Biography

Jay Marshall Howell and his sister Abbie changed the trajectory of their family’s religious life when they were baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1915. It would take another six years for their family—Abner (father), Nina (mother), and Lucille (sister)—to join them in their new faith.[1] However, while his father went on to achieve minor celebrity status in the Salt Lake Valley as a stalwart Black Mormon who would not let racial restrictions curtail his faith, Jay would choose a different path. Jay’s faith journey is far less clear but it eventually included affiliation with the Baptist and Methodist traditions.[2] Although the details are absent from the historical record, Jay’s life and religious journey reflect the shifting landscape of personal faith that often unfolds over an individual’s lifetime. 

Born in Plymouth, Michigan, on 26 November 1904, to Abner and Nina Howell, Jay spent his early years in Detroit after his father dropped out of law school and became a bricklayer. Abner eventually decided to leave Michigan behind and return to Utah where he had grown up and graduated from high school. Arriving in Salt Lake City around 1910, Abner resumed his earlier work as a bricklayer to support his growing family. In doing so, he indefinitely put his aspirations to be a lawyer on hold.[3]

The Howell family’s arrival in Utah meant that Jay and his siblings would grow up surrounded by Latter-day Saints, something his own father had experienced before he moved to Michigan. When Jay and his family moved to Utah they first lived in the northern part of Salt Lake City, within the boundaries of the Salt Lake LDS 23^rd Ward. It was a neighborhood known locally as “Swedetown” for the number of Latter-day Saint converts from Sweden who concentrated there. Jay and his Sister Abbie must have found a sense of belonging and acceptance in Swedetown because they both decided to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at young ages and independently of their parents or other siblings. Jay was ten years old, and Abbie was nine when they converted. On 5 June 1915, Jeremiah A. Hancock baptized both siblings and the following day Joseph A. Haborsen confirmed Jay in front of his new Latter-day Saint congregation.[4]

It is difficult to imagine that Jay’s parents were not present for both events, but their reaction does not survive. Abner said later in life that he had always believed in the church, and that he and his wife began attending when their children became members. Since it would be another six years before the rest of the Howell family joined Jay and Abbie in their new faith, their decision stands out. Abner once recounted positive interactions with Mormon youth in his own upbringing, and perhaps Jay and Abbie had similar experiences that influenced their decision.[5]

After Swedetown, the family moved to Holladay, in the southeastern portion of the Salt Lake Valley. The 1920 census lists Jay residing in his father’s home and attending school with his siblings.[6] Sometime between this census and 1928, Jay met his future wife, Ruth Haynes. Born on 17 August 1905, in Louisville, Mississippi, to Thomas and Minnie Haynes, Ruth was a Black woman living in the Salt Lake Valley. Although surviving sources do not specify where or how they met, Jay and Ruth presumably courted before they decided to get married. On 22 December 1928, George Graham, an LDS elder married the young couple. Jay was 24 when they wed and Ruth was 23.[7]

Jay’s marriage to Ruth, however, proved to be brief. Less than two years later, Jay filed for divorce in the Third District Court of Salt Lake County, and his request was granted. The legal petition for divorce stated that Ruth had abandoned Jay only one month into their marriage and that all efforts to reconcile the marriage had been unsuccessful.[8]Unfortunately, the legal documents offer no insights into the experiences that may have prompted Ruth to leave or that made the marriage unsustainable. Ruth had two children from prior relationships and was previously married. Before the divorce was finalized Ruth gave birth to a daughter with Charles Nave, the man she would eventually marry after her divorce from Jay, which could indicate potential infidelity during Jay and Ruth’s marriage.[9]

Interestingly, the divorce proceedings state that Jay and Ruth had no children; however, subsequent records indicate otherwise. They did have a son together who they named Thomas.[10] Thomas Howell was born on 29 March 1929, three months after the couple wed, and appears to have eventually lived with his father after the divorce. Ruth passed away in 1935 leaving Jay as the surviving parent.[11] The 1940 U.S. Census lists Jay and Thomas living in Abner’s home beginning in 1935, with Jay employed as a laborer.[12]

In 1940, Jay registered for the draft as the United States responded to growing tension in Europe as a part of the lead up to World War II. His draft registration card provides a physical description of Jay in his mid-30s, noting he stood at five feet, four inches tall, weighed 155 pounds, and had black hair, black eyes, and a dark complexion. Jay was inducted into the army in September 1942 and served until April 1943. He achieved the rank of Private in the Army Warrant Officers Corps.[13] After receiving an honorable discharge, Jay returned to the Salt Lake area, where he resumed work as a laborer with a plumbing company.[14]

