 22: Historical Notes. Meyers continues to maintain the site.
Of his twelve children, four sons, Dr. William Henry, Johnson Allen, Thomas Newport, and John Franklin were to have families which carry on the HYTEN name to this day. Buckner Payne, who was listed as a carpenter in the 1860 census,had no sons. Among the Putnam County records is a contract for Buckner to build the Big White Lick Baptist Church in the south part of Pittsboro. James Turpin (1838)and Zachary Taylor (1848-1859) died young. Few details seem to be available on the lives of WilliamCaywood’s five daughters, Zerilda(1820-1900), Armilda (1822-?),one of those buried on the old home farm,Sarah (1829-?), Mary (1832-?),and Maria Hanna (1836-1901). None seem to have had any children.



The first of William Caywood's sons was William Henry Hyten (1823-1911) who was named after General William Henry (Tippecanoe) Harrison, the ninth president of the United States. In his remembrances he said he was born 5 miles west of Mt.Sterling, Kentucky, near Grass Lick Methodist Church. He attended school at the church as did "John Williams, noted rebel in the late (Civil) war. Also Tom Johnson, who became … a noted wealthy capitalist."
William Henry became the only medical doctor in the HYTEN family. He is one of only a few who had any occupation other than farmer in those early generations. He began his study of medicine in 1848 under a Dr. Depew in Danville, IN. He began practicing there and was listed in the 1850 census of Hendricks County. In 1856 he moved on to Putnam County five miles north of Greencastle, IN, probably to a place called Brick Chapel. In the1860 census he is in Monroe Township of Putnam County. He may have picked this area because Greencastle was the crossing point of the National Highway and Indiana's Lafayette to Jeffersonville Turnpike that opened in 1845. By 1860 two cross-country railroads intersected there too.
In 1864 he moved ten miles north to Parkersburg, IN, where he remained until his death 47 years later. His family was listed there in the 1880 census of Scott Township,Montgomery County, IN. His grandson, Robert Donald, told me that his office was actually in the nearby town of Raccoon. Parkersburg and Raccoon are now practically ghost towns with the latter having fewer than a dozen buildings. Dr.William Henry was described as the type of old family physician who wore a high silk hat and a double-breasted Prince Albert coat.
(It is interesting to note that search indexes reveal two men born in Montgomery County, IN, in the 1868-77 time frame whose middle names are Hyten. William Hyten Pefley (1868-1947) and Robert Hyten Warner (1877- ) were no doubt delivered by William Henry Hyten.)
In his obituary it says his last message to his children was"Children this is death. I will soon be in better hands and what a glad change it will be for me. The hand of God never tires, nor are it's movements aimless. In the study of this wonderful event, we do well to remember that."

He was married twice, first in 1847 to Elizabeth Crawford (1832-1857) who died ten years later. They had three children of whom only one, Mary Clay (1853-1936), survived infancy. In 1859 he married Malinda Goodbar (1832-1905) and they had 8 children. Depending on the source you read, you can find anywhere from 5 to 9 children listed. The confusion seems to have come because so many of them went by nicknames and were therefore sometimes listed twice.

Their first child Depew (1859-1925) was, I guess, named after the doctor who gave William Henry his training. In 1885 Depew married Florence Geneva Goff (1864-1940) and they had three children. Mary Malinda (1889-?) married Albert Z. Mann in 1909, while Wendall Goff (1893) died just after birth. Forrest Clay (1889-?) who was listed as a student at Notre Dame during the 1909-1910 school year, married, went off to Minnesota, and disappeared, thus making him one of the three Hytens lost before I could determine if they had heirs. At the time of the1910 census Depew was a farmer in Scott Township, Montgomery County and Forrest was aged 19 and still at home. Incidentally, William Henry's daughter from his first marriage, Mary Clay, had married a John William Goff.
His second son was John Scott (1861-1909), who went by the name of Scott. In the 1900 census of Putnam County, Indiana, Scott and Rachel J. Hyten are listed with their son William G. (Glen) (1900-1966) and three other boys named Fount (b.2-1889), Walter (b. 1-1891), and Leroy (b. 2-1900). These boys, all born in Kentucky, were hers from a previous marriage to Ned Adams.
Glen was married twice but I think had only a single daughter, Rosella, by his first marriage. The only way I knew of her was through papers he filed after his second marriage in which he sought custody of her. He might also have moved to Minnesota but no one in the area knows for sure.
The third son (Dick) Newton Dickerson (1863-1924) married but had no children. In 1910 he and his wife Dora Hostetter (1869-1953) were in Franklin Township of Putnam County, and he was listed as a house painter. They lived in Raccoon and were members of the Raccoon Methodist Church. The maiden name of Dick's grandmother Melinda Goodbar-Hyten's mother Rachel had been a Hostetter too. Dick was known for his jovial, good nature. Even during his final illness, when his friends would call on him, he would be able to find something funny to say.

By then Dr. William Henry had been widowed again and was living in Scott Township with his unmarried daughters Cora F. (1867-1950) and (Bert) Bertie Finis (1870-1934). Bert was a well-loved school teacher for thirty years. Cora's twin (Effie) Effa Catherine (1867-1939) married Joseph W. Owens in 1893. Effie, too, was a jovial, fun loving person who made those around her enjoy themselves. For years she and her daughter Verda Dell Owens operated the Parkersburg telephone switchboard.


