CHAPTER 4

The Tracy Family History

Archibald Moon

Archibald Moon, the Confederate

Archibald Moon
    I have told you the story of Uncle Billy, an adventurer who came to California with plans to look around and then move on. Then he found that he liked it so much that he decided to take California away from Mexico. He made a fortune in the gold fields only to loose it all to a dysfunctional partner.
    You will remember that his brother was Thomas Moon, my 3rd great grandfather. Thomas' first born was Archibald, my 2nd great grandfather. Archibald was born 10 March 1827 near Sedalia, what was then old Cooper Co., Missouri.           
      Archibald had two wives. The first marriage was to Emmaline F. Lester
on 12 June 1849, in Morgan County. They had one son, George Wm. Moon born 13 January 1853 in Morgan County.
    Nothing is known about the first wife. It is assumed that she died young. Her name appears on a deed six months after the birth of George Wm. So, she did not die in childbirth. There was a cholera epidemic in this area in 1853. Maybe this could be what took her life.
    On a deed at this time, and in this same area, there shows up an Archibald 'M.C.' Moon. I am not sure that this is our Archibald, but I find that there were very few Archibald Moons anywhere in the United States, and even less in Missouri.

    Archibald marries again to Martha Melvina Wallace on 12 February 1857. This was also in Morgan County. There would be 12 more children. Martha Wallace comes from an illustrious line. However, that story is yet to come.
The children born to Archibald and Martha in Missouri are as follows:

Brice Madison b. 22 November 1857
Lousannie Jane b. 29 October 1859 (This was my great grandmother. Aunt Hattie says she was born in Atlanta, Missouri.)
Ella b. 15 October 1860
John T. b. 13 September 1862 (Died young.)

All were born in Morgan County.

