Biography: Isaac Newton Langston (1775 – aft 1850) Bibb County

This biography is included in the book Biographies of Notable and Not-so-Notable Alabama Pioneers Volume I

ISAAC NEWTON LANGSTON

BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY

(b. 1775 d. aft. 1850)
Bibb County, Alabama

Isaac Newton Langston, was born ca. 1775 in Pennsylvania to Jacob and Mary Langston . The Langstons emigrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania. Jacob, Isaac’s father, moved to Virginia then to Bourbon Co., Kentucky around 1770. Life must have been difficult in Kentucky because Jacob and Mary moved back to Pennsylvania in 1775 where Isaac was born.

Jacob and Mary returned to Clark County, Kentucky around 1784 when Obediah was nine years old but returned again to Pennsylvania before the birth of two additional sons. Jacob returned to Bourbon, Kentucky where he died in 1804.

Isaac Newton was 23 years old when he married Sara Patton December 1798 in Montgomery County, Kentucky.

In 1815, Isaac Newton and Sara were living in Morgan County, Alabama. They moved south with the John Sumners family and settled in Bibb County, Alabama around Six Mile, Alabama. John Sumners married Isaac’s daughter Nancy.

In 1833, Isaac and Sarah Langston were listed as charter members of Antioch Baptist Church in Bibb County, Alabama. Sarah died by June 7, 1841 in Bibb County, Alabama and Isaac married 2nd Amelia/Permillia “Milly” Leach. She was the daughter of Anthony and Rebekkah Leach and she and her brother Moses Leach were also charter members of Antioch Baptist Church

He and Sarah had the following known children:

Obediah Langston (b. Sep. 3, 1801 TN– Oct. 14, 1888 AL) married Virginia “Jenney” McElroy Feb. 23, 1831 Bibb County, Alabama.
Nancy Newton Langston (b. ca. 1802 KY – d. 1888 AL) married John Sumners
Jane Langston (b. 1805 KY – d. 1870) married 1st Mark W. Doss, 2nd Thomas Seale, 3rd John Vedle
Daniel Newton Langston (b. Dec. 21, 1808 TN – d. 1840) married Elizabeth Sawyer on Dec. 14, 1837
Doranton Patton Newton Langston (b. 1812 TN – d. May 4, 1873 AL) married Jerusha Mary Hallman
Sarah “Sally” Newton Langston (b. ca. 1814 TN – d. June 28, 1890 MS) married William Carroll Thraikill
Mary Martha Langston (b. ca. 1815); married Wiley Corley
Rebecca Langston (b. ca. 1815) married Jacob Creed
Willis Newton Langston (b. ca. 1816 SC- Feb. 6, 1865) married Ina Louisa Woolley
Henley V. Langston (b. ca. 1818 – d. Dec. 24, 1862 TX)
Isabella Langston (b. June 10, 1820 AL – Jan. 20, 1865) married Anthony Collin Leach
Isaac Pinckney Langston (b. July 24, 1822 AL –Feb. 21, 1891 TX) married Eliza Ann Evans
Elizabeth Polly Langston married Aug. 6, 1817 in Madison County, Alabama Benjamin Blanton

The following person may also be a child of Isaac and Sarah:

Jacob Langston (b. January 10, 1802 KY – d. Feb. 20, 1851 MO.)

Like his parents, Isaac traveled quite a bit between states during the birth of his children. Their path led them from Kentucky to Tennessee, back to Kentucky, then Tennessee, South Carolina, North Alabama to finally settle in Bibb County, Alabama.

Sara Patton Langston died Nov. 1840 in Bibb County, Alabama and Isaac Newton Langston was in the 1850 Bibb County, AL census. He was listed age 75 and living in the household of his son Obediah Langston and next door to his daughter Isabel (Langston ) Leach. In the 1860 census, he was living with his daughter Jane (Langston ) Vedle and her husband John Vedle in Perry County, Alabama, age 80. Jane married three times and this was her third husband.

Isaac and Sarah were early members of Antioch Church in Bibb County that was organized in 1833. Their graves have never been found but it is assumed that they were buried at Antioch Church in Bibb County, Alabama.

There is an interesting story regarding the spouses of the children of Isaac and Sarah Langston . Evidently, Jane’s1st spouse, Mark Doss killed Elizabeth “Polly’s” spouse, Benjamin Blanton. The newspaper reports are included below:

The Murder of Benjamin Blanton on Pecan Bayou
Northern standard – December 24, 1842
Contributed by Sharon Black.

