Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Sarah Jane Glenn (1848-1921)

      BIRTH: 1 Mar 1848, Marion County, Arkansas, USA
      DEATH: 11 Sep 1921 • Arkansas, USA
      FATHER: William Duke Glenn (1826–1893)
      MOTHER: Martha Rebecca Marshall (1827–1914)
      SPOUSE: John Benton Howell (1840–1920)

      The Life of Sarah Jane Glenn

      Frontier Daughter, Ozark Homemaker, Mother of the Howell–McFerrin Line

      Sarah Jane Glenn was born on 1 March 1848 in the rolling hills of Prairie Township, Marion County, Arkansas, a region of scattered farms, oak ridges, and the winding waters of Crooked Creek. She was the second daughter of William Duke Glenn and Martha Rebecca Marshall, both Tennessee-born pioneers who had come into northern Arkansas during the great wave of settlement in the 1830s and 1840s. By the time Sarah was born, the Glenns were firmly rooted in the Ozarks — a large, hardworking family whose lives were shaped by the land, the seasons, and the close-knit communities of Marion and Boone Counties.

      The 1860 census captures Sarah at age twelve, living with her parents and eight siblings in Prairie Township. Her father farmed the rocky soil typical of the region, raising corn, hogs, and a few cattle, while her mother managed a bustling household filled with children. Sarah attended school — a rare privilege for frontier girls — and learned the domestic skills that would define much of her adult life: cooking over a hearth, tending gardens, sewing, and helping raise her younger brothers and sisters.

      The Glenn family lived near Rolling Prairie, a community that served as a crossroads for families who would later intermarry for generations. The Glenns, Howells, McFerrins, Hudsons, and other pioneer families all lived within a few miles of one another, attending the same churches, trading at the same stores, and working the same land. These connections would shape Sarah’s future.

      The Civil War Years

      When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Sarah was thirteen. Northern Arkansas, like southern Missouri, became a battleground of divided loyalties, guerrilla raids, and military occupation. While the Glenn family did not flee the region as the Howells did, they lived through the same instability — burned farms, shortages, and the constant threat of violence.

      Sarah’s future husband, John Benton Howell, was living just across the border in Howell County, Missouri, where his family’s farm was seized and the town of West Plains was burned. His family fled south into the same region where the Glenns lived. Though Sarah and John were still young, the war set the stage for their meeting a decade later.

      Marriage and Family

      By 1870, Sarah was twenty-two and still living at home with her parents in Boone County. The Glenn household had grown even larger — eleven children in all — and Sarah, as one of the older daughters, played a central role in caring for her younger siblings.

      On 8 October 1871 (recorded again in 1872 in a neighboring county), Sarah married John Benton Howell, a Missouri-born farmer who had settled in Boone County after the war. Their marriage united two long-established Ozark families and began a new chapter in the intertwined histories of the Glenns, Howells, and McFerrins.

      Sarah and John built their early life together in Harrison Township, where John farmed and Sarah managed the home. At some point in their early years of marriage, they experienced the loss of a child — a brief life now known only through the census columns that record four children born but just three living. Their surviving children soon followed: Anthem E. Howell (1873–1966), Ida Belle Howell (1875–1937), and Aly Ann Howell (1878–1974).

      The family attended the White Church, a small frontier congregation near present-day Highway 7 and 206. It was here that Sarah’s daughters were baptized, and where the Glenn and Howell families worshipped alongside the McFerrins, Hudsons, and other neighbors.

      Life in Newton County

      By 1900, Sarah and John had moved to Plumlee in Newton County, a rugged but fertile region of hollows and ridges. John owned his farm free of mortgage, and Sarah, now in her fifties, presided over a quieter household with only their youngest daughter, Aley, still at home.

      Sarah’s life in Newton County was typical of Ozark women of her generation: tending gardens, raising chickens, preserving food, sewing quilts, and supporting her husband’s farming work. She lived through the transition from frontier cabins to frame houses, from ox-drawn wagons to early automobiles, and from isolated homesteads to more connected rural communities.

      In 1910, Sarah and John were still living in Plumlee, surrounded by extended family. Their daughter Aley had married Joseph Henry McFerrin, linking the Glenn and Howell lines to one of the oldest families in the region.

      John died in 1920, and Sarah followed him a year later, on 11 September 1921. She was buried beside him in McFerrin Cemetery, a quiet hilltop resting place overlooking the land where she had spent her entire life.

      Legacy of Sarah Jane Glenn

      The legacy of Sarah Jane Glenn is woven into the fabric of the Ozarks. Born into a pioneering Tennessee family, she grew up in the rugged hills of Marion and Boone Counties, survived the upheaval of the Civil War, and helped build a stable home in the years that followed. She raised daughters who carried her strength, her faith, and her quiet resilience into the next generation.

      Through her daughter Aley Ann Howell McFerrin, Sarah’s bloodline flows into the McFerrin family and into the generations that followed — families who still remember the stories of the White Church, the old homesteads, and the deep roots their ancestors planted in the hills of Newton County.

      Sarah’s life was not marked by public acclaim or dramatic events, but by something far more enduring: steadfastness. She was a daughter of the frontier, a keeper of the home, and a woman whose quiet labor shaped the lives of her children and grandchildren. Her legacy endures in the families who still walk the ridges she once called home, carrying forward the strength and spirit of the Glenn and Howell lines.

