Bills, John Houston, 1800-1871

John Houston Bills (1800-1871), Tennessee planter, merchant, and friend of president James Knox Polk (1795-1849), was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, and migrated to Tennessee in 1818. He was active in the Democratic Party, the Freemasons, the temperance movement, and the religious life of his community.

From the guide to the John Houston Bills Papers, 1843-1871, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)

John Houston Bills was a Tennessee planter who was active in the Democratic Party, the Freemasons, a temperance society, and was a friend of President James K. Polk (1795-1849).

From the description of John Houston Bills papers, 1843-1871 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 24678750

Horace Moore Polk was born on October 11, 1819, the son of Thomas Independence Polk and Sarah Moore, and served in the Louisiana legislature from around 1856 to the beginning of the Civil War. In the 1850s and 1860s, Moore owned a plantation in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, and he lived in Bolivar, Tennessee, from the late 1860s until his death on September 14, 1883. He married Ophelia J. Bills (1826- 1885), the daughter of Major John H. Bills and Prudence McNeal, around 1844; they had eight children: Thomas I., John H., Horace M., Newton N., Mary, Evelyn ("Eva"), Clara, and Ophelia.

From the guide to the Polk family letters, 1856-1868, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)