Some excellent works tracing the lineage of various branches of the Houston-Huston family have been published and this is not another genealogy or family tree. The purpose of this work is to outline the broad field of history of the family as a whole from the Middle Ages down to the close of the American Colonial period.

The history of the Houstons or Hustons coincides with that of the Scottish Lowlanders during the days of feudal barons and chivalrous knights. It is part of the economic and religious developments which caused thousands of Scots to settle in Northern Ireland (Ulster) during the early 1600’s. It is a saga of the hardships, suffering, heartbreak and, withal, growth of these Ulster-Scots during a hundred years in Ireland into a new race, the Scotch-Irish. It is the story of the Houston-Huston family as part of the great stream of Scotch-Irish who swept into the American Colonies in the first half of the 18th Century to alter the course of history of America and the Western World.

Broadly speaking, the people of the name Houstoun, Houston and Huston are one great family, numbering today in the United States alone some 30,000, besides several other thousands in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Canada. The family had its origin in Renfrewshire, Scotland, eight centuries ago. With some few exceptions, all of the folk of this name are of Scottish descent and are blood kin.

Unlike such surnames as White or Gray, Farmer or Smith, West or South which originated from physical appearance, occupation, point of the compass, the Houston name has no descriptive meaning. Neither is it like Johnson or Williamson, meaning son of John or William. The name came about in a natural way from a man whose name was Hugh, who lived before surnames were common or necessary. He built a small village near his castle and the natives simply called it "Hugh’s town". Through various stages this became Hu’ston, Hustoun, Howstoune, etc., then Houstoun. When surnames came along, the barons adopted the name of the town as the family name.

The present spelling of the name is a matter of interest