BARTLEY FARR HOWELL
Page 662
BARTLEY FARR HOWELL
Page 662
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BARTLEY FARR HOWELL. Mason County is the home of a goodly number of men who have put forth such industrious and well directed efforts that they have been enabled to retire from the toil and cares of life, and are now spending their time in ease and enjoyment. Among this number is the gentleman above named, who occupies a fine home in Havana. Our subject is a native of Pennsylvania and was born April 29, 1828, in Lycoming County. His father, Nathan Howell, was likewise born in the Keystone State, and came to Mason County in 1840, where he was engaged in farming until his decease ten years later. He in turn was the son of William Howell, an old Revolutionary soldier. He followed the occupation of a farmer. The mother of our subject, prior to her marriage, was known as Ann Richards. She was born in New Jersey and was the daughter of William Richards, who also fought as a soldier in the Revolutionary War and participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and Lundy's Lane. Bartley F. was a lad of twelve years at the time of his parents' removal to Mason County, and located with them on farm near Havana when that now thickly populated district contained but five or six families. He remembers the old block house in which the women and children were placed for safety when the male portion of the inhabitants were engaged in fighting the Indians. Like all farmer lads he assisted his father in improving and cultivating the land of their new home, and in the winter season prosecuted his studies in the district school. During the early settlement of our subject's parents in this county the pioneers were compelled to go a distance of thirty miles to have their grain ground into bread stuffs, and the first bushel of grain which was made into flour in the old Quiver Creek Mill was carried there by our subject. He, a few years later, assisted in clearing the brush from the present site of the court house in Havana, and aided in the erection of the first schoolhouse in that then hamlet, which was built of clapboards, with furnishing of a most primitive style. Mr. Howell began his chosen career as a farmer in an early day, and has been very successful as an agriculturist, and now owns a valuable estate comprising two hundred and fifty-five acres in this county, besides three hundred and twenty acres of cultivated land in Labette County, Kan. His property in this county contains all the modern improvements, and besides the large and substantial barns on the place, is embellished with a handsome residence, which was erected at cost of $6,000. In his political relations Mr. Howell is a stanch Democrat, and has always taken an active part in public affairs, being especially interested in the progress of schools, and has rendered efficient service as a member of the Board for several years. The lady whom he married in 1849 was Miss Amanda, daughter of Reuben Henninger, an early settler of Mason County, Their union has been productive of five children, of whom John Wesley is living in Kansas; Mary M. if the wife of Richard Quick, of Chariton County, Mo.; Susan Ella married George Hurley, a resident of this county; Lavinia Isabel is now Mrs. Charles Walker, of Pueblo, Colo., and Charles Clark is a farmer in this county. Mr. Howell and his wife move in the best circles of society in Havana, where they have a beautiful and comfortable house. |