Thomas M. HOWELL, a worthy representative of the grand army of veterans
who fought
so nobly for the honor of the Old Flag during the late war, cotnes of
the sturdy pioneer stock that settled Johnson County. He is a native of
its soil, and is identified with the industrious, thrifty farmers who
are conducting its agriculture, his farm and home being pleasantly
situated on the southeast quarter of section 9, Grantsburg Township.
This farm, which his father hewed out from the forests, is also his
birthplace.
Our subject is a son of A. D. HOWELL, who was born and
brought up on a Kentucky farm. When the grandfather of our subject was
an elderly man he decided to settle upon the rich river bottoms of
Missouri, and started for his destination with teams, accompanied by
his wife, six sons and three daughters. On the journey lie was taken
sick and died, which was a severe blow to the familv, who scarcely knew
what to do. The trip to Missouri was abandoned, and they decided to
settle in southern Illinois, near where they were stopping. The boys
entered land, and the father of our subject thus secured eighty acres.
He built a typical pioneer log cabin, and shortly after being married
to Miss Dulcina POOR, took possession of that humble abode with his
bride. They were without money with which to begin their new life, but
they were full of courage and hope, and
worked well together in the upbuilding of a home. The land, being
heavily covered with a forest growth, had to be cleared and most of
the timber burned. Mr. HOWELL made good headway against the
difficulties that beset his pathway, placed his land under good
cultivation, built a better house, and just had things arranged more
comfortably and was ready to enjoy life more at his ease, when death
called him hence. His wife survived him ten years and then passed away,
and was buried by his side in Grantsburg Cemetery, on the land that he
had bought, and where he had made a home. He and his wife had several
children, of whom five are living: Thomas M.; John W., who resides on a
part of the old homestead; James, a farmer in Grantsburg Township; S.
P., who also resides in Grantsburg Township; and Missouri, wife of
Louis WALKER. Pleasant and Sarah died on the old place.
Thomas M. HOWELL
was the second child born to his parents. He had to
work on his father's farm when a boy and had but very little
opportunity to go to school, not even enough to acquire the rudiments
of learning, and he did not learn to read until after he was nineteen
years old, while he was in the army. Although unlettered and poor, he
had a brave and loyal heart that beat with true patriotic love for his
country, and at the youthful age mentioned he volunteered to help fight
her battles when rebellion threatened the Union. His name was enrolled
as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Twentieth Illinois Infantry,
and he went with his regiment to Camp Butler, thence to Memphis, and
from there to Yicksburg, where he bore his part right gallantly in the
siege and conquest of that city, as well as in numerous other
engagements with the enemy while at the front. After the affair at
Guntown Mr. HOWELL was taken violently sick from being over-heated, and
was sent to the soldiers' home at Memphis to convalesce. He had good
care, or otherwise his long illness of twelve months might have
resulted differently. He received his discharge papers nearly a month
before the rest of his regiment, and left the army after three long and weary
years of hard service.
Our subject returned home after his discharge, intending to
re-enlist, but sickness in the family made it necessary to
abandon all thoughts of taking up a soldier's life again, as his duty
seemed to demand his presence here. He took up his labors on the old
homestead once more, and lived upon it until his marriage with Miss
Mollie HENDERSON, a native of North Carolina, who came here when she
was twelve years old with her mother and two uncles. Her union with our
subject has been blessed to them by the birth of seven children,
namely: Cora, wife of James THOMAS, of Grantsburg Township; Ida,
Rosella, Stella, Frank, Fleety, and Augusta, who died in infancy.
After his marriage our subject took his bride to live in a house that
he had built on a tract of sixty acres of land that his father had
given him. Seven years later he bought one hundred and thirty-three
acres of laud, partly improved, a mile and a-half north of his other
place, and after living on that thirteen years purchased sixty acres of
the land originally entered by his grandfather, and he is now
successfully engaged in its cultivation and in raising a good class of
stock. Here he and his family have a cozy, hospitable home, and he and
his good wife live in the enjoyment of the esteem due to their worth.
transcribed by Nan Starjak
Source:
The Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope and Hardin
Counties
Chicago
Biographical Publishing Co., 1893
pp. 221-222
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