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Joseph H. Howington The Chronicle of his Life |
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Click the flag to go to the Blue Ridge Living History Society |
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Born during the chill of February in Wilkes County, North Carolina Joseph Howington grew to manhood in the beautiful Blueridge Mountains. In April 18481 he married Nancy Pearce in Ashe County, North Carolina. Around 18502 Joseph and his father, Noel Howington, moved their families to Washington County, Virginia where they are found farming in the census. By 1860 Noel3 had moved back to Cove Creek, now Watauga County, North Carolina. Joseph4, however, had taken work as a bricklayer in Tazwell County, Virginia. Joseph was back in Watauga County on September 18, 1861 where he enlisted in Company E, 37th North Carolina Infantry5. Confederate civil war records are very sketchy. I know when he enlisted, when he was promoted to Corporal6, and when he surrendered7. What battles he fought in are lost to time but somewhere along the line he was blinded in one eye8. Returning to Watauga County after the war, where his brother Jabez had been killed9 for taking part in the lynching of Thomas Stout and Union "bushwhackers" rained terror and murder on the weak, was too much. Joseph gathered up his family and moved back to Washington County, Virginia10,11 to raise his children in peace. By 1900 Joseph has again moved, this time to Russell County, Virginia where he is widowed and renting a farm12. He applied for a Confederate Veterans pension13 but apparently didn't live long enough to collect it. Where he is buried remains a mystery. Joseph H. Howington was my GG-Grandfather. 1 1848 Ashe County, NC Marriage Bond # 1820 2 1850 Washington County, VA census, pg. 136, visit 997 and 998 3 1860 Watauga County, NC census, pg. 56, visit 353 4 1860 Tazwell County, VA census, pg. 178, visit 1197 5 North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster. (NCRosterC) Published in 1993 6 North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster. (NCRosterC) Published in 1993 7 Auburn University Library, Lane Papers, http://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/find-aid/501/ff87.htm 8 Russell County, VA, Civil War pension applications 1900 9 A History of Watauga County, North Carolina by John Preston Arthur, pg. 171 10 1870 Washington County, VA census, pg. 98, visit 276 11 1880 Washington County, VA census, ED 97, pg. 56, visit 490 12 1900 Russell County, VA census, ED 58, sheet 10, visit 264 13 Russell County, VA, Civil War pension applications 1900 |
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Joseph gathered up his family and moved back to Washington County, Virginia to raise his children in peace. |
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