Staggs Family History

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      Josephus Madison Howell (1810-1889)

      BIRTH: 1810, Smith County, Tennessee, USA1
      DEATH: between 1870 and 1880, Arkansas, USA
      FATHER: Josiah Howell (1765–1849)
      MOTHER: Sarah Lassiter (1765–1847)
      SPOUSE: Eliza Jane Eubank (1819–1866)

      When Josephus Madison Howell was born in 1810 in Smith County, Tennessee, his father, Josiah, was 46 and his mother, Sarah, was 46. He had four sons and three daughters with Eliza Jane Parrock Eubank. He then married Ellen Brooks on November 25, 1869. He died in 1889 in Arkansas having lived a long life of 79 years.

      The Life of Josephus Madison Howell

      A frontier life in Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas

      Josephus Madison Howell was born in 1810 in Tennessee, the son of Josiah Howell and Sarah Lassiter Howell, a family whose roots stretched back to North Carolina and the earliest waves of westward migration. His father Josiah was a pioneer of such stature that, years later, a new Missouri county would bear the Howell name. Josephus grew up in the shadow of that legacy — a childhood shaped by timbered hills, hard work, and the expectation that he, too, would help settle the frontier.

      By the late 1830s, Josephus had crossed into southern Missouri, part of the great movement of Tennessee families into the Ozarks. He married Eliza Jane Eubank, a Kentucky-born woman whose strength and steadiness would anchor the growing Howell household. Their first children — including an eldest daughter born around 1834 — arrived as Missouri was still a raw, sparsely settled land.

      In 1848, Josephus’s standing in the community was formally recognized when he was appointed Postmaster of West Plains, then located in Oregon County. The appointment was federal, requiring literacy, trustworthiness, and a stable home. For a frontier settlement, the postmaster was more than a mail handler — he was a point of connection to the outside world, a keeper of news, and often a community leader.

      Two years later, the 1850 census captured Josephus as a 40‑year‑old farmer in District 65 of Oregon County. His household was full: John Benton, the eldest son, Andrew, Thomas, Sarah, and James.

      The census also recorded a difficult truth: Josephus held four enslaved individuals — a man, a woman, and two small girls. Like many Tennessee migrants into southern Missouri, he brought with him the practices of a slaveholding society. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules document this part of his life plainly, without embellishment or excuse.

      Andrew Jackson Seay and Mary Ann Howell Marriage Certificate signed by Justice of the Peace Josephus M Howell, 12 August 1852, Oregon County, Missouri.

      By 1852, Josephus had taken on another civic role: Sherrif and Justice of the Peace.2 In August of that year, he officiated the marriage of Jackson Seay and Mary Ann Howell, signing the record as “Josephus M. Howell, J.P.” His signature appears in the county book, a quiet but enduring mark of his authority in the community.

      In 1857, Oregon County was divided, and the region around West Plains became Howell County, named for Josephus’s father. The Howell family was woven into the very geography of the Ozarks.

      The 1860 census shows Josephus still farming, still raising children, and still holding six enslaved people. But the world around him was about to collapse.

      When the Civil War reached Missouri, Howell County became one of the most violent regions in the state. West Plains was burned. Farms were seized. Families fled. The Howell household fractured. Sometime between 1860 and 1866, Eliza Jane died, leaving Josephus a widower in a war‑torn land.

      After the war, Josephus remarried. His second wife, Ellen Brooks, brought several children from her first marriage, creating a blended family. By 1870, the census places them in Prairie Township, Boone County, Arkansas, living near the Rolling Prairie post office. With them were Josephus’s sons John Benton and James, and Ellen’s Brooks children — a household stitched together by necessity and survival.

      Josephus was 59 that year. His property was modest: $200 in real estate and $500 in personal property, a far cry from the pre‑war years.

      In 1871, he appears one last time — in the IRS tax assessment lists for Arkansas District 1. After that, the records fall silent.

      He does not appear in the 1880 census. He does not appear in Boone County probate. He does not appear in Newton County cemetery books.

      Like many frontier men, Josephus likely died quietly in the early 1870s, buried in an unmarked grave in Boone County, Arkansas — the last chapter of a life lived on the edge of the American frontier.

      Legacy of Josephus Madison Howell

      His children scattered across Missouri and Arkansas. His son John Benton Howell became a Civil War veteran, a homesteader, and the ancestor whose line you carry forward. His daughters married into local families. Some of his children died young. Some vanished into the gaps of frontier records.

      But Josephus himself left a trail — not of monuments or wealth, but of documents, each one a window into a life of movement, service, hardship, and resilience:

      • Postmaster
      • Justice of the Peace
      • Farmer
      • Slaveholder
      • Widower
      • Refugee of war
      • Patriarch of a family that helped shape Howell County

      His story is not simple. It is not sanitized. It is not forgotten. It is the story of the Ozarks themselves.

      Parents

      FATHER: Josiah Howell (1765–1849)
      MOTHER: Sarah Lassiter (1765–1847)

      Married

      1st: Eliza Jane Eubank (1819–1866)

      2nd: Ellen (Robertson) Brooks (1833–1882) on 25 Nov 1869 in Boone, Arkansas.

