From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
The Horton family arrived in November, 1844 when Dallas was but three years old. The: immediately went to work to help build the foundation on which Dallas would grow. The town was growing, but it still remained in many ways a frontier; until about 1900 Dallas was still very much a part of the wild west.
Enoch Horton was born March 22, 1777, in Russell County, Virginia. He was reared to farm life and received but five days schooling, but by his own exertions attained a good education. He was married in Russell County March 22, 1797, to Martha Stinson, a native of that county, and daughter of John and Jane Stewart Stinson, natives of Virginia and of English ancestry.
After his marriage he settled on a farm which his father, John Horton, Sr., had taken up under the squatters sovereignty act , where he followed farming until he came to the frontier of civilization. In the spring of 1844 the family emigrated by ox-drawn wagon to Springfield, Missouri, but in the same year came to Dallas County, first locating near Eagle Ford six miles west of Dallas.
Mr. and Mrs. Enoch Horton were the parents of nine children who all lived to be grown, and all but one came to Texas: 1) Mary married Martin Thompson; 2) Jane married William Bradshaw; 3) John; 4) James married Jane Phillips; 5) Sarah married Alexander Cockrell; 6) Robert; 7) Martha married William Horton, her cousin; and 8) Rachel married Joseph Read.
Mr. Enoch Horton was 69 years old when he came to Dallas, and he passed away March 21, 1851; his wife, Martha, departed this life April 7, 1850.
By Margaret Ann Horton, Dallas
