ily originated in Ireland and Scotland, were Presbyterians and lived in areas in America where the Scotch-Irish Houstons lived, one wonders if they were not a part of the main Houston clan of Renfrewshire. Here is illustrated some of the problems of research. Spelling of names in old records are often inaccurate and made more difficult by poor handwriting. One may speculate that the original name in this branch was "Houstoun" or one of the earlier spellings of the name. In handwriting, this might have been misread as "House-Son." Possibly the brothers, Alfred and Abnor, merely simplified the spelling of their name to Houston and Huston, rather than adopting a new name.