    In the old days, almost everyone owned a farm or did farm work. When you look at the records they can be deceiving. Most everyone is listed as being a farmer, whereas, technically, they might be ranchers or sheepmen. The Moons were historically sheepmen.
    This story about Archibald and his family should be the normal story for its day: Except, there was a Civil war. (I should point out that most of the information about Archibald comes from Aunt Hattie.)
    Archibald was wealthy, owned a plantation, and owned slaves. Although he owned slaves, Archibald had a policy that whoever entered the property, they were to be treated equally.
    Missouri during the civil war was a Border State, technically, controlled by the Union. In reality, the State was fragmented with the Federal Authorities in control some places and the Confederate influence in other areas.
    Archibald made the classic mistake that you see throughout the history of mankind. He backed the wrong side. He was a Confederate. Although, during the war, slavery was legal in the States that remained loyal to the Union. President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves in the States that were in rebellion. Thus, slavery was legal in Missouri throughout the war.
    There were Confederate guerrilla bands that operated throughout the State. The Unionists had similar bands, which usually went under the title of 'militia'. Both sides kept lists of those who were sympathetic to their cause and those who were sympathetic to the enemy. Depending on how the Union authorities felt on any particular day, there could be trials, which could result in banishment from the State and confiscation of property.
    Aunt Hattie tells the story of Archibald being gone from home. He was a Confederate solider who returned on a broken down old mule to find the house burned. A military force had come, removed everyone from the house, then set it afire. The family was told that they would be left only with their lives. Hattie's mother, Lousannie (although Hattie preferred the pronunciation of Lousanna) was three years old and remembers being removed from the house and the house being burned by the Yankees. They were able to save the family mule by hiding it in a ravine.
    If you were a Confederate sympathizer, or actively aided the guerrillas, then your property was libel for confiscation and your house could be burned. Archibald's family was given a certain number of days to a cross a line, then they would be safe. I have read other stories of people’s houses being burned and given ten days to cross the State line and get out of Missouri.
    Archibald Moon does not show up on the official Confederate military records. He was probably a guerrilla or aided the guerrillas. Either way he was libel to his house being burned, property being confiscated, and being banished from the State. Guerrillas fighting for the Southern cause considered themselves to be Confederate soldiers.
    I remember reading an article published in the 1920's(?) where one of Archibald's sons said, "The family lost its property in Missouri. It had something to do with the war."
    It is easy to guess what happened next. Archibald's first job was to get his family safely across the State line. He would have been destitute having been stripped of all of his property. I'm sure he had plenty of relatives, not only on the Moon side of the family but also on his wife's side that were willing to help.
    The slave girl wanted to stay with the family. But Archie told her that according to the politics of the time, he would free her, and then they could never see her again. She walked over to the woodpile, sat down and cried.
    He would have written a letter, or more probably sent a telegram to Uncle Billy explaining his desperate situation. (The telegraph wire to California was completed in 1862.) Uncle Billy must have told him to come on out to California.
    A wagon train was formed with Archibald being elected captain. We know that he brought his wife and children, brother James Polk, and sister Elizabeth, and most probably his mother. I suspect that the wagon train carried a lot more of the relatives than we have documented.
    Missouri was a good place to get away from during the Civil War. 11% of the nations soldiers came from Missouri, with 110,000 soldiers fighting for the Union, and 40,000 for the Confederacy. 1,162 battles or skirmishes would take place in the state.
    He would have to get financial help from the local relatives and possibly Uncle Billy sent some money. Then he would have to outfit and wait for the traveling season. The wagon trains started rolling the latter part of April or the early part of May. The roads had to be dry.
    Calculating when to leave was always a gamble. If you started too soon, the grass on the prairie would not be sufficient for grazing the animals. If you started too late, other pioneers would have already over grazed the grass and over used the watering places to the point that they were polluted. Worse of all was mistaking your timing and getting caught in the blizzards of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
    Fortunately, by 1863 the road to California was fairly sophisticated. Here is a description of the route in 1865: The telegraph line had already been completed. Every 10 to 15 miles were stables for the stagecoaches. Eating houses and farms that sold hay could be found every 10 to 15 miles. Blacksmith shops, general stores, and Union military forts to protect you from the Indians would be found every 50 to 100 miles.
    For outfitting it would require at least two yoke of oxen to pull the wagons loaded with 2,000 pounds each. Horses were almost never used to pull the wagons. You could use mules and make the 2,000 mile trip to California two weeks shorter than the customary four and half months. However, mules cost twice as much as oxen and weren't nearly as sturdy. Oxen weren't particular about what they ate. They wouldn't run off at night when they were let out to graze. Indians were not interested in stealing oxen. They were too slow to run off on a raid. Really! When was the last time you saw an Indian with an ox? The oxen were huge animals, not the skinny ones you see pulling the wagons in the western movies. A full-grown ox would weight 2,000 pounds. They were gentle animals and many considered pets. But they were slow animals. "They didn't walk. They plodded."
    A wagon train West was still an ordeal. Every wagon would leave at least one dead on the trail. Little Ella, and a woman, would die and be buried on the prairie. There would be graves along the way, carcasses of oxen and mules, and wreckage of abandoned wagons.
    You walked the 2,000 miles. It was too bumpy to ride in the wagons unless absolutely necessary due to poor health or a pregnant mother. The wives were always pregnant on the journey.
    Aunt Hattie says they came by way of Salt Lake City. She tells the story of some of the wagons leaving the established route and taking a short cut. They were wiped out by Indians.
    They “...landed at the Moon ranch where Archie had a brother." That would have been Nicklaus P. Moon. Aunt Hattie was confused on one point. She thought that Nicklaus was Uncle Billy. We know the Archibald Moon family arrived at the Moon ranch by 28 October 1863 because that was the day Martha gave birth to James Luman at the Moon house.
They stayed the winter with Uncle Billy. Then the records show that Archie bought property in 1864. This was at Paskenta, 15 miles west of Uncle Billy’s ranch. It is confusing as to which county the property was in at the time because the county lines kept shifting.
    To put things into perspective, let me explain that Red Bluff was in Tehama County. During the Civil War, Red Bluff was evenly divided between Union supporters and Confederates. South of Tehama County was Colusa County (Also known by its old name of Colusi.) This is the county where the Moon Ranch was located. Colusa County was settled mainly by Southerners, mostly from Missouri, and, of course, Confederates. The county was known as the South Carolina of California. Although born in Tennessee, Uncle Billy was always known as an "Old Missourian.” North of Red Bluff was Shasta County, inhabited mostly by Union supporters. Because Archibald was a Confederate soldier, it makes historical sense that he would move to any area controlled by his countrymen while in the middle of a Civil War.
    The Tehama County historian, Keith Lingenfelter and I visited the property. It was just rugged hills, probably used for sheep.
    Archibald, being broke, had to have Uncle Billy guarantee the promissory note to purchase the land. The interest on the loan was 10%. This was the standard high rate due to the inflation caused by the Civil War. During the war, inflation would run 25% a year in the North, and of course ran rampant in the South to the point that the Confederate money had no value.
    The people in these counties of divided loyalties, realized the outcome of the war would not be determined by what happened in California. The war would be won or lost by mighty armies fighting decisive battles in the East. So they would capture a grizzly bear and a wild bull, natural enemies, and place them in a pit to fight to the death. To keep things in the proper spirit they would name one animal Jeff Davis and the other Abe Lincoln. That is how our people fought the war in California.
    Archibald would own four properties in California. Some by purchase and one by homestead. He would eventually wind up with a ranch in the hills at Ono, a few miles west of Redding, Aunt Hattie remembers it as being a beautiful place. The football field was at Archie Moon's ranch.
   Aunt Hattie remembers Grandpa and grandma when she was a little girl. She said Archie was a little man. I told her it was the custom of the women in East Tennessee (where grandma Moon was born) to smoke corncob pipes. "Did grandma Moon smoke a corncob pipe?" Aunt Hattie got all flustered and replied, "Well, yes.” (Mother says that it was not unusual in those days for women to smoke pipes.) She remembers them talking about Uncle Nick. That is all she remembers about grandma and grandpa.
    Archie would die at his ranch on 17 March 1908 and is buried at the Igo cemetery in the family plot. Grandma died 1 September 1911, also buried in the family plot.

