John Whitley LITTON, III

Male 1830 - Aft 1880  (50 years)


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  • Name John Whitley LITTON 
    Suffix III 
    Born 28 Mar 1830  Elk Garden, Russell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID 76685D2E79484D5F9862D723F7CFBAD822BD 
    Died Aft 1880  Texas Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Info from shannonsimpson@comcast.net.
    Notes 
    • Born at Litton Hill, Elk Garden, Washington Co. VA.

      John was the only child of Soloman C. Litton and Catherine Yontz.  Both parents died young and he lived with his grandfather who died in 1853.

      Was 17 years old when he married.

      Aug 30, 1849..Washington Co.VA Deed Book 20..1850-1852...John W. Litton, Lydia, wife, James D. Litton & Margaret, wife, Martin D. Snyder, and Sarah, wife, heirs at law of Sarah Litton, formerly Sarah Fullen, who was one of the heirs of James Fullen, dec. and also Hiram Fullen and Hannah, his wife, another of heirs of James Fullen, Sr., dec. all of Russell Co. Virginia one and Whitley Fullen, other $200. 2 tracts of land by NFHR.  Ack 23 Dec 1850.

      From family stories handed down, John was a gambler and kept race horses. It is told the Litton Plantation was a good place to raise hell on weekends.

      CENSUS RECORDS

      1850 Census
      Name: John W Litton
      Age: 21
      Birth Year: abt 1829
      Birthplace: Virginia
      Home in 1850: District 54, Russell, Virginia
      Gender: Male
      Family Number: 85
      Household Members:
      Name Age
      John W Litton 21
      Lydia E Litton 22
      Louisa C Litton 3
      Moses W Litton 2

      1860 Census
      Name: John W Sitton [John W Litton]
      Age: 30
      Birth Year: abt 1830
      Gender: Male
      Birth Place: Virginia
      Home in 1860: Western District, Washington, Virginia
      Post Office: Abingdon
      Family Number: 63
      Household Members:
      Name Age
      John W Litton 30
      Lydia Litton 33
      Lavica Litton 14
      Moses Litton 12
      Lafayette Litton 10
      Lilburn Litton 8
      Donaldson Litton 4

      CIVIL WAR RECORDS

      National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, online <http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss
      Name: John W. Litton
      Side: Confederate
      Regiment State/Origin: Virginia
      Regiment: Washington County, Virginia Militia
      Film Number: M382 roll 34

      Name: John W. Litton
      Side: Confederate
      Regiment State/Origin: Virginia
      Regiment: 16th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry
      Company: A
      Rank In: Private
      Rank Out: Private
      Film Number: M382 roll 34
      Enlisting 05 Aug 1862 at Abingdon, VA

      Family stories having him joining the US Army after the war ended and supposedly dying in the Mountain Meadow Indian Massacre in 1867 Utah. This was the story told by his son, Lilburn to cover the fact that he may have deserted his family. This story is documented in "Russell County, Virginia: History Revealed Through Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of Its Ancestors" M. Secrist, Lulu Press, Inc, Feb 18, 2013.

      However, the massacre took place in 1857. The Mountain Meadows Association has the following information showing he was not a victim of the is massacre.

      http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/john_w__linton.htm

      The MMA investigates every person who is believed to have died in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. According to a family tradition, John Whitely Litton died in a "Mormon Indian Massacre in Utah", in 1867. Although the Mountain Meadows Massacre took place in 1857, stories usually get some facts wrong, and he was investigated as a possible victim.

      John Whitely Litton was the son of John S. Litton and Catherine Younce, born 5 March 1830 in Elk Grove, Russell County, Virginia. He married Lydia Eva Whitaker on 14 May 1845 in Russell County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Moses Whitaker and Polly Bowman. In the 1850 census, they are enumerated in Russell County, Virginia, and in the 1860 census they are enumerated in the Western District of Washington County, Virginia. Lydia (Whitaker) Litton is enumerated as a widow in both the 1870 and 1880 census for Washington County, Virginia. These census records indicate that Litton probably died sometime between 1860 and 1870, and not before 1860, which would have been the case if he was a victim of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in September 1857.