Of William Henry's eight children only (Dailey) William Lockeridge (1865-1935) has great grandchildren named HYTEN. Dailey was the one who caused me the most confusion when it came time to count the good doctor's children. In various places I found him listed as Dailey, William H., William Henry Lockerage, and just plain Lockeridge. The latter name was probably after the man who owned a great deal of land in the area and gave the land on which the town of Raccoon stands. The town was first named Lockeridge but the railroad changed it to Raccoon after a nearby creek.
He was commonly known as Dailey, a nickname that he picked up as a child. It seems that there was a neighbor lady who made the best cookies in the area. Young William would go to her house every day (daily) to get a cookie. In 1910 when he was living on a farm near Rochdale, the census lists him as a laborer but he was also a butcher and grocer. For many years he had his own small grocery in Rochdale. His grandson, Robert Donald, said that he was an avid gardener. 

When he was much older, Dailey worked as a meat cutter for his son Donald Clyde (1898-1972). During the1920s and 1930s Donald was the manager of the Kroger store in Crawfordsville which was about 30 miles north of his home place near Rochdale. That farm was a gathering place for all the cousins every summer. Donald's sister Helen Lorene Hyten-Montgomery(1908-) had six daughters, all whom live in the Crawfordsville area.
Donald and Norma Beatrice Shoaf(1909-1968) had two daughters and two sons. (Pattie) Delores Jean Hyten-Wertz (1928-) moved off to Michigan to raise a family but returned to Greencastle. (Joan) Joyce Joan Hyten-Love-Misner (1933-) now lives in Crawfordsville.
Robert Donald (1925-2000) was the oldest son of Donald. Robert was nearly 40 years old before he decided it was time to settle down and get married. A year later he bought the Y-Palace Cafe at the intersection of US 32 and US231 about ten miles north of Greencastle. He ran the Y-Palace with the help of his family and his wife Marion Henrietta Jonas' sisters. The Y-Palace is one of those neat old fashion cafes where neighbors get together over a cup of coffee. Those who write books about traveling the back roads of America would love this place.
The youngest in the family is Hubert Harold (1938-). Hugh graduated from Depauw University in Greencastle. He went to work full time in the personnel department of IBM were he had been working while still in college. His daughter Stephanie Lynn (1962-) was my first contact with the family of Dr.William Henry. She did a lot of looking around for me before I got up to Greencastle myself. Unfortunately, by the time I got up there she had moved to Georgia. His son Joseph Todd (1967-) was just recently married.

William Henry's eighth and last child was Tillman Howard (1873-1947). He married Pearl Warbritton (1890-1958) in Montreal, Canada, and they had three daughters. At the time of their daughter (Marie) Mildred Marie's wedding in 1931, Tillman was a tanning (or canning) factory worker and Pearl was a schoolteacher. Apparently for most of his life he farmed east of Lapland and southwest of Ladoga. When he retired from farming he moved to Lebanon where he sometimes worked for Hicks Body Co. making school buses. Pearl and Tillman met when she came to the area to teach and rented a room from his father.


Page 5-2 JOHNSON ALLEN HYTEN to WILLIAM TODD to GEORGE FELTON
When the 1850 census was taken, William Caywood's son, Johnson Allen Hyten (1821-1856), was enumerated as a farmer with real estate valued at $500 in Middle Twp. of Hendricks Co. When in died in 1856 he was buried in the plot on the family farm in Danville, IN.
Three years after he died his wife Juliann Darnall (1822-1890) remarried to John Arnold on May 28,1859, in Hendricks County, IN. After the Civil War she, and maybe Arnold, moved with Johnson's children, William Todd (1848-1929), Marsella Kalantha (1855-1926), James Felton(1852-1908), and Felander, to Mt.Pleasant, Missouri. That northwest Missouri community in Gentry County, which had been settled in 1856, was to disappear when the railroad ran south of it and the town of Stanberry was formed on the line. On Dec. 14,1873, she married a third time to Arnold Lightener of Stanberry, MO. The next day, also in Stanberry, MO, Juliann and Johnson's son William Todd Hyten married Francis Isabell Burger(1852-1943).
It now appears probable that Johnson Allen and Juliann had another son who never got into any records. When clearing the farm cemetery in 1999 Ifound two parts of a tombstone which says “David P.H. / son of / J.A. & J.J.” and “Died / June 15, 1851 / Aged 6 ys. 9m./ 23 d”. While the 1850 census lists them only with a two year old son, William (Todd), it does list her name as JuliaAnn J. so that fits.

WILLIAM TODD HYTEN in 1925 and 1864
William Todd, who is sometimes called just Todd, served as a private in the Civil War in Company D of the124th Infantry Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers beginning March 10,1864, as a drummer boy. He had been only 15years and 9 months old when he enlisted. When he was discharged at the war's end on August 31,1865, he was a corporal. Lila Hyten-Stites gave me a picture of him in uniform, looking like a lost little boy.
I don't know for sure where William Todd's first son, George Felton (1874-1945) was born, but his second son Herbert Hayes(1876-1945) was born in Gentry County, MO. His family is listed in the 1880 census of Stanberry, Gentry County, MO, although his wife is referred to as Annie, not Francis. The family is said to have lived briefly in South Dakota before moving on to Kansas. William Todd's two daughters, Lulu May (1885-1970) and Letha Gay (1892-1946), were born near Conway Springs, Kansas, south of Wichita where the family had settled by October, 1882.



