John Joseph Howell went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, August 21, 2021. Born in Swansea, SC on February 20, 1941, he was the beloved son of John Jacob Howell and Myrtle Wise Howell.

Survivors left to cherish the fond memories of John include his sons, John F. Howell of Cayce, SC, Eric Howell (Peggy) of West Columbia, SC; and grandson, Carson Howell. He was predeceased by his sisters, Mary Howell, Loyce Crider; and brother, Rembert Howell.

John was a CWC Dixie Youth baseball coach and a basketball coach for Lexington County Recreation League. He enjoyed local history and genealogy. He was a loving husband, father, and PaPa.

Funeral services will be held 2:00pm, Saturday, August 28, 2021 at Barr-Price Funeral Home and Crematorium, Lexington Chapel. Burial will follow at Sardis Baptist Church in Swansea. Visitation will be 6:00pm - 8:00pm, Friday, August 27, 2021 at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital or Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Burial
Saturday
August 28, 2021
Sardis Baptist Church - Swansea
1601 Saint Matthews Road
Swansea, SC 29160

Source of INFO: Barr-Price.com
Contributor: Robert Lorick (47542602)∼John was quite an authority on all things history...especially locations... as to Lexington County, S. C. My memorial on Emily Geiger contains a lot of links to John's work. Funeral handled by Barr-Price.
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Newspaper obituary:
John Joseph Howell went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, August 21, 2021. Born in Swansea, SC on February 20, 1941, he was the beloved son of John Jacob Howell and Myrtle Wise Howell.

Survivors left to cherish the fond memories of John include his sons, John F. Howell of Cayce, SC, Eric Howell (Peggy) of West Columbia, SC; and grandson, Carson Howell. He was predeceased by his sisters, Mary Howell, Loyce Crider; and brother, Rembert Howell.

John was a CWC Dixie Youth baseball coach and a basketball coach for Lexington County Recreation League. He enjoyed local history and genealogy. He was a loving husband, father, and PaPa.

Funeral services will be held 2:00pm, Saturday, August 28, 2021 at Barr-Price Funeral Home and Crematorium, Lexington Chapel. Burial will follow at Sardis Baptist Church in Swansea. Visitation will be 6:00pm – 8:00pm, Friday, August 27, 2021 at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital or Shriners Hospitals for Children. Online register at Barr-Price.com
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More info:
By Pamela Griffin Hansen:

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of 2020 Oktoberfest speaker, John Joseph Howell. John was the son of Jacob Howell and Myrtle M. Wise. John often described his birthplace on Laird Hill Road at Poole's Mill, Swansea, South Carolina. John often wrote about his childhood home, a small house located on the corner of the historic Samuel Jeffcoat plat of land. This land is also known to historians as Jones Lucas land, Jake Mack land and, more recently, the Nevon Jeffcoat land. John proudly descended from the early Howell family of the area. John and his brother learned to swim in Bull Swamp Creek. His great grandfather, John Jacob Howell and his wife, Martha Ann Williamson, owned 5100 acres on Bull Swamp as well as a large pond known as Booker Pond. He owned 700 acres on Black Creek near the North Edisto River where his grandfather, John Pearson Howell (CO K, 13th SC Volunteers CSA), was born. This home was a short distance from Jeffcoat Bridge and John believed his grandfather, J. Pearson Howell possibly reported to the Confederacy so they could defend the bridge.

Although John lived in Cayce, his heart was in Poole's Mill where he was a beloved historian for this area. He treasured his childhood home and memories on the Jake Mack land. John wrote, "my heart is and has always been in this old place. I value the property ...my value is not in cash worth, but in the wonderful memories of living on this old property. I would defend this old place as if I had ownership." He did just that. John passionately protected the history of this land from stories he believed to be inaccurate and guided his local history followers to search for the documented truth found in South Carolina historic records. He shared many stories and was in the process of writing a book, The Book of John Howell and His Descendants: With Supplementary Accounts of the Families Related to Them by Marriage.

John Joseph Howell passed away in South Carolina at the age of 80 on August 21, 2021. At just 18, John served his country for eight years in the Army National Guard.

John was a proud participant in the Orangeburgh District DNA project, where he was a DNA match to many of the other participants. John was always willing to help a friend with family research, share his tree, give access to his website, and answer questions on his facebook page, "The Indian Head Corridor_Between the North and South Edisto Rivers."

John is known for reminiscing about people he or his family once knew, like Elzie Poole who operated a store in 1930 at the intersection of HWY 178 and #3 in Lexington County, South Carolina. John wrote, "during WWII this store was instrumental in the lives of many for miles around. You could buy hardware supplies, automotive supplies including tires and automobiles themselves. Gasoline was also available, but rationed out. Groceries were heavily stocked also." John wrote that the Poole's Mill area now BPB (Big Pond Branch) really means to him, "BPB Big Poole Branch."

John also wrote about being one of a few living grandchildren of a confederate soldier. He was a Son of the American Revolution and proud descendant of Revolutionary War soldiers, John Murff, who was killed at the Battle of Cowpens and Samuel Mobley who was stationed at Ft. Granby.

John loved sharing his South Carolina family history and often talked about his childhood memories, especially of his early years squirrel hunting with his brother, Rembert, and dog Rover. He enjoyed writing about the old roads including the W. E. Jeffcoat Road, Great Wagon Road, the true location of the Middle Road, and the oldest road in America that connected Charleston and Boston known as The King's Highway.

John updated his friends regularly by email on his current historial projects. John was a project leader on finding the truthful location in South Carolina history known as the Indian Head. He would often help members in his community find graves with his dowsing rods. He found the buried gravestone of his great great grandfather, Rev. Carson Howell, and restored the gravesite on what was once the family land.

Using grave location hints from the historical State news article dated April 4, 1893, Revolutionary Heroine How Brave Emily Geiger, John was able to locate the Geiger-Threewitts burial ground. John recently found the grave location of revolutionary war heroine, Emily Geiger, and worked with his distant cousin, Pamela Hansen, to mark the grave. The project was recently completed when John announced it would be his last project, and it was.

John was the proud father of John F. Howell of Cayce and Eric Howell (Peggy) of West Columbia. He was the loving grandfather of Carson Howell, his baseball player. John was predeceased by his wife of 54 years, Margie Lorick Howell, and his three siblings, Mary Howell, Loyce Crider and Rembert Howell. John and his wife were married by Rev. Patrick Homer Jeffcoat.

Visitation was held on Friday, August 27th 2021at the Barr-Price Funeral Home, Lexington Chapel. A funeral service was held the following day at the funeral home and chapel.
John was on the schedule to speak at Oktoberfest 2021 on finding the place in South Carolina history known as the Indian Head. He will be missed at virtual Oktoberfest, October 9, 2021.

We were blessed to know him, hear his stories, and call him a friend. South Carolina was blessed to have him.
Published in the OGSGS Newsletter, Vol 19, NO 7, Fall, 2021.