Amy,
I have been, in a sporadic fashion, researching the
Howell family for many, many years and have recently read with interest several of your posts related to
Duke Howell and
Elijah Howell in
Knox Co. TN.
I can tell you a great deal about the WA/ID
Howell family as I am part of that family. Henry
Howell (Duke's son) is my great-great-grandfather. I have learned a great deal about him over the years and the information you posted seems essentially correct. I once found an article about Henry
Howell at this link:
http://www.usroots.com/~idhistry/latah/howellh.html. The link seems now to be dead, however, but I have pasted the text below. The information there is consistent with family stories as well as with Henry's military records that I once retrieved from government archives.
Henry's son Charles was my great-grandfather; Charles' son Hugh was my grandfather, Hugh's son Arthur is my father.
I have for the last few years (again, sporadically) attempted to learn more about
Duke Howell of
Knox Co. TN -- including the rumor in my family about Native American (possibly Cherokee) ancestry -- but could not find much more than census records and marriage records until I read your posts in the last few days and became aware of a possible connection to
Elijah Howell of
Buckingham Co. VA. What I have read seems circumstantial but compelling.
I would enjoy learning more about your research around duke and
Elijah as you strike me as experienced and connected in genealogical circles. In return, I would be very glad to share with you what I know about the WA/ID
Howells. I would need time to gather and organize my notes, however, as some of them are literally more than 20 years old.
Best Regards,
Martin
HowellLynnwood, WA
mmhowell@hotmail.com-------------------------------------------------------
HENRY
HowellAN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NORTH
IDAHO EMBRACING
NEZ PERCES,
IDAHO, LATAH, KOOTENAI, AND SHOSHONE COUNTIES
STATE OF
IDAHOWESTERN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1903
We are grateful to the kind assistance of the Ilo-Vollmer Historical Society and in particular, Dick Southern and Shelley Kuther, for scanning and editing of the biographies contained in this volume of history.
HENRY
Howell. The subject of this article is one of the doughty pioneers and intrepid frontiersmen who beat back the savages and gave this country to the redemption of civilization, being also himself one who has wrought for its progress and development with wise and vigorous labors. He resides five miles southeast from Farmington, where he has a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres of good land, well improved. Mr. Howell was born in East
Tennessee in 1842, the son of
Duke and Margaret (
Loomis)
Howell. The father was a tailor and native of
New York, while the mother was born near Knoxville,
Tennessee and her parents were Henry and
Lizzie Loomis. The other children of their family were Samuel, in Tennessee; Sarah, wife of William Owens; Harriett, wife of Alex Carnes; Nancy, all in
Tennessee.
Our subject remained in his native state until thirteen, when he enlisted in the regular army and was sent across the plains into Nevada, then to
Fort Craig, New Mexico, where two years were spent. The next move was to
Fort Thorn on the Rio Grande River, whence he went to
Fort Tehone,
California, and then to
Walla Walla,
Washington, and was discharged one year after his arrival. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in Company F, First
Oregon Infantry, and served until the 20th of July 1866. He was engaged in fighting the
Nez Perces and Coeur d’Alene Indians. Following this service, he started for
Tennessee but stopped at Portland and returned to The Dalles, whence he went to
Vancouver and thence to Linn County,
Oregon. He worked out there and then bought land and farmed until 1882, when he sold and came to
Latah County. He took a homestead and lived on it for twelve years and then bought his present place, which has been the family home since that time.
On September 18, 1875, Mr. Howell married Miss Margaret, daughter of Jackson and Elizabeth (
Whitten) Queener, and to them have been born seven children, Elizabeth, deceased; Mary, in British Columbia; Anna, in British Columbia; William, in British Columbia; Charles, at home; Eva, wife of Clay Noble, living near Tekoa; Clabe, at home. Mr. Queener was born in
Tennessee in 1814, and his wife was born in the same state in 1818, and her parents were
Elijah and Sarah (Stover)
Whitten. Mrs. Howell has brothers and sisters named as follows, Albert, deceased; Martha, wife of Joseph Hill, in
Nez Perces County; Mary, deceased; Hulda, wife of Benton Hill, at Kendrick; James, at St. Manes; William, in Oregon; George, also in Oregon; Sarah, wife of John Morris, in Oregon; Claburn, in Oregon; Bell, wife of Charles Caldwell, in
Latah County. Mr. Howell is a member of the G. A. R. and his wife is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. It is of note that Mr. Howell was with General Wright and helped in the execution of fifteen Indians, ten miles from Spokane,
Washington, on a creek that is named Hangman Creek from that occurrence. In the battle before this there had been killed about fifteen hundred ponies and twenty-one Indians.