Arthur Norman Howard

It has been a while since I discovered any new family tree branches and connections leading to our direct ancestors.
Not long ago, while looking at my notes related to the people who lived in the Hill Country, I realized there was such a connection I had overlooked earlier. First, it was the surname that caught my attention. Howard is one of our direct ancestry lines. The place where that man was born, North Carolina, matched too. Investigating deeper, meaning the predecessors of Arthur Norman Howard, led me (7 generations back) to John N Howard (born in 1718, in Virginia). He was the brother of our paternal 4 x great-grandfather Stephen.
Arthur Norman Howard was John N's great-great-great-grandson and our 5th cousin twice removed.
If it was not enough, there is also a family connection on our maternal side, via the Sigman family. According to the family tree software we have our family tree on, Arthur is the 3rd cousin of an uncle by marriage (Richard Lee Sigman).

Arthur was born on 24 August 1875 in Newton, Catawba County, North Carolina.

1880, the boy lived with his parents, Edward Edmond (27) and Fannie Elizabeth (Gabriel) Howard (26), and siblings, in Mountain Creek Township, Catawba, North Carolina (1). The siblings were Gertrude (age 4), Franklin (age 2), and Chattie (1-month-old).

By 1899, Arthur had been in Texas. On ♡ 8 November of this year, the 24-year-old man married 17-year-old Mary Emma Cook. It was in Caldwell, TX (2). 

 Mary was born on 9 August 1882 in Houston, TX.

After the marriage, the couple lived in Justice Precinct #4, Caldwell, TX (3). Arthur was a farmer.
Soon, children were born to them:
♦ Norman Franklin - born on 10 January 1902,
♦ Gertrude Francis, born in Martindale on 19 March 1904,
♦ Edward Troy, born in Lockhart on 11 October 1906,
and ♦ George Martindale, born on 26 August 1910.

Tragedy struck - Norman died on ♦ 24 August 1918.

Clipping source: San Antonio Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 240, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 27, 1918, newspaper, August 27, 1918; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth430428/: accessed August 14, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.

About two weeks later, WW1 was still going on and on 12 September Arthur was registered by the Army (3).

 

Apparently, after Norman's death, Arthur and Mary drifted apart and their marriage did not survive. When exactly they got divorced, I do not know, but on 14 January 1920, Mary (age 37) had already lived with Gertrude (age 16) and George (age 9) in San Antonio, Justice Precinct #19. In the census record, Mary is listed as a "widow" (4).

At the same time, on 12 January, Arthur (age 44) and Troy (age 13) still lived in Lockhart, TX. However, they no longer had their own house. The father and son were boarders at Mr. and Mrs. John Clark's household. Arthur Howard was employed as a farmer there (5).

The records read that later, Mary with Gertrude and George moved to Los Angeles, California, and in February 1921, Mary remarried (6).

♡ 6 July 1921 - Arthur married again as well. His second wife was Miss Caroline Mathilde Willmann (age 29). The two got married in a Baptist Church in Lockhart, TX (7). 

 

Carrie was born on 11 July 1891 in Hilda, Mason, Mason, TX. She was the daughter of William Anton Willmann and Christine Wilhelmine Leifeste.

Caroline went to school in Mason and was confirmed at the Methodist Church. Later, young Carrie worked at the Deaf and Dumb Institute and then, enrolled in a nursing school. The lady graduated from the Physicians and Surgeons Hospital at the beginning of 1919.

 

 

Clipping source: San Antonio Express. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, February 2, 1919, newspaper, February 2, 1919; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth430576/: accessed August 14, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.

 

Clipping source: The Statesman (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 343, Ed. 1 Sunday, February 23, 1919, newspaper, February 23, 1919; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1498366/: accessed August 14, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu;.

 
♡ 15 September 1922, 18-year-old Gertrude got married as well (8). Her spouse was James Lacy McGee.

