Research Howell/Hobbs
By – Don Taylor
Bio – James Dallas Howell (1879-1964)
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| James Dallas Howell Courtesy: Debby Ziegler via Flikr |
| First Baptist Church of Davis (Today) |
Footnotes:
Research Howell/Hobbs
By – Don Taylor
Bio – James Dallas Howell (1879-1964)
![]() |
| James Dallas Howell Courtesy: Debby Ziegler via Flikr |
| First Baptist Church of Davis (Today) |
Footnotes:
There are occasions when you find something totally awesome regarding an ancestor.
I use a simple name and date of birth search often on several sites, one of them is Archive.Org, a great site for many reasons. Well, a search for “Peter Howell 1805” yielded a book, The Life and Travels of Peter Howell. OMG – Could it be? Sure enough, I had found a book about and by Peter Howell, my wife’s ancestor. I used the PDF version on Archive.Org to glean lots of information about Peter’s life; I downloaded the Kindle version for my wife so she could read about him in his words. I also found that there were two print versions available through Amazon. I bought one of each of the versions as gifts. I learned that not all reprints are the same. One of the reprints was good, the other unacceptable. I wrote about my experience with the two versions in a review on Amazon.Com. Probably one of the greatest finds in the book was a drawing/illustration of Peter, so we can see what he looked like. A copy of his portrait now adorns our living room “Ancestor Wall.”
Sadly, his “life and travels” never mentions his parent’s names. It does mention a sister, but never her name either. The book did give new information about exactly where he lived and when, as well as new information about his children, one of whom we had never heard of before.
Sometimes a simple search on the right website can yield the most amazing finds. Archive.Org is one of those must search sites that you should include if you don’t already do so.
Peter was born 15 Jul 1805 in Charlotte County, Virginia.
In 1807, his family moved to Buckingham County, Virginia. When he was only 12 years old, his father died. His mother remarried sometime between 1819 and 1820. Also about 1819, his half sister (name unknown) married a man named Holman. About 1821, Peter apprenticed himself to Mr. Holman to learn carpentry. Which he did for about 3-1/2 years. He relocated with Mr. Holman and his half-sister to Alabama, “not far from the Tennessee River.” By 1827, Peter returned to Buckingham County and was living with his mother and her new husband near Farmville (Prince Edward County).
On June 11th, 1829 Peter married Caroline M. A Pankey in Cumberland County.
The 1830 census finds the young couple living in Cumberland County. Also, about 1830 their first child, a daughter, Louisiana was born. In 1832, they lived back in Buckingham County near Willis Mountain. They had two more children in the 1830’s, Phillip C in 1833 and Elizabeth in 1836. In 1937, they appear to have been living on his brother’s (Gideon) land at “Deep Bottom.”

Parker’s Meeting House Source: Sally’s Family Place
The 1840’s census finds the family in the Northern District of Buckingham County, Virginia. In 1842 another son, (great-grandfather) Peter Fletcher Howell was born. We know that Peter had business at the Buckingham County courthouse several times in the 1840s. In 1845 another son, Lorenzo Dibrell Howell was born. During the 1840s, Peter started preaching regularly, walking everywhere in the area. He preached in long circuits going from town to town and ranging far and wide. That period of his life is the subject of his book. In January of 1846, he relocated his family to Murfreesboro, North Carolina about a mile from Parker’s Meeting House.
In 1848, Peter moved to Halifax, North Carolina. In the ensuing years, he became the minister of a church there.
Peter is in the 1860 census but not in the 1870 census, so I believe he died sometime in that decade. I have been unable to located death or burial information regarding Peter.
Investigate all Howells in Charlotte County in 1800 looking for Peter’s father.
Investigate all Howells in Buckingham County in 1810 looking for Peter’s father.
Investigate Peter’s siblings’ lives.
Determine church Peter became minister of in Halifax.
[Note: Formatting updated and #32 in List of Greats added on 12 Jul 2017.]
“Search the Internet”
“Order via Interlibrary Loan”
“Visit the Library”
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| Martin County Courthouse abt 1885 Courtesy www.carolana.com |
It is just plain fun to research some ancestors. I found that my wife’s great-grandfather Rufus was such an individual. Family legend said Rufus Harry Darling was a riverboat gambler and something of a cad, so researching him would be interesting.
