HOWELL, Franklin Ezra

  Noted events in his life were:

• Notes about life. Ezra and Vadeene met at A. G. Freed's Southern
Tennessee Normal College, which flourished at Essary Springs
around the turn of the century. Both were studying to become
school teachers and both participated in the impromptu folk
music programs that were common in the community. Ezra
was a singer in a quartet and Vadeene sang and played the
guitar and mandolin.

When the college moved to Henderson, Ezra moved there
also and attended the college, now known as Freed-Hardeman
University. He returned to Essary Springs long enough to
propose to Vadeene and begin a year of work as a streetcar
conductor in Memphis, to save the money to get married.
The couple married 10 August 1912 in Essary Springs.

Ezra taught school and farmed at Essary Springs for five
years, before moving in 1917 to Manila, Arkansas, where
they both taught school. Ezra also served as a rural
mail carrier from 1923 to 1951. The Howells routinely visited
their relatives in Hardeman County, Tennessee during Ezra's summer
vacations.

Franklin married Vada Vadeene ESSARY, daughter of William Lafayette ESSARY and Paralee ROBERTSON, on 10 Aug 1912. (Vada Vadeene ESSARY was born on 7 Apr 1892 in Essary Springs, Tennessee, died on 21 Apr 1977 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee and was buried in Manila, Arkansas.)