On Sept. 16, 1893 William Todd and his son Herbert Hayes rode into the Cherokee Outlet of the Indian Territory which is just across the state line south of Conway Springs and Sumner County, KS., and claimed land in what is now Grant County, Oklahoma, about 12 miles southeast of Caldwell, KS. In November,1909, William Todd and his wife, Frances, bought town lots in Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma, from the University of Tonkawa. They sold them on August 19, 1912, with the papers being sealed back in Sumner County, Kansas where he had gone to retire. He gave his home as Caldwell, KS, when he applied for his Civil War pension in 1910. Many of his descendants are still in that area, near Wellington, KS. In Grant County, OK, there is a monument to the early settlers called the Homestead Memorial. William Todd’s name is on it.
Herbert Hayes' first two sons, Glenn Valentine (1900-1972) and Harley Hershel (1902-1976), were born on the Hyten's claim in Grant County,Oklahoma, then still the Indian Territory. While living in the Indian Territory Herb carried the mail. In 1903 Herb and his wife, Myrtle Icy Ford (1880-1940), moved to a farm that her father, George Ford, had bought in 1886. It was east of Caldwell, KS, on Highway 81, just south of Drury, KS; a town which no longer exists. Their third child, Pearl Lucille (1905-2001), was born there. Herb and Myrtle lived there until their deaths.


WILLIAM TODD, HERBERT HAYES, GLENN VALENTINE, and DALE BERNARD HYTEN
Herb seems to have been a very meticulous man, keeping many records and diaries some of which I was lucky enough to be able to borrow from his great-grandson, (Todd) William Todd (1949-), who I met when in Lawrence, KS. They tell much of the daily life on the farm in the 1920's and 30's. While they grew some crops, his major income seems to have been from the trading of sheep and wool. Besides local sales including nearby Wichita, he made trips to Kansas City. Almost daily he made trips into surrounding towns to sell produce, fowl,and eggs, and to collect rents. His most joyful entries during the Depression years seemed to come on days when people actually paid for what he sold them. Herb also installed telephones in Sumner County, played the fiddle at square dances, and played the baritone horn in the Humewell band.
Besides farming the land, they built a lodge with screened-in porches down by the river and entertained friends there for many years before it burned down. There was a large pond that was stocked with fish and they developed a park area with wildlife such as deer, fox, porcupine, and more. Both Todd and Pearl have given me pictures of friends and family wading in the Chikaskia River below a small dam. Herb seemed to be a man who could make a little money on everything. He rented the lodge out to townspeople and tourists. He also made money trading in deer and pheasant. Even in Depression times people seemed willing to pay a dollar a dozen for pheasant eggs.
While his diaries show Herb to be a hard working farmer who was always looking for a way to stay ahead in a tough business, he also had a great pioneering spirit. On July 6, 1919, Herb and Myrtle loaded their three children, Glenn, Harley, and Pearl, into their new Ford auto with a trailer attached and began a nine month trip through the western United States. It was a rough and hazardous trip over the newly developing road system. Along the way they camped out almost every night, worked in lumber mills in Idaho, ship yards in Oakland, and orchards in Los Angeles, before returning to their Kansas home in time for spring planting. 

