Sunday Black Sheep: Charles B Howell

When researching the document that led to my post "An Interesting Find In Salisbury", I discovered that the Howell family that was involved with a Soloman family was the widow and children of Monroe B Howell.
Mrs. Howell was selling property in Salisbury, as well as in the town of Albemarle and out in the county of Stanly. Probably land M. B. Howell hsd inherited from his father, Newton Howell.

http://www.lakewoodparkcharlotte.com/


The Solomans involved were the children of M. B. Howell's daughter, Cora, who had married a Soloman.
Newton Howell is a study of his own, that I will get more in depth on at some point and quite a bit of a mystery. Some people, descended obviously from a different Newton Howell, have connected him with their ancestor in Newberry, South Carolina, but he could not be the same person. His estate papers were settled in Stanly County and he very plainly died here. He could not have been two places at one time.
Newton Howell was a merchant and citizen of the small town of Albemarle from its inception. His name is writhe in the earliest records of a newborn Stanly County during the 1840's. His son, Monroe Byrd Howell is named as a druggist in the early census records.
Charles Byrd Howell was his son.

Charle B. lived in and around Salisbury and Spencer in Rowan County at the turn of the century. He made a career with the Railroads, of which Spencer, and Salisbury too, were major hubs.
He married Leslie Powell and had two little daughters. But his life was much more complicated than all that. When I read his death certificate which gave cause of death as both drowning and suicide, I knew there had to be a tragic story behind it, and there was.

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The Columbia, SC paper had interviewed an acquaintance of his who said he was an "up and coming" young railroad man, and did not seem "deeply troubled." But he was a married father in his latter thirties, and obviously in love with a teenaged girl.
The Friday, September 11, 1914 edition of The Greensboro Daily News tells it best.
MAN AND WOMAN ARE FOUND IN THE LAKE
Howell and Lizzie Griffin Found Buckled Together in Lake at Charlotte Yesterday
CARRY OUT SUICIDE PACT
Charlotte, Sept. 10 - Locked in each others embrace the bodies of Charles B Howell and Miss Lizzie Griffin, of Monroe, were found at 6:25 this morning floating on the surface of the lake at Lakewood, the park suburban resort west of the city. The bodies were near the dance pavillion and were bounded together with a leather belt, worn by Howell around his waist ordinarily. The bodies were floating together, the woman's face upwards, the man's over her right shoulder. The woman's left arm was under the man's left arm and encircling his body, their bodies bound breast to breast together. The woman had had on all her clothing except her coat and hat which was found yesterday in the lake.
On her left arm were two bracelets, apparently of value; on her finger, a signet ring
; a necklace of gold and a gold cresent pin at her waist. The waist was of white lace, her skirt dark blue serge, the same as the coat found in the boat yesterday. The bodies were buckled so tightly together that when the belt was cut, the woman's back scarcely touched the ground where she was lying, it having been pressed in so tightly that the back had sunk in. The man's body was full of water, but there was no water in the woman's body. His body had swollen greatly and pressed against her body so that her back was bent in by forcr of the pressure and belting which had not given away.
     The bodies were found by E. Maynard, who works at Wearn's lumberyard, and who lives just beyond the lake at Lakewood. He was waiting at the streetcar station at the lake for a car, when hecsaw something floating in the lake near the pavillion.
     He went nearer and saw that it was two bodies fastened together. He phoned the coroner of the find. The news spread rapidly and in a short time their was an immense crowd surrounding the lake. W. S. Orr, manager of Lakewood and others rowed out to where the bodies were abd pulled them into shallow water thence lifted them to the bank. The dragging of the bodies caused the woman's hair to be disheveled and caused a bruise on her right cheek, which gave rise to the report that she had been forced into the suicidal back, but this latter Mr. Orr and others say is not true, as it would have bern impossible for anyone to be forced into the position  in which the bodies were found together had he or she been unwilling.
     Said Mr. Orr: "The man and woman stood facing each other while he bound and buckled them together. They then jumped into the lake." The act was committed Monday night. Beside the bodies rising on the third day, as is the case in drowning, a conductor on one of the Chadwick-Hoskins cars which pass Lakewood, recalls that Howell and Miss Griffin, whom he knew, went out on his car Monday night about 11 o'clock and got off at Reisman's Avenue this side of the lake. The boats had all been locked up after the Labor Day Celebration, but Howell secured a boat, and in it he and the girl kept their death pact.
     Mr. Howell left home Saturday morning on the 8 o'clock train. He said he was going to Salisbury to spend Labor Day with his mother. As soon as he reached Charlotte, he went to the Powell home. He was in a good humor when he left.
     When Howell left the Powell home, he went to the Central hotel and registered thus: J J Hinson and wife, Atlanta, Georgia. He said he was looking for his wife. He was given room 76, the key to which room was found in his coat in the boat. The girl did not go to the hotel. She came to Charlotte Saturday at 1 o'clock and went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Noah Williams, the latter her aunt, being a sister of her father. She stayed their until Monday morning at 9 o'clock. She left telling her aunt and the family that she was going up the street to shop, that she intended becoming a trained nurse and was going to Fayetteville to take her training, and that she was going to buy some goods for uniforms and would then take the 20 o'clock train for Monroe, but met Howell uptown, and they were together from that time on, the last being seen of them was when they disembarked from the car at Lakewood Monday night. There seems to be no doubt that they agreed to die together and as he said "End everything".

