The Howells of America are an old family, dating back to the arrival of the first Edward Howell in Southold, Long Island in the early 1600's. His great great grandson, Gideon Howell was born in 1728, and eventually settled with his wife Sarah on a farm in Littleton, Morris County, New Jersey. Gideon's third child and first son was Ezekiel, born in 1758. Ezekiel became a private in the Morris County Militia during the Revolutionary War and later, with his wife Susannah Hill, fathered seven children. The last born was Edward in 1804.
Edward Howell continued to farm the Littleton fields his grandfather farmed before him, married Mary Lee of Bottle-Hill (Madison, New Jersey) and fathered four children, after having lost his first two sons in their infancy. As the owner of a prominent farm of the area, he also held important community positions during his lifetime. He was for a time the tax assessor of Hanover Township, and served as the township school commissioner. He became a member of the New Jersey House of Assembly for two terms and was an active member of the Morristown Baptist Church, serving first as a clerk, then a deacon and later as a member of the Board of Trustees. He died in 1878 at the age of 74.
Edward and Mary Howell's third son to survive infancy was George Washington Howell. Born in 1835 on the family farm in Littleton, he would be their only child until the birth of their daughter Susan in 1841. He must have been a gifted student because at the age of 16, George became the Littleton school teacher. Five years later, when he was 21, he enrolled in The New Jersey State Normal School to study education. He taught for a number of years at this Trenton institution before leaving teaching to try his hand at other endeavors.
It appears that George had a variety of interests for he made many different career choices. A possible result of his unrelenting curiousity was that he became involved with many important projects that helped to establish both the state's, and Morris County's, early modern identities. He assisted the state geologist, George H. Cook, with early New Jersey geology surveys, he was the chief engineer of two railroad lines, he was a life long member of the Commission that drained the meadowlands of the Passaic River in Morris, Passaic and Essex Counties and, he designed many of the early Morris county bridges. He investigated the water supplies of Northern New Jersey, worked for the Morris Aqueduct Company, planned the Normandie Park water supply system and designed the Greystone State Hospital reservoir in Morris Plains. Upon taking up his own practice in Morristown, he worked as the town surveyor and was responsible for the subdivisions of large tracts of land in the area.
George Howell was a member of many organizations, boards and charitable associations. These included: the Washington Association, Sons of the American Revolution, Secretary of the Morristown Memorial Hospital, deacon and member of the Board of Trustees of the Baptist Church, a member of the State Board of Education, member of the New Jersey Sanitary Association, treasurer of the Young Men's Christian Association and recording secretary of the Morris County Sunday School Association. He possessed a fine singing voice and was a musician of some talent, as he not only played the organ he also composed and wrote a number of pieces for the instrument.
George married Rachel Cornish of Passaic Township in 1862 and together they raised five children: Edward, Charlotte, Suzy, Mary Lee and Rachel C.
This collection contains genealogical documents, correspondence, professional certificates, and legal documents such as deeds, mortgages, and wills. The bulk of the material pertains to George W. Howell (1835-1901), although various members of his extended family are also represented, including; his aunts Eunice Howell and Hannah Todd, his mother's family the Lee's of Madison, his wife's family the Cornish's of Passaic Township and some legal documents that once belonged to his father, Edward Howell (1804-1878) of Littleton.
The seventeen folders of this collection are arranged chronologically.
This collection is open to researchers and may be copied for use in individual scholarly or personal research. However, as with all materials in the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center, researchers are responsible for obtaining copyright permission. The contents of the Howell Genealogy Papers may be photocopied, but because this material is a permanent part of the History Center's collections, researchers are advised to photocopy with care, using only the edge copier for bound material. The use of digital cameras is encouraged.
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Finding Aid arranged and encoded by North Jersey History and Genealogy Center Archivist, 2011.