Clinch Valley News, Jeffersonville, VA
Obituary of Franklin Howard

September 14, 1917 FRANKLIN HOWARD     Mr. Franklin Howard died at his home at Wittens Mills, this county, Wednesday night, in the 75th year of his age. His death was due to a stroke of paralysis which he suffered just three weeks ago.     Besides a widow he leaves two sons and two daughters, viz: Geo. W. Howard, of Welch, W. Va.; Edward R. Howard, of Wittens Mills; Mrs. D. H. Litz, of Morristown, Tenn. and Miss Effie Howard, at home. The funeral and burial took place yesterday from the home conducted by the Rev. Thos. H. Campbell, pastor of the Tazewell Baptist church, of which deceased had been a consistent member for more than half a century.     Franklin Howard came to Tazewell when a young man, from Russell county, and went into the tanning business, which he continued and it which he was engaged at the time of his last illness.     He married Miss Amanda, a daughter of the late Dr. Thomas W. Witten of this county, and sister to Dr. R. M. Witten, the well known physician of Graham. Of his immediate family one brother and three sisters survive him - W. M. Howard, of Say, Va.; Mrs. Mary Banner, of Castlewood; Mrs. Alice Fuller, of Honaker; and Mrs. Sallie Banner, of St. Paul.     His father's name Hiram Howard. His mother was Miss Ellen Nash, of Russell.     Deceased was a gallant soldier of the civil war, a quiet unassuming man, a citizen of unquestioned integrity and like the stock from which he sprang, of strong natural intellect and sound judgment. A man of almost extreme modesty and diffidence, he sought no place of prominence in public affairs, but contented himself with a quiet home life. In religion he was a Baptist, in politics a loyal Democrat, - a true devoted husband and father, and his death is mourned and his loss felt in a wide circle. His influence for good will remain.