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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Fristus and Katie Howell part 2, 1920-1929

• 1920, Lower Boon Hill Census
• 1920, birth of daughter Annie Lois Howell
• 1921, birth of son Melvin Thadius Howell
• 1924, birth and death of son Paul Coolidge Howell
• 1924, death of sister Mary Catherine Howell
• 1926, birth of son William Roland Howell
• 1928, birth of son Henry Haywood Jethro Howell
• 1929 Historical Insight -- The Great Depression

1920 Census

Fristus and Katie Elizabeth Watkins Howell
1920 NC Census

1920 Census, Boon Hill, Lower Precinct, Johnston County North Carolina.  Dated 21 January 1920

• Start at Line 70.  Farm, owned free and clear.  
• Frrist (sic) Howell, Head, white male, age 46, married.  Unable to read nor write.  He was born in North Carolina as were both his parents.  Speaks English, is a Farmer on his own General Farm.
• Kattie Howell, wife, white female, age 24, married.  able to read and write, born in NC, both parents born NC.  Able to speak English, not employed.
• Artie Howell, daughter, white female age 6, single.  born NC.    Able to speak English, not employed.
• Garland Howell, son, white male age 4.    born NC.  
• Pauline Howell, daughter, age 3.    born NC.  
• Letha Howell, daughter, age 1.    born NC.  

Screenshot of Boon Hill NC.  The lower precinct would be south of the highway, borders the Neuse River.

Boon Hill NC
from google Maps 2017

This is an 1896 newspaper article describing how the township was divided for voting purposes.

Upper_and_Lower_Boon_Hill_precincts_1896 (1)
from Newspapers.com

1920, age 47

Birth of daughter Annie Lois Howell, 26 February 1920, Princeton RFD, Micro Twp, Johnston County NC


This is a photo of Fristus and Katie Howell, with their son and granddaughter Henry Howell and Wilma Gray Howell in Gastonia NC.  Wilma was in hospital for a long time, I think with an injured leg.

Update -- My dad tells me Wilma Gray had one leg longer than the other, and the surgery was to "balance things out."  Her brother Joe had the same condition.  Sounds like it is genetic?

Fristus and Katie Howell with
Henry Howell and Wilma Gray Howell
Gastonia NC, photo from Amanda Price

1921, age 49

Birth of son Melvin Thadius Howell, 27 October 1921, Johnston NC

1924, age 51

Birth of son Paul Coolidge Howell, 7 January 1924, Boon Hill, Johnston, NC

Death of sister Mary Catherine Howell, 28 April 1924, Johnston County NC

Death of son Paul Coolidge Howell, 27 May 1924, Boon Hill, Johnston NC

1926, age 53

Birth of son William Roland Howell, 13 March 1926, Wayne County NC

1928, age 58

Birth of son Henry Haywood Jethro Howell, 18 May 1928, Wayne NC

Fristus Howell 3 gen pedigree
from Ancestry.com

1929 Historical Insight -- The Great Depression

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 propelled the United States into the worst hard times: the Great Depression

Credit: MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images
from Ancestry.com

October 24, 1929, was one of the darkest days in American history. On Black Tuesday, the hopeful, prosperity of the Roaring Twenties came to an abrupt end when the stock market crashed. Suddenly, the United States, and the world with it, was propelled into the Great Depression. Americans began withdrawing their money from banks, causing them to fail. Industrial production came to a standstill and unemployment skyrocketed. Unable to pay their bills, hundreds of thousands of Americans became homeless. By 1933, 15 million were without work and almost half of all U.S. banks had shuttered. To make matters worse, a historic drought caused widespread farmland erosion across the Prairie, precipitating the Dust Bowl. The “only thing we have to fear is fear itself” declared incoming President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his 1933 inauguration. Immediately he set to work rebuilding the country. Through a series of federal programs, he launched the New Deal, which revived banks, created millions of jobs, and helped Americans from going hungry. Slowly, the economy picked up, and with the outbreak of World War II in 1939, factories across the United States kicked into high gear, propelling the country out of the worst economic depression in its history.