      Parents

      FATHER: William Duke Glenn (1826–1893)
      MOTHER: Martha Rebecca Marshall (1827–1914)

      Married

      John Benton Howell (1840–1920) on 8 Oct 1871 in Boone, Arkansas, USA

      Children

      • Anthun Howell (1873–1966)
      • Ida Howell (1875–1937)
      • Aly Ann Howell (1878–1974) married Joseph Henry McFerrin (1876–1969)
      • —- Howell (born between 1871 and 1880 – died before the 1880 census taken on 17 Jun 1880)

      Documents

      • Birth Records
        • Find a Grave > Birth: 1 Mar 1848, Marion County, Arkansas, USA
      • Wedding records
        • Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 > Name: Sarah Glenn; Gender: Female; Marriage Age: 29; Event Type: Marriage; Birth Date: 1850; Marriage Date: 8 Oct 1871; Marriage Place: Boone, Arkansas, USA; Residence Date: 1871; Residence Place: Boone, Arkansas; Spouse: John B Howell; FHL Film Number: 1035449
      • Death records
        • Find a Grave > Birth: 1 Mar 1848, Marion County, Arkansas, USA; Death: 11 Sep 1921 (aged 73), Arkansas, USA
        • Burial: McFerrin Cemetery, Newton County, Arkansas, USA
      • Census Records
        • 1860 United States Federal Census > Arkansas > Marion > Prairie > Name: Sarah J Glenn; Age: 12; Birth Year: abt 1848; Gender: Female; Race: White; Birth Place: Arkansas; Home in 1860: Prairie, Marion, Arkansas; Post Office: Rolling Prairie; Dwelling Number: 261; Family Number: 1; Attended School: Yes; Inferred Father: Wm D Glenn; Inferred Mother: Rebecca Glenn; Household members: Wm D Glenn (34), Rebecca Glenn (32), Mary E Glenn (13), Sarah J Glenn (12), James F Glenn (10), George W Glenn (7), Melly C Glenn (6), Eliza Glenn (5), Jacob Glenn (2), William M Glenn (3 months)
        • 1870 United States Federal Census > Arkansas > Boone > Prairie > Name: Sarah J Glenn; Age in 1870: 22; Birth Date: abt 1848; Birthplace: Arkansas; Dwelling Number: 45; Home in 1870: Prairie, Boone, Arkansas; Race: White; Gender: Female; Post Office: MT Pleasant; Occupation: At Home; Inferred Father: Wm D Glenn; Inferred Mother: Rebecca Glenn; Household members: Wm D Glenn (farmer, 45), Rebecca Glenn (43), Sarah J Glenn (22), Jas T Glenn (20), Geo W Glenn (17), Em C Glenn (16), Eliza A Glenn (15), Wm M Glenn (11), Joel P Glenn (8), Jeff Davis Glenn (6), Martha R Glenn (2), Tho J Glenn (11 months)
        • 1880 United States Federal Census Page 2 > Arkansas > Boone > Harrison > 018 > Name: Sarah J. Howell; Age: 31; Birth Date: Abt 1849; Birthplace: Arkansas; Home in 1880: Harrison, Boone, Arkansas, USA; Dwelling Number: 275; Race: White; Gender: Female; Relation to Head of House: Wife; Marital Status: Married; Spouse’s Name: John B. Howell; Father’s Birthplace: Tennessee; Mother’s Birthplace: Tennessee; Occupation: Housekeeper; Household members: Sarah J. Howell (31), Anthun Howell (7), Ida Howell (5), Aly Howell (3), John B. Howell (39)
        • 1900 United States Federal Census > Arkansas > Newton > Plumlee > District 0089 > Name: Sarah J Howell; Age: 52; Birth Date: Mar 1848; Birthplace: Arkansas, USA; Home in 1900: Plumlee, Newton, Arkansas; Sheet Number: 6; Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation: 98; Family Number: 99; Race: White; Gender: Female; Relation to Head of House: Wife; Marital Status: Married; Spouse’s Name: John B Howell; Marriage Year: 1871; Years Married: 29; Father’s Birthplace: Tennessee, USA; Mother’s Birthplace: Tennessee, USA; Mother: number of living children: 3; Mother: How many children: 4; Can Read: Yes; Can Write: Yes; Can Speak English: Yes; Household members: John B Howell (61), Sarah J Howell (52), Aly A Howell (21)
        • 1910 United States Federal Census > Arkansas > Newton > Plumlee > District 0102 > Name: Sarah J Howell; Age in 1910: 62; Birth Date: 1848; Birthplace: Arkansas; Home in 1910: Plumlee, Newton, Arkansas, USA; Sheet Number: 5a; Race: White; Gender: Female; Relation to Head of House: Wife; Marital Status: Married; Father’s Birthplace: Tennessee; Mother’s Birthplace: Tennessee; Native Tongue: English; Able to read: Yes; Able to Write: Yes; Enumeration District Number: 0102; Years Married: 39; Number of Children Born: 4; Number of Children Living: 3; Enumerated Year: 1910; Household members: John B Howell (70), Sarah J Howell (62)
        • 1920 United States Federal Census > Arkansas > Newton > Osage > District 0105 > Name: Name: Sarah J Howell; Age: 71; Birth Year: abt 1849; Birthplace: Arkansas; Home in 1920: Osage, Newton, Arkansas; Street: Coupton and Casper Road; Residence Date: 1920; Race: White; Gender: Female; Relation to Head of House: Wife; Marital Status: Married; Spouse’s Name: John B Howell; Father’s Birthplace: Tennessee; Mother’s Birthplace: Tennessee; Able to Speak English: Yes; Able to read: Yes; Able to Write: Yes; Household members: John B Howell (79), Sarah J Howell (71)
      • Other

      Relation of Sarah Jane Glenn to Karen Edgar: 2nd great-grandmother

      Page last updated June 15, 2026

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