Thomas County GaArchives Biographies.....Howard, George W. 1846 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 19, 2004, 8:57 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 818

   GEORGE W. HOWARD. Some of the earliest settlers of Thomas county. and
vicinity are represented by Mr. George W. Howard, who is himself somewhat of an
old settler, having been born in what is now the Metcalf district of Thomas
county on the 27th of August, 1846. At that time population was sparse and
practically none of the modern improvements had appeared in the great
forest-covered district of southwest Georgia.

   This branch of the Howard family on coming from England had first settled in
Maryland, but Mr. Howard's father, William Howard, was a native of Virginia. At
the age of twenty-one he had left home and entered the employ of Dr. Epps, for
whom he made an overland trip to Florida, taking along his employer's slaves.
For several years he remained in Florida as an overseer of large plantations,
and then came into southwest Georgia and bought two hundred and fifty acres of
land in the present Metcalf district. Only a small clearing had been made in the
midst of the forest which covered his purchase, and he erected a set of log
buildings for shelter to his household and then set to work to clear the land
for a farm. In those days and indeed for a number of years he marketed his crops
in Tallahassee, all transportation being over the country roads and with wagons
and teams. As a tiller of the soil he became very prosperous, acquired seven
hundred and fifty acres of land and had a number of slaves to make the crops.
His death occurred at the age of seventy-one, being caused by an accident at the
cotton press.

   William Howard married Miss Meeky Ferrell, whose family were likewise early
settlers in this part of Georgia. She was born in North Carolina. Her father,
Hutching Ferrell, also a native of that state, brought his family and household
in wagons and other conveyances to south Georgia, locating in Metcalf district
of Thomas county. There he bought land and with the aid of his slaves cleared up
another farm from the wilderness, thus adding to the productive area which has
made modern conditions possible. Hutchins Ferrell spent the remainder of his
life in this vicinity. He married Elizabeth Morgan, who survived his death many
years. Mrs. William Howard, who died at the age of seventy-nine, was the mother
of nine children, whose names follow: Elizabeth, George W., Anna, Jennie,
Virginia, Amanda, John F., Thomas J. and Mary Lee. The father of this family was
an old-line Democrat, and both he and wife were devout Methodists and brought up
their children in the same faith.

   During his boyhood spent on the home farm George W. Howard attended the common 
schools, and lived at home and assisted in the work of the farm until he was 
seventeen years old. In November, 1863, he offered his services to the Confederate 
government and became a soldier in Company D of the Second Florida Cavalry, serving 
with that regiment until the close of the war, when he returned home. After the 
death of his father he managed the home estate for several years, and finally 
bought a part of it from the other heirs, and made his home there until 1897. 
He then lived with his brother John until the latter's death, at which time he 
located on his present farm two miles west of Boston. His nephews are associated 
with him in the ownership of this place. Mr. Howard is a member of the Methodist 
church, and in politics follows the example of his father.

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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