Benton M. Howard was born June 25, 1871 in Anson County, NC and died May 5, 1955 in Union County, NC.  He was the son of James Thomas Howard and Rebecca Allen Howard. He was married twice; he had one child Martin Lee Howard with his first wife Arwilder Williams and 13 children with his second wife Julia C. Edwards. Ben and Julia raised their family on a farm located on Hwy 205 three miles east of New Salem, NC. Their farm was located on the banks of the beautiful Rocky River. Some of this land was extremely hilly and was used mostly for pastures. The bottomland was flat and extremely fertile and was used primarily for row crops and grain. He had several brothers that lived in the area. Thomas Arthur Howard (his baby brother) owned a farm less than a mile from him and he had other brothers that lived across the river in Stanly County.