Killed near Morning Star School, Larue Co., KY by a band of guerillas.

This is what Paul Howell wrote to me. He is Aunt Helen's (Helen Howard Peake) first cousin and grandson of Mace Howell:

Joseph Howell was the eight child (of twelve) of James "Jimmy" Howell and Edith "Edy" Watson.

Joseph married Winnie Catherine Salsman August 10, 1848, Greensburg, KY.  They had six children, of which James Mason "Mace" (born April 25, 1849), your great grandfather was the oldest.

Joseph was a farmer and miller, operating a mill on Otter Creek (the south fork).  His farm and home were near Morning Star.  He was killed by guerillas in 1862 who raided his home,
The above was largely taken from Tap Roots of the Howells, 1986, by Neely and West.  But several years ago, a Howell descendant (in California) wrote a letter to Carl Howell.  I read the letter but I don't believe I have a copy.  He gave some details of the murder of Joseph that from my imperfect memory goes....

It was Sunday and Catherine and the children were going to church in a buggy.  Guerillas were rumored to be in the area so Joseph stayed home to protect it and livestock in case they showed up.  Catherine and the children returned home after church to find Joseph tied upside down on the front porch with multiple gunshot wounds, dead, Catherine sent the two oldest, Mason and Jacob, armed, on foot in opposite directions on the road.  Mason heard a horse coming and hid behind a rail fence alongside the road.  The rider was a guerilla.  Mason shot him dead out of the saddle, propped him up against the rail fence to make it appear he was napping, and tied the man’s horse to a sapling growing in the fence.  Mason again hid himself nearby and waited for other guerillas.  None showed up.  The next morning, they laid the dead guerilla across his horse and took him to the sheriff.
 
This is about all I think I remember about this event as described in the letter from our "California Cousin".  However, in other parts of the letter he mentions adventures his grandfather Howell had with his cousin Mace Howell as young members of John Hunt Morgan’s raiders.  Morgan’s raiders robbed the the bank in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky.  They got about $40,000.  The California letter sort of implicates the two Howell cousins.  I have some real doubts about this story.
   
There is another cousin, Daniel Cass that I have read about on the internet.  His biographer tells some tall tales about him and Mace Howell being captured with general Morgan in Greenville, TN.  Cass and Mace were released, and got to keep their horses and pistols, and were back home in Larue County in a week or so.  Cass and Mace were about the same age.  Cass went west into Missouri, became involved in politics, became a lawyer, judge; the father of two well-known Kansas City lawyers.  He died in 1927 and is buried near Fort Smith, AR.
   
After Joseph's death, Catherine married Hatton Price who died 1931, age 102, Catherine died 1922, age 89.

Information from John Young Howard.