Here is where the project began, so naturally it is the least developed part. It started with Alexander³ B. Williams 2^nd, brother of Emma³, who served in the 111^th N.Y. Infantry during the Civil War. The family papers contain much about him, and these lead to research in libraries and the National Archives, then more digging in the family papers, and we found more who served in that war. Then, with the realization that some served the country during three of this century's wars, the project turned into a military history of the family. But the family is more than veterans; it has merchants, politicians, preachers, and other interesting people, and they should be heard from. So it is once more into the library, and into the family records, in a process that may never end.

Our ancestors are not just words on a page. They lived at a particular time, in a place, in a culture, and without this knowledge the people become caricatures. History is a vital foundation, and like all foundations must be laid first, and so the rest of this Web site was born.

So for a while this site will be missing its heart. We need to fill in more of the history before starting in on the people, and the more we dig through our past the more interesting things we find to put in. The biographies themselves will take time. For some, we have too much data, and have to trim it down to a reasonable and interesting size. Others need more research, and most of that hasn't started yet. So the biographies here are a first pass, and even the lengthiest of them are preliminary. This Web site does not have enough space for all the photographs and documents we really need, but enough are here to add some spice to the mixture.

Here is a timeline-pedigree chart of the family, at least of the part we are interested in now. Not everyone in the chart is talked about, but they are added to make the marriages complete. Dotted lines show approximate dates.

Click on one of the people whose name is outlined to go to their biography, or use one of the following links.
   Jordan¹ Howell (1786 — ~1875)
   Cato² Riddle (1755 — 1823)
   J.R.⁵ Howell (1918 — 1998)
   Sylvester³ Wood (1854 — 1937)
   Lloyd² Epley (1885 — 1936)
   Clara⁶ (Jayne) Epley (1924 — 1998)
   Jacob² Maus (1830 — 1921)
   Alexander² B. Williams (~1818 — ~1888)
   Lewis² D. Williams (1826 — 1915)
   John³ J. Williams, Jr. (1840 — 1902)
   George³ W. Williams, Jr. (1842 — 1909)
   Alexander³ B. Williams 2nd (1844 — 1864)
   Emma³ Williams (1848 — 1920)
   Jane² Osborn (1816 — 1912)

We can consider Jordan the patriarch of the family because his migrations brought the family west, and because we don't know who his parents are. That isn't because we lack candidates, but rather that we have too many; Wayne County is replete with Howells in the late eighteenth century.

Existing facts are sparse. The censuses tell us that he was a farmer (1820, 1840) and that he was literate (1850). He owned slaves in 1810 and 1820, but not in 1830. He owned land in Tennessee, but apparently not in Missouri. And in Tennessee he was on the Hardin County Court.

We can surmise that Jordan had some strength of character. Wusses did not move around much in the nineteenth century, and Jordan did it not once but three times. People were not appointed to the court, even local ones, without having some intelligence and influence. Jordan was an imigrant, with no family connectons (that we know of), so his high standing in society must have been built up through his own talents. And two of his grandsons were also named Jordan, not a common name at any time, showing that he held some power over his children, but whether from love, respect, or fear we can't tell.

Jay (J.R.⁵) Howell

Born February 3, 1918, in Dexter, Stoddard County, Missouri; married

When World War II came, Jay enlisted in the Army Air Forces, and spent the next two years shuttling between training camps in the Midwest, first learning to fly, and then how to fly B-24s. He as sent to California, where he was to go to the Pacific theater, and the Army, as if often did, turned him and his crew around to New York, and from there to England, and another surprise. They were to fly B-17s. Jay flew twenty-five combat missions without losing a plane or a crew member.

While waiting in New York to be shipped overseas, he met Jayne Epley, and after the war they were married. (This bare statement hides an improbable romance, filled with as many coincidences and complexities as any Shakespeare comedy.) They have four children -- James, Judith, Jennifer, and Jacqueline -- six grandchildren, and two great-granchildren.

The war was won, and the Army demobilized rapidly, but Jay decided to stay in and make it a career. Congress created the Air Force in 1947, and he went into the new service. Over the next quarter century he was sent to such exotic locales as Okinawa, Morocco, Korea, and the Pentagon, as well as stateside assignments in Alabama, southern California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah.

So what do you do after spending thirty years in the military? If you are Jay and Jayne you open up an antique store in Marietta, Pennsylvania. Years before, Jay took up repairing old clocks and restoring furniture as a hobby, and he now sharpened these skills as a profession. His clocks always run and his furniture always glories in its age.

Sylvester³ Wood

Born April 24, 1854 in Gibson County, Indiana; died May 6, 1937, in Stoddard County, Missouri; married Eutoka Roper August 6, 1875.

Sylvester was an old-fashioned Baptist preacher. (Three of his brothers were also preachers, while a forth became a farmer.) During his preaching you could see the hellfire and smell the brimstone, and he would never go through a gate when he could jump over the fence. He was a founder and the first pastor of the First General Baptist Church of Dexter, Missouri, and his soon-to-be son-in-law James Howell was on of the trustees.

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Jayne (Clara⁶ Jane) Epley

Born April 3, 1924, in Lansing Michigan; married

Jayne was a radio actress (educated at Stevens College and the School for Dramatic Art) in New York City, where she met Jay Howell. They later married, and Jayne spent the next twenty-five years as an officer's wife. At one point she had the only show on the Armed Forces Network (then just radio) run by a woman.

After retirement, they opened up White Swan Antiques in Marietta, Pennsylvania. Jayne continues her family's tradition and is active in local Republican politics, and has served on the borough council and as chairman of the Lancaster Republican Committee.

Jacob² Maus

Born April 5, 1830, in Bingen-am-Rhine in Germany; died January 11, 1921 in Grand Rapids, Michigan; married Jane Cross September 1, 1850, who died in 1987; married Kreuzens Pflug September 1, 1887.

Jacob emigrated with his parents to Cleveland, Ohio. He later moved to Michigan, where he owned a shoe factory, but when the Civil War began he closed shop and enlisted in the 8^th Michigan Infantry, Company F, where he was given a commission as a second lieutenant. He became seriously ill during the siege of Port Royal and Beaufort, South Carolina, and was discharged.

Returning to Michigan, he opened a grocery store in Grand Rapids. His business card read "Dealer in choice groceries, provisions, and produce. Flour, vegetables, feed, &c. Wood for sale, & delivered."

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