      Children

      • John Benton Howell (1840–1920) married Sarah Jane Glenn (1844–1924)Arkansas
      • Andrew W. Howell (1841/2–aft. 1860)
      • Thomas J. Howell (1843–aft. 1870)
      • Sarah J. Howell (1845–aft. 1860)
      • James Howell (1849–aft. 1870)
      • Cyntha A. Howell (1850–aft. 1860)
      • Frances E. Howell (1859–aft. 1860)

      Documents

      • Birth Records
        • Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 > Nov 1869 > Name: Joseph Howell; Age: 59; Birth Date: 1810
        • The 1850 United States Federal Census > Name: Joseph M Howell; Age: 40; Birth Date: abt 1810
      • Wedding records
        • Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 > Name: Joseph Howell; Gender: Male; Marriage Age: 59; Event Type: Marriage; Birth Date: 1810; Marriage License Date: Nov 1869; Marriage Date: 25 Nov 1869; Marriage Place: Boone, Arkansas, USA; Residence Date: 1869; Residence Place: Boone, Arkansas; Spouse: Ellen Brooks; FHL Film Number: 1035449
      • Death records
        • None
      • Census Records
        • 1850 United States Federal Census > Missouri > Oregon > District 65 > Name: Joseph M Howell; Gender: Male; Race: White; Residence Age: 40; Birth Date: abt 1810; Birthplace: Tennessee; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: District 65, Oregon, Missouri, USA; Occupation: Farmer; Industry: Agriculture; Line Number: 10; Dwelling Number: 207; Family Number: 207; Inferred Spouse: Eliza J Howell; Inferred Child: John B Howell; Andrew W Howell; Thomas J Howell; Sarah J Howell; Household members: Joseph M Howell (farmer, 40), Eliza J Howell (31), John B Howell (11), Andrew W Howell (9), Thomas J Howell (7), Sarah J Howell (5), James KY (1)
        • 1850 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules > Missouri > Oregon > District 65 > Gender: Male; Race: Black; Age: 34; Birth Date: 1816; Residence Date: 1850; Residence Place: District 65, Oregon, Missouri, USA; Role: Enslaved Person; Slave Owner: Josephus M Howell; Household members: Male 34, Female 21, Female 2, Female 1/12.
        • 1860 United States Federal Census > Missouri > Howell > Name: J M Howell; Age: 42; Birth Year: abt 1818; Gender: Male; Race: White; Birth Place: Tennessee; Home in 1860: Howell, Howell, Missouri; Post Office: West Plains; Dwelling Number: 24; Family Number: 24; Occupation: Farmer; Real Estate Value: $6000; Personal Estate Value: $2000; Inferred Spouse: Eliza J Howell; Household members: J M Howell (42), Eliza J Howell (41), John B Howell (20), Andrew W Howell (14), Thomas J Howell (16), Sarah J Howell (24), James H Howell (11), Cyntha A Howell (10), Frances E Howell (1)
        • 1860 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules > Missouri > Howell > Howell > Name: Josephus M Howell; Residence Date: 1860; Residence Place: Howell, Howell, Missouri, USA; Number of Enslaved People: 6; Role: Slave Owner; Household members: Male 43, Female 30, Female 13, Female 9, Male 5, Female 2.
        • 1870 United States Federal Census > Arkansas > Boone > Prairie > Name: Josephus Howell; Age in 1870: 59; Birth Date: abt 1811; Birthplace: Tennessee; Dwelling Number: 92; Home in 1870: Prairie, Boone, Arkansas; Race: White; Gender: Male; Post Office: Rolling Prairie; Occupation: Farmer; Male Citizen Over 21: Yes; Personal Estate Value: $500; Real Estate Value: $200; Inferred Children: Ellen Howell; John B Howell; Jas K Howell; Household members: Josephus Howell (59), Ellen Howell (36), John B Howell (30), Jas K Howell (20), Jno Mc Brooks (17), Cyntha Brooks (14), David R Brooks (12), Kizzy P Brooks (10)
      • Other

      Footnotes

      1. Josephus Madison Howell is believed to have been born near Nashville, Tennessee, because every primary source connected to his children and grandchildren places his origins in “middle Tennessee,” and his son John Benton Howell’s 1911 Confederate Questionnaire specifically states that Josephus was born “at Nashville in or near Monroe.” While the wording is imprecise—Monroe was not a Tennessee county in 1811—the reference clearly points toward the Nashville region of Davidson County, the center of Howell family migration from North Carolina into the early Tennessee frontier. Combined with the family’s documented presence in middle Tennessee before moving to Missouri, the most historically consistent interpretation is that Josephus was born in or near Nashville. Other researchers have stated Josephus Madison Howell was born in Smith County, Tennessee. Smith County is less than 60 miles from Nashville.
      2. Stated in this biography of the Howells in Oregon County, Missourri.

      Relation of Josephus Madison Howell to Karen Edgar: 3rd great-grandfather

      Page last updated June 16, 2026

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