I have made some headway on the Howell family tree. I have been able to go back another generation for Grandma Bessie's maternal line, but I've also found something interesting for the Andrews line.
Capt. John Andrews married Ruth Barnes at Pool's Island, Newfoundland on December 28, 1829. When John passed away he left some money to his sister Ann Dowland and her daughter from Bere Regis, Dorset, England. I was curious to see if I could find out more about John if I researched the beloved sister he mentions in his Will. All other searches for John Andrews came up with nothing I could trust.
I started looking and found Mary Ann Dowland in Bere Regis, Dorset. She was a widow and living with her only daughter Eliza Ann. She was the head of household and listed as a Grocer in the 1851 England Census for Wareham, Bere Regis. The 1861 census lists her as a Grocer and a Post Mistress. Not bad for a woman in the 1860s. In her Will, she left all of her money and possessions to her only