Glenn kept a diary of the trip which, even condensed,gives one a feel as to the enormous undertaking that this trip was. If you follow the trip on a map you will see that seldom were they able to cover 200 miles in a day. On July 6 they drove to Wichita, conducted some business, and went on to Herrington, KS, for the night. The 8th they made it north 4 miles into Nebraska, the 9th they crossed the Platte River, and the 10th they ferried theMissouri River and stayed in Yankton, South Dakota. On the 11th they turned northeast passing through Brooking,S.D., staying in Ortonville, Minnesota on the 12th. As you follow on a map, many of the towns are on roads that can now be best described as local. On the 14th they were in Glenwood and Osikis and on the 15th crossed the back waters of the Mississippi at Little Falls, staying in Brainard. They finally stopped for a few days at Lake Edna near Nissiva where Herb and his family were able to fish and hunt. 
The 22nd they moved on toward Canada. By the 26th they were back in the USA staying in Crookston, MN, and Fargo, North Dakota the first two nights. They passed thru Valley City, Jamestown, Cleveland, Bismark, and Hebron arriving at the Badlands on August 2. The next three days saw them in the Montana cities of Terry , Miles City, Rosebud, Forsythe, Howard, Custer, Billings, Columbus, and Livingston. From the 7th to the 13th they camped in Yellowstone National Park. In succeeding days they were in Butte, Anaconda, Warm Springs, Bonner Springs, and Missoula, Montana. On the 20th they were in Wallace, Idaho and on the 21st in Couer D'Alene.
From August 25 to September 2 they all worked in a sawmill in Spokane, Washington. The next two weeks saw them pass through Colfax, Penawawa Ferry, Walla Walla; ferry the Columbia River at Kennewick, then pass through Goldendale and White Salmon. From the 14th to the 18th they were in Portland, Oregon. They went on to Salem the 18th, Eugene the 19th, and Roseburg and Cayonville, Oregon, on the 20th.
For the next month they, along with at least one other family, camped in the southern Oregon mountains near the California border. The number one priority in those days seems to have been hunting. While there the biggest occasion was when Glenn killed his first deer. Day trips were made into the towns of Cow Creek, Azalea, and Glendale. On October 14 they began to move their campsite across the state line into California. It took four days, though, to move past Grant's Pass, Medford, and Ashland. Once settled, Glenn and Harley worked for a week in another sawmill, this time making 50 cents per hour.
On the 26th they began moving south through LaMoine, Redding, RedBluff, Corning, Arbuckle, San Pablo Bay, Benicia, and Martinez. They arrived in Oakland on November 7 for a two month stay. They first took in the sights, ferrying across to San Francisco and going up to the top of an 18 story building to see the city. By the end of the month the boys were working part time at a ship yard as drillers for 52 cents per hour. On January 4, 1920, they headed for Los Angeles by way of Madera and Bakersfield.
They stayed in various places in Los Angeles, Orange, Long Beach, San Diego, Laguna Beach, Santa Anna, and Redondo until April. Along the way they would stay on farms where they often shared dinner at the hosts table or in camp grounds where they would reunite with people they had met earlier. They stayed with friends a couple of times but apparently never in a hotel. While in southern California they went to boxing matches and the boys boxed at the campsites. They joined thousands for a speech by General Pershing in San Diego and took a day trip or two to Tiajuana. For spending money the boys picked lemons for 35 cents an hour. In March Harley worked in a lumberyard while Glenn was sick most of the time. Glenn never mentions whether his father worked when the boys did.
On April 1st they began a three week trip back home. On successive nights they stayed in Redlands; Mecca; El Centro (ten miles from Mexico); 38 miles short of Blythe, in Vicksburg, Arizona; in Buckeye, Phoenix (a town of 40,000); Tucson (30,000); Bisbee; and Douglas. The 11th they stayed in Deming, New Mexico, and the next day arrived in El Paso, Texas, where they stayed until the 17th. While there "in giving our name to a grocer we found people by the name of Hyten. We looked them up and they certainly treated us swell. We were unable to trace our relationship however we were all interested in knowing if there were any more of our tribe in existence." This was the family of Simon Hyten who is in the Thomas Otho branch, my branch.
On the 18th they made it to Alamagordo but the next day they covered only 80 miles as they spent much of the time pushing their car up as now covered mountain. The 19th they passed through Rosewell and Clovis, staying in Elida. It was then on to Amarillo, then Sayre,Oklahoma, and finally their last night on the road in Kingfisher. On April 23 at 2 P.M. they arrived back home. What an adventure it must have been.

Herb's diary documents other trips in later years. In 1928 he and Myrtle took another big loop of the west. This time they went through Denver and Cheyenne on their way to Calgary, Canada. Northeast of there near a place called Cold Luke, Herb noted "we sure burned up the road... if you drive faster than 8 miles per hour I think you should be pinched for speeding." Two weeks later back in Calgary, they headed across the Rocky Mountains at Banff. They went through Washington and Oregon on their way to northern California.
At Los Angeles Herb noted "Out to ocean... were thousands of bathers with plenty of women and girls tanned black and almost naked... no kick however." While there "Hubert, Verlie, ma and I drove to L.A. had a short visit with Emma, Bertha Hyten." The next day they did things with "Frank & wife, Emma, Bertha, and Aunt Dell". Hubert Malcom and Veryl Esther were the children of his brother George Felton. Emma was actually his cousin Emra Ernest, son of James Felton, and Bertha his cousin's wife. Frank probably was Emra's brother who I did not know was married until I read that diary entry. Aunt Dell is Charlotte Della the wife of (Felton) James Felton, who had died back in Stanberry, MO., in 1908. On the way home they stopped at the Grand Canyon which Herb did not like. The cost of their trip, which lasted from July 5 to September 12, was $400.
Two months later they were back on the road again, this time on a hunting trip to Texas which was to last three months. Most of the time was spent in the McAllen-Brownsville region. There can be no doubt how much Herb loved to hunt. At the end of each of his trip his wife laments how badly the hired help had let the farm go while he was away.

1934 was an interesting year in Herb's diary. On January 9th Glenn gave up Harry's Cafe to run a grocery in Wellington. Two days later someone "shot up the town at 9 A.M. Killed a bandit, Red Carson. we got quite a thrill. much blood & broken glass. we saw him after dead." On the 25th "Bank at Wellington robbed" and on the 29th "Luther Masengale shoots Mabelle Weber in a fit of felony." That night he saw a poor fight card (boxing) but Jack Dempsey was the referee.
In May he drove 13 hours to Kansas City to sell wool. In June they visited Pearl and her husband in Amarillo. While there Herb wrote "town is no place for a bird like me. I am enjoying myself but long to behome and look after my own affairs." In August he "Leased Hummewell lots for oil...got $3.50each." In October "mom got 1st on a 60# watermelon at Fair. Pearl's canned peaches also take first."
On January 20, 1935, Glennand Harley bought back Harry's Cafe. Herb and his wife spent the month of February in Hot Spring,Arkansas, "to take the cure." While there they "drove to Benton, Ark. 34 miles, and see a Hyten...Charlie... a third cousin." Two days later on the 28th "Bullet Hyten & wife came over from Benton. We had a swell supper and enjoyed their visit a lot. They are sure live wires. We have planned to visit them Monday." On March 6 they all spent the day together in Little Rock.
Herb's diary entries were interrupted from September 5, 1936 to December 12, 1937 during which time an unspecified illness prevented him from writing. From that point until the diaries stop at the end of 1938 there are many remorseful entries where he apparently felt lonely and aging. One day, June 5,1938, even though 62 years old and "continuing sick most of the winter-like day" he borrows a team of horses and plows a field. His wife was being treated for cancer all year but she didn't die until 1940. One of the last notes is that of Bullet Hyten coming for a visit again.

