Hightower Genealogy
A quote from Paul Hightower:
"Based on the best available evidence, the Hightowers in America can trace their ancestry to one common individual, an immigrant named John Hightower who came to the New World from England in the mid-seventeenth century. We know little more about this predecessor than a record of his passage aboard the Friendship, a ship which docked on the Rappahannock River in Virginia in 1653. Any more than this is simply speculation.
While no written record exists, because of the time and place of his arrival it is believed this John Hightower was the father of Joshua, who in turn had six sons all born in the same area of Richmond County, Virginia. From these six men grew the family lines which spread throughout the United States until now when every Hightower in this country can trace their ancestry to one of these brothers."
Ever since high school, I've been collecting genealogical material. As far as direct relatives are concerned, John HIGHTOWER (b 1802 or 1810) is the furthest back that I've been able to find in a Texas census. It's believed that he was orphaned in 1816 and arrived in Texas in the mid-1840's. Because of the way censuses were done in those days, there's little documentation to tell us who his parents were. Many researchers have tried in vain to establish a definite link between "the orphan John" to his parents (there has even been a reward offered!), but all for naught. Debated speculation is that his father is John HIGHTOWER (d 1816). If that's true, the paternal lineage works out like so:
Joshua HIGHTOWER (b 1670, d Aug 1726)
--John Thomas HIGHTOWER (b 1692, d 4-Sep-1764)
----Joshua HIGHTOWER (b 14-Sep-1728, d 1794)
------John HIGHTOWER (b before 1750, d 1816)
--------John HIGHTOWER (b 1802 or 1810, d 18-Nov-1882)
----------Gabriel Meek HIGHTOWER (b 14-Dec-1846, d 11-Dec-1898)
------------Thomas Jasper HIGHTOWER (b 26 Oct 1885, d 16 Aug 1968)
--------------Raymond Jasper HIGHTOWER (b 13 Jun 1938)
----------------Thomas Dean HIGHTOWER ( 22 Sep 1959)
You can click on any of the names to see more about them.
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The Hightower Files