History of David William Howell 1808-1977

David was born and raised in the Birkshire Valley, Jefferson township, of the northwest part of Morris county, New Jersey. David moved on to Manchester, Ontario county, New York[1] and then to Genesee county, New York possibly with his brother Abram. During this time David married Phebe Parshall. Phebe apparently died and David remarried, Adelia Sedgwick Elmer.

David and Delia Howell moved to Michigan in 1835, where David bought land from the federal government: two "public land" parcels, both of the 'Michigan- Toledo strip' - one, 40 acres in Wayne county, and the other, one hundred sixty two acres in Calhoun county.

They settled near the village of Battle Creek in what is now Emmett Township, Calhoun County, Michigan. It was then part of the Michigan Territory, as statehood was not gained until 1837. That part of Michigan was very sparsely inhabited until the latter part of the 1830's. In fact the population of the entire territory was only 87,273, in 1833, including that of Detroit.

The family located on a farm of 320 acres just southeast of what was then just a small village. This area is now part of the city and is known as Morgan Park on Main Street. Besides farming David taught school in Marshall, Michigan in 1835 and 1836. Later he followed Warren B. Shepard as teacher in the log school house in Battle Creek.

David and his family were one of the first settlers in the area. Originally known as Milton township, itself not regularly organized until 1833. David was active in the organization of the township and served in it's civic operations. There appears in the History of Calhoun County, 1830-1877:

Milton township was reorganized by the state legislature during its 1837-1838 session into what is now eight congressional townships; Bedford, Pennfield, LeRoy, Athens, Burlington, Emmett, Newton and Battle Creek. At that time was is now Emmett township was named Cody township. Again David Howell was active in township matters. From the History of Calhoun County, 1830-1877:

One of the first acts of this first township meeting was to rename Cody township Andover township. This was approved and enacted upon by the state legislature at their 1839-1840 session.

David remained active with local government, in fact he served as the township's supervisor for three years, from 1839 through 1841.

In 1845 David sold his land in Michigan to Jeremiah Brown and with all the children, except his eldest son, Leander, who remained in Michigan, then moved to New York state about 1845 where they lived in the upstate, Bergen area of Genesee County. Mr. Brown became one of the county's important agricultural figures organizing the Agricultural Society and the County Fair.

In New York David remarried and he with his new wife Eliza had three more children, two who survived. These six children were all raised by David and Eliza as their own. In fact John Jenness Howell and his wife Mylie are buried in the family plot listing D.W. as "Father" and "Eliza" as mother.

William Elmer, father of David's wives Adelia and Eliza, was a captian in the war of 1812. He and his family immigrated from Connecticuit to the Bergen area in the 1830's. He and his wife Sabra are buried in the East Bergen Cemetery.

David was a farmer. He, with his wife Eliza and all the children, plus four of his brother Stephen's children who he had guardianship of after his brother died in 1850, lived on Sacket Road north of town.

In Bergen, NY David served as clerk, trustee and chairman of the local school district (#3 - Black Creek) in 1855, 1856, 1863, 1865 and 1868.

David Howell is referred to as Captain Howell or Captain David Howell in several Michigan sources. The reason for the use of this particular appellation is however not known. There is no known military service and as he would have been twenty seven years old when he first arrived in Michigan, that military grade would not seem logical. It is possible this is a civil nautical reference, and indeed a reference to a boat Captain David Howell does exist. However there is no know evidence that this David Howell was that, or any other, boat Captain.