Following are the list of the 8 children born in California:

James Luman b 28 October 1863
Joseph Nicholas b 22 March 1866
Lucy (Louisa) N b 14 March 1868
Maggie J b 29 November 1869
Charles P b 22 April 1873
Mary (May) b 22 November 1875
Lilly (Lillian) S b 17 May 1878
Harry Franklin b 7 August 1880

Comments
    I assume that all of the Moons were Confederates. But that is assuming too much. Civil wars are wars between brother and brother. (Martha’s brother, Pharoah, served in the Union Cavalry.) I also assume that many Moons came to California in the 1863 wagon train, and many Moons remained in Missouri where their descendants live to this day.
    Official records were kept on those who not only sympathized but also actively supported the guerrillas. There were trials, records kept of the sympathizers, supporters, guerrillas, paroles, banishments, confiscation of property, houses burned, etc. What a treasure throve these records would be in telling the family history. But, alas, all of these records were destroyed after the war…for obvious reasons.
    I have been to the property the Moon's owned when the house was burned, hoping that there might be some remnants of that era, wondering if part of the chimney might be standing, anything that might have some history to tell. There was nothing but rolling hills and the houses of the present owners.
    I became obsessed with the Moon line. I tried everything humanly possible to get beyond Thomas Moon. I paid a professional researcher in Missouri. I wrote letters , 30 in all, to everyone in the phone directory with the last name of 'Moon' living in that county today. I received not one response. I wrote a letter and had it published in the county newspaper. Again, not one response...on the Moon line. However, I did get a response on the 'Proctor' line. “We’ve never heard from the descendants of Lusany before!”
    Archibald and Martha would live out their lives on the farm at Ono and are buried in the family plot in the quaint cemetery of Igo. The unusual names of these two villages date back to the gold rush days when a white man got a piece of rope to do something with, and a Chinaman thought he was going to hang him. The Chinaman begged, "Ono! Ono!" He ran for awhile and then yelled, "Igo! Igo!"

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I came across a draft of the letter I had published in the county newspaper for the last known Missouri county that Archibald lived in. This is 20 years old and sloppy but has some additional information.

I have included a copy

I am writing a family history and would like to contact descendants of the following early Missouri pioneers.
    MOON- Thomas, Jake, David, Robert, and Nathaniel Moon were all neighbors of Benjamin Proctor In Cole Co., in 1830. It is believed that all of these Moons were related. Nathaniel Moon was born in 1777, TN., and was believed to have a daughter-in-law, Polly, b 1810, TN. Polly had two known children: Andrew J., b 1838, and Luke, b 1848. Nathaniel Moon died in Henry Co., 1857. Thomas Moon had one known brother, William C. Moon, b 1809, TN. William C. Moon was one of the first pioneers to enter California and it was in his house in 1846 that the settlers met to instigate the 'Bear Flag Revolt'. Thomas Moon married Lusany Proctor (daughter of Benjamin Proctor) in Cole Co., 1826. One year after their marriage, Thomas and Lusany moved to Prairie Home, Cooper Co. In 1839 they moved again to Benton Co. Thomas Moon and Lusany Proctor had eight known children: Archibald b 1827, Nickolas P b 1829, Mary A (believed to have married Thomas J Howser in Benton Co., 1854, and a second marriage to David Dill in Morgan Co., 1858.), Susan b 1833, Millissen b 1835, Thomas N b 1842, James Polk b 1844, and Elizabeth Josephine b 1849. It is believed that Thomas and Lusany Moon and their children moved to Henry Co. in 1851. Their first son, Archibald, married Emmaline Luster in Morgan Co., 1849, and a second marriage to Martha Ann Wallace in 1857, also in Morgan Co. The family of Archibald Moon was burned out by the bushwhackers during the Civil War and in 1863 they formed a wagon train and immigrated to California.

