The Old Horton house built abt 1640 Published in "The Hortons of America," by Adaline Horton White

Download Link  provided by Phin Horton phinhorton@bellsouth.net

     The most tangible legacy of Barnabas, except for his countless descendants (who included Benjamin Harrison, 33rd U.S. President), was his house.  Built before 1660 and added onto by son Jonathan in 1680, it was lived in by six generations of Hortons (213 years) until Jonathan Goldsmith Horton died without issue in 1873 and willed it to an adopted daughter.
     Three years later, as part of the Centennial celebration, a hundred Hortons from all over the country gathered at Philadelphia.  They seemed eager and able to buy the "oldest dwelling-house known to exist within our nation's boundaries" and a treasurer was named to receive the necessary $1,500 in contributions, but apparently everybody went home and forgot.  Most of the house was demolished a few months after the Horton Gathering.
     "There was a last sad celebration and leavetaking before it was torn down."  Supposedly woman wept and people carried pieces away as souvenirs.  Augustus Griffin in his journal spoke reverently of the Horton home, noting that at the time of writing (1855) the east portion had been standing 195 years.  He went on:  "It may not be uninteresting to many of my fellow-townsmen to know that in the year 1706, in this house, were married Henry Tuthill to Berthia Horton, and Daniel Tuthill to Mehitable Horton.  Henry and Daniel were brothers, and grandsons of the first John Tuthill, and Berthia and Mehitable grand-daughters of the first Barnabas Horton."
     The house didn't all go, however.  The kitchen wing, seemingly the part Barnabas built, either resisted destruction or was spared for some other reason.  It was moved (to make way for a new building now standing there with a historical marker) to another lot in midtown where it served as Girl Scout headquarters and other useful purposes.
     Eventually, about 40 years ago, it was moved to Hog's Neck, where it is now the living room of the Herman Ohlman home on Bay View Road.  So the Ohlmans, at the risk of being challenged, can say they're living in part of the oldest house in America.
(Parts of the above came from Pagans Puritans Patriots of Yesterday's Southold, by Warren Hall, published by the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council, 1975)