Elisha Riston

Info found by Lisa Hesterman, added Sept. 9, 2008:

It seems Elisha's father (John, b. @1733) was killed [when he was] mending a roof and fell. His wife married a man named Riston and her children took that name, which they used through three generations. J. P. Clifford Senior used that name in the Battalion and his monument lists him that way.

[The monument referred to is at the Salt Lake City, Utah state capitol building.]

My early information of my father's (John Price Clifford Jr.) family came through him. He told us that two Clifford brothers came to Maryland (March 1634) with Lord Baltimore (his brother, Leonard Calvert, actually, who became the first governor). My son, Ed H. Parkison married and lives near Baltimore. In 1957, he drove me to the library of the Maryland Historical Society. I was permitted to look into the original records of the early emigrants. In the year of 1664 I found the names of three male Clifford, one named John, which has been a family name, and a female named Mary, also was listed."

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/8248/library/johnclifford.html
Note: The above link no longer works.

New from Carol Beck Hopp 9/5/2019 at 5:29 PM : I am related to Thomas J. and I find some of your info incorrect. After Thomas's wife Hannah died, he married Nancy Forman in 1949, not Sally Riston as you reported.

Thomas's grandmother was Rachel Riston. His father, Elisha Clifford was given Riston as a middle name. For whatever reason, Elisha changed his last name to Riston when he married Sarah A Mayo (confirmed by marriage registration at St. John's Parish Church, Prince George, MD). Thomas changed his last name from Riston to Wristen. Thomas's brother John Henry Riston changed his name back to Clifford when he joined the Mormon Church.

Needless to say it took awhile for me to understand why I could not find more Wristen's on my side of the family! I hope that you will change the info you posted. Thank you, Carol

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/8248/library/johnclifford.html

Because you mentioned the RISTER surname, I will add a little. I have seen the name RISTER and RISTON interchanged. My RISTON family was along the Pond River in Christian & Muhlenberg County, Kentucky in the very early 1800s. They were closely associated with the BASS, WELLS, DUKE(S), WILLIAMS and EDWARDS families there. Musina "Sina" EDWARDS and John RISTON married in Wilson County, Tennessee in 1827. After that, this group moved to Christian and Muhlenberg Counties, Kentucky. About 1850 many of the younger generation left for Williamson County, IL and later White County, IL. Thought I'd mention this if you are researching the surname RISTER. According to another RISTON researcher, Basil RISTON is the patriarch of this family. She gave me the following information:

Basil RISTON born 1763 Prince George's County, Maryland

married 1787 Prince George's County, Maryland

moved _____, Greenbriar County, Virginia (now Monroe Co., West Virginia)

census 1800, Wilkes County, North Carolina

census 1810, Can't find Basil, but eldest son, Tilghman, md Nancy Flood in Jefferson Co, TN 1812.

1817, daughter Margaret (Peggy) married a Sale Pardue or Perdue in Wilkes County, NC

1820, Basil is in Jackson County, Tennessee

1830, Basil is in Overton County, Tennessee

Basil died in Madison County, Illinois, buried in Edwardsville (Canteen Creek Cemetery).

Debbie McArdle

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ILWHITE/2005-05/11175...