William Shepard Howell letter to Rev. James Hines Kilpatrick, 1896
This (prob. transcribed) letter from the papers of Dr. William Heard Kilpatrick and sent to me by Scott Kilpatrick, March 2006.
The letter describes the damage created by a tornado that struck the town of Greenville, Georgia in 1886.
The letter is dated 14 March 1893 and addressed "Dear Father." The handwritten notes on p2 question the notes that say the letter is written to Rev. J.H. Kilpatrick. The handwritten notes suggest the letter was written to Samuel Howell, which is almost certainly incorrect.
My guess is that "Father" is actually the Rev. James Hines Kilpatrick who was the father-in-law of W.S. Howell. Samuel Armstrong Howell is William Shepard Howell's biological father, but he died in 1864 - 29 years prior to the date this letter was written.
There is no reference to Harriet Eliza Kilpatrick (she was W.S. Howell's first wife, and Rev. J. H. Kilpatrick's daughter), which may seem strange at first, but Harriet died in 1886, seven years before the letter was written.
I also considered that the letter may have been written by W.S. Howell, Jr. the son of W.S. Howell and his second wife Annie Davidson - but this does not seem plausible since W.S. Howell and Annie Davidson were married in 1889, four years before the letter was written.
