My Genealogy Hound

Julius Franklin Howell, A. M., instructor in pedagogics, Arkansas Industrial University, was born in Nansemond County, Va., January 17, 1846. His early life was spent on a farm and in private schools; later he attended the Reynolds Collegeiate Institute, where he took a full classical and mathematical course. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army, detached service and in 1864 he became a member of Company K, Twenty-fourth Virginia Cavalry, being in active duty until the close of the war. During one of the minor engagements about Richmond, Va., he was slightly wounded in the right leg. After the war Mr. Howell spent another year in school, after which he began teaching, following this profession for two years in Virginia and three years in North Carolina. In 1870 he married Miss Ida C. Hinton, who is a native of North Carolina, born January 12, 1851, and who is a graduate of Murfreesboro Female College, North Carolina. In 1873 Mr. and Mrs. Howell moved to Austin, Ark., where Mr. Howell taught school for five years. He then taught four years at Lonoke, a year at Arkadelphia, two years at Morrilton, and in 1885 he became connected with the A. I. U. When quite a young teacher he felt the need of improved methods in education, and having purchased Page’s Theory and Practice of Teaching, Wickersham’s School Economy, and several other such works, he applied himself to the study of pedagogics, then comparatively a new science in the Southern States. In later years he spent a short time at the Illinois Normal University, where he caught the inspiration which afterward enabled him to secure his present position. He acknowledges his indebtedness, also, to the Cook County (Ill.) Normal School, where he spent a short but very profitable term. He is Democratic in his political views, is a member of the K. of H., and he and Mrs. Howell are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. They are the parents of seven children: Finley, Hinton, Willey, Carrie, Edward, Elmo and Barnes. Edward Howell, father of Prof. Howell, was born in Virginia; was a Baptist minister and a farmer. In 1818 he was married in his native State to Miss Sallie Barnes, who was also a native of Virginia. They were the parents of sixteen children, seven sons and nine daughters, their son Julius being the only professional man among them. Edward Howell was a Democrat in politics, and died in his native State, where he had passed his life, at the age of eighty-three. The mother died at the age of forty-five. Grandfather Howell was a native of England, and immigrated to Norfolk, Va., about 1730.