| John B. Howell,
Sr., owner of the large and extensive mill plant of Danville,
was born on a farm in Logan County, Ky., May 12, 1815;
here his early youth was spent assisting his father in
the duties of the farm, and in 1836 came with his parents,
John and Mary (Jones) Howell, to Johnson County, this
State, and settled on land which they farmed, and in connection
with this ran a store of general merchandise, which they
had opened at Pittsburgh. In 1838 our subject severed
his connection with this business to go to Van Buren and
take charge of the mail route between Old Dwight, Mo.,
and Fort Smith, I. T., carrying the semiweekly mail for
four years, when he changed to the tri weekly stage running
between Little Rock and Hot Springs, in it, passing over
a stretch of country for thirty miles without a post-office,
and while acting as mail-carrier was associated with Lewis
Snap in the inland service, known as the pack routes,
the mail being carried on horseback. In 1846?47 he ran
the steamer on the White River, from Napoleon to Rock
Craw Creek, where it met the stage line. His health failing,
he sold his boat at the expiration of two years and came
to Danville, and settled on a farm, and when that terrible
scourge of the sixties visited the land, was well fixed
financially, owning 3,000 acres of land, 500 of which
were in a thorough state of cultivation, the labor of
this immense plantation being performed by seventy-five
servants. Soon this was laid waste by the devastating
armies of the war, [p.158] stock confiscated, houses and
other buildings destroyed, and soon nothing remained of
this once beautiful and vast estate but the land. At the
close of this long and bloody struggle, he returned to
Danville, and engaged in farming and milling, erecting,
in 1869, his large mills, comprising a flouring-mill,
ginning and wool-carding machinery, and a saw-mill attached,
all costing in the neighborhood of $10,000, and in 1886
this entire plant with all its contents, was destroyed
by fire, it being a total loss to him, as it was not insured.
In 1872 he opened the popular Danville, famed throughout
the county for its genial proprietor, its good cheer,
and its first-class accommodations. He was wedded to Miss
Eliza Hurd, of Crawford County, who lived to bless his
home with her presence but a short time. She departed
this life in 1842, leaving an infant son to the care of
her husband, who lived to be but two years of age. He
is not connected with any church, and, although voting
the Democratic ticket, has never held any political office.
Our subject has one brother, who resides at Clarksville,
at the advanced age of eighty-one years, and three sisters,
all deceased. |