Media Gallery

Hundreds of thousands of Americans relied on soup kitchens and charity for meals during the Great Depression. February 1931, Chicago, Illinois. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

 

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Dust storms wreaked havoc on farms across the American heartland, caused the closure of entire towns, and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes for greener pastures along the West Coast. Many became migrant farmers in California. April 1936, Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Credit: Arthur Rothstein/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

 

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Because so many Americans were unable to pay their bills, evictions became widespread. Many built makeshift homes, dubbed “Hoovervilles” because of the outgoing president’s inability to combat the growing poverty. Condemned as unsightly, some like this shantytown in the nation’s capital, were burned to the ground. 1932, Washington, D.C.. Credit: Signal Corps photographer/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

 

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Though the vast majority of the jobs created by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression were for unskilled laborers, he also employed artists to document life across the country. This photograph of a migrant family escaping the Dust Bowl was shot by Dorothea Lange and has become an iconic work from the era. 1936, Nipomo, California. Credit: Dorothea Lange/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

 

Census Sunday part 1 -- Fristus Howell before 1912

Fristus Howell 3-gen Pedigree from Ancestry.com

Below is the 1880 Federal census, with Fristus living with his parents Jethro and Laurenda Batten Howell in Boon Hill, Johnston Co. NC.   Later on, we'll explore the different name variations for his mother, but for now note it is spelled Lorinda. Their record starts at the bottom of the page, line 49.  This is a typical farming family.  Wonder what they farmed?

Jethro and Laurenda Howell census 1880 part 1

Next page lists the children of this family.  Nellie is the oldest age 18, Fristus here is written as "Pristus" and he is 6 years old.  His grandmother Sophia LNU Howell lives with them, probably because she's been a widow since 1858.  Also living with them is an 18 year old servant/laborer John Britton.  As far as I know he is unrelated.

Jethro and Laurenda Howell 1880 Census 2

They live in Boon Hill Township of  Johnston County, North Carolina.  Some names of their neighbors that I find in my corollary research are Raines, Sasser,  and Creech.  My great uncle told me once that the young men found their girls within walking distance of their home.  Because they didn't have cars, then.  They had to finish their farmwork, walk to the girls' home to visit for a while, then walk back home.  This information is valuable when looking for your ancestors.

Boon Hill Twp from Mapclick Johnston Co NC

This is the location of Boon Hill Twp as of 2017.  This information was obtained from Mapclick Johnston Co.  The link is below, and it is a fun site to play with.

There is no 1890 census due to a major fire.  Easy enough to find this information, so I won't belabour the cause.

The 1900 census is below.  He is living with his mother Laurenda, his sister Tilithia, and his nephew Millard G. Lane.  The family starts line 4.  This is a cool census because it provides the month and year each person was born.  I have to point out that Millard is NOT a Howell child.  He is listed here as Laurenda's grandson.  Research shows that Tilithia married Millard Lane, and they had at least this son.  Point of research -- find out why Millard Sr is no living with them right now.  It is too early for WWI.

Their home is still in Boone Hill Township, but also in the Lower Boon Hill Precinct, all of Johnston County NC.  Still a farming family.  Fristus is still a farmer labourer, and he cannot read nor write.

Laurenda Howell 1900 Census

His name is indexed as Faistus, but again, if you look carefully you can make out the "r" and see where it is closed at the bottom.  But you have to squint your eyes and hold your nose to the left a bit.  Well ... hmmm ... maybe not.  I checked the other "r" words like Corra and Robert and Charley.  The enumerator wrote in something like a Palmer method of handwriting, see the sample below --

Sample of Palmer Cursive
http://writeanalog.com/learning-cursive-handwriting/

So, perhaps his name really IS written down as "Faistus."  Anyway, this is the last census we will find Fristus in as a single fellow.  He marries Katie two years after this census was taken.  Neighbors include Raines, Sasser, Daughtry, all corollary names.

This family, in the 1910 census, begins on Line 31, with Cain Nawell (according to Ancestry.com).  However, if you look closely, you can see the proper spelling in the large handwriting, with the large tilted "H" and the cross-member.  The first name "Cain" is actually London King.  He went by his middle name (but of  COURSE he did, because everyone in North Carolina did).  I asked one of King's brothers why he got that name.  Uncle said it was because his parents ran out of names by that time and they wanted something BIG.

Line 38 is Fristus.  But -- his name looks like and is indexed as Cris.  MAYbe Fris.  The only way I knew this was Fristus is because of the other people in King's family.  I missed this one for years because of the horrible misspelling.

Fristus Howell 1910 Census

Fristus is a 35 year old who is farming on his own account.  I still wonder if this is where he was living when he met Katie?  I think so, it almost looks like he has a portion of farmland that is his own, but he doesn't have a house of his own yet?  This part is all imagination at this point.

I tried to find out what exactly Upper and Lower Boon Hill precincts looked like.  All I could find was a newspaper article in 1898 where they divided Boon Hill into two voting districts.  Same thing for Beulah, divided into voting districts.

Upper and Lower Boon Hill Precincts
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, North Carolina)
Thu, Sep 24, 1896 ·  Page 2
Downloaded on Jun 9, 2017

• Johnston County North Carolina MapClick -- an interactive map of the county