Robbie, I am not searching the HOWELLs, I have no connection to them. I do have access to all the census with ancestry.com. I think that it is highly possible that EDITH HOWELL was JOhn and Edward's mother.. I see on the census that she was b. 1796. making her 54 in 1850. In her household are: 1850 Giles Co., TN HOWELL, Age 54, NC GLASGO, age 19, TN HOWELL, Crawford, age 17, TN HOWELL, Edith, age 15, TN Bethany, age 13, TN These are in Giles Co., in 1850, all born in NC Edward, b. 1823 in NC...right age, she would have been 27, if she is his mother Jesse C., b, 1802, NC ****too old to be Edith's son [Edith would have been 8] John, b. 1810 NC**** possible....she would have been 14 John A., b 1816 NC... right age, she would have been 20, if she is his mother Mager, b. 1800 NC...too old... Edith would have been 4 Mary, b. 1804 NC...too old.. Edith would have been 8 Mary E., b. 1809 NC...too old...Edith would have been 9 Of the above, I would say that John A. and Edward were brothers, and that their mother was Edith... If you need these census, let me know. Hope this helps! Lanita I think my family tree is a few branches short of full bloom.