    WALLACE - Martha Wallace b 1834 in Anderson Co., TN. was married to Archibald Moon. She came to Morgan Co., Mo. in 1850 with her parents, John Miller Wallace and Jane Manley. John died 1884 and his wife 1890, both in Morgan Co. Martha had five known brothers and sisters: Pharoah M. (male) b 1839, Mathew b 1842, Louisa b 1845, Nancy b 1852, and William Peffer b 1860. Pharoah Wallace married Sallie Moore in Morgan Co. and they had five known children: Thomas b 1869, Martha b 1871, Leoda b 1873, John H. b 1877, and Charlie. Pharoah Wallace married a second time to Ella E. Gatewood, in 1881 and had one known child by this wife: Oscar Nelson b 1885. Mathew G. Wallace died in 1864. Louisa Wallace married a John Ficken. Nancy Wallace married George W. Lutman and in 1852 they had three known children: Harry, John, and Nannie (Nancy). These Wallaces are decedents of the Woods-Wallace line which is traced back to Ireland in the late 1600's, beginning with Peter Wallace Sr. and Elizabeth Woods, and her brother and his wife Michael Woods and Mary Campbell. This line came to American in 1724.
(I am corresponding with Naomi Woods of Fortuna.)
    I am a descendent of the pioneers who crossed the plains to California in the wagon train of 1863. Although many of the family left Missouri it is believed that most of the relatives stayed behind and their decedents are numerous and many still live in the areas that their forefathers settled so long ago. Through the generations contact with these relatives in Missouri have been lost. If you are a descendent, or have any knowledge of any of these people mentioned in this article then please contact: Jim Tracy, etc.

James Polk Moon
    I had to include the photo of 'Uncle Polk' because it is such a classic. He was the younger brother of Archibald by 19 years. Having this time span between siblings was quite common in the frontier days when women were expected to bear children until they became barren.
    I took the photo to a gun shop and one of their customers looked over my shoulder at the photo and said, "That is an 1886 Winchester Rifle." This is a 'cabinet type' photo. They were quite popular from 1885 to 1900. The original photo is larger,
8 x 10.
    He was born in Benton Co, Missouri on 25 December 1846. That would make him a Christmas baby. He came across the plains in the wagon train of 1863. He lived for some years on a ranch in North Dakota. From 1894 to 1908 he lived near Dickinson, ND.
    The librarian in Dickinson sent me an page from a book titled 50 Years in the Saddle.

JAMES MOON
    James Moon was a sheepman in the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming in the latter part of the 1880's, and it was possibly about 1890 that he had his sheep in the mountains for summer grazing and they always had to get them out of there before snow came.
    This year the snow came earlier than usual, and caught his band. There was so much snow it was impossible to move them and he lost his sheep. He had a ranch and horses and haying tools. He sold his ranch and the haying tools, kept some of the horses, rigged up the sheep wagon and started out wolfing, as there was a bounty paid on wolves in many places.
    He came into North Dakota in 1894 and got a den of wolves near out range in Thirty Mile Creek, about thirty miles southeast of Dickinson. I don't know how many pups he got or if he got either one of the old ones. He worked in different parts and had some horses, so his herd kept increasing.
    In 1903 he had so many horses he located a ranch about ten miles southeast of Alexander. He stayed on the ranch and still did some wolfing. He got good studs and built up a good bunch of horses. The country started to get settled and he had good work horses to sell, so he did well.
    Age was creeping up on him and he got a nephew to come and help him. I did not get to those parts so I lost track of them from that time on.

