My Genealogy Hound

John W. Howell, justice of the peace and merchant, of Kenton, Tenn., was born in Gibson County, Tenn., September 10, 1841; son of Jethro, and grandson of Caleb Howell, a North Carolinian, who came with his family to Gibson County, Tenn., in 1825, and settled four miles southwest of Kenton. Jethro Howell was born in North Carolina in 1818, and was a farmer by occupation. He married Elizabeth Needham, who was born in Gibson County in 1824, daughter of Rev. John W. Needham (deceased) a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was the first sheriff of Gibson County. John W. Howell, our subject, is of Scotch-Irish descent, and was reared on a farm and educated in the country schools. From 1858 to 1861 he traded in stock, shipping to New Orleans, and at the latter date enlisted at Columbus, Ky., in Company H, Thirteenth Tennessee, but was discharged the same year on account of disability. In the spring of 1863 he re-enlisted in the Confederate Army in Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry under Forrest, and was afterward transferred to the Second Tennessee Cavalry, serving until the close of the war. He was paroled at Paducah, Ky., and from 1865 to 1869 was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He came to Kenton at the latter date where he has since been engaged in mercantile pursuits. He began keeping an apiary in 1874 and now has 140 colonies. He is a Democrat in politics and was elected justice of the peace in 1876 and re-elected in 1882. He was married in September, 1862, to Amanda C. Dozier, born in Gibson County, January 2, 1846, and their union was blessed with the following children: James W., Arthur M., John H. and Joseph M., living, and Malissa J., Adrian E., Ellen F., Adelia, Emma E., Edie B. and Alvin L., who are deceased. Mr. Howell is a Mason and Odd Fellow and he and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he being an elder in the same. He was ordained in 1865 and is the stated clerk of the Obion Presbytery. He is a leading citizen of Kenton and a representative man of Gibson County.