The Howell Family

MARY E. M. HOWELL (c. 1845-1902) was brought to Brooksville from South Carolina in the early 1850s. Her father had died in 1852, when she was 7. Her widowed mother came on alone, bringing Mary, her older sister, two brothers, 11 slaves and the county’s first carriage. The Howell Plantation straddled what was then called Monroe Ferry Road, now Howell Avenue. It extended from Fort Dade Avenue north through Black’s Addition; west to the Hammock Road; and east to Bell’s grove, according to a 1952 column in the Brooksville Sun.

 On Feb. 14, 1869, she married Thomas B. Law, q.v. The 1870 census shows child, Thomas, age 5 months; he died young. Mary’s husband died later in 1870. In 1874 she married Robert James Mickler. She died on Sept. 22, 1902. Mary had three children by Mr. Mickler: Howell T., Anna Bell (b. July 19, 1877; died young), Mary (also called Marie and Mamie). [Information from a 2007 St. Petersburg Times article]

St. Anthony's Catholic Church served the Brooksville community until 1972 when the Diocese of St. Petersburg sold it to Earl and Kay Patterson. According to Mrs. Lovelace, they planned to retire and transform it into their residence. Unfortunately, Mr. Patterson passed away and the couple never got a chance to live there. His wife Kay decided to transform the property anyway. She had a loft built, the sacristy converted to a galley kitchen and converted the rear of the church into a master bedroom. She rented it out until she sold it to Jack and Jeanne Lovelace in 2008.

Since then they have lovingly cared for their home as well as the cemetery. Mr. Lovelace has volunteered his time to maintaining the cemetery. He keeps the headstones clean and the grounds well-trimmed. He is a veteran and retired from running a veteran's charity organization in St. Petersburg, FL. Thoughtfully, Mr. Lovelace placed a small cherub statue where three young siblings were buried after their family moved the original headstone to the family plot in the Brooksville Cemetery. Although the marker had to be removed, Mr. Lovelace did not want those children to be forgotten or any of the others buried in the cemetery behind his home. Lovelace was the sole caretaker of the cemetery for five years until the City of Brooksville took ownership of the property.

The cemetery is home to at least 15 people of the Howell, Law, Mickler, Duren, and Keathley families.

In the early 1850's, the widowed mother of Mary Howell came to Brooksville from South Carolina with Mary and her three siblings as well as 11 slaves. Mary's father died when she was only 7 years old. Thomas B. Law, the first husband of Mary Howell and Confederate veteran, was buried in the cemetery three months after their 6 month old son Thomas Howell Law.

Four years after the death of her first husband, Mary Howell married Robert J. Mickler, also a Confederate veteran. They had three children H.T. Mickler, Anna Belle Mickler, and Marie “Mamie” Mickler. Anna Belle did not survive childhood and was buried in the family cemetery as well.

In 1902, the cemetery became the resting place of her mother Mary Howell or Mrs. R.J. Mickler as it appears on her gravestone. Mamie's oldest son Robert Duren Sr. was laid to rest there in 1970. Marie “Mamie” Mickler Duren died on Christmas Eve, 1974 at the age of 94. She was a Daughter of the Confederacy, the county supervisor of registration for almost 15 years and the last to be buried in the family's cemetery.

Photo courtesy of Jack Lovelace