Jesse V. Howell was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1891, the only child of William J. and Jennie Esther Craft Howell. He graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1912 and a M.S. in geology from the University of Iowa in 1915. Howell worked as a geologist for several companies from 1916-1918 and received his Ph. D. in geology from the University of Iowa in 1922.
Howell was employed with Marland Oil Company from 1922-1929 as a geologist. From 1929 until his death in 1971. He was a consulting or independent geologist in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also had interests with T.H. McCasland and Mack Oil Company in Duncan, Oklahoma, and was a partner in Adkins Oil Associates, which conducted oil exploration in Illinois.
Howell was a founding member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. He also edited "Glossary of Geology and Related Sciences" in 1957 and did extensive research with F.M. Fryxell on the Hayden Survey, which had done early geological surveys of the western United States from the 1850s-1870s. Howell was married to Blanche Marilyn Pahlow in 1918.
From the description of Papers, 1853-1968. (University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center). WorldCat record id: 27671090