      John W. Litton was in Wade's Regiment, Local Defense (Washington County VA Militia), in April 1862, before he enlisted in the Confederate Army. Litton served the Confederacy during the Civil War, in Company A (originally Stevenson's Company, Ferguson's Battalion) of the 16th Virginia Calvary. This Company was primarily made up of men from Russell County, Virginia. John W. Litton was a wagon master in the Civil War. Most Confederate records from Virginia were burned in Richmond, however a copy of a Company Muster roll for 31 October 1863 to 1 April 1864 shows he enlisted 5 August 1862 at Lebanon, VA. for a period of 3 years. He was signed in by Capt. Stevenson. He appears on a Receipt Roll for pay on 31 December 1863. He was paid $.25 for service from 1 August 1863 to 31 December 1863. These records indicate that Litton was still alive in at the end of December in 1863. There is no record of Litton's wife filing for a widow's pension.

      Lydia (Whitaker) and John W. Litton had seven children. The two youngest children were Clementine Catherine Litton, born in September 1861, and Mary Cordelia Litton, born 31 March 1865. The birth of Litton's youngest daughter indicates that he was living in 1864. The census records, military records, and birth date of his youngest daughter, prove that he was not a victim of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre.

      Another family story states that when he returned from the Civil War, he didn't like the reconstruction, so he enlisted in U.S. Army and was sent to Utah, where he died as an Indian fighter. A different story said that he settled in Texas and married again. He was rumored to have several children and was living in Campbell County, Texas. [Note: There is no Campbell Co. TX. There is the town of Campbell in Hunt Co. TX] No evidence, that would support either story, has been found.

      In Lydia (Whitaker) Litton's father's will of 31 March 1874, proved 22 November 1875, Moses Whitaker left her land, and other property, and further stated that the "devise to Lydia E. Litton, dau., are not to be liable for any debts due for any one from her husband, John Litton, if he is now alive." When and where John Whitely Litton died remains a mystery. It is evident, from her father's Will, that as late as 1874, Litton's wife did not know what happened to her husband. She never remarried, and Lydia Eva (Whitaker) Litton died 14 May 1901 and is buried in the Hayter Cemetery in Abingdon, Washington County, Virginia.

      © 2013 A.C. Wallner for the Mountain Meadows Association. All rights reserved

      There may be records of him in Texas around 1880. [1, 2]
    Person ID I834  Master File
    Last Modified 24 May 2017 

    Father Solomon Caleb LITTON,   b. 15 Jan 1803, Russell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 18 Feb 1842, Russell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 39 years) 
    Mother Catherine YONTS,   b. 26 Jan 1803, Abingdon, Washington Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Sep 1846, Russell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 43 years) 
    Family ID F1926  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Lydia Eva WHITAKER,   b. 24 Jun 1830, Washington, Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 31 May 1901, Washington Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 70 years) 
    Married 14 May 1845  Elk Garden, Russell Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Children 
     1. Luvicia Caldonia LITTON,   b. 20 Oct 1846, Elk Garden, VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 12 Feb 1933  (Age 86 years)
     2. Moses Whitaker LITTON,   b. Feb 1848,   d. Aft 1920  (Age ~ 73 years)
     3. Lafayette Monk LITTON,   b. 23 Apr 1850, Elk Garden, VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Jun 1925  (Age 75 years)
     4. Lilburn Rutus LITTON,   b. 14 Dec 1852, Elk Garden, VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Aug 1933  (Age 80 years)
     5. John Davidson (Jerre) LITTON,   b. 17 Mar 1856, Washington Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1920  (Age > 65 years)
     6. Clementine Yontz LITTON,   b. 1861, Washington Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1920  (Age > 60 years)
     7. Mary Cordelia Lydia LITTON,   b. Abt 1865, Washington Co. VA Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F288  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Sources 
    1. [S25] Descendants of Richard Whitaker, Jr. and Rachel Bentley, Joye Boardman.

    2. [S15] Nancy A. Nash Material, 1997.