Roane County, West Virginia Biography of WILLIAM H. HOWELL, M. D. This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 426-427 Roane WILLIAM H. HOWELL, M. D. His brilliant record as a surgeon with the British and American military forces dur- ing the World war Doctor Howell has continued in times of peace in his native State of West Virginia, and is now superintendent and chief surgeon of the Methodist Episco- pal Hospital at Spencer. The Howell family originated in Wales and was estab- lished in Virginia in Colonial times. His great-grandfather, Larkin Dexter Howell, was a Revolutionary soldier. The grandfather, William Marple Howell, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, in 1839. During the Civil war he was a captain in the Confederate army under General McCausland, serving from the beginning until the end of the war. His old commander, General McCausland, is now a resident of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. William M. Howell was a resident of Barbour County, West Virginia, until 1867, from 1867 until 1880 lived in Roane County, and from there moved to Muses Bottom in Jackson County, where he owned a farm of 400 acres of rich bottom land. He devoted all his active energies to farming. His death occurred at his home in Jackson County in 1913. He was a democrat, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and a Mason. William M. Howell married Elzena Tennant, who was born in Barbour County, and is still living at the old home at Muses Bottom. Daniel T. Howell, father of Doctor Howell, was born in Barbour County in September, 1860, and was liberally educated, attending Ohio University at, Athens, Ohio. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta Greek letter fraternity. He accompanied his parents to Roane County in 1867, and in 1880 established his home at Lone Cedar, near Ravens- wood in Jackson County, where he was married and where for forty years he has been a farmer, specializing in the raising of cattle, sheep and horses. He is a democrat, and one of the very active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in this community. In 1921 he was worship- ful master of Ashton Lodge No. 12, P. and A. M., at Ravenswood. Daniel T. Howell married Mattie J. McBride, who was born in Londoun County, Virginia, in November, 1862. Doctor Howell is the oldest of their children. Miss Mabel, at home, is a graduate of the Ward-Belmont Girls School at Nashville and of the Boston Conservatory of Music and is an accomplished pianist. Thomas Harold, who operates a portion of his father's estate at Lone Cedar, is a graduate of the Ravenswood High School, of the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing, and was an enlisted man in the navy for a year during the World war. Marie A., a graduate of the Ravenswood High School, is the wife of Thurmon McGuire, now assistant chief engineer for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad shops at Huntington, West Virginia. William H. Howell was born on the home farm at Lone Cedar in Jackson County, May 28, 1888. His education from the beginning was carefully considered from the standpoint of the most effective use of his talents. After the rural schools of Jackson County he entered the Staunton Military Academy at Staunton, Virginia, graduating in 1904. In 1904-05 he was a student in the Ohio University at Athens, and then entered the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, from which he graduated A. B. in 1907. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta, the same fraternity as his father. Doctor Howell attended the medical depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia two years, and completed his course in the University of Louis- ville, where he graduated M. D. in 1914. He is a member of the Alpha Kappa Kappa medical fraternity. As further preparation for his profession he spent one year as an in- terne in the Louisville City Hospital and another year in the Skin and Cancer Hospital and the New York Polyclinic. At that time Doctor Howell accepted an opportunity to go to England, in November, 1916. and join the Royal Army Medical Corps. For three months he was on duty at the Reading War Hospital, and was then given field service ns battalion medical officer of the Sixteenth Battalion, Eifle Brigade. His front line duty in Belgium and France took him to the great battle centers of Ypres, Arras, Messienes Ridge, Cambrai. June 28, 1918, he was formally trans- ferred to the American Army Medical Corps, though in his service he was still attached to the British Army. He was at the Marne, Chateau Thierry, and also in service in the campaign in Northern Italy along the Piave. In February, 1918, he was commissioned a captain in the Medical Corps, and on June 29, 1919, after three years abroad, returned home and received his discharge at Hoboken, New Jersey, June 30th. Doctor Howell received the British decoration of the Military Cross March 30, 1918, for gallantry and initia- tive displayed in the neighborhood of Cachy on March 30, 1918. The French Government bestowed upon him the Croix de Guerre June 19, 1918, for activity displayed during the retreat from the Chemin de Dames. October 15, 1918, he suffered an abdominal wound near La Cateaux, south of Cambrai. From July 1, 1919, until February 1, 1921, Doctor Howell was associated at Parkersburg in surgical practice with Dr. W. J. Davidson. At the latter date he entered upon his duties as superintendent and chief surgeon of the Metho- dist Episcopal Hospital at Spencer. This is one of the well equipped hospitals of the state, with accommodations for forty patients. Doctor Howell is a member of the Little Kanawha and Ohio Valley Medical societies, the State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Southern Medical Association. He is a democrat, and is affiliated with Ashton Lodge No. 12, P. and A. M., at Eavenswood, Parkersburg Lodge No. 198, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On June 18, 1916, at Parkersburg, he married Miss Beulah M. White. They were married only a few months before he entered the British Army Medical service. Her parents, Albert J. and Amanda (Wile) White, are residents of Parkersburg, her father being a retired furniture mer- chant and undertaker. Mrs. Howell is an alumnus of the Parkersburg High School. To their marriage have been born two sons, William Herbert, Jr., born September 24, 1920, and Albert Daniel, born October 17, 1921. *********************