The article did not mention a suicide note, but C. B. Howell must have left one to be quoted "End everything."



After finding such a tragic end to these two, I wanted to know more about who Lizzie Griffin was and what may have happened in the mind of Charles Byrd Howell.

From 1910. The Lakewood Park site states that "Strings of lights were placed around the lake giving couples a well lit stroll along the walkway at night. The amusement rides were placed on the southern side of the trolley line which divided the park. A tunnel was built under the tracks so patrons could easily access the amusement park or the lake side without crossing the tracks. If you look closely towards the center of the postcard above, you can see the stairway that led from the parks main trolley station to this tunnel."

It was not difficult to find the Death Certificate of Lizzie Griffin. There were several Lizzie Griffins in and around Charlotte, and Union County, NC. Monroe is Griffin Central. But only one who died the same day as Charles B. Howell.

Her name was given as Elizabeth Griffin and she was single, and only 18 years old. Her employment was given as "Household", her education as "Common School", and her parents as H. F. Griffin and Mattie Edwards. The informant was R. E. Bishop of Charlotte.

This is a postcard of the lake where the bodies were found. 

Research found out that H. F. Griffin was Henry Fulton Griffin of Monroe, North Carolina. H. F. Griffin was the son of Jacob Kindley Griffin and Elizabeth Davis Griffin. He was the grandson of the locally reknown minister, Rev. Edmund Lilly Davis and his wife Mary Newsome Davis, of the old Rocky River Baptist Church.

Henry Fulton Griffin was born on Aug. 27, 1867 and died on September 14 1893. He had married Martha D "Mattie" Edwards on December 29, 1891. He is buried in the old Griffin - Davis cemetery in Polkton, Anson County, North Carolina.

Mattie Edwards was the daughter of  James Henry "Big Henry" Edwards and Sarah Arminta "Minta" Curlee. She grew up in the New Salem area of Union County. Like her husband, H. F. Griffin, Mattie was also doomed to a brief life.  She was born August 27, 1873 and died January 5, 1897.

This picture is from 1915, the year after the double suicide from a play of passion. 

Mattie was the mother of three children. She named her oldest for her mother, Sarah Arminta. She was born in April of 1893. Next came Elizabeth in 1896 and lastly Myers Vance Griffin in 1897. It is tragic enough that these children were orphaned at such a young age, but laid out on a timeline, you notice something else.

The Ad for Lakewood park said that 'new steel boats were purchased for the 1910 season and that row-boating was one of the favorite activities of park visitors. 