His son Harley Hershel not only worked with Glenn in the cafe and grocery but also was a teacher and then one of the early Ford dealers in the area. Harley later opened an insurance and finance business which his son Donald Ray (1926-) is now managing.
It was Don's daughter, Sara Lynn (1958-), who was instrumental in getting me started on the final push to write this book. I was in Dallas for my son Mark's wedding in 1986 when I saw Sara's name in the phone book. Sara told me she did not know much about the family but she thought that her Aunt Lila did.
Don's sister, Lila Lorene Hyten-Stites (1928-)provided me with the information I needed to link William, Stephen and Thomas as brothers and thus connect the three branches of the family tree which I had developed. Lila retained her family's love for travel, working part time in the travel business and traveling the world over. Two of her sons have lived overseas. Naturally she is active in her local genealogical society.
Herb's daughter, Pearl (1905-2000), who graduated from Emporia State Teachers College, has been the source of many stories included in the book. She can recall facts from further back than anyone with whom I have talked. After marrying she moved to Amarillo for a while, but as her parents aged, she and her husband Everret Blue returned to live on the family farm with her parents. Everret ran a hardware store, and they stayed on the farm till after her parents passed away.
After retiring from teaching she followed her son Ted Warner Blue to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she lived in a retirement home that, from her description, sounded more like a health spa. Even though in her 80s she regularly swam in the complex's pool. Pearl sent me a lot of very old pictures which I treasure. From the pictures I got later from Todd (William Todd) one can see that Pearl was a very beautiful young girl.

William Todd's daughters, Lulu May(1885-1970) and Letha Gay(1892-1946), married and, although they had no children of their own, Lulu adopted a son and Letha a daughter. Letha married Hallie McCarley who served in WW I but died at age 29. Pearl recalls taking a trip to California with Letha in a new Buick to visit her cousins (James Felton's children). That was in 1927 after Letha's husband Hallie had died. Later, before her father died in 1928, she remarried to Cecil Freeman who also died before her. She lived out her days with her mother, Francis, in Wellington.

GEORGE FELTON HYTEN
George Felton (1874-1945) had three children. The oldest, Hubert Malcom (1898-1985), was born in a covered wagon outside of Anthony, KS. He married Norine Cunningham (1904-1988) in California in 1929. They adopted two children, Sherwyn Dean (1935-)and Patricia Ruth (1939-1999). Sherwyn’s son John Earl (1959) appears frequently when one does an Internet search of the name Hyten. In 2010 he was a Major General in the Air Force. At the time he was Director of Space Programsin the Office of the Asst. Sec. of the Air Force.
When Sherwyn was transferred to Huntsville, Alabama, his parents Hubert and Norine liked it there so much that they moved there too. George's daughter,Meryl Macey (1900-?), married a Johnnie Rash but has vanished and Veryl Esther (1906-1910) died as a child.

Little is known about Johnson Allen's daughter, Marsella, other than that she married a Cross Pierce. Pat Douglas-Smith's data says that his child, Felander (1850-1860), died at age nine, but census records list a daughter, Mary, just born in 1850. Even though I originally thought that Felander was a boy and Mary was another person, now I guess they are the same person. The Hendricks County birth and death records were no help in solving this problem.

The search for the heirs of William Henry Hyten’s other son, (Felton) James Felton (1852-1908), continued right up to three weeks before the second edition of this book was to go to the printers. I had enough information to pencil in almost everyone bu tnot enough hard facts to be sure that what I had was right. As I reread my notes to make sure that I had not left anything out of the book, I noticed a note in a margin saying Blaine Hyten, Felton's great grandson, may have been at Ft. Leavenworth which is where Eleanor Douglas-Embree lives. I had tried to call her several times a year and a half before when I was teaching at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, MO, which is only 40 or 50 miles from Leavenworth, KS. I never reached her then, but this time I did. It turns out that by now Blaine had moved on but to where, Eleanor did not know. I sent a letter to his old Leavenworth address on the hope that it would be forwarded to Blaine. A week later I received a call from his wife Marcea and to my surprise they were living 30 miles away in Belleville, Illinois. The next Saturday was spent at their home going through two boxes of letters, clippings, and photographs that had been passed on to them. I was able to fill in a lot of gaps and clarify a couple of mysteries. It was one of those really fun days for a genealogist.

