Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Sarah Lassiter (1770-1847)

      BIRTH:  Abt. 1770,1 Bertie, North Carolina, USA
      DEATH: 5 Jun 1847, West Plains, Howell, Missouri, USA
      FATHER: Robert Lassiter Jr (1740–1778)
      MOTHER: Sarah Eason (1747–1773)
      SPOUSE: Josiah Howell (1765–1849)

      Sarah Lassiter was born about 1770, in Bertie, North Carolina. She married Josiah Howell on January 2, 1787, in her hometown. They had six children in 23 years. She died on June 15, 1847, in West Plains, Missouri, having lived a long life, and was buried there.

      The Life of Sarah Lassiter

      A Quaker Daughter of Bertie County and Matriarch of the Howell Frontier Line

      Sarah Lassiter was born around 1700 in the Quaker communities of Bertie and Northampton Counties, North Carolina, the daughter of Robert Lassiter and Sarah (Eason) Lassiter. Both the Lassiters and the Easons were long‑established families within the Rich Square Monthly Meeting, a center of Quaker life in the Albemarle region. Sarah grew up in a world shaped by discipline, simplicity, and the close-knit bonds of Quaker fellowship — a world where families worshipped together, married within the meeting, and migrated in clusters as new frontiers opened.

      By the mid‑1780s, Sarah was a young woman of marriageable age, and the records of the Rich Square Meeting show that Josiah Howell, a young man recently admitted to membership, was moving within the same circle of families. On 2 January 1787, Josiah appeared before the Bertie County clerk with bondsman Thomas Carny to secure a marriage bond, the legal prerequisite for marriage in North Carolina. Although the county bond survives, the ceremony itself almost certainly took place under the care of the Rich Square Monthly Meeting, where both families worshipped. Thus began a marriage that would last sixty years and carry Sarah across three states and into the heart of the American frontier.

      Sarah’s early married life unfolded in Bertie County, where she and Josiah raised a growing family. Their children included William Lassiter Howell, Eason Howell, Sarah Howell (who later married a Bingamin/Bingaman), Thomas Jefferson Howell, and Josephus Madison Howell, among others. The naming of their children — especially William Lassiter Howell and Eason Howell — reflects the deep imprint of Sarah’s own family heritage.

      By 1800, Sarah’s life began to shift westward. A remarkable newspaper notice from the Tennessee Gazette reveals that her husband Josiah was already acquiring land in Smith County, Tennessee by September of that year. Over the next decade, the Howell family gradually transitioned from North Carolina to Tennessee, with Sarah managing a household that included not only her children but also enslaved laborers — a difficult truth that reflects the complex and often contradictory realities of Southern Quaker-descended families in this period.

      In Smith County, Sarah raised her younger children, including Thomas Jefferson Howell (born 1808) and Josephus Madison Howell (born 1811). The family appears in the 1820 and 1830 censuses as a substantial agricultural household, firmly rooted in Middle Tennessee. Sarah’s life during these years would have been defined by the rhythms of farm work, child‑rearing, and the steady westward pull that drew so many families toward new lands.

      Sometime between 1837 and 1840, Sarah and Josiah undertook the final migration of their lives, joining their adult children in the rugged hills of southern Missouri. By 1840, they were living in Ripley County, in the region that soon became Oregon County and later Howell County, named for their son Thomas Jefferson Howell, a prominent early settler and legislator.

      Sarah spent her final years surrounded by children and grandchildren, witnessing the transformation of the Ozarks from wilderness to community. She died in 1847, two years before Josiah, and was almost certainly buried in the original Howell Cemetery in West Plains — a burial ground later lost beneath the construction of the Arcade Hotel around 1901. Though her grave is gone, her presence remains woven into the earliest history of the region.

      Legacy of Sarah Lassiter

      Sarah Lassiter Howell’s legacy is carried not in monuments but in the enduring influence of the family she helped build. As a daughter of the Lassiter and Eason families, she brought the traditions of the North Carolina Quaker community into the expanding frontier. As the wife of Josiah Howell, she anchored a household that became the nucleus of the Howell migration from North Carolina to Tennessee to Missouri.

      Her children and grandchildren shaped the civic and social landscape of the Ozarks:

      • Thomas Jefferson Howell, her son, became the namesake of Howell County, Missouri.
      • Josephus Madison Howell served as a Sheriff, Justice of the Peace, postmaster, and community leader.
      • Her daughters married into families that helped establish schools, churches, and early settlements.

      Through them, Sarah’s quiet strength, resilience, and heritage continued to shape the region long after her death. More than two centuries later, her descendants still trace their roots to the young Quaker woman who married in Bertie County in 1787 and helped carry her family across the breadth of the early American frontier.

      Parents

      FATHER: Robert Lassiter Jr (1740–1778)
      MOTHER: Sarah Eason (1747–1773)

      Married

      Josiah Howell (1765–1849) 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
        • None1
      • 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 > Death: 15 Jun 1847, 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. Based on the surviving records, Sarah Lassiter was almost certainly born between 1768 and 1772 in Bertie or Northampton County, North Carolina. Her 1787 marriage bond to Josiah Howell places her at a typical Quaker marriage age of about 16–20, pointing to a birth around 1770. This estimate aligns with her appearance in the 1790, 1800, and 1810 censuses, where she consistently falls into the female age brackets expected for a woman born in the late 1760s or early 1770s. Her position in the birth order of Robert Lassiter and Sarah (Eason) Lassiter’s children—between older daughters Mary and Elizabeth and younger siblings including Eason Lassiter—also supports this timeframe. Finally, her childbearing pattern, with her youngest known child born in 1811, fits the biological norms of a woman born around 1770. Taken together, these independent lines of evidence converge on c. 1770 as the most historically consistent estimate for her birth.
      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 Sarah Lassiter to Karen Edgar: 4th great-grandmother

      Page last updated June 17, 2026

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