John Joseph Howell & Sarah Elizabeth Smith

Biography by Jack Kirkman, Jr.

   John Joseph Howell, my great, great grandfather, was born on December 9, 1848, to Mary and John George Howell.  John, or Jack as he was called to distinguish him from his father, grew up near Howell, Georgia, about fifteen miles east of Valdosta.  The family prospered for a while, John being a moderately well-off person.  He was an active member of the Masons, holding a high office in the Alapaha Lodge at Statenville.  Then the Civil War struck, bringing with it the gradual decline in the fortunes of all Southerners.  Jack, too young to enlist, helped the family survive during the increasingly hard times.  By the end of the war the Howell family's resources had been decimated.  With nothing but ruin left for them in Georgia, the Howells sold out what remained and moved to Florida. 

   The choice of Florida was a natural one for poor people of that era.  Only a short distance away, it was accurately considered a land of opportunity, the poor man's West.  Other things being equal, the climate, soil, cheapness of land, easy access and egress by land and water, and low taxes all presented advantages superior to the West, especially for people of little means.  If he was willing to work, the newcomer could provide his family with a house and begin to raise crops almost immediately.  The virgin pineland, cleared and broken once, provided excellent soil for sweet potatoes and cowpeas.  If the vines were turned back into the soil at year's end, corn, cane, cotton and tobacco could be successfully planted the next year.  The characteristically moderate temperature provided for the year round growth of semi-hardy vegetables.  Orange and lemon trees could be planted and raised successfully, as could grapes.  Hogs and poultry needed little care, but would forage for themselves.  Game was abundant and was easy to obtain.  In short, Florida was an ideal place to start from nothing. 

   The Howell family, John, his wife Mary and their children, along with John's two half brothers, settled in the gentle rolling hills of East Pasco County in west central Florida.  They made their home in Clear Lake community, now known as San Antonio. 

   In 1871, John, together with some other ante-bellum Masons from south Georgia, chartered Ft. Dade Masonic Lodge Number 48, with John holding the position of Junior Warden.  Located just a couple of miles up the stage road from Clear Lake, the lodge met every month on the Saturday of or immediately after the full moon.  Membership at this time was extremely exclusive.  Period membership rolls carried representatives from all the leading and influential families of Pasco County from then to the present time. 

   For several years Jack helped his father run a grist mill near Clear Lake.  In 1869, Jack married Sarah Elizabeth Smith whose family came from Lakeland, Georgia, located only twenty miles from Howell.  The families had probably known each other before they moved to Florida. By 1874, Jack was the father of two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, and undertook a project to go into business for himself.  With the aid of Levi Eiland, the area authority and builder of water powered mills, Jack began to build a grist mill.  It was completed in about a year and in 1875, Jack, with much practical experience, began to run the new mill.  It was located near Chipco, a small community on the top of a nearby hill.  As the mill contained a community oven, it was an exceedingly popular place.  At that time very few people could afford the coast of a brick over.  Necessity dictated that this item be constructed of expensive fire bricks, which had to be carted from Fort Brooke, presently known as Tampa.  This popular facility, together with the grinding service offered, caused such a large volume of traffic to the mill that the well worn path is still evident today. 

   The power for the mill was provided by Mill Pond which covered one hundred fifteen acres and was fed by seven springs.  An earthen dam, two hundred twenty-five feet long and pierced only by a sluice gate, raised the water the necessary fifteen feet for the small drop required by the underfed wheel.  Smaller than its overwheel sluice cousin so popular today,  it was equally as efficient, though hardly as picturesque.  The mill itself was built of brick foundations and footings with wooden sides.  The brick was probably manufactured of, and mortared together with, marl.  This clay is native to the area and deposits are evident close by.  The only artifacts surviving the ravages of time are the upper millstone, some bricks from the foundation and over, the earthen damworks, and the remains of the sluice gate. 

   By 1880, Jack had accumulated enouh money to purchase forty acres of land near Clear Lake for one dollar an acre.  He bought this land from the Internal Improvement Fund of Florida, a bureau for the dispensement of unclaimed land.  By this time the size of the family had grown to seven, with the births of Joseph, Julia and Lot.  

   Beginning in 1882, Jack made a series of rather curious land deals.  He swapped his Clear Lake property for an equal portion of his father's Ft. Dade land.  Two months later, he swapped this prime farming land, his mill, and $500.00 for one hundred sixty flat acres near the Owensboro swamp.  Here Jack built a log house where another daughter, Melissa, was born into the growing family.  

   The land was located a bit west of where the Fort King Highway crossed the Withlacoochee River.  For people traveling south, the natural camping place was after the successful fording of the Withlacoochee.  This would put them on Jack's land.  Therefore, the location wasn't nearly as lonely as it might have seemed.  One night Jack's Sarah, heard a couple passing by who had just been married.  She insisted on providing them with a room in their house for the couple to use for their honeymoon. 