There were several very old pictures of Felton and his wife, (Della) Charlotte Della Stewart (1861-1952), including a couple of tintypes. His obituary gave me his birth date and the fact that he had lived out his live in Stanberry, MO, where he had come with his mother and step-father after the Civil War. He had been a merchant, farmer, and school teacher. The year of his marriage, 1880, was mentioned and Della's maiden name was spelled Stuart as it was in a couple of other places in Blaine's collection of papers. An 1882 history of Gentry County lists J. F.Hyten as a member and officer of the A.F. & A.M. Lodge of Mt. Pleasantin 1878, 1879, and 1880. The 1900 census lists him and his family except for Frank who would have been 12 at the time. It is possible that Frank was away at school as he was a deaf mute. By 1910 Felton had died but Della was still in Stanberry with Roy, Bea and Zela.
The obituary which was written by the local paper's editor, who had been a friend of Felton for over thirty years, was very nice. It said, "In the death of Mr. Hyten this county lost one of its best citizens....... he lived the life of an honest, hardworking citizen ever cheerful and hopeful. For years he engaged in educational work.......He was one of those citizens that lived to set a good example to others and in his death hundreds will morn his loss." Della was still living in California with one of he children when Herb visited there in 1928.

BLAINE HYTEN
His son, (Blaine) Roy Blaine (1884-1974), was a Christian minister, the only cleric noted in our family history. At first he studied both medicine and philosophy at Drake University in order to be a medical missionary but"poor health" ended that dream. Ironically he remained a pastor well into his eighties retiring and un-retiring several times. He was pastor in Goldfield, Iowa, around 1915, and later at the First Christian Church in Cedar Rapids for 14 years. From 1937 to 1959 he was at the University Heights Christian Church in Kansas City, MO. Several people that I have talked to remember meeting him and his unmarried daughter, Marguerite(1915-1984), who lived with him and his wife Jessie. Marguerite graduated cum laude from Coe College in 1937.
Roy Blaine’s son, Warren F. Hyten(1922-1976), was a career infantry officer in the Army. Warren retired a colonel having served over 25 years. As combat liaison officer to the Chinese during WW2, he fought all over China. When the war ended he was the first "white man" into both Canton and Hong Kong. At the time (September,1945) Japanese soldiers still outnumbered Chinese soldiers in the region so the Japanese retained their arms though no fighting occurred. He accompanied his Nationalist Chinese regiment north and watched them begin their war with Mao and the Communists. Before his return to the United States in 1946, he was sent to Vietnam on a "special mission".
He also served in the Korean Conflict; on the general's staff in Frankfort, Germany; and volunteered for Vietnam where he led a logistical support group. While stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, he graduated cum laude in political science from St.Benedict's College. He retired from the service in 1971 and moved to Brevard County, Florida were he was president of the Brevard County Homeowners Association. His work there was so well thought of that after his death the residents of Indiatlantic, Florida, named a street after him. He died at Kessler Air Force Base, Mississippi, and his funeral services were held at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. I think he is the only HYTEN to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Blaine Warren (1951-) followed his father into the service by way of West Point where he graduated in 1974. After six years in the Army he transferred to the Air Force where he flew C-130s the same plane that my son Mark flew in the Navy. When I met Blaine he was a major stationed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, in a command that was coordinating activities of the Air Force and Army. It was then that he gave me a suitcase full of pictures and papers including Herb’s diaries. I’ve kept the collection together until he retired when I returned it to him.
His brother, Cloyd Miles(1956-), is a professor at Texas Women's University. Randall Bruce(1958-), who lives in New York City, was a good enough comedian to have had a 1990 Showtime special. His post comedian career is surprisingly as a NYC financial consultant. Todd Lowell(1962-) is a writer in Boston. It sure was nice to find them at the last minute.

Felton's first son, Emra Ernest (1881-?), married but had no children. Until I saw Blaine's papers I thought his name was Emory and he had a wife named Emma. Turns out he was actually named Emra and his wife of over 60 years was Bertha Foster. One daughter, Zela Faye (1899-1978), was an unmarried school teacher. Frank, whom I think died before 1959, was a deaf mute. In Herb's diary of his 1928 trip to California he mentions Frank and his wife. At the time I did not know that Frank had been married, but Ginny Hyten confirmed that he had married a girl who also was a deaf mute. In the same entry Herb mentions visiting with "Emma", Bertha and his aunt Della who was Felton's wife.
For the longest time I thought Felton had a daughter named Bea who died of the flu during WW I. When I heard that Zela had written to Eleanor Douglas-Embree in 1969 and referred to her brother Ben who died during the war, I figured that Bea was actually Ben (1892-1917.






William Caywood's third son was Buckner Payne (1829-1911) who had a twin sister, Sarah. Various sources list his wife as Polly Plaster, Polly Cleveland, or Mary Ann Cleveland so for quite awhile I was confused about his family. I now know that he married Polly Plaster in 1857. One source says he then supposedly married Mary Ann Cleveland in 1859. Refuting this idea is the Darnall book which says he married Mary Ann Plaster,the daughter of Mary Ann Cleveland. He had two daughters, Mary Eliza (1859-1909) and Miranda S. (1862-after 1930) I could not find their birth records which might have given a mother’s name. The marriage records of both girls show up in Hendricks County records. Buckner's sister, Sarah, married a William Moberly and went to Missouri.

