Howard Genealogy Blog

John Howard was bc 1794, KY according to the 1880 census records of his descendents. A note in a family bible disagreed, saying he was born in Pennsylvania, but it is possible that John’s parents were in or came through Pennsylvania on their way to Kentucky.

John first appears in Bourbon Co., KY in the Stoner Creek District on the1814 tax list as under 21 owning one horse. By the following year he was of age and had married Elizabeth McAtee. The Bourbon Co, KY census listed a James (L or S) Howard, aged 16-25, in the Stoner Creek District in 1820.

By December of 1826 John and Elizabeth were in Louisville, Jefferson Co., KY where a son was born. In 1830 the family had moved to Licking Township, Crawford Co., IL, where John died of a respiratory illness 2 Feb 1848. Many of his descendents have suffered from respiratory ailments as well.

Elizabeth was likely the daughter of Abednego McAtee and Nancy Moore or Kathrine Shanklin who were married in Rowan Co., NC before 1800.

Children of John Howard and Elizabeth McAtee:
1. Sarah Ann Howard m. James Boyd 3 May 1838
2. Son (Thomas/Albert) Howard bc 1819 d/moved bef 1848
3. Louisa Jane Howard m. George Henry Kirby 12 Aug 1839
4. Mary Howard m. Joseph Cooley 14 Apr 1823
5. Isaac Newton Howard m. Selena Hackney 14 Sep 1843
6. James Alva Howard m. Susan Hackney 29 Aug 1847
7. Elizabeth Howard m. Cornelius Johnson 19 Jan 1845
8. Margaretta E Howard m1. William Hightower Hackely 12 Feb 1849
m. 2 David Courson/Corson 2 Mar 1881
m. 3 Philip/Philip Tracy/Tracey 29 Dec 1917

Research by Dena Wilson

It is very easy for me to be sidetracked by something I haven’t read before (or don’t remember reading) and today it was an odd group of names found in “Abstracts of Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Cumberland County North Carolina” April 17779-January 1791, Volume II by William C. Fields, Editor.

There were Howards, Gists and Buckhannan’s listed in the index. The Howards normally associated with Cumberland County, NC are descended from Edward Howard and Sarah/Sabra Jarrett who are in some way connected to William Buckhannan Howard, Obediah Howard and Seth Howard.

Christopher and Nathaniel Gist left Maryland in the late 1740’s when they went bankrupt. They traveled to the Opeckon Valley in what is now WV. This is also where a splinter group of people from the Sater Baptist Church settled about the same time. Eventually this Church came under the leadership of Rev. Daniel Marshall who had among his followers the Breeds from Connecticut, Mulkey was later joined by his brother-in-law the Rev. Shubal Stearns. Their group splintered from the Opeckon Church, traveling to North Carolina. Did some of the Gists travel with this group?

Benjamin Gist married Elizabeth Jarrett in Lunenburg Co., VA and Edward Howard married Sarah/Sabra Jarrett in NC…were these two Jarrett’s related? I have been wondering if Obediah could have been a descendent of Edward, especially with the name Jarrett in his descendents.

According to the above book, in the 1770’s the following people are found living on or near Little River:
1. “Peter Munro appointed overseer of the Little River from Elliot’s Mill to Crain’s Creek in place of Jas. Campbell, working the following hands: Joseph Gest, Gilbert Eccles, Hector McNeill, John McNeill
2. Nathan King appointed overseer of the river from the mouth of Raifords Creek to the mouth of Cross Creek working the following Hands: Hector Buchanan, Edwd. Howard, Jr.

Joseph Gist, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth, married a daughter of Neill McNeill and, after her father’s death, he filed a petition with her father’s executors for her portion of the estate.

Other names listed in the book:
Buchannan: Alexr., David, Farqd., Hector, John, Peter, R., Wm. (Buchannan’s Ferry)
Gist: Christopher, Joseph, Joshua
Howard: Edward, Sr., Edward, Jr., Wm
McNeill: A., Ann, Alexr., Archd., Capt., Daniel, David, Duncan, Grizzel, Hector, Henry, James, John, Laughlin, Malcom, Mary, Neill, Roger, Smilie (Also seem to have married into the Smith family. Is this the same Smith family as the Eddie Smith who married Nehemiah Howard?)
Jarrett: Richd.

