Staggs Family History

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      Josiah Howell (1765-1849)

      BIRTH: Abt. 1765, Bertie County, North Carolina, USA
      DEATH: 29 Nov 1849, West Plains, Howell, Missouri, USA
      FATHER: Unknown1
      MOTHER: Unknown1
      SPOUSE: Sarah Lassiter (1765–1847)

      Josiah Howell was born in 1765 in Bertie, North Carolina. He married Sarah Lassiter on January 2, 1787, in Bertie, North Carolina. They had six children in 23 years. He died on November 29, 1849, in West Plains, Missouri, having lived a long life of 84 years, and was buried there.

      The Life of Josiah Howell

      A Frontier Quaker, a Landowner, and a Patriarch of the Ozarks

      Josiah Howell was born around 1765, likely in Bertie County, North Carolina, into a world where the last echoes of the colonial era were giving way to the turbulence of revolution. His early life is faintly visible in the surviving records, but one document stands out with unusual clarity: on 16 Seventh Month (July) 1785, the young Josiah was admitted into membership at the Rich Square Monthly Meeting, the Quaker congregation that served Bertie and Northampton Counties. This single entry reveals much. It tells us that Josiah was raised among—or drawn into—the disciplined, pacifist, tightly knit Quaker communities of eastern North Carolina. It also places him squarely within the social world of the Lassiter, Outland, Copeland, and Eubank families, whose migrations and marriages would shape the next century of Howell history.

      Two years later, in 1787, Josiah married Sarah Lassiter, daughter of a long-established Quaker family. Their marriage, almost certainly overseen by the same Rich Square Meeting, marked the beginning of a partnership that would endure for sixty years and produce a large family whose descendants would spread across Tennessee, Missouri, and beyond.

      The young couple appears in the 1790 census in Bertie County, with a small household and four enslaved people—an uncomfortable but historically accurate reminder that not all Quaker families adhered strictly to the Society’s growing antislavery discipline. By 1810, the Howell household had grown dramatically: Josiah appears with 22 enslaved individuals, multiple sons approaching adulthood, and a household of nearly thirty people. He was a substantial landowner, a man of means, and a figure of local standing.

      Yet even as he remained rooted in North Carolina, Josiah was already looking west.

      The Move to Tennessee (1800–1837)

      A remarkable newspaper notice in the Tennessee Gazette dated September 25, 1800 reveals that Josiah had begun acquiring land in Smith County, Tennessee far earlier than previously known. In that notice, he petitioned the county court to investigate fraud involving the boundaries of a tract he had purchased—proof that he was already a landowner and active participant in Tennessee’s frontier land economy by the turn of the century.

      This discovery reframes his migration story. Rather than a sudden move around 1810, Josiah appears to have spent years straddling two worlds: maintaining property and family ties in North Carolina while simultaneously establishing himself in Tennessee.

      In 1810 and 1811, he secured Tennessee land warrants (Nos. 315 and 314), further expanding his holdings. By 1820, he appears firmly settled in Smith County, with a household of five free white persons and sixteen enslaved individuals, engaged in agriculture. His sons—William, Eason, Thomas Jefferson, and Josephus—were coming of age, working the land, and preparing to establish families of their own.

      The 1830 census again places Josiah in Smith County, now in his late sixties, still surrounded by children and grandchildren. A 1837 tax list confirms his continued presence there, marking the final chapter of his Tennessee years.

      The Final Migration: Missouri (1837–1849)

      Sometime between 1837 and 1840, Josiah and Sarah joined the great wave of families moving into the southern Missouri Ozarks. By 1840, they appear in Ripley County, in the region that would soon become Oregon County and later Howell County, named for their son Thomas Jefferson Howell, a state legislator and early civic leader.

      Josiah was now in his late seventies, but he remained the patriarch of a sprawling family network. His son Josephus Madison Howell became a postmaster, Sherrif, Justice of the Peace, and community leader in the West Plains region. His daughter Mary “Polly” Howell donated land for the Howell County courthouse. His children and grandchildren intermarried with the Glenn, Brooks, Parrock, and Eubank families, weaving the Howell name into the fabric of the Ozarks.

