My mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Howell, died in great christian triumph at her home at Oak Level, Cleburne county, Ala., at 5 o'clock on the morning of the 8th of June 1885, in the ninety-first year of her age. She had, at the time of her death, been a faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Church seventy-give years. She, together with my father, John Howell, were among the pioneer settlers of this part of Alabama fifty years ago, and her hospitable home was the resting place of the weary itinerants who planted Methodism in this country. She was left a widow thirty-one years ago, and during those long, weary years of her widowhood she kept the fires burning upon the family altar which she and her husband had erected three-quarters of a century of a century ago. She was not demonstrative in her christian life, but the most prominent trait in her christian character was her steady and ever abiding faith in God and his providences. Like Abraham of old, she believed God and it was accounted to her for righteousness. She, with her husband and family, composed the first Methodist church organized in this country. She was the mother of nine sons and five daughters, all of whom she had the privilege of seeing grow up to years, and united with the church of her choice.

She was a woman of remarkable physical strength. She never gave up housekeeping, and was able to perform many household duties up to within a few days of her death. She lived to see quite a number of her fifth generation, and had, in the aggregate, about 500 descendants. She had lived to realized the solicitude and anxiety of having her loved ones in two wars. Her husband, after their marriage, served in the war of 1812 under Gen. Jackson. She had seven sons in the Confederate army, all of whom she saw return after the war.

Her exemplary christian life has been a benediction to her large family, and will in the providence of God continue down through the ages yet to come. Her remains were followed to her last resting place by a large concourse of relatives and friends, who with loving hearts and tender hands, gently laid her beside our dear father, in the family burial ground to await the resurrection at the last day.

W. P. Howell
Oak Level, Ala., June 22, 1885

Source: Alabama Christian Advocate 1 Jul 1885