John Howell 's Genealogue

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Albert Sidney Howell's files

Howell <-> Howell

Imagine my delight last week when the postman delivered a box full of family history documents sent by Jim Brittain, Jr.. The box contained a lifetime of documents and notes from Albert Sidney Howell, Jr.'s (1898-1981) research on our family!

I am just beginning to sort through the documents but wanted to share some of my findings thus far.

The collection contains some original legal documents from the early to mid 1800's that are quite interesting - they are on old paper of varying textures and odd sizes and are hand-written, often containing the original signatures of our relatives. These documents also serve as primary evidence to support our research. Here are the discoveries so far:

ORIGINAL DEEDS, INDENTURES, & COURT DOCUMENTS

1. Deed to McKinney Howell 19 October 1818 - Original handwritten Deed from John Cain to McKinney Howell for 150 acres in Hanckock County, Georgia. Witnessed by Joseph Howell. The deed is on one 12" x 14" piece of paper and contains a rather home made red seal in the bottom right. Although I don't yet know who John Cain is, it is worth noting that Issac Cain married Elizabeth Johnson, who was McKinney Howell's sister-in-law.

2. Deed to McKinney Howell for 100 acres in Hanckock County Georgia from J? Veazey. Dated 19 March 1821. Original handwritten document fell apart at the folds into 6 pieces.

3. Deed to Joseph Howell, 19 December 1830 - Original handwritten Deed from A. R. Ransone(?) to Joseph Howell for 132 acres in Taliaferro County, Georgia. Witnessed by Silas M. Johnson and S. Johnson J.P.

4. Deed to Samuel A. Howell, 3 November 1857 - Original handwritten Deed from William Veazey & Ezekiel Veazey to Samuel A. Howell conveying 429 acres in Taliaferro County, Georgia. "adjoining lands of I. Moore, Wm. Johnson, Jas. Reynolds and others lying waters of the Ogeechee river."

5. McKinney Howell estate Dismissory Letter, attesting that Samuel A. Howell completed his duties as Administrator de bonis of McKinney Howell's estate on 2 April 1860. Original document, Greene County, Georgia, signed 5 November, 1860 by Eugenius L. King. Red wax seal in lower left.

6. Deed to McKinney Howell from Zachariah Lamar(?)/Lawson(?) for the purchase of approximately 380 acres, consisting of several parcels in District 12, Houston County, Georgia that include 180 acres parcel #254, 198 acres parcel #255, 3.5 acres parcel #269. Dated March, 1830. Original handwritten 3 page document on a single sheet of folded paper.

7. Deed to Samuel A. Howell for 225 acres of land from the estate of John J. Howell. "..in both the Counties of Greene and Taliaferro." Original three page, handwritten document, dated 7 November, 1858.

8. Deed to Samuel Armstrong Howell for 8.7 acres in Greene County, Georgia on 11 March 1861. Original one page handwritten document from E. F. Jarrell.

In addition the collection contains many letters, typed notes, and handwritten notes and charts. Here are some that I have found thus far:

LETTERS, TRANSCRIPTS & NOTES

1. Lundie W. Barlow's Howell file - Credit must go to Lundie Barlow (Howell <-> Barlow relationship) for working out the Howell ancestry from McKinney Howell back to Matthew Howell. This was no small feat, as it required many visits to the different institutions housing land, marriage, census and other records. We are all in Lundie's debt for this effort. The file's 19 pages contain abstracts from the source materials with the location of each source noted. There are sections for Cavanah / Cavenah, Johnson, and Howell. The file is now scanned into a single pdf that can be viewed here.

2. The Veazey Line connection to A.S. Howell. Begins with Ezekiel Veazey born 1759 and goes to Albert Sidney Howell's grandparents Margery Elizabeth Veazey who married William W. Moore. The Veazey name is also connected to our Howell branch as Elizabeth, the mother of Elmira McBride was at one time married to a Veazey. More research to do here to figure out the connection and hopefully sort out the marriages of Elizabeth McBride/Veazey/Rhodes.."

3. The Veazey Line starting with James Veazey.

4. Albert Sidney Howell letter to Florence Howell Pollard dated 25 March 1974. Mentions Abner Veazey, Clark Howell, Elizabeth Veazey, Leila Veazey, Elmina McBride.

5. Howell line Notes by Albert Sidney Howell, Jr. "Four Howell brothers came from North Carolina"; "From the family bible of Dr. and Mrs. Reddings"; "Note from L.L. Knight's Georgia Landmarks.." and more.

6. McKinney Howell will transcript by A.S. Howell.

7. Florence Howell Pollard's letter to Albert Sidney Howell, 23 March 1974. "..This writer is most grateful to those who kept track of the family records, otherwise there might not have been my own wealth of research. I began collecting records in 1930...."

In addition to the excitement of discovering new facts, it is always a relief to get original documents and photos scanned and available to all on the Internet. I can think of no better way to preserve our heritage.

Many thanks again to Jim Brittain for providing this great collection.