      Josiah died on 29 November 1849 in Oregon County, Missouri. His wife Sarah died two years earlier, in 1847. Both were almost certainly buried in the original Howell Cemetery in West Plains—a burial ground later built over by the Arcade Hotel around 1901. Their graves, like those of many early settlers, are lost to time, but their presence is felt in the very name of the county that grew from their family’s land.

      Legacy of Josiah Howell

      Josiah Howell’s legacy is not found in a single monument or document but in the long arc of a life that spanned the birth of a nation and the settlement of its frontier.

      • As a young Quaker, he entered the records of Rich Square Monthly Meeting, linking him to one of the most influential religious communities of early North Carolina.
      • As a landowner, he navigated the complex world of frontier land claims, appearing in court notices, tax lists, and land registers from North Carolina to Tennessee.
      • As a patriarch, he raised a large family whose members shaped the civic and social landscape of southern Missouri.
      • As a migrant, he embodied the great American movement westward—first into Tennessee, then into Missouri—carrying with him the traditions, resilience, and contradictions of his generation.

      His descendants include farmers, legislators, postmasters, Civil War soldiers, and community builders. The county that bears his family’s name—Howell County, Missouri—stands as the most visible testament to the enduring influence of the Howell line.

      More than 175 years after his death, Josiah Howell remains a foundational figure in the story of the Ozarks and in the genealogy of every Howell descendant who traces their roots to the hills of North Carolina, the valleys of Tennessee, and the frontier forests of Missouri.

      Parents

      FATHER: Unknown1
      MOTHER: Unknown1

      Married

      Sarah Lassiter (1765–1847) on 2 Jan 1787 in Bertie County, North Carolina

      Children

      • William Lassiter Howell (1788–1859) married Talitha Hobdy (1799–1851)
      • Eason Howell (1792-1874) married Mary Holland (1792-1867)
      • Sarah Howell (born 1795-1798) married —- Bingamin/Bingaman
      • Mary Howell (1800–?) married —- Maddox
      • Thomas Jefferson Howell (1808–1875) married Emiline Campbell (1813–1860)
      • Josephus Madison Howell (1810–1889) married Eliza Jane Eubank (1819–1866)

