Edited by
Wally Howerton
Contributing Editors
Bryan R. Howerton
John F. Howerton
Volume 12, Issue 2 Summer 2008
FROM THE EDITOR
Greetings Cousins:
These days, the future of Howerton
Heritage is foremost on my mind. Producing the website is the easiest of any of
the tasks associated with Howerton Heritage. This is where my expertise lays. I
was fortunate to have been brought on by Bryan and John Howerton when they were
handling most requests by
My hat goes off to Bryan, John, Pam
Howerton Stone, and all the other true researchers who have the patience and
tenacity of a "junk yard dog." Howerton Heritage is a product of their
combined talents and search for the truth.
In recent months, John underwent heart
surgery which has left him very weak.
Presently, I have a full time job which I
spend 2 1/2 hours travelling to and from each day. I also own my own business, WV
Vet Tech, an internet web hosting and Development Company. I spend a lot of
after normal work hours time creating websites, etc. I just don't have the time
or the fortitude it takes to adequately do Howerton research and answer the
many requests that we receive.
I will keep the Howerton Heritage website
up for as long as I live or am able to. It may just contain the stories that
have been written during the last 12 years or so. I just don't see how we can
entertain requests with no new researchers coming on. Anyone willing to help
with the project would have to be preapproved by John and
So, if you have an interest and time to
spend, please email Bryan or John.
Please note the reunions coming up. Hunter
Howerton and I attended the
Wally
IN THIS ISSUE
Jeremiah Howerton Leaves Legacy in Texas
Appomattox, VA Howerton Cousins' Reunion
Grace Lee Howerton Stubblefield Obituary
Elizabeth
Sarah Howerton-Colbey-Lively
1825-1910
JEREMIAH HOWERTON
(1791-1851)
Leaves Legacy in Texas
by
Evyonne Andrews Eddins
Jeremiah loses his beloved wife, Lucinda “Lucy” Johnson in 1831 after selling their Rhea County, Tennessee property. The hardship of travels on the family of a Circuit Rider husband paid its toll on Lucy after giving birth to their seventh child, Azariah in 1831. Jeremiah continues his dedicated mission to help others. From Tennessee, through Kentucky, and into Missouri, he met and married Elizabeth Casteel on 11 Dec 1833 in Cooper County, Missouri. After his second marriage, he continued into Arkansas where he was officially ordained as a Methodist minister. See: Jeremiah Howerton – Circuit Rider by Bryan Howerton; Howerton Heritage; Vol. 7, Issue 1, winter 2003.
The dedication and stamina Jeremiah put into his outreach missionary work eventually led to his unfortunate demise. In their decision to come to Texas, Jeremiah and his extended families soon face new challenges, and suffered the loss of loved ones. Jeremiah, and two of his sons, Thomas Jefferson and Jeremiah Howerton, was buried in Texas soil by 1851.
Texas presented extreme conditions he and his families had never endured, let alone encountered. In 1849 or 1850, Jeremiah and his families migrated into the untamed, Republic of Texas frontier. His daughter, Elizabeth had married Anthony Samuel “Doc” Colbey on 21 April 1841 in Cooper Co., MO, and settled in Clarksville, Red River County (the Mother County of Texas), located on the Texas/Indian Territory border by 1842. After Doc Colbey’s death in 1853, she married Elbert B. Lively on 20 Aug 1854, remaining in Red River County.
The first encroachment into the North Central portion of Texas occurred as early as the spring of 1840 when Capt. Jonathan Bird and 20 three-month service of Texas Rangers from Lamar and Red River Counties were sent into the frontier by General Sam Houston. Their mission was to establish a fort, make the area safe for settlement, and guard the area from Indian attacks to the north and west. The fort was situated about 12 miles southeast of what would become the settlement of Birdville, located on the north bank of the Trinity River. General Houston, Indian commissioners and several early settlers and trappers signed and witnessed a treaty at Bird’s Fort in 1843, with the Chiefs of nine tribes; however the Comanche and Kiowa tribes did not abide with the treaty. Soon after 1843, the fort was abandoned. Settlements gravitated around a few home-stakes, water sources and trading posts. Settlers within the fort moved to an area later to become first residents of what became known as Birdville, Texas, named after Bird’s Fort.
Birdville, in 1840 had an estimated fifty people in town surrounded by scattered farms and ranches. The first Tarrant County Courthouse was a wood frame structure located in the vicinity of the present-day Haltom High School Coliseum, on an 80 acre tract, in 1851. A plat of the new town drawn the same year depicts 12 city blocks, including a public square. This area was located on a bluff overlooking Big Fossell Creek.
