William Carroll Haston Biography
Memorial and Biographical Record:
An Illustrated Compendium of Biography
Pages 272-273
Chicago:  Geo. A. Ogle & Co., 1898

William Carroll Hastons, for many years prominently connected with the public affairs of Van Buren county, is still one of its most honored and highly-respected citizens, and makes his home in District No. 3, where he owns a large and valuable farm under excellent cultivation and well improved.  He was born here March 2, 1829, and on the paternal side is of Dutch descent, his grandfather, Daniel Hastons, being scarcely able to speak English.  At an early day he came to Tennessee, locating in Van Buren county, near the spring now known as Hastons' Big Spring, where he purchased the land now owned by our subject.  In his family were thirteen children, all now deceased.

The parents of our subject, David and Margaret (Roddey) Hastons, were probably natives of Virginia, and became well-to-do farming people of this county, where they owned a fine place of two hundred acres.  Both were active and faithful members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and, before a house of worship was erected in their community, services were often held in their home.  Politically, the father was an Old-line Whig.  Their family numbered twelve children, namely: Wiley B., Daniel, Ollie, Thomas C., Malinda, David M., Peggy, James, Nancy, Isaac, Lucinda, and William C.  All have passed away with the exception of our subject and Lucinda, who is now the widow of Abraham Trodglen, of Warren county, Tenn.  The parents both died before the war, the mother preceding her husband three or four years, and their remains interred in the Big Fork cemetery.

The only educational advantages William C. Hastons received were such as the local schools of his day afforded;  but his training at farm work was not so meager, and he early became a thrifty and industrious farmer.  He was married, December 3, 1848, to Miss Jane Denney, who was born in Van Buren county, April 27, 1829, a daughter of William and Patty (Burnett) Denney.  They became the parents of the following children:  Charles T., who married Mill Ellet Morgan and lives in White county, Tenn.;  Maggie, wife of Dr. Shepherd, of Yell county, Ark.;  David L., who married Miss Tabitha Davis and lives in Hickory, White county;  William C., who married Lobelia Morgan and is now deceased;  Sarah and John, both deceased;  Sophia, wife of Frank Davis, of Van Buren county, living near her father's old home;  and Mollie, deceased.  The mother, who was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, departed this life August 1, 1886, leaving many friends, as well as her family, to mourn her loss.

In 1863, Mr. Hastons was a member of the militia of Tennessee, called by Colonel Stanton, and was stationed for a time at Fishing Creek, after which he returned home.  He was a stalwart Democrat in politics, and has taken quite an active and prominent part in public affairs, filling the offices of constable, deputy sheriff for fourteen years, sheriff for two years (being elected in 1860), justice of the peace for the long period of thirty-four years, and chairman for eight years.  He faithfully and satisfactorily discharged every duty devolving upon him, and his public and private career are alike above reproach.  In religious connection he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

David Haston - "Old Time Whig"

• American Whig Party, roughly from 1834 to 1856

• American Revolutionaries were called "Whigs" (as opposed to the British loyalists who were called "Tories")

• Andrew Jackson's ("King Andrew I" as he was known by critics) Democratic party championed a strong presidency that attempted to overshadow the legislative branch;  thus, the Whig Party was formed to counter this "king like" type of rule that had been overthrown by the Whigs of the American Revolution

• Daniel Webster, Horace Greeley, and Henry Clay were early leaders; also, Abraham Lincoln in his early political career

• Generally ran a strong second to the Democratic Party

• Favored a National Bank

• Attempted to unify the North and South and avoid secession

• Development of Abraham Lincoln's Republican Party in the 1850s drew off so many Whigs that the party dissolved  (split by "Conscience [anti-slavery] Whigs" to Republican Party and "Cotton [pro-slavery] Whigs" to Democratic Party)

• After the demise of Jacksonian democracy, focused concern on internal improvements (roads, deepening rivers, railroads, etc.) and moral reforms

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Located on the small hill behind the original "Haston Big Spring" Daniel Haston home place.