Hi Bev:
If he received a patent for land due to his war service there are records if not at Smith Co. then the National Archives. I'll look on line. thanks for friending me.
Warren

Hey! I figured out our Howell's! Our Howell's are of 2 branch's. Yours is deemed the Southern Branch while mine is the Southhampton, NY branch. But they're the same family. Mary Howell's parents were John Howell and Mary Lane. The confusion for some lies with the fact that there are 2 Lt John Howell's. But yours settled in Virginia while mine settled in NY. But as I said. Still related. Mary Howell and Edward Howell were aproximatly 3rd cousins give or take. So yep. We're related! Oh and the Howell's are descended from royalty. I've been looking on all the Howell trees and thru the books (yours is of course in a book on the southern line that came out in 1930) and they all basically say the same thing. The Howell's descend from Hywel Dha, king of Wales in the 10th century. I just haven't figured out WHICH of his kids that our line is from. But I already have him on my tree as Im descended from him on my mom's side. The Howell side is my dad's side. *lol* They are also from the Plantagenet royals.

Oh and your branch has at least one celeb descendant. Ironically I was trying to figure out my link to her yesterday as well. But basically Candace Bergen is your 9th cousin!