It doesn’t appear that Rufus was around much. None of the surviving photos of Anna (who changed her name from Hannah to Anna when she married Rufus so she could sign things “A. Darling”) include Rufus. In addition, the 1910 Census indicates that Rufus is at the Curtis Hotel, 10th & Broadway, Kansas City, while his wife and children were roomers in a house in Pittsburgh.
Rufus was born on 30 June 1857 to Rufus Holton Darling and Elizabeth Jane Swayze in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the fifth child of Rufus and the sixth child of Elizabeth.[i] His father was a prominent businessman and one of the early settlers in Kalamazoo. His mother had a child from a previous marriage, was widowed and remarried.
Before Rufus was born, one of his sisters, Eva, had died and another was disabled. Less than a month after his birth, his father died of consumption. His mother never remarried, and it appears that he did not have much of a father figure in his life.
He entered the “First Division” (First Grade) of the Kalamazoo public schools in the 1863/64 school year and lived in the family home at the northwest corner of Cedar and Rose Streets. It must have been a large house and had several entrances, because the residence’s address changes between Cedar and Rose quite frequently. The house no longer exists.
In 1870, Rufus was 13 years old, was attending school, and
living with his mother and sister Emily. Rufus continued in school until at
least 1876 when he was not only a student but also worked as a clerk.
His father had the contract to build the Michigan Central Railway from Michigan City to Grass Lake in 1845 and later worked as an abstract clerk for the Michigan Central Railroad (MCRR). We know that in 1880, Rufus Harry was living in the house at 42 Rose Street and working as a clerk, but we do not know where. In addition, in 1880, Rufus was “away” during the census taking. We do know that in 1887, young Rufus was working as an abstract clerk for the MCRR, as his father did thirty years earlier, and was living at 207 N. Edwards Street (which is probably the parking lot of the current Kalamazoo Beer Exchange).
In June of 1889, Rufus married. We do not know her name, nor do we know if they had any children. In any event, for the next few years Rufus bounced between Kalamazoo, Chicago, and Kansas City. Back in the late 1800’s,
there were sometimes floating poker games that were on the trains. This may have been where he started the gambling practice. In 1894, Rufus resigned his position with the MCRR and “went to Texas.” I haven’t found anything that places him in Texas during those years, but he does seem to bounce between Kalamazoo and Kansas City.
In 1898 his wife died, and the 1900 census finds him alone in
Kansas City. Sometime between 1900 and 1905, Rufus met the young Hannah McAllister. I say “young Hannah” because she was 27 years younger than Rufus. Family legend says they met down on the docks in Pittsburgh. Young Hannah had a daughter, Elizabeth, by Rufus in March of 1906. She quickly became pregnant again, and in February of 1907 the two married in Kittanning, Pennsylvania (about 40 miles up the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh).[ii] In August of 1907, their second child, Robert Harry, was born. It is interesting to note that there was a family legend that Elizabeth had been born on the “wrong side of the sheets” (out of wedlock), an assertion that Elizabeth refuted. It appears that Elizabeth even doctored a copy of the marriage certificate to show that Harry and Hannah married in 1905 rather than 1907, as the state’s copy indicates.
Anna (Hannah) died in 1913, leaving the children to be raised by her mother. Rufus died on June 8, 1917, and was buried at the Mountain Home Cemetery in Kalamazoo. [iii]
In my research, I found nothing to refute the family legend that Rufus was a gambler and a cad, and it certainly appears he had a colorful and interesting life.
[i] Michigan, Dept of Public Health, Death Certificate, Rufus H. Darling – Death June 5, 1917. https://seekingmichigan.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p129401coll7/id/123256.; Seeking Michigan.
[ii] Pennsylvania County Marriages, 1885 – 1950, FamilySearch.org, Rufus Darling & Anna McAllister.
[iii] Find a Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3075414.
Sometimes it is necessary to go back to the drawing board.
My records on my 2nd great-grandparents are abysmal. I have a couple documents. One is a paragraph titled, “Family History” and in the corner is written “oral history.”
Of course, it doesn’t have anything about who said it or when. It is fairly old, it might go back to the 1970s, probably the 1980’s, although I’m not sure. The second document
is is a copy of a sheet titled “Family History Carter County – KY. “
It is more of a chart than prose about the family. I don’t know where it came from either but I think it probably came from about the same time. Maybe it will become evident when I go back though all of the resources that I have on Joe (John) Mannin, his wife Eliza
Jane Fannin, and the rest of the Mannin clan.
