Hi, I just got this from my Shelby Co. Ill., list... Dix... CHARLES HOWELL AMONG the prominent agricultural and stock men of Moultrie county may be mentioned the name that heads this biography. He was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, March 20th, 1830. He was the son of David and Elizabeth Howell; David Howell was a native of North Carolina, and of Welsh decent; he came to Shelby county when a young man and there married Miss Elizabeth Bryant, a native of Kentucky; her parents were also from North Carolina. David Howell's father's name was John Stephen Howell; he emigrated to Kentucky in an early day and settled in Shelby county, where he resided until his death. After David Howell's marriage he began farming, an occupation he was brought up to; remained in Kentucky several years after his marriage, and in 1836 emigrated t o Illinois and settled in what is now Moultrie county, near where the subject of our sketch now resides. He bought three hundred acres of land and began the improvement of this tract; his health was not good after coming to this S! tate, and after seven yea rs he died, leaving a widow and nine children to mourn his demise. Charles Howell was then in his thirteenth year; he remained at home with his mother, and assisted in the management of the farm until her death in 1851. His advantages for receiving an edu cation were very limited, about nine months being all the schooling he received, but in after life, by his own energies, he qualified himself sufficiently to transact almost any ordinary business. At the age of twenty-four he was united in marriage to Mis s Eliza E. Hill, daughter of William Hill, of Payette county, Ohio. Mrs. Howell is of German ancestry. This marriage took place January 4th, 1854. They have had born to them a family of eleven children, and have never had a death in the family. Mr. Howel l was educated to agricultural pursuits, a business he has followed his entire life with marked success; he received less than forty acres out of his father's estate, and by industry and economy h! e acquired about 143 acres by the time of his marriage, and by adding tract after tract he now owns 1,620 acres of fine land, and his improvements are among the best in the county. He has for years been quite extensively engaged in stock-raising. and to this line of business is more particularly due his success i n life; what he has of this world's goods has been acquired by his industrious habits and untiring energy. During the early settlement of the county, or before railroads were built through this section of country, he bought hogs and drove through on foot to Terre Haute, Indiana; and when a young man, before his marriage, made trips through to Ohio with droves of fat cattle, in the employ of Samuel Pancost. In politics Mr. Howell is a republican, but has never taken an active part in politics, desiring rat her to employ his time in the improvement of a model farm. Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Howell are members of the M. E. Church. JOHN T. HOWELL WAS born in Shelby county, Kentucky, February 12th, 1832. He was the son of Ransom and Nancy Howell. The family is of Welsh extraction, the forefathers emigrating to America in the colonial days. John Howell, the grandfather of the subject of our s ketch, emigrated from North Carolina to Kentucky in the early settlement of that state, and settled in Shelby county, on the waters of Clear creek, where he improved a farm. He here married a Miss Mary Busey, a daughter of one of the old families in that part of the state. They raised a family of nine children. It was here where Ransom Howell was born and raised; he grew to manhood on a farm, and afterwards married Miss Nancy Gailey, of Shelby county, Kentucky. There were two children born by this union, John T. and Mary C. Mr. Howell was eight years of age when his father died, and in consequence was left to his own resources at a very early age. He lived with his relations, and at times attended school until about eighteen years! of age, when he began to learn the wagon-making trade; he remained at this business about two years. At the age of twenty-two he was united in marriage to Miss Susan Harris, who was a native also of Shelby county, Kentucky. They have a family of six children -- Henry T., Shelby W., Robert E., John R., Mollie G., and Jimmie. Mr. Howell lived in Kentucky until 1864, when he came to Moultrie county, and bought 140 acres in Lovington township, where he now Page 229 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- lives. He has increased his landed possessions in this township until he now owns 500 acres. A view of his residence and scenes on his farm can be seen in another part of this book. The principal part of Mr. Howell's property has been the fruits of his ow n industry and strict attention to business. In politics he is a democrat.