H. F. and Mattie married in 1891. He was 24 and Mattie was 18. Minta came along a year and a half later in April of 1893. H. F. died in September of the same year. Elizabeth was born in 1896, two years later. Myers draft card says that he was born on Feb. 1 1897. Only Minta could have been the child of H. F. Griffin. The other two took his name, however, and lost their mother shortly after the birth of Myers, probably. Either his birth record on the draft card was wrong, which was often the case, or the death date on her tombstone was wrong, because it has that he was born nearly a month after she died. More likely she died shortly after his birth or at his birth, and as he was an orphan, no one kept up with the date very well. That of Lizzie either. One census has her being born in Dec. of 1894, in which case, she could have been the posthumous  child of H. F. Griffin, and likely was. But her date of birth was not well recorded.

Whether they were the children of H. F. Griffin, or not, and Myers most obviously was not, the Griffin family took them in. In 1900, Cornelia Ellen Griffin Jerome and husband had them along with their ever expanding brood. She was the sister of H. F. Griffin.

Myres Griffin
Age:	4
Birth Date:	Feb 1896
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1900:	Monroe, Union, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Boarder
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Occupation:	View on Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Jno E Jerome 37 Ellin Jerome 34 Marry Jerome 9 Elvin Jerome 7 Jamie Jerome 6 David Jerome 5 Sallie Jerome 10/12 Minter Griffin 7 Lizzie Griffin 5 Myres Griffin 4

Ten years later, Fulton and Ellen's brother Edmund, or Edward, would take them in and refer to them as his children. He must have loved them, as they were counted not as nieces and nephews, or boarders, as in Ellen's household, but as children of...

Name:	Meta Griffin
Age in 1910:	16
Birth Year:	abt 1894
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	South Monroe, Union, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Daughter
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Name:	Edmond W Griffin
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Name:	Mary J Griffin
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Edmond W Griffin 58 Mary J Griffin 47 John F Griffin 25 Ulaie Griffin 23 Meta Griffin 16 Elizabeth Griffin 14 Myrse Griffin 12

Two years later, Sarah Arminta Griffin would marry Alexander Edwards Bishop, son of Rev. Samuel Bishop of Virginia, and Mary McQueen of Scotland. He would die at 51. They had 3 children together and moved around a bit.

Alex E Bishop Age: 33 Birth Year: abt 1887 Birthplace: South Carolina Home in 1920: Ellenboro, Rutherford, North Carolina Race: White Gender: Male Relation to Head of House: Head Marital Status: Married Spouse's Name: Menta G Bishop Father's Birthplace: Virginia Mother's Birthplace: Scotland [South Carolina]  Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age Alex E Bishop 33 Menta G Bishop 26 Mattie E Bishop 6 Evelyn M Bishop 4 [4 2/12]

View Original Record

ame:	B A Bishop
Gender:	Male
Birth Year:	abt 1890
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Race:	White
Home in 1930:	Lincolnton, Lincoln, North Carolina
Map of Home:	View Map
Marital Status:	Married
Relation to Head of House:	Head
Spouse's Name:	Menta H Bishop
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Occupation: Education: Military service: Rent/home value: Age at first marriage: Parents' birthplace:	View Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age B A Bishop 40 Menta H Bishop 33 Mattie E Bishop 16 Evelyn M Bishop 14 Junior Bishop 9

First in Rutherford County, and then in Lincoln County. Alex would die in 1937 and Minta would move to Gastonia and become a dress maker. She would die there in 1956.

Myers would serve in the U. S. Army in WW I and afterwards, work as a brakeman for the Railroad. He moved to Harrisburg, PA and married Clara V. Walters. He would die prior to 1930, as his wife is shown as a widow in that census living with her sister. 

And Lizzie, the most ill-fated of all of the 3 orphans would meet Charles Byrd Howell.

Charles Byrd Howell was the oldest son, and third child of seven of Albemarle, Stanly County Druggest, Monroe Byrd Howell and his wife, Laura Frances "Fannie" Austin Howell. He was the grandson of early Albemarle merchant, Newton Howell and wife Rebecca Pennington Howell.

ame:	M. B. Howell
Age:	41
Birth Year:	abt 1839
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1880:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Self (Head)
Marital Status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	Fannie Howell
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Occupation:	Druggist
Cannot read/write: Blind: Deaf and dumb: Otherwise disabled: Idiotic or insane:	View Image
Household Members:	Name Age M. B. Howell 41 Fannie Howell 32 Sallie Howell 6 Cora Howell 4 Charley Howell 2

He grew up on the dirt streets of old Albemarle and lived in a house in town. 