    The nephew was James Luman Moon, son of Archibald and he moved to the ranch after 1903.
    The librarian adds quoting an article, "April 13, 1907 (nearly a year before his death) J.P.Moon returned the first of the week from the Brainerd (Minn.)? hospital where he was kept for 91 days for an appendicitis operation and the extraction of a bullet from the shoulder. Mr. Moon feels like a new man and goes from here to his ranch at Mary. (I believe Mary to be a small town, now extinct) that was somewhere near Dickinson."
    There are two things about this story that make me think. One, I was only in the hospital for 3 days when I had my appendixes out. Two, how did he get that bullet in his shoulder?
    Uncle Polk died in Dickinson (or Minot), ND on 15 March 1908 at 61 years of age and is buried at the Oak Hill cemetery in Red Bluff. He was unmarried.

    The following is an article written by Frank Howell when he was fourteen years old, in 1952. This appeared in the Colusi County Historical Society Magazine, Wagon Wheels, Vol. II, No 2.

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J. M. HOWELL, SHEEP KING OF TEHAMA COUNTY
By Frank Howell

    Last year, 1951, a friend and I visited the ruins of the once famous J.M. Howell ranch ten miles west of the town of Tehama and next to the town of Henleyville. We saw before us the half-fallen barns and the windmill and the concrete fence where the beautiful Howell residence had stood. This was the remains of the once famous Howell ranch. As I saw this I remembered the story of the man who built it, J.M. Howell, "Sheep King of Tehama County."
    With one silver dollar in his pocket, James Milton Howell reached Dogtown, California, in September 1859. He had attached himself to a wagon train and crossed the plains without mishap.
    Jim was seventeen, a mature age in frontier days. Jim was alone, his friends and an indifferent family far behind in Missouri. But being alone was not completely a new experience to Jim. His mother died when he was two and after that there was little home life and not much opportunity for an education.
    For awhile, after reaching California, Jim wandered from ranch to ranch doing odd jobs. Finally he was hired by George Kingsley to bring his sheep to Tehama County. He cared for the sheep for a year under the direction of Mr. Kingsley. At the end of the year Mr. Kingsley thought so highly of him that he offered him a partnership which lasted six years. The Kingsley and Howell range extended from Red Bluff to Cottonwood. During this time they began the breeding of sheep, which many years later brought the coveted gold medal award for the best Spanish Merino wool at the Lewis and Clark exposition in Portland, Oregon.
    It was now 1866. Jim had been in California seven years. He was twenty-four years old and the owner of 1400 head of sheep. During this year he accompanied a posse that drove a band of Indians out of Tehama County. During the following year two important events occurred in his life. He purchased 120 acres of land from Thomas Boardman, a merchant of Red Bluff, and secondly, he fell in love and married a young girl from his home state of Missouri, by the name of Elizabeth Moon. The story goes that he had seen Elizabeth at a dance and then and there decided that he must meet her, so he went to her mother and asked if she would introduce him, because he wanted to give Elizabeth a gift. Shortly afterward they began a long and happy marriage. To this union were born eight children, three of whom are now living. They are Ada Mitchell of Corning, Ralph Howell and Nora Norvell, both of Red Bluff.
    In the 70's or 80's, Mr. Howell bought a summer home in the Coast Range mountains, which was known to all as "Howell Camp." Each summer, for over fifty years, the Howells went to this camp. At present a group of men in Corning own Howell Camp.
    One hot summer day the ranch buildings caught fire and burned to the ground. Everyone was at Howell Camp except Owah, the faithful Chinese cook, who several years before, had walked the ten miles from Tehama to the ranch looking for work, and as so often happened with Chinese help, had remained to become an integral part of the family.
    In 1898 the present ranch house was built. It was a dignified two story mansion painted green with a fancy filigree border. Orange trees were planted around the house and beyond these was a large ornamental iron fence.
    In 1903, forty-four years after he had driven Mr. Kingsley's sheep to Tehama County, Jim Howell and George Kingsley again entered a partnership, forming a sheep company with a capital stock of $100,000.
    By now J.M. Howell was well known as a grower of fine wool. He had become, as well, a highly respected citizen of Tehama County. Always public-spirited and generous, he gave the land for the Henleyville church. The Howell school district was named after him. After a number of years, Mr. Howell gave his ranch to his son Sam Howell and moved to Red Bluff. The Schaar Brothers now own this land.
    At the age of ninety, having survived his beloved Elizabeth by many years and his second wife, Elizabeth Gilmore by only a few days, J.M. Howell, Indian fighter and Sheep King of Tehama County, with the words "I am going” quietly passed on. He is buried in the Howell Chapel at the Oak Hill Cemetery, Red Bluff.