On June 10, 1857 Buckner bought 120 acres near Boone, Iowa. It was Sec 19, E1/2NE, & SWNE of Sec. 69, T 84 N, R 28 W.
For a while Buckner was a potter in Boone County, Iowa. I'm not sure but I think that he went there first and his brother John Franklin followed him there. The 1875 Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa lists, on page577 in its business directory section, John F. Hyten as a potter in the company of Kegley, Hyten & Co. The Boone, Iowa tax list of August 25,1870, says that the Kegley, Hyten & Co. building was on Lots 3 & 4,Block 14, one block west of the courthouse. B.P. Hyten's residence was a block further west on Lot 7, East half, Block 28. Arlene Hyten-Rainey is in possession of correspondence between Buckner and John after they had both left Iowa. They had left the property, if not the business, in the hands of another who was not taking care of their interests. Buckner was writing from Indiana to where he had returned.

Two of William Caywood's sons and a grandson, William Todd, fought in the Civil War. The first son to join was Thomas Newton (or Newport) (1842-1901) who at the age of 20 on September 13, 1861, enrolled in Company H of the 7th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers. On January 10,1863, he was discharged with a disability; having been involved in nine skirmishes. A year later he reenlisted, this time in Company I of the 121st (9th Calvary) Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers. He served till the end of the war, getting his discharge as a sergeant in Vicksburg on August28, 1865. He was 5'10", had a dark complexion with black eyes and hair.
Thomas N. Hyten and his family are listed in the 1880 census of Hendricks County,IN. The 1900 Hendricks County census lists with Thomas' family a nephew Uton D., born 8-1863, age 36, and a niece-in-law, Dora L., born7-1868, age 31. Because the birth dates are right, I think that this was (Dick) Newton Dickerson, the son of Dr. William Henry, and his wife Dora. Utonis probably a corruption of Newton. The same census lists Thomas's daughter Jennie (1878-?) as a resident, servant of G.D. Pearson in Hendricks County. She married Raymond Milan in 1910 and had a daughter Julia.

Thomas Newton's son, Oscar Owen(1894-1950), remained in Indiana and his heirs make up the bulk of the HYTENs left in their "home" state. He was a tenant farmer in Hendricks County. Oscar Owen and Mary A. Stutesman (1857-?) had five children after they were married in 1894. Rumor has it that they had two sons before they were married. The five were brought up with two half brothers who were said to be her children. This could account for the two children before marriage rumor. I couldn't find any record in Hendricks County of a previous marriage for her nor could I find the birth records of her two sons. Of course that doesn't mean that she wasn't married elsewhere. I had to put in that unsubstantiated rumor because it was about as "bad" as it gets in the HYTEN family. There are no scandals and no royalty, just a plain old American family.
Oscar's oldest were twins, Frank (1894-1964) and Fannie (1894-?). Both stayed in the Brownsburg area to raise their families. Frank's son, James Russell (1935-2011), was been in the tool and die business in which his son, (Todd) James Todd(1964-) joined him.



Henry Harrison Hyten (1900-1987) and Julia Almeda Grenard (1905-1999) raised five children in Brownsburg, IN. Henrywas first a farmer, then worked 28 years for International Harvester. He was a member of the town board inBrownsburg. He was an active Democrat in an extremely Republican county. I haven't found too many HYTENs active in politics at any level.
Two of his sons live in California. Oral Grenard(1925-) had no children, but (Tim) Gene Thomas (1928-) raised his family of six in Indiana before leaving for a trucking job on the West coast. Both brothers were Marines during the Second World War. Oral was a medical technician. Tim's son, Bruno Valentine (1950-), loves motorcycles so much that he and his wife, Monty Jo McCloskey (1952-),rode over to my house to pick up a copy of the draft of this book. It was a four hour ride from Indianapolis to Edwardsville, Illinois, on a terribly hot day.
The very first HYTEN that I contacted back in 1966, David Lawrence (1939-), is Henry's son and Oscar's grandson. While I was on a trip to Indianapolis, I saw his name in a phone book. By the time I first began corresponding with him, he was in Ft. Wayne working for Central Soya and getting transferred so often that I soon lost track of him. I found him again in 1987 when he was back in Indianapolis working for the state land acquisition department and studying to get a law degree. He is now a lawyer in the Pueblo, CO, area.


