Howells

This branch of the Howell family in America is descended from David and Keziah (Pierson) Howell of New Jersey, the oldest known Howell in this particular family. Although it is reasonable to believe David would have been related to others of the many Howell families in the Morris county, New Jersey area at the time, no links have yet to be established. Recent YDNA tests[3] from a known descendent of the family indicate that David was most likely a relative of some of the Howells who had settled on Long Island in the early 1600's. Perhaps those of the well known Edward Howell family.

Although details as to it's connections with the Jameson family can be found in this collection, a more comprehensive and complete examination of this Howell family can be found at "A Genealogy of the David and Keziah (Pierson) Howell Family of Morris County, New Jersey about 1775 to 1818" at their website.[4] There are several other unrelated but well known and well researched Howell families in America dating back to some of the earliest settlers. Anyone interested in a further understanding of the Howell family is encouraged to seek out those works.

This particular Howell family is of special interest in that Howell daughters, in two separate generations, married Jameson father and son (Joseph Brown and his son Arthur Howell Jameson). These two separate generations come from (father) Stephen D. Howell and (grandfather) David W. Howell, who were brothers. Both, Stephen D. and David William came originally from New Jersey and were the sons of David and Keziah (Pierson) Howell of Jefferson township, Morris county, New Jersey. Of further Howell family interest is that Joseph Brown Jameson's brother Isaac married a Jane Howell, although no connection between these two Howell families can be established.

Both Howell brothers migrated from New Jersey first to New York state and then, with their families, to Michigan, typical migration patterns in the early and middle 1800's. As Ethel Williams described in her book Know Your Ancestors[5] - "Michigan is sometimes called the child of New York. With the completion of the Erie Canal in New York in 1825 settlers from New York and New England came pouring into southern Michigan, until, by 1937, two thirds of Michigan's population were New Yorkers and New Englanders and 85 per cent of the pioneers of southwestern Michigan were 'Yorkers'. The social customs of Michigan people simulate more closely those people of New York than of any other area. A look at Michigan place names indicates from where the first settlers came. For example, Michigan counties of Clinton, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Otsego, and Wayne all have their counterparts in New York State. Towns in New York and Michigan sharing names include in part: Ithaca, Utica, Flint, Marshall, Lansing, Mount Pleasant, Ovid, Rochester, St. Johns, Trenton, Vassar, Yale, Monroe, Lyons, Elmira, Baldwin, Albion, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Adrian, Cazenovia and Fenton. Michigan village and township place names read like a gazetteer of New York."

David W. Howell and his family and the children of his by then deceased brother Stephen D. Howell reversed this trend. They returned to New York state in the mid 1850's after having lived in Michigan for several years. The reason for this reversal is now lost and open only to speculation. With siblings in other parts of New York state[6], David settled in Bergen, Genesee Co., where the family remained and prospered for several generations.

Related information here.

Go here for details on early Howell family naming traditions and customs.