* Item 1. From The Northern Standard Newspaper published at Clarksville, Texas. Dec 24, 1842 issue. (Research shows that Dec 24, 1842 was a Saturday, thus the reference to “found dead Tuesday morning” in the following text refers to the morning of Dec. 20, 1842 and sets Benjamin’s date of death as the night of Dec. 19th or early morning of Dec. 20, 1842
Benjamin Blanton was found dead Tuesday morning last, a citizen of this county, on the road leading from town to the mill of the deceased and within a quarter or half a mile of the residence of Mr. Mark Doss who lives upon said road. The deceased had evidently been killed by the discharge of a gun, the ball from which had entered at the left eye and passed out on that side of the head, breaking a large piece of the temporal bone and laying bare the brain for some distance. A coroner’s jury set upon the case, and returned it as their opinion that the deceased came to his death by the hands of Mr. Doss. The accused was arrested and has been examined before Justices Willison and Donaho; he was placed in the county jail.
Item 2. From Red River County deed Abstracts, Republic of Texas and State of Coahuila and Texas (Mexico) by Joyce Martin Murray, p. 50.
Deed of Trust May 6, 1841 Benjamin Blanton and Jacob Blanton to Amos Morrell, $5.00, tract of 600 acres on Pecan Bayou on which a Sawmill erected by Benjamin and one Gilbert Clark and William Gragg, bounded on the east by Gragg, on the west by John Blanton, South by survey of Tarrent and Wright. Indebted for $874.09. Witnesses: none.
Item 3. Northern Standard, Feb 23, 1843
Escape of a Murderer Mark W. Doss confined in the jail of this county upon the charge of murdering Benjamin Blanton, escaped on Monday last. This is the second escape of the same individual. The first time, finding the river impassable from the freshet, and having no outlet, he wisely returned to custody, his outbreak however, resulting in the escape of a man named Payne, confined for horse stealing. This time, he has probably crossed into Arkansas. Our readers will recollect that bail was refused him by the examining magistrate, and subsequently on application upon writ of habeas corpus by the chief justice. The evidence in this case was of the strongest character, and his departure, just as the District Court is about to sit, tends to confirm the impression of his guilt. ….. (This article continues on with a lengthy discussion of the poor condition of the Red River Co. jail)
Item 4. Northern Standard, Oct 14, 1843
Stop the Murderer The subscriber has in his possession an offer of one thousand acres of land for the apprehension and delivery of Mark W. Doss into the custody of the keeper of any jail in the Republic of Texas. This Mark W. Doss married Jane Langston . She is known by the writer of this article to be an excellent woman and of a good family. During the winter of 1838, and when Judge Summers was engaged at Tuscaloosa as a representative of the County of Bibb, Doss went to Judge Summer’s and Summer’s wife being a sister of his wife, he prevailed on her to loan him the judge’s wagon and team. He then started off under the pretext of a prospect of making some money by waggoning and had never returned since. He went directly on to western Texas where he turned his attention to preaching, and was very religious outwardly, and a strict member of the Baptist Church. He finally on being received into the house of a pious widow, by dint of slight of hand, pocketed her gold watch and suddenly disappeared from that part of the country.

He then went to eastern Texas to **Jacob Blanton’s who was another brother-in-law to Obadiah Langston of our neighboring county (Bibb). He here represented his wife to be dead, and said that he had left his children with her friends in Bibb County Alabama. He here became as usual pious and finally married a woman a shade deeper than would pass for white folks. After he had resided there for some time, a misunderstanding took place between him and Jacob Blanton, and he concealed himself on the road-side where he knew Blanton would pass, and from his hiding place he shot Blanton dead. He was arrested and broke jail twice in Texas, and it is supposed that he is now in Tennessee or Mississippi lurking about, or probably acting the part of a Baptist preacher under a new name. He has a good voice and sings well, and when he resided in Bibb he frequently taught singing schools. He was then a member of the Baptist Church but never attempted to preach.

He is six feet one inch, has a thin sharp face, a sharp looking nose, and is about 45 years of age. One of his big toes has been broken. It turns up so as to be plainly seen with a shoe on. If he should be discovered by any person seeing this, let them address a letter to Obadiah Langston, of Bibb County Alabama, and he will furnish them with the written offer of reward of One Thousand Acres of Land.

This is the same Mark W. Doss who has for some time past been noticed in the papers of this county as the murderer of Blanton and his having broke jail the second time and his final escape. We ask Editors to pass him around, and if he is in the United States let him be found and returned to Texas.

Obadiah Langston
Bibb County, Alabama

**Transcriber’s note: The only Jacob Blanton known to have lived in Red River County, Texas was not murdered but lived to be an old man. Previous news reports of this murder attest that the man who was murdered by Doss was Benjamin Blanton, and not Jacob Blanton. Benjamin Blanton married Polly Langston in Madison Co. AL Aug 6, 1817. Mark Doss married Jane Langston July 18, 1821 in AL.

SOURCES

Genealogical Information from research by Fern Langston and Harold Cottingham of Bibb County, AL
1850 Bibb County, Alabama census
microfilm at Samford Univ (Birmingham)
Find A Grave Memorial# 22650116 # 22650210 # 57210823

This biography is included in the book Biographies of Notable and Not-so-Notable Alabama Pioneers Volume I

Biographies of Notable and Not-so-Notable Alabama Pioneers Volume I

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About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey