Official records indicate that a land grant of 150 acres was issued to John Howell, Jr. on January 10, 1639. Another land grant was issued to Lieutenant John Howell for 212 acres, dated March 25, 1663.

According to Clark Howell, John Howell, was first recorded as follows: “To all whom these presents shall come, I, Sir John Harvey, Knight Governor Esq. Now know yee, that I, with the consent of the Council of State, do give and grant unto John Howell one hundred and fifty acres of land by and for the transportation of three persons into the Colony of Virginia, whose names are affixed.” Dated January 10, 1639.

John Fletcher, Thomas Gibson and Jane Price signed the grant. A further grant, made to Lieutenant John Howell, reads as follows: “To all and whereas, now know yee, that I, Sir William Berkeley, Knight Governor, Esq. Give and grant unto Lt. John Howell, 212 acres of land lying on the south side of the Appomattox River in the Parish of Bristol, to have and to hold.” Dated March 25, 1663.

These two grants were for land lying in Henrico County, Virginia.

There is also a land grant made to Hopkin Howell, recorded, which reads as follows: “To all whom it may concern, know yee, that I, Sir Culpepper, Knight Governor, grant unto Hopkin Howell, 110 acres of land on the branches of the Chuckatuck in the Isle of Wight County, Virginia, for the transportation of three persons, as follows: Thomas Hayward, Elizabeth Conway, Mary, a Negress.” Dated May 29, 1683.

Hopkin Howell and Mary Howell, his wife, regranted the patent given to Hopkin Howell, deceased. Dated Isle of Wight Co., Va., April 23, 1688.

John Howell, Jr. had land granted to him in 1694 as the following record shows: “To all know yee, I, Sir Edmund Andros, Lt. Gov., grant unto John Howell, son of John Howell, deceased, 100 acres of land in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. This patent was a part of a grant to Peter Johnson in 1642, and escheated to Hopkin Howell and the said mentioned land falling to John Howell, to whom this patent is regranted.” Dated April 20, 1694.

Richard Howell, son of Ebenezer, was born in Newark, Newcastle, Delaware. Richard and his twin brother, Lewis, was born at Newark October 24, 1754. Richard, the more predominate of Ebenezer’s eleven children, became the Governor of New Jersey annually from 1793 to 1801. He was also the grandfather of Varina Howell, wife of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.

Richard studied law and was admitted to the bar. In the Revolutionary War he attained the rank of Major. He resigned from the army to become one of George Washington’s Secret Service agents. He was one of the Charter members of the Society of the Cincinnati.

He was also a poet, wrote the ode welcoming Washington to Trenton and many other patriotic songs. He died in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1802.

Richard married a Quaker, Keziah Burr, sister to Aaron Burr, Vice President under Thomas Jefferson. Aaron is also famous for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

In 1774, Richard, dressed as an Indian, led a party that raided a storehouse at New Castle, New Jersey and burned the tea consigned there by the British.

William Burr Howell, son of Richard married Margaret Louisa Kempe in 1823. The daughter of Colonel James Kempe, a wealthy landowner of Louisiana, moved to Nachez, Mississippi.

William Burr Howell built his plantation, “The Briers,” on a hill with full view of the Mississippi River in 1814-1818. Still standing and currently operated as a Bed & Breakfast, The Briers is one of the finest examples of early Southern plantation-style architecture.

William Burr and Margaret had eleven children of which six lived to adulthood. The children were Joseph Davis, Variana Ann, Becket, Jefferson Davis, Jane, and Margaret Howell.

Variana was born on her Grandfather Kempe’s plantation, “The Morengo,” in Louisiana on May 7, 1826.

Jefferson Davis lived on his brother’s plantation, the Hurricane, located on Palmyro Peninsula, just north of Nachez on the Mississippi River.

Joseph Emory Davis, Jefferson’s older brother had been a good friend to Variana’s older brother Joseph.

Joseph Davis had invited Variana to the Hurricane for a Christmas Party in 1843. This was the meeting between Variana and Jefferson Davis, of which love bloomed effecting their wedding on February 26, 1845.

Joseph Davis cut off 1600 acres from the Hurricane and gave this land to Jefferson on which he constructed his own plantation, “The Brierfield.”

Soon after Jefferson Davis was elected Senator from the State of Mississippi. Variana soon learned the role of a politican’s wife in Washington, D.C. and was soon admired by all the affluents in that section.

When the South seceded and formed the Confederate States of America in 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected as its President. Variana was charmed and admired by all the citizens of the Confederacy as their first and only “First Lady” of the South.

Rednap Howell, a brother to Richard, was also a musician, songwriter and schoolteacher.

Rednap Howell had settled in Orange County, North Carolina sometime around 1750. By 1768 he was removed to West Orange, now Randolph County. He was young when he came, certainly not more than twenty-one years of age. William Few wrote in his autobiography of Rednap Howell.

“The schoolmaster was a man of mild and amiable disposition. He governed his little school with judgment and prosperity, wisely distinguishing the obedient, timid child from the obstinate and contumacious, judiciously applying the rod when necessary. He possessed the art of making his pupils fear, love and esteem him.”

During the uprisings of the Regulators in 1768 and 1769, Rednap circulated most freely among the Regulators those ambling epics and jingling ballads that made him famous as the bard of the movement. There were about forty of these, but only three fragments of them remain to this day.

Rednap Howell took an active part in the Hillsboro riot of September 1770. He, it is said, wrote the petition that was presented to Judge Henderson in the absence of Chief Justice Howard. Under his leadership the Regulators were instrumental in the breaking up of the court and the whipping of the lawyers.