“Joe (John) Mannin (one-half Cherokee) & Eliza Jane Fannin Parents of Phebe Mannin (Brown) (Richmond) (Upton). Charlie Mannin brother of Joe fought opposite of Joe in the Civil war, Joe Conferate [sic] & Charlie Union. Joe Mannin’s parents were Enoch Mannin & Minerva Tolliver (full Cherokee). Nancy Ann Mannin (Joe’s sister) married Jesse Monroe Barnett. Jesse’s son Enoch married Elizabeth Warner & are Zachariah Barnett’s parents. Zackariah married Estella (Brown) Barnett. Jesse Monroe
Barnett was a drummer boy in the civil war & run alongside Lincoln’s horse at Gettysburg & played his drum. Mary Jones was Joe Mannin’s sister and raised Phebe Mannin from a baby as her mother died when she was born.
(Enoch Barnett disappeared when Zachariah was 15, we went to northern Minnesota
to work in the logging camps & never came home.)”
[Note: I’ve added punctuation where appropriate.]
There are a number of bits of information in this document that I am sure are not true. Once you find one certain error the rest become questionable. We know that Joe (John) William Mannin, the son of Enoch Mannin, fought for the Union.
The National Archives has a wonderful record that I found through Fold 3 [i] that is John William Mannin’s Volunteer Enlistment. What is really great about the document is that John was only 17 years old when he enlisted and his father, Enoch, gave his consent. The names, places, and dates are all spot on. Enoch also enlisted on the same date.
Similarly, this record states that his mother Minerva was full Cherokee. As descendants of hers, I would expect my mother to have some portion of Native American blood. All things being equal I would expect my mother to be about 1/16th (6.5%)Native American. An autosomal DNA Test from 23 & Me
indicated that that she is 99.8% European.
Now, I know that because of the “stickiness” of DNA through the
generations it is fairly possible that the Native American segments were
lost. However, none of the cousins (descended from Minerva) I have been in contact with that have had DNA testing with have any Native American either. Because of this, I find that Minerva being full Cherokee as being native unlikely. Additionally, Minerva is never reported in any of the Census reports as being “Indian.” Finally, I have not been able to find a Charlie Mannin as a brother of Joe in any of the census reports or other
documents. Possibly “Charlie” was a cousin or other relative and was considered like “a brother.”
Much of the other material is accurate, but because I know several of the “facts” are incorrect, I am loathe to accept any of it.
The other document I have regarding “Family History Carter County – KY” is easy to read. It says:
Carter County – KY
(Joe) John W. Mannin (1/2 Cherokee) Aunt Mary Brown, Eliza Jane Fannin Phebe Jane Uptons Parents sold their land to Charlie Mannin brother of John after Civil War. They fought on opposite sides
according to Victoria Brown’s letter to Lila Cole. (John for South)
Enoch Mannin – John (Joe’s) father } Phebe Uptons
Minerva Tolliver – Full Cherokee } Grandparents
Nancy Ann Mannin Barnett – Sister to (Joe) John – Phebe’s Father
Married Jesse Monroe Burnett (Drummer boy for North in Civil War)
Elizabeth Warner Barnett (Her mother was a Horn) Father Zachariah Warner
Married
Enoch Mannin
Barnett – Jessie Monroe’s son
Nancy Ann’s son
Aunt Mary & Tommy
Jones Raised Phebe from a small baby as her mother died at her birth
Aunt Mary Jones
later married George Gates
Aunt Mary Jones
and John (Joe) Mannin (Phebe’s father)
were Brother & sister.
Bio Eliza Jane Fannin
She was born about 1861 in
Kentucky.[ii]
She married John Mannin probably
about 1875,
She had two children, Mary
Elizabeth was born in 1876, although it could have been 1877.
In 1880 she lived in Pine Grove, Rowan
County, Kentucky with her husband and daughter Mary.[iii] [Note: Rowan and Carter counties adjoin.]
She died December 1881 or December
1882, probably in Carter County Kentucky, giving birth to her second child
Phebe.
Mary Elizabeth Manning
Eliza Jane Fannin