Thomas County GaArchives Biographies.....Howell, Zadoc Washington 1849 - living in 1913
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 19, 2004, 7:48 pm

Author: William Harden
p.800-801

   ZADOC WASHINGTON HOWELL. In recording the names and careers of those families
which have been most prominently identified with the material prosperity and
social and civic affairs of south Georgia, considerable space must be given to
the Howells and their connections, for they were almost at the forefront of the
era of development in this part of the state, and the individual representatives
of the family have never failed to give good accounts of themselves in all the
responsibilities of life. One of the best known of them is Zadoc W. Howell, who
for many years has been one of the large land proprietors and influential
citizens of the Boston district in Thomas county.

   He was born in the Glasgow district of Thomas county, September 8, 1849, that
date itself being an early one in this history of this vicinity. This branch of
the Howell family originally resided in North Carolina, the grandparents, so far
as can be ascertained, having been lifelong residents at Snow Hills in that
state. Barney Howell, the father of Mr. Z. W. Howell, with three brothers,
Caswell, Payton and Turner, came to Georgia some time in the early forties and
all settled in Thomas county. This migration was made in the fashion of the
time, and several weeks were required for the wagons containing the goods of the
party to be hauled along the long road into Southern Georgia. Thomasville was
then a hamlet with only one store, and all the surrounding region little better
than an unbroken wilderness, with wild game in abundance and Indians still
numerous and protesting against their removal from these hunting grounds. For a
time after his arrival here Barney Howell, who was then a young man, was mail
carrier between this neighborhood and Monticello, Florida, making the horseback
journey with great regularity and going via Troupville, which was then the
county seat of Lowndes county. He later bought a tract of land, heavily
timbered, in what is now the Glasgow district of Thomas county, and erected the
log house in which he and his bride commenced housekeeping and in which their
son Zadoc W. was born. During this period and for a long time afterward the
absence of railroads compelled the planters to take their produce to distant
markets, and the father hauled his to Tallahassee. On the return trip he brought
back such supplies as could not be produced at home and such as were then
considered among the prime necessities of import—salt, coffee and sugar. There
was but little traffic at the time in dry goods, since the women of the
household carded, spun and wove the cotton and wool into the cloth with which
all were then dressed. After a residence for some years on the Glasgow tract the
father sold and then bought in the Boston district, where he lived until his
death at the age of about seventy.

   Barney Howell married Smitty Ann Mooring, who was also born near Wilmington,
North Carolina, her father, Henry Mooring, and wife, having spent all their
lives in North Carolina. Mrs. Barney Howell survived her husband by a few years.
She reared six children, named as follows: Virginia Caroline, Zadoc W., Rebecca
Ann, Lizzie, Mary and Robert.

   Zadoc W. Howell spent his early years on his father's farm and there acquired
the training and experience which served him well when he began his own
independent career. After his marriage, which occurred when he was nineteen, he
settled on a place of one hundred acres which his father-in-law had bestowed
upon the young couple, and this was the nucleus of the large farm which he still
owns and occupies. As a farmer he was successful from the start, and from time
to time has added to his estate until it comprised sixteen hundred acres, one of
the best farm properties in the county. In addition to his regular pursuits he
has for the past twenty-five years conducted a farm commissary. He has
identified himself with the Farmers Alliance and the Grange, and he and his
family are members of the Missionary Baptist church.

   In 1868 Mr. Howell laid the foundation of his own home and his prosperous
career by his marriage to Miss Minerva Cone, who was born on the 3d of April,
1848, in Thomas county, with which vicinity her family have been identified from
the time of earliest settlement. Her grandparents, Joseph and Mary Cone, settled
in Camden county, Georgia, towards the close of the eighteenth century, and from
there came to Thomas county, where they spent the rest of their lives. James
Cone, father of Mrs. Howell, was born in Camden county in 1800 and was a young
man when he located in Thomas county. He bought land near Barwich, where he
lived some years, and then bought an estate in lot 273 of the Boston district.
He was a resident of Thomas county until his death at the good old age of
eighty-seven. He married Rachel Lovett, who was born in Twiggs county in 1815.
Her parents, James and Katie Lovett, came to that part of Irwin county, now
Thomas county, in 1825, locating near the present site of Barwieh, where they
improved a farm and spent the rest of their days. Rachel (Lovett) Cone died in
her ninetieth year. She reared nine children, whose names were Rachel, James,
Francis Marion, Melissa, Minerva (Mrs. Howell), Mary V., Margian A., Walton and
Warren.

   Of the two children of Mr. and Mrs. Howell, James, the only son, died at the
age of twenty-three. Their daughter, Emma Magnolia, is the wife of Augustus C.
Milligan, who was a son of Edward A. and Lorena (Jones) Milligan (see sketch of
Edward C. Milligan). The grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Howell by the marriage of
their daughter are named James A., Troy Alabama, Myrtle Magnolia, Charlie Mae
and Ocie Galloway Milligan.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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