Rachel Belzora Stimson and William James Howard

This post is another page of Aunt Lula's photo album and it is dedicated to our ancestors and relatives.

Rachel Belzora (Belle Zorie) Stimson was born to Isaac Stimson and Rachel Obelier Stimson (nee Tucker) on May 29, 1834, in Cadiz, Trigg, Kentucky.

When Rachel Belle was 21, she married William James Howard who was her coeval. It was in Pittsylvania, Virginia. Three years later, the young couple already lived in Texas.

Their son Jaarrt was born in McKinney, Collin County, TX on July 11, 1858. Unfortunately, Jaarrt lived only two months, he passed away on September 11, 1858.

Two years later, on March 6, 1860, in Plano, Collin County TX, Rachel and William's daughter Abbigal Obelier Howard was born.

Belle and William - age 27 - their son William Monroe Howard was born in McKinney, Collin County, TX on August 19, 1861.

Next year, on April 3, 1863, another daughter of Belle and William's was born to the family. The girl was named Jennie Mae (she was born in Plano, Collin County, TX).

A few months later, tragedy struck the young parents - their daughter Abbigal Obelier Howard died on September 13, 1862.

Four years passed and Belle and William - age 31 - celebrated the birth of their daughter Racheal Clementine. The girl was born in Plano, Collin, TX on March 2, 1866.

The family was growing. When Rachel and William were 33, they expected another child. Robert Leo Howard was born in Plano, Collin, TX on September 7, 1867.

Two years later, Rachel Belle gave birth to their fourth son: Samuel Delaney Howard who came to this world in Collin, TX on October 23, 1869.

Meanwhile, the older children were growing up and the time of marriages came. In 1882 (Rachel and William were forty-eight), within a few months, the family had two such celebrations. First, the oldest son William Monroe Howard married Isabell Angel on August 23, 1882. Next, daughter Racheal Clementine married Robert Jefferson Davis Brown. The ceremony took place on December 21, 1882.

Seven years later, there was another marriage: on July 3, 1889, Robert Leo Howard married his sister-in-law Dora Elizabeth Angel (she was Isabell's sister).

Soon, the happy time was followed by mourning. A few weeks after Robert and Dora's wedding, on July 31, 1889, the oldest son of Rachel and William's, Samuel Delaney Howard, died. The parents were fifty-five then. I do not know anything about the cause of Samuel's death. Whatever it was, it certainly must have brought grief and a lot of suffering to the couple and the entire family.

Life was going on and three years later, the day of another child's marriage came. Belle and William's daughter Racheal Clementine married second time, on Jan 3, 1892. The spouse was John Lee Gant.

Rachel Belle was widowed in 1897. She was 63 then. William died in Allen, TX, a few days before his birthday, on November 12, 1897.

If it was not enough, at the age of seventy-five Belle experienced another personal tragedy - it was the death of her son William Monroe Howard. He died in Frisco, Collin, TX on September 10, 1909.

Rachel Belzora Howard passed away at the age of 87 in Plano, Collin, TX on January 20, 1922.

William James Howard was born on November 30, 1834, in Bowling Green, Warren, Kentucky. He was a son of Jarrot Howard and Nancy Walker.

I am not sure what William's occupation was. Possibly, he was a farmer, Rachel Belle was a housewife.

Rachel and William Howard were married for forty-two years. They had eight children.
The couple's eternal resting place is the Bethany Cemetery in Plano, Collin County, Texas.

Credits:
Photos of gravestones: courtesy of Marc & Donna