Looking for information about the following people:
1. Henry William Howard born Worcester
2. Admiral Henry William Howard (Argentine Navy) bc 1900 Lujan, Argentina s/o English/Irish
3. Henry William Howard bc 1920 Lancaster (Liverpool) England
4. Percy William Howard bc 1940 Fisherton, Argentina
5. Lilly Palmer b Liverpool, England
6. Edith Sly b Argentina
7. Alfred Sly b England
8. Mary Chandler b England
9. Anita Udy b Diamante, Argentina
10. Percy Udy, b Cornwall, England; Ranch Manager for Bovril, Argentina
11. William Udy b Cornwall, England
12. Mary Anne Crawford, b Argentina
13. Ines “Aggie” Crinigan b Salto, Argentina
14. Francis Crinigan b 1824/26 Co Westmeath, Ireland
15. John Crinigan
16. Mary Fagan
17. Mary Keenan b 24 Mar 1841 Co Kerry, Ireland
18. Christopher Keenan
19. Margaret Scott
20. Bridget Mackinson b 1870 Navarro, Argentina
21. Mathew Mackinson b 1835 Co. Westmeath, Ireland
22. Bridget Norris b 1835 Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
Notes: In 1901 Admiral Howard travelled to the “Isla de los Estados” a military prison off the mainland of Patagonia in Argentina. Against the majority view and the politically correct view he recommended the closure of the military prison. He said that it was similar to prisons in Siberia for the austerity of the climate and harshness of the conditions.

Descendants of Mr. Howard

1 Mr. Howard b: in TN
.. +Mrs. Howard b: in TN
………2 Thomas Howard b: 1855 in TN
………….+Mary C. Abernathy-Turner
b: 16 Jun 1854 in AR (AL on 1880 Census)
d: 1917 in DeQueen, Sevier Co., AR
………………..3 Viola A. Howard b: 1870 in AR
………………..3 Daniel Thomas Howard b: 04 Oct 1879 in Sugar Loaf, Boone Co., AR
d: 29 Jan 1944 in Phoenix, Maricopa, AZ
……………………+Olga Helena Barnes b: 09 Feb 1886 in Mena, Polk Co., AR
m: 27 Aug 1899 in Polk Co., AR
………………………….4 Clarence Howard
………………………….4 Efferita Howard
………………………….4 Elsie Etta Howard b: 26 Apr 1903 in Lehi/Haleyville, OK
………………………….4 Mary J. Howard
………………………….4 Charles Harmon Howard b: 09 Feb 1909 in OK
………………………….4 Clara Belle Howard b: 20 Feb 1911 in OK
………………………….4 Lilliam Lucille Howard b: 30 Dec 1915 in AR
………………………….4 William Frederick Howard b: 25 Dec 1917 in Dunsmuir, CA
………………………….4 Ethel Vivian Howard b: 20 Feb 1919 in Dunsmuir, CA
………………………….4 Claud Howard b: 22 Feb 1921 in OK
………………………….4 Juanita Pauline Howard b: 03 Aug 1923 in Okmulgee, OK
………………………….4 Daniel Thomas Howard b: 06 Sep 1926 in Eufaula, OK
………………………….4 Bessie Angeline Howard b: 30 Dec 1913 in OK
………………..3 Lionel R. Howard b: Jun 1883 in AR
……………………+Minerva m: 1899 in AR
………………………….4 Thomas L. Howard
………………………….4 Therona Vivian Howard b: Abt. 1904
……………………………..+Jessie J. Ross m: 1918 in AR
………………………….4 Minerva N. Howard b: 1908
………………..3 Anthony Howard

Does anybody have any information on these Howards?

While doing some research on Thomas Howard and Letty Durham because of DNA results, I found out there was a Thomas Howard who was friendly with the Cherokees, but likely did not become involved with them until some time between 1765 and 1771 when William Tryon served as governor of North Carolina. Unfortunately, this is another one of those dead-end ancestor trails, but a very interesting tale.

The story, as I have pieced it together from several sources, which may or may not be accurate, is that Governor Tryon sent a scout by the name of Thomas Howard to check out that part of North Carolina, which was actually in South Carolina, around what is now the city of Tryon.

There are several areas of contention in the story, so I am going by the one I find most interesting. Howard was apparently living near the Pacolet River in the Tryon area when he met a young Cherokee boy, Skyuka, who had been bitten by a rattlesnake; he took him to his home and saved the boy’s life. The two became friends and in 1776 (five years after Tryon left office), when a group of Cherokees met at Round Mountain and planned an attack on the Block House near Tryon, Skyuka, with other members of his clan, warned Captain Thomas Howard, then commander of a group of American militia, of the impending attack. This information allowed Howard to win the battle.

The Thomas Howard who took part in the fight of 1776 is thought to be the Thomas Howard who married Nancy Gosnell. They lived in that part of Greenville County known as Dark Corner. The problem I have with this is that Thomas is believed to have been born in 1760, making him 16 years old in 1776. I don’t believe a 16 year old would have been a commanding officer in the militia with the rank of captain. When you also figure in the dates that Tryon served as governor, he would have been 11 years old in the last year of Tryon’s reign, provided we could find proof that Tryon sent a Howard on a scouting mission to that part of South Carolina.