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    Betty Howell and the Tehama County historian, Keith Lingenfelter, both of Red Bluff, provided the information I have on the Howell line,
    First born of James and Elizabeth Howell is Thomas Franklin Howell. (A footnote: The Scotch-Irish followed the pattern of the first born son to be named after the mother's father.) He was born 23 November 1867 at Henleyville, CA. This was the Howell ranch, 10 miles west of Uncle Billy's ranch. Archibald's ranch was a few miles further west of Henleyville at Paskenta. He married Susan (Sally) Owens at Red Bluff. She was born 31 May 1856 at Washington County, Missouri, and died 13 November 1932 at Ball's Ferry (CA?). Her father was A.C. Owen. Her mother, Ann Mitchell. An infant was born 30 January 1895 at Red Bluff. Thomas Franklin died 19 November 1947 at Red Bluff. He was a merchant.
    Second, was George Wm., born 20 June 1870, and died 31 May 1921 at Red Bluff. He had two wives. First was Margaret L. Hanks. They were married 3 November 1892 in Tehama County. (Remember this marriage.) He died 31 May 1921 at Red Bluff. They had an infant born December 1894 and died 2 February 1894 at Thomes Creek. The second wife was Ann J.
    Third, was James Arthur, born 31 July 1872 at Henleyville, and died 20 July 1933 at Red Bluff. He was married to Lillie Mason, born on 3 August 1878 in California. She died 20 March 1926 in Red Bluff. Her father was A.J. Mason. Her mother, Agnes Gleason.
    Fourth, was Leonora, born 26 September 1874 in Red Bluff, She died 21 October 1964 in Red Bluff. She married John Jackson Norvell on 17 January (June?) 1894 in Tehama County. He was born 4 April 1862 in Lynchburg, Virginia, and died 9 June 1926 at Red Bluff. They had three children: Rachel, Marjorie and Wm. M (Moon?). There may have been a fourth girl, married to an Andrew Smith.
    Fifth, was Ada Belle, born 25 November 1876, at Red Bluff. She died 21 October 1964 at Red Bluff. Her first husband was Samuel Lewis Sydenstricker. He was born 1876 in Virginia and died 25 June 1896 in Tehama County. A child is listed, a female, Sydenstricker, born 17 March 1897 at Red Bluff. A second husband is listed with the last name of Mitchell.
    Sixth, was Ralph R., born 28 March 1879 in California. He died 8 March 1958 in Red Bluff. He married Wilhemina Manson Purves in 1904. She was born 14 June 1871 in Edinburgh, Scotland and died at Red Bluff 3 February 1942. Her father was James Purves and mother was Margaret Davidson. Both were natives of Scotland. There is a record of two children, Naomi and Ruth. Ruth was married to John R. Davis.
    Seventh, was Josephine Louise, born 12 September 1881 in California. She died 12 March 1919 in Red Bluff.
    Eight, was J. Louis, born in 1885, California. He died 13 March 1919 at Billings, Montana. There were six children listed: James Howell married Elizabeth Eslinger; Clara married Austin Spencer; Jessie married a person with the last name of Gray; Virginia, Louis, and Fielding.
    Ninth, was Samuel Jones. He was born 1886 in California and died
7 December 1930. (Lingenfelter lists 9 children.)
    James Milton Howell's second wife was Elizabeth Rambo Gilmore. She was born 6 March 1847 in Iowa and died 5 March 1933 in Red Bluff. This was her third marriage. She had been married to Chas Fonda and John Gilmore. Her father was Calvin Rambo, and mother, Amelia Jane Acton.
    I haven't done any research on the Howell's as it is getting far afield of my direct line. However, I suppose there are plenty of Howell descendants still in the Red Bluff area and scattered across California. Perhaps one of them will add to this list.
    As for James Milton Howell himself, he was born 15 January 1842 in Warren County, Ohio, and died 24 October 1932 in Red Bluff. His father was Francis Howell. (He was the son of Newton (?) from Virginia who was in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Lingenfelter's notes are not too clear on this.) Father born in Missouri and mother, Mary Pratt, was boin Virginia.

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