Cicero Irvin and Martilla A. (Warren) Houston

Submitted by Cameron-Ashley Heath

Martilla Warren, the only daughter of the union of Sherrod Warren (Sr) and Jackebed (Pace) Warren, met and married a young man from Heard County, GA named Cicero 'Irvin Houston. They married about 1870 in Heard County GA when she was just 17 or younger.

Cicero 'Irvin' Houston was the son of Samuel F. Houston (May 1821 GA) and his wife Frances Houston (b. 1829 GA daughter of Oliver Houston and Cynthia Flournoy. They were cousins.)

Martilla (Warren) Houston had a large family of 12 children. They began married life farming in Heard County, GA but moved to Carroll Co. GA by 1880 as they are found in the census there that year. They did not stay there a long time, however. They moved again, this time to Carthage, Panola County, Texas by Nov 1885. A daughter, Mossie Mae Houston was born in Henderson, Rusk County in November of 1885. I do not know if this means Martilla A. Warren was visiting her brothers and mother who had moved to Rusk County, but she was in Rusk County when she gave birth (Carthage in Panola County and Henderson in Rusk County are fairly close) or it means she and her family moved there for a bit before deciding to settle in Panola Co. TX.

There in Carthage, Panola County, TX where they were farming, Martilla (Warren) Houston's husband died on 27 Aug 1899 leaving her a widow with a large family at a fairly young age. Cicero Irvin Houston is buried in an small family cemetery called the Old Williamson Cemetery in Carthage, Panola Co. TX. He is the only Houston buried in this cemetery. He came to be buried in this cemetery as one of his sons married Martha A. 'Mattie' Williamson and the two families knew each other there in Carthage. Martilla (Warren) Houston did not remarry, but managed to continue to farm or live with one of her children in Panola County, TX until she died at age 74 in Carthage, Panola Co. TX. She died on 6 March 1927 in Panola County but is buried in Corinth Cemetery, Shelby County, Texas which is just 170 ft from the Panola County line and next to the Corinth Baptist Church which the family may have attended. A lot of her descendants ended up in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas and are also spread out in Panola, Cherokee and Rusk counties.

Martilla (Warren) Houston stated once that she had had 12 children, another time she stated 9 children, but each time only 8 living.

Her children were:
Samuel Newton Houston b. Feb 1871 GA
Minnie Ora Houston b. 1873 GA
John S. Houston b. May 1876 GA
Emma F. Houston b. 1 Oct 1880 GA
Mossie Mae Houston b. 6 Nov 1885 Henderson, Rusk Co TX
Odie Rene Houston b. Jan 1891 TX
Mary Houston b. Jan 1894 TXBerchie Houston b. June 1897 TX

For more information on their children and descendants, please feel free to contact me at 101heath@comcast.net.