   After selling his mill Jack made his living as a farmer.  Anything that couldn't be produced at home had to be procured from Fort Brooke, a five day round trip by wagon.  This trip was so important that it would have been planned all year long.  Easily transportable and valuable goods were the money of the farmer.  Bulky goods such as sugar cane and peaches could not be transported as such.  So Jack would refine the sugar and make peach brandy.  This, along with some tobacco and oranges, would be taken to Fort Brooke and exchanged for flour and other staples.  It would take one day to travel as far as the Hillsborough River and a second to reach Fort Brooke.  A day was spent bartering with storekeepers for supplies and then it was a two day trip back home.

   The largest purchase ever made by Jack, and the one of which he was most proud, was an eighty gallon syrup kettle.  It was used to boil down sorghum cane sap for sugar.  After it was boiled down, the syrup was poured into a barrel, previously prepared.  Holes would have been drilled into the bottom and stopped with green cane.  As the cane slowly withered, the mixture slowly fermented.  Both processes peaked at the same time and the shriveled cane allowed the water to pass around it and run off into a separate container, leaving a barrel of sugar.  

   Self sufficiency was the only way of life, and the Floridian had to be versatile.  The days of refrigeration were far into the future and a popular method of preserving meat was salting.  The favored method for salting pork was to place it in hollow logs full of brine until the meat became impregnated with salt.  o obtain the salt for this process and for table use, they had to travel to Salt Springs located just north of Port Richey.  Here the spring water was so salty that it was almost syrupy.  To obtain salt, the women would boil down this water in a large kettle that stood nearby.  While the children took the wagon and gathered wood for the fire, the men would go down-stream and cast nets to catch an ocean fish called mullet.  These fish were drawn inland, up the salty stream, in search of the shallow water, which they prefer.  The fish would be salted down and taken back in the wagon, as would the salt. 

  Another necessity hat they provided for themselves was soap.  When they clean out the fireplace the ashes were placed in a wooden container and it was set over a tub under he eaves of the house.  During the rainy season the water would cascade of the roof into the container.  It would drip out the bottom into the tub and this solution, lye, would be saved.  When the hogs were slaughtered, the waste fat, such as that found around the head, would be saved.  This fat would be mixed with the lye and boiled down until it reached a jelly-like consistency, then be placed in containers to dry.  By this method they would obtain as much as a year's supply of soap which they would store in the barn. 

   In 1884, the reason for Jack's land transactions became apparent.  Perhaps tipped off by an influential Mason, Jack had made a shrewd move.  The Florida Southern Railroad came through an extensive portion of his property and land prices skyrocketed.  Within a year he had sold the eight acres made more valuable by the railroad for $1520.00.  With this money he bought eighty more acres, once more in the fertile rolling farmland and less than two miles from his former mill.  On this land he built a substantial log house and lived in peace with his family for several years.  During this period three more children were born, Clorie, Oliver and Rachel. 

   On May 15, 1886, Jack became a member of the Ft. Dade Masonic Lodge to which his father belonged.  In 1893, he was asked to help organize the Macon Lodge.  On November 18, 1893, he became a charter member of this new lodge. 

   When the Orange Belt Railroad was built Jack sold them the right of way to cross his property.  The noise of trains annoyed him and he moved his residence deeper into his land for privacy.  He couldn't, however, get far enough away from the railroad.  He sold forty acres of this land and moved to eight acres about a mile west, obtained by swapping he remaining Owensboro property.  Here he settled down to stay.  About this time, Sarah put her foot down.  It seems that she was tired of log houses with dirt floors.  So Jack erected a fine yellow frame house with wooden floors. 

   About 1894, Jack decided to plant some citrus trees.  He and Sarah took two wagons to the eastern side of the Withlacoochee River and dug up two wagonloads off orange and grapefruit seedlings.  These trees had arrived there in an interesting fashion.  The Spanish, while occupying St. Augustine, had often traded with the Indians.  A portion of this trade dealt with citrus fruit.  The Indians would save the seeds and wherever they camped for extended periods they planted them.  The Withlacoochee crossing was the site of one of those campgrounds.  With the seedlings Jack obtained there he was able to plant a fine grove.

   Jack soon had one of the best citrus groves in the state.  He was one of the first in that area to realize the importance of the railroad to the citrus industry.  With refrigerated cars, the fruit could be shipped to the large northern market, creating a demand for more and more citrus fruit, and consequently starting a major industry. 

   Treasuring his privacy in his later years, Jack hated to relinquish it except to close friends.  Often at the approach of a visitor, Jack would duck out the back door and not return until the visitor had left.  This trait was also manifested in his son, Joseph, who retreated within the confines of Citrus County and seldom ventured forth. 

   Jack continued to farm until the age of sixty-seven.  On May 31, 1915, he suffered a stroke while plowing and died.  Sarah lived on in the house for several more years.  Eventually, she sold the property for $4,500.00 and moved to Dunedin.  There she lived with her unmarried son Oliver until her death October 9, 1932.