An LDS Church census taken in 1940 shows that Jay and his family were still active members of their local Latter-day Saint congregation, the Mount Olympus Ward in the Big Cottonwood Stake. Thomas, Jay’s son, was baptized into the church sometime earlier and was included in the census which indicates that Jay at least consented to his child’s membership.[15] This is the last definitive source that indicates Jay’s involvement with the LDS Church, as he seems to disappear from official church records after that. By 1950, Jay had moved to a new home in Salt Lake City and was part of a new LDS ward.[16] However, neither Jay nor Thomas appear in any capacity in the records of the Temple View Stake.[17] Jay seems to have moved away from the faith of his youth, leaving no recorded explanation for this decision. His obituary mentions his affiliation with various faiths throughout his life, including Mormonism, Methodism, and the Baptist Church, but offers no indication as to the nature of these affiliations or the reasons behind them.[18]

Jay spent the majority of the remaining decades of his life at the same Salt Lake City apartment where he continued his occupation as a laborer for a plumbing company. From at least 1949 through 1965 Jay lived at the Orchard Place Apartment and briefly cohabitated with a woman named Marie. Jay retired from plumbing sometime before 1965. Jay moved one last time before he passed away. There are no surviving sources which indicate that he participated in local LDS wards in the later years of his life.[19]

Jay traveled to California in 1955 for his son Thomas’s marriage to Georgia Fay Simpson.[20] Tragically, a year later, Thomas passed away at the age of twenty-eight.[21] The cause of Thomas’s death is unclear and, though no record exists of Jay’s reaction, it is likely that this loss had a profound impact on him.

Over two decades later, Jay passed away on 26 May 1981.[22] His obituary mentions his World War II service and membership in a labor union, as well as listing his religious affiliations as LDS, Methodist, and Baptist. Though the details of Jay’s religious life are largely obscured by time, his obituary offers glimpses into a man who engaged in a personal faith journey that included three different Christian denominations.[23]

By Dalton Bennett

[1] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, 23rd Ward, Microfilm 26,712, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Holladay Ward, part 1, CR 375 8, box 2896, folder 1, image 242, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[2] “Jay M. Howell,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 May1981, 56.

[3] See Tonya S. Reiter, “Abner Howell,” Century of Black Mormons.

[4] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, 23rd Ward, Microfilm 26,712, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[5] Reiter, “Abner Howell,” Century of Black Mormons.

[6] United States, 1910 Census, Utah, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, Ward 23.

[7] Utah, County Marriages, 1871-1941, Jay Howell to Ruth Glass, 22 December 1928.

[8] Utah, Salt Lake County, Civil and Criminal Case Files, 1852-1968, Jay Howell, Utah Division of Archives and Records Services, Salt Lake City, Utah; “Divorces Asked,” Salt Lake Telegram, 17 October 1930, 26; “Divorces Asked,” Salt Lake Tribune, 17 October 1930, 29.

[9] “Ruth Nave,” Salt Lake Tribune, 1 May 1935, 27; Ruth Haynes (KZVF-VF3) FamilySearch.org.

[10] Utah, Salt Lake County, Civil and Criminal Case Files, 1852-1968, Jay M. Howell vs. Ruth Howell, Utah Division of Archives and Records Services, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[11] “Ruth Nave,” Salt Lake Tribune, 1 May 1935, 27.

[12] United States, 1940 Census, Utah, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, Precinct 1.

[13] United States, Utah, Salt Lake County, World War II Draft Registration Cards, Jay Marshall Howell, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC; Utah, Military Records, 1861-1970, Utah Division of Archives and Records Service, Salt Lake City, Utah; “Draftees Inducted,” Salt Lake Tribune, 10 September 1942, 19.

[14] United States, 1950 Census, Utah, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City.

[15] “Howell,” Presiding Bishopric stake and mission census, CR 4 311, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[16] United States, 1950 Census, Utah, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City.

[17] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, 4^th Ward, CR 375 8, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[18] “Jay M. Howell,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 May 1981, 56.

[19] “Jay Howell,” Salt Lake City, City Directory (Salt Lake City, Utah: R. L. Polk & Co., 1949), 504.

“Jay Howell,” Salt Lake City, City Directory (Salt Lake City, Utah: R. L. Polk & Co., 1959), 536.

“Jay Howell,” Salt Lake City, City Directory (Salt Lake City, Utah: R. L. Polk & Co., 1965), 394.

“Jay Howell,” Salt Lake City, City Directory (Salt Lake City, Utah: R. L. Polk & Co., 1970), 396.

[20] California, Country Marriages, 1849-1957, Thomas Howell, Marriage Certificate.

[21] California, Death Index, 1940-1997, Thomas Howell.

[22] “Jay M. Howell,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 May 1981, 56.

[23] “Jay M. Howell,” The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 May 1981, 56.

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