Descendants of Scotland & Ulster, Houston, Huston, Hewston, Heuston, Houstoun, and others are septs of the Scottish Clan Donald , sometimes called Clan McDonald. Regardless of the spelling, families with the name are descended from the same medieval ancestry.
Beginnings of the Huston/Houston Clan
During the reign of Malcom IV, a man named Hugh removed from the County of Paduinan and took over the lands near present-day Paisley in Renfrewshire. The year was 1160, and official records concerning the man listed his place of origin as a means of identification: Anglicized as Hugo de Paduinan .
He built a fortification for himself there, and those Scots who kept their primitive homes nearby began to seek the protection of his castle during the raids of neighboring lairds -- a somewhat frequent occurance. References to the origin of Houston generally ascribe it to Hugh's + tun, which was the word of the time that described an enclosure or place of safety.
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In feudal times, a parcel of land on which a fortified structure or castle was located was known as a barony. The laird -- sometimes called Lord by the peasants within the barony -- did not carry a title of nobility as might be implied by the term baronet. Tradition says he married the daughter of a Scottish chieftain, although no record exists. According to historian Amelia Williams, quoted in the book Bold Legacy by Cleburne Huston (Texian Press 1968), Hugh led fifty of his men in the rescue of King Malcom, and bore him to safety, for which he was bestowed the rank of Scottish knight and the estate in Renfrewshire. Public records indicate the land was transferred from Baldwin of Biggar, viscount of Lanarkshire, to Hugh, and later came to be called the parish of Houston. The earliest recorded documentation of Hugh is circa 1160, as a witness to the signature of Walter Fitz-Allan, holder of the lands of Strathgryffe in the valley of Clyde.
There is also literature that indicates that Hugh of Paduinan was the son of Baldwin, viscount of Lanarkshire. William Hamilton wrote in Sherifdoms of Lanark and Renfrew (compiled circa 1710, printed Glasgow 1831, page 100) of the Houstons: "This family is come from Baldwin de Bigeris." Baldwin's landholdings included the parish of Kilpeter, which was later deeded to Hugh.
