CHARLES HOWELL, retired farmer, Sec. 22; P. O. Havana; was born in Lycoming Co., Penn., Feb. 18, 1808, and is a son of Nathan and Ann (Riehart) Howell, both natives of Pennsylvania; when about 17 years of age, Mr. Howell went to Columbia Co., Penn., where he learned the trade of wheelwright and chair maker; he subsequently learned the carriage trade in New York, where he resided about four years; in 1830, he engaged in the chair and cabinet business at Horscheads, N. Y., but sold out about a year later and returned to Pennsylvania, where, for about two years, he was engaged with Mr. Richart in manufacturing carriages and sleighs; he subsequently engaged in chair and cabinet work at McEwensville, Penn.. on his own account; in December, 1836, he went to Jackson, La., where he was employed in a carriage shop for a short time, and then went to Port Hudson, that State, where he helped to build a blacksmith shop and depot for the Port Hudson & Clinton Railroad Company; the following spring, he built a bridge 356 feet in length for the railroad company, which is still called the Howell bridge; in the latter part of June of that year, he went to New Orleans and purchased some articles of merchandise which he brought to Alton, Ill., and sold; after disposing of his goods, he came up the Illinois River and stopped at Havana, and. in July, 1837, entered land four miles east of the present city of Havana; he sold to Reuben Henninger in 1842, and, with Messrs. Jones & Pollard, purchased the mill site (now owned by Mr. McHarry); they built a saw mill on the north side of the Quiver in 1842; in 1845, sold the site to Mr. McHarry, who built a grist mill on the south side; in 1843, Mr. Howell went to Matanzas and engaged in mercantile business, and the following year went to Bath, where he remained a few months and then returned to the Quiver, where he sold goods some four or five years; in 1849, he went to California via overland route (Sublett's Cut-off north of the Salt Lake route), reaching Sacramento, then a city of tentspalin, in October of that year; here he engaged in manufacturing rockers used in mining; in August, 1850, he returned to the States by way of the Isthmus, and, in the spring of 1859, made his second trip to the Pacific Coast by way of Virginia City, then just springing into existence; he returned to Mason Co. the following November. He was married, Jan. 16,1834, to Miss Elizabeth Long, who was born in Columbia Co., Penn.; by this union there were ten children, six of whom are living:  Mary (widow of J. L. Yates), Sallie M. (widow of Mr. Ballzell), Martha A. (wife of Mr. Hodge), Oscar, Charles L. and Emma J. (wife of Walter L. Coon); the following are deceased: Franklin, Orpha, Catharine O. and Anson W. Mr. Howell has resided in Mason Co. since 1837, a period of forty-two years, with the exception of his absence in California and a residence in Kansas of a few years.



Maintained by Mason County Coordinator Donna Mayer