      Documents

      • Birth Records
        • Find a Grave > Birth: 1765, Bertie County, North Carolina, USA
      • Wedding records
        • North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-20112 > Bertie > Marriage Bonds – Abstracts (1764 – 1867) > Name: Josiah Howell; Gender: Male; Bond date: 2 Jan 1787; Bond Place: Bertie, North Carolina, USA; Spouse: Sarah Lassiter; Spouse Gender: Female; Event Type: Bond
        • North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Index, 1741-2004 > Name: Josiah Howell; Spouse: Sarah Lassiter; Marriage Date: 2 Jan 1787; Marriage County: Bertie; Marriage State: North Carolina; Source: County Court Records at Windsor, NC
      • Death records
        • Find a Grave > Birth: 1765, Bertie County, North Carolina, USA; Death: 29 Nov 1849, West Plains, Howell County, Missouri, USA
        • Burial: Howell Family Cemetery,3 West Plains, Howell County, Missouri, USA
      • Census Records
        • 1790 United States Federal Census > North Carolina > Bertie > Name: Josiah Howell; Home in 1790 (City, County, State): Bertie, North Carolina; Free White Persons – Males – 16 and over: 1; Free White Persons – Males – Under 16: 1; Free White Persons – Females: 2; Number of Slaves: 4; Number of Household Members: 8
        • 1810 United States Federal Census > North Carolina > Bertie > Name: Josiah Howell; Residence Date: 6 Aug 1810; Residence Place: Bertie, North Carolina, USA; Free White Persons – Males – 16 thru 25: 3; Free White Persons – Males – 26 thru 44: 2; Free White Persons – Females – 26 thru 44: 1; Number of Enslaved Persons: 22; Number of Household Members Over 25: 3; Number of Household Members: 28
        • 1820 United States Federal Census > Tennessee > Smith > Name: Josiah Howell; Enumeration Date: 7 Aug 1820; Home in 1820 (City, County, State): Smith, Tennessee, USA; Free White Persons – Males – Under 10: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 10 thru 15: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 26 thru 44: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 45 and over: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 26 thru 44: 1; Slaves – Males – Under 14: 5; Slaves – Males – 14 thru 25: 2; Slaves – Females – Under 14: 6; Slaves – Females – 14 thru 25: 1; Slaves – Females – 26 thru 44: 1; Slaves – Females – 45 and over: 1; Number of Persons – Engaged in Agriculture: 3; Free White Persons – Under 16: 2; Free White Persons – Over 25: 3; Total Free White Persons: 5; Total Slaves: 16; Total All Persons – White, Slaves, Colored, Other: 21
        • 1830 United States Federal Census > Tennessee > Smith >Name: Josiah Howell; Home in 1830 (City, County, State): Smith, Tennessee; Free White Persons – Males – 5 thru 9: 2; Free White Persons – Males – 10 thru 14: 2; Free White Persons – Males – 30 thru 39: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 60 thru 69: 1; Free White Persons – Females – Under 5: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 5 thru 9: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 15 thru 19: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 20 thru 29: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 30 thru 39: 1; Slaves – Males – Under 10: 1; Slaves – Males – 10 thru 23: 2; Slaves – Females – Under 10: 2; Slaves – Females – 10 thru 23: 1; Free White Persons – Under 20: 7; Free White Persons – 20 thru 49: 3; Total Free White Persons: 11; Total Slaves: 6; Total – All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored): 17
        • 1840 United States Federal Census > Missouri > Ripley > Name: Josiah Howell; Residence Date: 1840; Home in 1840 (City, County, State): Ripley, Missouri; Free White Persons – Males – 20 thru 29: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 70 thru 79: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 15 thru 19: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 40 thru 49: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 70 thru 79: 1; Slaves – Males – 10 thru 23: 1; Slaves – Males – 24 thru 35: 1; Slaves – Females – 10 thru 23: 1; Persons Employed in Agriculture: 4; Free White Persons – Under 20: 1; Free White Persons – 20 thru 49: 2; Total Free White Persons: 5; Total Slaves: 3; Total All Persons – Free White, Free Colored, Slaves: 8
      • Other

      Footnotes

      1. The parents of Josiah Howell (1763–1849) are not named in any surviving primary record. However, all evidence places him within the Howell families of Bertie and Northampton Counties, North Carolina, particularly the branch descending from Thomas Howell and William Howell Jr. Although some older genealogies assign him to Thomas Howell and Mary Daughtry, no document supports this claim, and the exact identity of his parents remains unproven.
      2. A marriage bond in eighteenth‑century North Carolina was a legal guarantee filed before a couple could marry, serving as a financial pledge that no lawful impediment—such as an existing marriage, minority without consent, or mental incapacity—stood in the way of the union. It did not represent the marriage itself, but rather the county’s authorization for it to proceed. On 2 January 1787, when Josiah Howell decided to marry Sarah Lassiter, he followed the standard procedure: he appeared before the Bertie County clerk with a trusted associate, Thomas Carny, who acted as his bondsman. Together they signed a bond—typically for a large sum, often £500 or £1,000—promising that the marriage was lawful and that the county would suffer no penalty for permitting it. Once the bond was accepted and recorded, Josiah was free to marry Sarah, almost certainly under the care of the Rich Square Monthly Meeting, where both families were connected.
      3. Josiah, his wife Sarah (Lassiter) Howell and daughter-in-law, Emeline (Campbell) Howell were buried in the Howell Family Cemetery. The cemetery was located on the present Walnut Street in West Plains. The Arcade Hotel was built over the cemetery in 1901. The Arcade Hotel has since been torn down. It is believed that no remains were exhumed.

      Relation of Josiah Howell to Karen Edgar: 4th great-grandfather

      Page last updated June 17, 2026

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