Early Pioneers

BENJAMIN F. HOWELL was born on September 8, 1808, in Georgia. He married Ellenor Stringfellow, who was born in 1810 in Mississippi, on June 5, 1829 and they had four children together. She died as a young mother in 1839, at the age of 29, and is buried in Semmes, Alabama.
Benjamin Franklin Howell then married Tamsom Williams in Mobile, Alabama, on April 11, 1844, when he was 35 years old, and they had 11 children together. He died on June 24, 1885, in Semmes, at the age of 76.

**According to Bureau of Land Management Records Benjamin purchased and homesteaded public lands. He purchased   40.9 acres -3/10/1843, and on 6/1/1845, 40.9 acres. Homestead Certificates were issued on 9/26/1877  for 159.9 acres and on 10/4/1898   for 70.36 acres.
 
THOMAS J. HOWELL was born on July 31, 1852, in Semmes, Alabama, his father, Benjamin, was 43 and his mother Tamson was 25. He had five siblings. He died on October 16, 1927 at the age of 75.  
Thomas married Rosalie Brown on March 2, 1879.  Rosalie was born on June 5, 1858, in Mobile, Alabama. They had seven children in 14 years. She died on February 18, 1897, in Semmes, Alabama, at the age of 38, and was buried there.
According to the Bureau of Land Management records, Thomas Jefferson Howell purchased and homesteaded public land.  He purchased 80 acres of public land on 6/1/1860, and on 7/12/1888- 39.97 acres.  A homestead certificate for 169.485 acres was issued on 3/10/1884 and a homestead certificate for 80.41 acres on 7/22/1889.

** The Land Act of 1820 was enacted April 24, 1820 as a United States federal law that permitted the purchase of public domain lands for cash.
**The Homestead Act  May 20, 1862 was a law passed by Congress in 1862 that granted 160 acres of federal land to any U.S. citizen. An individual was given ownership of the land for free if that person lived on the land for five years and improved the land by building a home and producing a crop.
 Thomas Jefferson Howell is on the left.  His father Benjamin Franklin Howell is on the Right. ​Photo furnished by Stephanie  Howell Austin, daughter of Harold Howell.

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