It was within the Birdville area where our Jeremiah Howerton, and sons built their log homes and set up their households. The proximity of their settling in Birdville was determined by their enumeration order within the 1850 Census to determine their neighbors, a study of the old surviving Tarrant County survey records, old maps, as well as pertinent physical geographic features mentioned of the area. Birdville, Texas later became Haltom Village. These little settlements pushed the new frontier westward.
The need for a military post was extremely evident due to more than frequent Indian attacks, especially from the Comanche and Kiowa tribes throughout the 1880s, especially in the counties of Tarrant, Johnson, Navarro and Ellis, with some continuing their raids into Central Texas.
The area abounded with large and small creeks feeding into the Trinity, rolling grasslands, with rich clayey and loamy soil, with portions consisting of shallow loamy and alternate layers of limestone and marl. Throughout the region were found blackjack oak, live oak, and hardwoods such American elm, pecan and box elders along the creeks and the Trinity River. Buffalo, deer, wolves, and other native wildlife freely roamed the area. The environment was ideal for camps of various Indian tribes as well as to the great liking of new settlers. The white man was now steadily encroaching in numbers.
In 1845, the Robertson District of Texas was the new frontier. Texas had now become the 18th State of the United States. Many came with thoughts the new State of Texas would be no harder to settle than what they had already experienced. The Texas Congress encouraged settlement within the area by offering large grants to companies such as the Peters Land Company, which eventually obtained the land that would become Tarrant County. Varied groups from Missouri, enticed by the Peters Colony, settled to the south of the present northern Tarrant County line in Grapevine, as mentioned earlier, another group located at Birdville on the banks of Big Fossell Creek, with a third settlement in the vicinity of present day Azle in 1846. In the late 1840s Middleton Tate Johnson founded Johnson’s Station thirteen miles southeast of the site of the present Tarrant County Courthouse, part of which later became Johnson County.
By 25 April 1846, Navarro County was formed within the Robertson District, and by 20 Dec 1849 Tarrant County was carved from Navarro County, with Birdville, being the geographic center of the new county, was established by the State of Texas as the County Seat. The Peters Colony offered wagons, building supplies, and food to persons of Missouri to settle within the North Texas area. The officials of the Peters Colony were extremely lax with their record keeping, with land applications being lost, land not being surveyed, revolt from settlers, conflict among settlers as to their land boundaries - - all a state of confusion and frustrations.
By 1849, Bvt. Riply Arnold chose a site at the confluence of the Clear Fork and West Fork of the Trinity River, naming it Camp Worth. Tarrant County, Texas was established, and was formally organized in August 1850 when the first elections were held. The population of the entire county had less than 600 whites (55 male Head of Households), and approx. 65 slaves. The area was ripe for a Methodist Minister to extend messages regarding the evils of slavery. Camp Worth later became known as Fort Worth, and was abandoned as a military post in 1850, with the settlers who had made their homes near the fort remaining.
Jeremiah’s son, Francis Marion, informs A. F. Leonard [clerk] “at home” that he will apply to the Chief Justice at the next term of the Probate Court for letters of administration of the estate of his father, Jeremiah Howerton, deceased. On 1 July 1851, the intent was filed within the Probate Court of Tarrant County.
After the military fort was abandoned, those who lived close by the former fort wanted the location to become known as Fort Worth, Texas, and for it to be the new county seat. The permanent court house in Birdville had not been constructed, because in a Nov. 1856, in that a highly contested special election was called. The group across the Trinity River hired about 15 men from Wise County to go to Birdville to steal the hidden keg of home-made brew Birdville had planned to be made available to the male voters (to wet their whistles) after a long dusty ride. The Wise County bunch was successful, and the brew was enjoyed in Fort Worth. The loss of the keg resulted in two shoot-out killings, fist fighting, and long-term resentment. Fort Worth won the county seat by a margin from three to thirteen votes (official? The count varied!). Jubilant Fort Worth citizens took the county records, equipment and furniture back to Fort Worth for deposit in their own temporary courthouse. All early Tarrant county records were later lost in a courthouse fire on March 19, 1876. (However, some partially torn records survive which were later discovered, and are in protective custody of the Tarrant County Historical Archives.
