My grandmothers oldest brother James Franklin Howell, he was known as Frank, and was born 10-27-1871 in Washington Co., Pennsylvania. He married Mary Anna Moyers abt. 1897 and had two daughters in Washington Co., Pa. In 1908 he left his home for the train station to go on a business trip, family says he was an insurance agent, and he was never heard of again. The family didn't know what his distination was, but no one saw him at the train station, and family always thought that he was murdered?? Paula Chodacki http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/h/o/Paula-L-Chodacki/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "Colleen" <ladyaudris@earthlink.net> To: <HOWELL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2003 8:30 AM Subject: [HOWELL] COLLEEN'S OCTOBER CHALLENGE > Hi everyone, > > Quiet... that's what you all are! Sounds like a good challenge is in order. > > October... and Halloween... witches, goblins, ghouls... things that go > 'bump' in the night ~ > > We all know about Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." > Let's do a takeoff on that and make this a month of legends, customs and > strange stories about our ancestors and/or families ~ a month of tales. > > Some ideas: > > ...does your family have any odd customs? sayings? > > ...was anyone in your family present when historic events took place? > > ...did any of your ancestors "just miss" a tragic event in history? > > ...why has your family deemed that particular early relative 'weird', > 'odd', or 'strange'? > > ...the story goes that "Uncle (or Aunt or great-grandfather/mother) > Soandso ...and was never heard from again." > > Don't like any of the above? How about... > > ...telling us about an ancestor who (ahem) stepped 'aside' the law ~ a > villain, criminal, or miscreant? (This one might get you into the > International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists [IBSSG].) > > That ought to get some discussion going here. :) > > Kindly remember though, that we do NOT discuss living people. (Of > course, saying something like "my mother [or father] told me about..." > is perfectly acceptable.) > > > Colleen >