Page 5-6 JOHN FRANKLIN HYTEN

John Franklin Hyten (1844-1881) was the other son of William Caywood to have served twice in the Civil War. At age 19 he enrolled as a private in Company B, 117th regiment of the Indiana volunteers and served from July 23,1863, till Feb. 23, 1864. On April 25, 1864 he re-enlisted for a 100-day term in the H Company of the 132nd Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers.
After his service in the Civil War John was enrolled for a year (1865-66) in an English course in the Preparatory Department at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN.. He then moved to Ames, Iowa, where he went to college and met and married (Hattie) Harriet Elizabeth Brown (1848-1923) of Boone, IA. Then in 1867 he, like Buckner, went to Boone County, Iowa, where he became a potter. Apparently he worked for or owned a couple of different businesses in the short time he was there. In addition to Kegley, Hyten & Co. he owned the Boonesboro Pottery. Arlene Hyten-Rainey has a business card which says "John F. Hyten. Proprietor. Boonesboro Pottery. Boonesboro, Iowa. Vases, Flower Pots, Well Curbing, Etc. Made To Order."
Because of poor health, maybe brought on by his military service,he sought a better climate by moving south to Missouri in 1871. By November 25,1872, he was in Callaway County, MO, where he worked for the Caldwell family pottery business. Thomas Caldwell had the first pottery business in Missouri. It dated back to 1827 on the Caldwell farm which became known as Pottersville. These Caldwells were related to John's uncle, Stephen Henson Hyten, who had earlier settled in Callaway County.
By 1875 John and his wife Hattie had moved south, again for his health, to Benton, Arkansas, where fine quality clay deposits made it possible for him to continue in the potter's trade. He bought, from John Howe,a pottery business that had begun in 1870 as Lafayette Glass. When he died in 1881, Frank Woosley ran the business for John's widow, Hattie. She married Woosley in 1882. In 1895 they went to Ohio where Frank was from originally.
On August 6, 1894, before Frank and Hattie left, John's three sons, Lee Elmer (1870-1940), Paul Henson (1872-1911), and Charles Dean(Bullet) (1877-1944), bought the business for $1000. Within a couple years Charles had bought out his brothers who followed their mother to South Solon, Ohio. Paul did return to Benton in 1906 and died there, childless, in 1911.

While John's work was of utilitarian nature, his son, Charles Dean's work was more artistic. His son was to become known throughout the art world. Charles Dean "Bullet" Hyten can probably claim more fame than any other HYTEN and yet those who collect his works most likely have never heard his name.
At a young age Charles went to work in the pottery business that his stepfather, Frank Woosley, had carried on after his father's death. It was in 1909 when experimenting with local clays called kaolin that he came upon an artistic combination of them which he named Niloak (the name of the clay spelled backwards). The original stoneware they produced was re-named Eagle Pottery.
By 1912 the swirling patterned clay vases were in such demand that Charles had to build a new factory and in 1920 further expand it. He had made Niloak Pottery Co. into a stock company in 1911 in order to raise the capital needed to expand. Sales were so good that by 1918 he reacquired sole ownership. In 1922 over 75,000 pieces were manufactured and sold from New York to California and Canada to Cuba. In 1924 he got a trademark on the name Niloak and in 1928 a patent on the process used to make each hand turned piece of Niloak. An employee, Ragen Rowland, told Arlene Rainey of seeing Bullet make 600 vases in 4 1/2 hours. Really??
Because of the popularity of the pottery during the 1920s, a showroom was built in 1929 to take advantage of the traffic on its way to nearby Hot Springs, AR. Benton newspapers of the period are full of stories of Bullet's trip around the country to promote the product by giving exhibitions of his pottery making skills. During the month of September in 1933, Bullet and his wife Cora Zella Caldwell (1877-1970) were at the Chicago World's Fair where he gave pottery exhibitions at the Arkansas Exhibit in the Hall of States.
Unfortunately the opening of the sales room corresponded with the beginning of the depression. In an attempt to retain volume during the depression, a less expensive line called Hywood was introduced. Unlike the colorful Niloak that had been hand turned, Hywood was cast in molds. These solid colored glazes over white clay were more a copy of Fiesta Ware than of Niloak. Later the Niloak name was to be put on some Hywood pieces. Throughout the entire operating life of the factory it continued to turn out Eagle Pottery stonewear.
Despite the popularity of his pottery, the firm was not able to survive the hard times. Because of the mortgage on the showroom, he lost control of the company in 1934 to a group of Little Rock businessmen headed by H.L. Wilburn. Bullet continued with the business until he sold his last remaining stock in 1939. From 1940 till his death in 1944 he worked for the Camask Pottery in Camden, Arkansas. His old company remained in operation until the mid-1950s. The site of the factory is now bulldozed flat.
In March and April, 1973, the Saline County, AK, Pacesetter published a four part series written by Arlene that details the history of Niloak pottery. It is a much more detailed account of the operation. I also have a 1993 book, The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Niloak by David Edwin Grifford.
Bullet was very active in the community and the local Presbyterian church. He was a stockholder in the Bank of Benton and secretary treasurer of the Southern Bauxite Company. In 1944 he accidentally drowned while wading in the Saline River.
Today, Niloak is still sought by collectors who are willing to pay dearly for the silky, smooth pieces. In 1989 I saw a five inch tall vase with an original $2.50 price tag which was being sold for $75.00. I was lucky enough to find for myself a slightly chipped piece for a more reasonable $35.00. Bullet's daughter, (Arlene) Mabel Arlene Hyten-Rainey (1916-), of Benton, AR, has an extensive collection of her father's works including some vases over 24" high. She is frequently asked to speak at museums and galleries about his work. His name will live on in Arkansas' history books and as will his work at the tables of the nation's antique shows and flea markets.
Arlene has been very helpful to me, providing much information and many pictures. Her interests go beyond the HYTEN family. She is one of the organizers of Benton's little museum. She is researching many of the families that settled the Benton area. One of those that I mentioned before was the Caldwells of her mother. They had been in Kentucky with the HYTENs. Some had gone to Missouri where her grandfather had joined them in their pottery business. Others came to Arkansas after the Civil War.