Twenty years later, in 1900, Fannie had moved her family, including married daughter Cora, her husband James Nicholas Solomon and two children, Lucille, and James N. Jr., to Salisbury, North Carolina. Charley would get a job with the railroad, which reined in old Salisbury and Spencer. 

Name:	Charlie Howell
Age:	22
Birth Date:	Apr 1889
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1900:	Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Son
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Name:	Julia F Howell
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Occupation:	View on Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Julia F Howell 49 Charlie Howell 22 Patrick H Howell 19 Jessie Howell 16 James V Howell 14 James N Sollamon 25 Cora M Sollamon 24 Claudie L Sollamon 4 James Sollamon 1

Shortly afterwards, Charlie would marry Leslie Pinkney Powell, daughter of  Pinkney Shuford Powell and Louisa Regina Roarke Powell, from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. 

Charles B Howell
Gender:	Male
Residence Year:	1904
Street Address:	900 X Graham
Residence Place:	Charlotte, North Carolina
Occupation:	MacHinist
Spouse:	Leslie Howell
Publication Title:	Charlotte, North Carolina, City Directory, 1904

1904 would show the young couple living on Graham Street in Charlotte. 

The current view of 900 Graham Street brings up a spot of foliage next to a bridge crossing a railroad track across the road from a narrow park in shadows of the Charlotte skyscrapers. 

Charles B Howell
Gender:	Male
Residence Year:	1907
Street Address:	900 X Graham
Residence Place:	Charlotte, North Carolina
Occupation:	MacHinist
Spouse:	Leslie Howell
Publication Title:	Charlotte, North Carolina, City Directory, 1907

harles B Howell
Gender:	Male
Residence Year:	1909
Street Address:	800 N Graham
Residence Place:	Charlotte, North Carolina
Occupation:	MacHinist
Spouse:	Leslie Howell
Publication Title:	Charlotte, North Carolina, City Directory, 1909

By 1909, they had moved their small family, which included two small daughters, a few blocks down to 800 N Graham Street, which is now just a clump of bushes next to an overpass. 

Name:	Charles B Howell
Age in 1910:	31
Birth Year:	abt 1879
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Charlotte Ward 4, Mecklenburg, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Head
Marital Status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	Pinkie L Howell
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Charles B Howell 31 Pinkie L Howell 28 Leslie C Howell 7 Elsie M Howell 3

By the 1910 census, Charlie and Pinkie are living right next door to her parents, the Powells. Charlie is listed as a machinist for the railroad, his father-in-law, as a machinist at the "Shops". His brother-in-law, John T. Powell, was living with his parents, and managing a 'moving picture theater'. They were living a city life.

ame: Pink S Powell Age in 1910: 50 Birth Year: abt 1860 Birthplace: North Carolina Home in 1910: Charlotte Ward 4, Mecklenburg, North Carolina Race: White Gender: Male Relation to Head of House: Head Marital Status: Married Spouse's Name: Louisa R Powell Father's Birthplace: North Carolina Mother's Birthplace: North Carolina Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age Pink S Powell 50 Louisa R Powell

It is unknown when or how Charlie Howell met Lizzie Griffin, but doubtful their relationship had began in the way it was by 1910, as she would have been a mere child. It may, however, had something to do with her Aunt and Uncle, Katie and Noah Williams, who lived in Charlotte by 1910, and whom she had visited the morning before her death. Perhaps Noah Williams was a friend of Charlie Howell, and Charlie had made the girl's acquaintance at their home, or perhaps he had just found her riding the street cars of town, a fragile looking and dewy adolescent, an orphan in search of that forever lost father figure she never had, except perhaps in her Uncle Edmond. 

This photo is of the streetcar tracks to Lakewood park, circa 1911

A Streetcar like this one was the last ride for Charlie and Lizzie. It may have been this very one, from Lakewood Park circa 1911




The Mystery remains: did young Lizzie know of Charlie's plans? Was she a victim or a willing participant?