My Genealogy Hound

John R. Howell, one of Lonoke County’s prominent mill men and farmers, first saw the light of day in Madison County, Tenn., September 8, 1841. His father, Dred Howell, was born in North Carolina in 1814, and there received his education, marrying Jeanette Smith, who bore a family of five children. In November, 1859, he moved to Lonoke County, Ark., settling on a farm. The son, John R., was educated in Tennessee, coming to Arkansas with his father. Here he married on December 24, 1865, Rebecca J. Dickerson, daughter of Lawrence and Barthems Dickerson. The fruits of this marriage have been eight children: Fannie, Ada, Emmett A., Minnie, Bertie, John and Jeanette, the second child dying in infancy. Mr. Howell is quite an extensive farmer and mill man, owning about 200 acres of good land, with sixty acres under cultivation. He has been a member of the Wheel, and has served his township as school director. He was in the Confederate army during the war, enlisting in 1861 under Gen. Churchill, and his first engagement was at Richmond, Ky. He was with his regiment when it surrendered in 1865, and in January of the same year he received a furlough, after which he came home and began farming, not rejoining the army. His wife is a devoted member of the Baptist Church.