I did a research on the Johnston county historical website, link below.  Here are three or four things I have found.

Name:	Howell, Jethro H.
Rank / Company:	Pvt. / D
NC Regiment:	13th Battalion, NC Infantry,

http://www.johnstonnc.com/heritage2/hc_soldier_search.cfm

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This looks like it would be for Fristus H. Howell.  The age is about correct.  The place is certainly correct.  But I have absolutely no idea who Ancestor Joe Howell would be.  Does anybody have any ideas?
http://erec.johnstonnc.com/recorder/eagleweb/customSearch.jsp?pageId=DeedRecords&searchId=0

Record ID: 2667 Name: Howell, F.H. Age: 26 Ancestor: Joe Howell State: NC Date of Application: October 22, 1902 Township: Boon Hill

Same thing for this entry.  Again the dates are approximately correct, but again I don't know who this Jno is ... Jonathan?

1902 Johnston County Voter Registration  Record ID:	2689
Name:	Howell, J. Henry
Age:	50
Ancestor:	Jno. Howell
State:	NC
Date of Application:	October 7, 1902
Township:	Boon Hill

http://www.johnstonnc.com/heritage2/hccontent.cfm?PID=voter

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Wedding Wednesday -- Fristus Haywood Howell married 1912

Fristus Haywood Howell 3-gen pedigree from Ancestry.com

Fristus Haywood Howell 1872 - 1950 was born 12 years after the War Between the States (aka Civil War) ended.  I don't have an actual birth certificate, since they weren't kept before 1913.  Instead of this primary source which doesn't exist, we will use secondary sources.  The 6 Federal Censuses in which Fristus was enumerated (under so many variations -- I'll have to list them below) all give the approximate birth year,  which we calculate subtracting the age from that particular year.  The 1900 census actually gives us a month (May) as well as the year.

Enough of this, already!  We are here to celebrate the union between two people ....

Fristus and Katie Howell 1912 marriage index

Fristus and Katie Howell 1912 marriage index

Fristus married Katie Elizabeth Watkins 22 December 1912 in Johnston North Carolina.  I don't know how they met and fell in love.  That story is always a great story to hear.  These are the only secondary sources available.  They are indexes, not the actual legal document.  It shows that somewhere these documents exist, but are not available to me online.  Below is the best that it gets.

Fristus and Katie Watkins Howell 1912
Marriage index from Ancestry.com

They married in December.  Why that month, I wonder.  The first of their 13 children was born ten months later.

His mother and father had both died by this time, and most of his 10 siblings were still alive.  By the time he and Katie married, the Wright Brothers had already made their first flight at Kittyhawk North Carolina.

https://www.reference.com/history/did-wright-brothers-invent-eb7b4e7b7ee382ee

Names under which we find Fristus Haywood Howell are below.  I list this because we will discuss these names and why I am certain this particular spelling is my Fristus Howell (as if there are that many out there, right?)

• Pristus H. Howell -- 1880 census
• Foistus H. Howell -- 1900 census
• Cris Nawell -- 1910 census
• Friss H Howell -- 1912 marriage index
• Frrist Howell -- 1920 census
• Forst H. Howell -- 1930 census
• Frist Howell -- 1940 census