It seems more likely the Thomas Howard who befriended Skyuka was perhaps the father of the Thomas who married Nancy Gosnell. He was likely born by 1740 and possibly even earlier. It would be interesting to see if a DNA test of the descendents of this Howard could give us any clues to their ancestry.

I came across some notes from Janice about kit# 16385 for William Buckhannon Howard a match for Obediah, Seth and Edward Howard of NC:
Hi Karen, I recently had some luck in tracing some of the Howards in Bedford Co, TN. I have found a brother and a sister to John Wesley Howard. I never believed that he was an only child.

Hiram Howard (wife Kathryn) of the 1850 Bedford Co., census was in Williamson Co., TN in 1870 pg 245 household 108/114 with his wife, Elizabeth Rudd Howard (sister to John Wesley’s wife Nancy Ann Rudd).

In 1880 Hiram is in Tipton Co., TN ED 21 SD 154 with wife, Sarah Bosley Howard, This census states that Hiram’s father was born in SC and his mother was born in IRELAND! I knew that Hiram had married a Rudd but the third marriage was a surprise. No wonder I couldn’t find him, I was always passing over him because of the different wives. I had been searching in Ark, Tx and OK for Hiram. I recently was given some family data that stated that John Wesley had a brother named Hiram. I would have worked that angle harder if I had known that.

Elizabeth Howard was in Seth’s and Jane’s house in 1850 Bedford Co, TN. In 1860 she was with Jane in Dist # l Lynchburg, Lincoln Co., TN house 155. In 1880 she (as Betty) was a housekeeper for Wm. P. Hix and Mahala Hix. She was age 46, single and stated that her father was born in SC and her mother was born in IRELAND. I found this on Family Search. John Wesley named a daughter Betty.

Daniel “WD” Howard of 1850 Bedford Co., TN was in Sevier Co., ARK in 1860. Lost him after that. He had a son William B. (Buckhannan?) living near by. Maybe they were casulties of the Civil War. Too bad that he wasn’t in the 1880 census so I could see his parents birthplaces. John Wesley named a son Charles Daniel Howard.

In 1880 James H. and Hiram Howard, sons of Daniel (WD) Howard were in Pike Co., ARK I made a trip to the Amarillo Library but couldn’t add anything else to the above.

Anna Frith is a widow with two small children who is living in a small mountain village in England, when an infected bolt of cloth from London brings the plague. The local minister encourages villagers to isolate themselves so as to keep the plague contained.

The is the story of what transpired in The Year of Wonders, during a time of unbelievable anguish as whole families were wiped out, of burying the dead, having sermons in a field so parishioners would not need to be too close to one another, of courage and cowardice and greed; as seen through the eyes of Anna.

The inspiration for this book came when Geraldine Brooks visited Eyam, Derbyshire, England where in 1666 the villagers quarantined themselves with the plague. It left her with questions, as her book did with me: What if this were to happen in this day and age with something so deadly…how would we handle it, especially if, like Anna, we do not know the cause of it even as it is staring us in the face? Check out this book at Karen’s Store.

Some of the first historical fiction I read was poorly researched and I had not been inclined to read many more. But, as my own time to start writing came, I knew I needed to read a vast array of period fiction in order to write the book I know but cannot yet ‘see’.

The books that have caught my attention are those that bring the period to life, and those are the books I would like to introduce to my readers.

While I am primarily interested in books about colonial period America and England, I have found several novels of England and France from an earlier period that I have also enjoyed.

I am an avid fan of mysteries and enjoy most of the best selling authors but I tend to miss some of the good books that do not make the best-seller list. I grew tired of spending my money on a book I could not “get into.”

If you know of a “good read” in either of these categories, please write and tell us about it.

Lawhead’s research of the “Robin Hood” tales led him to believe they originated in Wales, in the vast forests known as the March; and the story he weaves from his research is full of period imagery, language and old tales.

This excellent, can’t put down novel introduces us to Bran ap Brychan, who loses his father and his heritage when the Ffreinc, having already defeated England, decide to make Wales a part of their empire as well. This is the first of the King Raven Trilogy and follows Bran as he struggles to regain his kingdom.
Check out this book at Karen’s Store.

I have been reading several books on historical fiction recently, trying to pick up as much social history and language for the time period as I can. I have not read much about Catherine de Medici, so I cannot tell how accurate the writing is, but I was fascinated by this portrayal of her: her secret viewing spots, her spies, her relationships with her children, the Guises and their niece and her daughter-in-law, Mary Queen of France (later Mary Queen of Scots).

They are seen through the eyes of a seamstress who, with her sister and grandmother, are famous for their silk. They have come to the castle to work on gowns for one of Catherine’s daughters. It is a “lite” tale of intrigue and romance with interesting historical aspects. Check this book out at Karen’s Store.