David G. Howell was born on January 13, 1840, in Kentucky to David and Ann Howell. His father was a farmer who owned $34,500 of real estate and $16,760 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Montgomery County, Kentucky. He married Kate Gay on November 10, 1868, and they had at least four children: David, born around 1870; Robert, born around 1873; Oliver, born around 1879; and William, born around 1884.
They lived in Montgomery County, and Howell worked as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $10,500 of real estate and $2,500 of personal property. He supported the Republican Party, and a local writer described him as an “honest and upright man.” He died of “cardio rental disease” in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, on May 22, 1930.