The officers, the lawyers and the merchants of the town formed a distinct class-an aristocracy. They were wealthier, more cultured and better surrounded by the comforts and luxuries of life than the people of the country. To the average man there is an imposing glamour about this kind of superiority that inspires respect. To render these aristocrats contemptible in the eyes of the people was to destroy one of the strongest safeguards they had. Howell did this by his poetry.

Rednap Howell was also present and fought with The Regulators at the Battle of Alamance, on May 16, 1771. At Alamance he fought, and after Alamance he ran away. He was outlawed and a price put upon his head. He first took refuge in Maryland, but in the latter part of 1772, he was removed to Augusta County, Virginia.

Still later he returned to New Jersey, and died in Trenton in December 1787. His whole estate was inventoried at 7 lbs., 17 shillings, and 9 dimes, and it is supposed that he died unmarried and without issue.

In 1754, Joseph Howell, Jr. grandson of John Howell, Jr. owned two ferries in North Carolina. One on the Tar River and one on Fishing Creek. Joseph was also the Tobacco Inspector for the Colony of North Carolina.

Halifax County was cut off from Edgecombe County in 1758 and made a separate county. This action left Edgecombe without a county seat.

On September 23, 1760, Joseph Howell, then living on Tar River, where Tarboro now stands, sold to James Moir, Aquila Suggs, Lawrence Toole, Elisha Battle and Benjamin Hunt, 150 acres for 2,000 lbs. proclamation money of the Province of North Carolina.

These men had been appointed commissioners for the establishing of the City of Tarboro. This land lay on the south side of Tar River.

That same year the men who purchased the land were appointed by the Assembly as trustees to lay off the town. A bond of 2,000 lbs. Lease was given by the trustees as security to Joseph Howell, for construction of buildings and the laying off of the village.

The land was cut up into lots; except where Mr. Howell’s dwelling stood, a small graveyard and fifty acres, which were to be used as a common for the benefit of the town.

The commissioners were to have rights to all the profit for a period of one year, and at the end of that time the trustees were to pay Mr. Howell the rent of one penny for transferring the property into the possession of the commissioners. Recognized by the Court of Tarboro, and attested by James Hall, Clerk, dated September 24, 1760.

In 1767, the court exercised the power of issuing a Writ of Scire Facias to collect money in another colony. Joseph Howell had been sued by James Dunlap Merrith of Virginia. Joseph Howell lost the suit and Merrith had judgment for 2817 lbs., the amount sued for. Shortly afterwards an error was discovered in the decision and the case reopened, and it found that Merrith was not entitled to damages. The court ordered Sheriff James Moore to sell the goods, chattels, land, and tenements, to the amount adjudged for damages, which were recovered for Mr. Howell.

In 1764, Joseph Howell was one of the supervisors appointed by the Governor to build the courthouse in Tarboro.

In the same year, John Haywood and Joseph Howell, two of the most influential men in the county were appointed to serve on a committee by the assembly to examine public claims and accounts.

Joseph Howell represented Tarboro in the Assembly more than 3 times between 1742-1775.

By 1722, according to the historians Turner and Bridger, Bertie Precinct, which for a long time was politically connected with Edgecombe County, North Carolina, was formed, and the region settled by the highest type of Virginia manhood. The mouth of Town Creek marked the beginning of the settlement in 1720, but two years later the present vicinity of Tarboro was settled by a small party of Virginians.

Three graves are located in the graveyard of the Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro. Headstones indicate the following:

Martha Gray - wife of James D. Howell, Born Sept. 17, 1818, died Feb. 17, 1885.

Jeannie D. Howell - Born June 15, 1850, died Dec. 17, 1881.

Anna G. Howell - Born Aug. 15, 1848, died Aug. 31, 1862.

James D. Howell - Born June 17, 1818, died Apr. 28, 1850.

The land upon which Tarboro was built was formerly the property of Joseph Howell, of North Carolina. The dates of the grants of land in North Carolina, and especially Edgecombe County, do not represent the time of the arrival of the families, who, in many cases, had been resident there for fifteen or twenty years previous. Settlers in North Carolina recorded their “Rights,” which meant a grant of fifty acres for each person brought into the colony, but the recording, like the granting, took place long after the actual settlement.

John Howell, Jr., of Virginia, was designated as John Howell, Sr. in North Carolina. Of his rights we have the following record: “At a council in Edenton, (Colonial Capitol) March 15, 1743, John Howell of Bertie County, was admitted to prove his rights in order to take up land. The number of his rights were seven whites and eight blacks.” His petition and the originals of the grants are in the Land Office at Raleigh, and describe minutely the metes and bounds.

Among the North Carolina State Papers is found the following interesting item: “Deposition of John Campbell, Merchant of Bertie County. This deponent saith he saw John Howell, Sr., have a blank warrant and a patent of land to be filled without any date to either.” Governor Gale Johnson issued a large number of such warrants.

John Howell, Jr. married, Elizabeth, who survived him, and whose estate was administered by her son, Thomas Howell. Their children were:

1. Robert, (petitioned for two hundred acres of land in Edgecombe County, November 27, 1744, and again for one hundred acres on April 6, 1745, in Bertie County, which is on the way from Isle of Wight County, Virginia to Edgecombe County, North Carolina).

2. Hopkin, (petitioned for land in Craven County, North Carolina in 1749).

3. Thomas, (appointed with his brothers, juror for Edgecombe County, February 25, 1739-40; petitioned for land in Northampton County in 1743, and for two hundred acres of land on November 27, 1744).

4. William (petitioned for land in Edgecombe County in 1739).

Joseph Howell, son of John Howell, died in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, between January 10, 1749, when he made his will, and May 1750, when it was proved in May Court. Here, with his brothers, John and Thomas, was appointed as juror for Edgecombe County, February 25, 1739- 1740.