By 1849 or 1850 Jeremiah and relatives had “Gone To Texas”. It is known that his son, Jeremiah, Jr. was alive in 1848 – his two year old daughter, Lucy Ann, was shown with her widowed mother, Jane Miers Howerton within the 1850 census. Thomas Jefferson Howerton, Jeremiah’s second son, left his widowed wife, Jane Casteel Howerton to care for their five daughters, Dorthia (Dorothy) Ann E., Elvira R., Nancy C., Josephine, and Catherine - the youngest, Catherine, being born in 1849 in Arkansas. His sons, Francis Marion and Azariah were active within the area in the 1850s, both shown as Chainmen, helping to survey land within the county. Azariah also owned property within the county, and had re-located in California by 1860, married with a two year old daughter, Sarah A., who was born in Texas. Francis Marion died within the county in 1857 when the Probate of his estate occurred, leaving his widow, Didamy F. and eight year old daughter, Mary E.
The 1860 Census for Tarrant County, Texas was Lost. The land owner population of Tarrant County was reconstructed using the 1860 Tax Poll. No Howerton names appeared within the list. Elizabeth Howerton-Colby-Lively was the only known child of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Lucinda “Lucy” Johnson Howerton to remain in Texas where she died in 1910. Elizabeth and her family lived through all of the trials & tribulations the settlers endured throughout the development of the State. Her family witnessed and endured Indian Raids, the U.S. Army bringing in Camels to transport their supplies across the western desert area, the decision to secede from the Federal Union following a 171 to 6 vote by the Secession Convention, the abundance of longhorn cattle in south Texas and the return of Confederate soldiers to a poor reconstruction economy marked the beginning of the era of Texas trail drives to northern markets. Those living in the North Central portion of Texas gained tremendously, especially when the railroad came through the area. Large cattle and horse ranches were steadily being established. Some would ride South with men to drive large herds to the rail lines, taking a percentage of the sale. Others went south bringing back breeding stock to enlarge their own herds in North Central Texas. The building and completion of the State Capitol building in Austin, and the discovery of “black gold” at the Spindletop oil field were proud events for Texans. Texas was providing, its population was growing, and becoming very pro-active within their scattered little communities and booming towns being built. Elizabeth Howerton-Colby-Lively, her husband, Elbert B. and their family, witnessed it all!
By 1872, Elbert and Elizabeth Howerton Lively had purchased property in Johnson County, living near the Johnson/Tarrant county line. After Elbert’s death in 1888, Elizabeth sold their land in 1889 to heirs of the original land owner, signing the sale as Elizabeth S. Lively as shown within the Johnson Co., TX Deed Records. She then moved from Johnson County to Lampasas, Lampasas Co., TX to live with her son Joseph Lively. Within the 1910 census enumeration of Lampasas County (Joseph Lively as HH), Elizabeth was shown as Sarah Elizabeth Howerton, mother. The 1889 Johnson County, TX Deed Record, signed by Elizabeth S. Lively, provided confirmation of Elizabeth’s full Christian name to be Elizabeth Sarah. Elizabeth died 21 May 1910 in Lampasas, Lampasas County, Texas. Elizabeth certainly did her best to increase the population of Texas. Of her two marriages, Elizabeth gave birth to thirteen children. As Texas grew, the children grew to see new amenities becoming a reality. New opportunities were opening doors for a successful life. They became ranchers; others saw advantage in establishing cotton gins, with all becoming successful in recognizing and utilizing their individual talents. Jeremiah Howerton, Circuit Rider, left a legacy in Texas that will be long remembered by his descendants.
Known children Jeremiah and Lucinda “Lucy” Johnson Howerton: Determined by the households of “Jere” Howerton and that of Thos Howerton within the 1840 Census of Cooper Co., MO. plus the 1850 Census and information contained within the Probate Records, both of Tarrant Co., TX):
1 - Jeremiah Howerton (1819 TN-abt 1849 TX) m. Jane Miers 1833 Cooper Co., MO
2 - Unknown Son ( 1820-1825 TN)
3 - Thomas Jefferson Howerton (1822 TN – abt 1849 TX) m. Jane Casteel 26 Feb 1838 prob. Cooper Co. MO
4 - Unknown daughter (1820-1825 TN)
5 - Francis Marion Howerton (1824 TN - 1857 TX) m. Didamy F. (surname unknown)
6 - Elizabeth Howerton (22 Feb 1825 TN-2 May 1910 TX) m. #1 Samuel Anthony “Doc” Colbey - #2 Elbert B. Lively
7 - Azariah B. Howerton (1831 KY or MO - ?) m. Felicia Ann (surname unknown). Azariah had settled in El Monte, Los Angeles County, CA. by 1860. Azariah was shown as “Andrew” Howerton within the 1870 enumeration within same CA county.
Evyonne Andrews Eddins
is the
Great-Great-Granddaughter of
Elizabeth
Sarah Howerton-Colbey-Lively
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