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.

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 have always wondered how Benjamin Howard and Prudence Sater met, especially since Prudence Sater’s mother is suposed to have married a John Howard, which is the last information I have been able to find on her. Was she allowed to raise her children or were they placed under the care of someone else? Who was John Howard? Did he have any children, brothers, sisters, parents in the area. Where did they live? It is claimed that Benjamin Howard was born on Long Island, but there has been no indication of where this was; New York? Scotland? Long Island of Holston, VA? Of North Carolina? It was at one time thought he was a descendent of Mathew Howard of VA/MD because of a connection to Thomas Arundel Howard, and yes, there was a connection; but that left the question of who Thomas Arundel Howard was…not a descendent of Mathew Arundel and Margaret Howard, though they were cousins. I am writing a book, but I have not been able to place the parents, etc of Benjamin Howard, which would clear up some questions which badly need answering.

It is said that Benjamin Howard went back to his ancestral home and found a deed for 4000 acres. I have also read that this deed was in the possession of the Walker family which later married into Benjamin’s family. It could be true that the Walker’s had the deed, because there was a Walker in a prominant position with the ancestral Howard. There is more than a hundred years between the time the deed was written and Benjamin’s birth, and another 40-60 years before it was used to get a land grant in Tennessee. Where was the deed in all that time?

I would love to hear from anyone who has any information on this family.