William Melvin P. Horton

William Melvin Horton was born about 1823, in Tennessee, the son of Nathaniel Horton and Malinda Atkinson.

Melvin married Rachel Thornton about 1840, in Tennessee. Rachel Thornton was born about 1821, in Tennessee. Rachel died November 1849, in Tennessee, after giving birth to their sixth child.

Melvin then married Arenna Jane Thornton in late 1849, or early 1850. We believe Arenna was a sister to Rachel. Arenna Thornton was born about 1824, in Tennessee.

Melvin joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was taken prisoner and died about 1864/65, in the POW camp at Camp Chase, Ohio. He was buried in Camp Chase Cemetery.

The 1870 Wayne County, Tennessee census, 8th Civil District, shows Irena Horton, 47, $400 personal property, born in Alabama; Mordica P., 17, a farmer; Sarah, 15; Emarinthia, 10; and Rachel, 20 years old.

Arenna Jane died about 1890, in Hardin County, Tennessee.

Children of Melvin Horton and Rachel Thornton

1. Henry Horton, b. abt 1840, TN

2. James N. Horton, b. abt 1842, TN

3. George William Wesley Horton, b. 1844, TN

4. Louis Morgan Horton, b. Dec 25, 1845, Wayne Co, TN (note from Deb Horton Core says he m. Maryann Midred "Polly" Penny Sandusky and either changed his name or it is incorrect on census, as his pension papers say Levi Wesley Horton and that is how the family knew him)

5. Mary A. Horton, b. abt 1847, TN

6. Rachel Malinda Horton, b. Nov 1849, TN

Children of Melvin Horton and Arenna Thornton

7. Josiah Gale Horton, b. 1850, Wayne Co, TN

8. Mordecai Pinckney Horton, b. 1851, Wayne Co, TN

9. Sarah P. Horton, b. 1854, TN

10. Stephen H. Horton, b. 1857, TN

11. Emmarintha Horton, b. abt 1860, TN