 

8 April 1930 census - Arthur and Caroline lived in Justice Precinct #1, Lubbock, Lubbock, TX (9).

♡ 12 December 1933 - Troy married Lillian Motheral in Caldwell, TX (10).

 

♡ 5 October 1934 - George married Virginia E Yates in LA, California (11).

♦ 12 January 1938 - Arthur's father Edward Edmond died in Mooresville, Iredell, North Carolina (12).

4 April 1940 - Arthur (age 64) owned a house and farmed in Justice Precinct #1, Caldwell, TX. Caroline (age 48) was a homemaker (13).

♦ 17 May 1941 - Arthur's mother, Fannie Elizabeth passed away (14).

♦ 2 February 1949 - Caroline died in Lockhart at the age of 57 years 8 months and 21 days, after a year-long illness (15).

It seems, after Carrie's passing, Arthur sold the house and farm. Census 10 April 1950 - the man (age 74) lived as a boarder at the house of John A Schaper, a meat cutter, in Caldwell, TX (16).

♦ 7 November 1959 - Arthur passed at the Lockhart Hospital, due to heart failure (17).

Source:
1. "United States Census, 1880", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC6F-2H7: Thu Aug 03 01:54:39 UTC 2023), Entry for Edward Howard and Fany Howard, 1880.
2. "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XL7V-J7M : 10 March 2021), A Howard and Mary Cook, 08 Nov 1899; citing Caldwell, Texas, United States, county courthouses, Texas; FHL microfilm 980,084.
3. "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZXS-T83 : 29 December 2021), Arthur Noruson Howard, 1917-1918.
4. "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH1Z-8QL : Sat Jul 22 22:42:54 UTC 2023), Entry for Mary Howard and Gertrude Howard, 1920.
5. "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCMM-4YX : Fri Jul 21 18:40:57 UTC 2023), Entry for Arthur N Howard and Troy Howard, 1920.
6. "California, County Marriages, 1850-1953", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8FB-2TT : 17 August 2022), Ralph H Mc Coy and Mary E Howard, 1921.
7. "Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV1H-Y41T : 23 February 2021), A N Howard and Caroline Willman, 06 Jul 1921; citing Marriage, citing Caldwell, Texas, United States, Texas State Library, Archives Division, and various Texas county clerks; FHL microfilm 1,703,894.
8. "California, County Marriages, 1850-1953," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8N9-4JR : 9 March 2021), James Lacy Mc Gee and Francis Gertrude Howard, 15 Sep 1922; citing Los Angeles, 9. 9. California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,074,281.
"United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HX7H-8T2 : Fri Aug 04 20:39:11 UTC 2023), Entry for Arthur N Howard and Carolyn N Howard, 1930.
10. "Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K61R-F5C : 23 February 2021), Troy Howard and Lillian Motheral, 12 Dec 1933; citing Marriage, citing Caldwell, Texas, United States, Texas State Library, Archives Division, and various Texas county clerks; FHL microfilm 1,704,024.
11. "California, County Marriages, 1850-1953", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8JN-9VV : 17 August 2022), George Martindale Howard and Virginia E Yates, 1934.
12. "North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FPN7-151 : 29 September 2022), Edd Howard, 1938.
13. "United States Census, 1940", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWJ9-Z34 : Tue Jul 25 18:19:43 UTC 2023), Entry for Arthur Howard and Caroline Howard, 1940.
14. "North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HW16-1QT2 : 14 February 2020), Fannie Elizabeth Howard, 1941.
15. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K39B-Y1P : 27 March 2023), Arthur Howard, 1949.
16. "United States 1950 Census", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XGR-MJDR : Sat Jul 29 12:03:48 UTC 2023), Entry for Albert Schneider and Myrtle Schneider, 10 April 1950.
17. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3SL-H18 : 5 April 2023), Arthur N Howard, 1959.
"Families of Kimble County" 1998, Kimble County Historical Commission, South Llano Printing Company, Junction, Texas