Howard Family History & Genealogy

A Jeanette Giles Howard with this Joseph B Howard.

I have a Joseph B Howard. Married to a woman named Ann Smith Howard . Maybe living in Michigan. Ella Rebecca Howard is with this line. Ella Rebecca Howard has a daughter Ruth Marian Dodson. Alot of these Howards have Red hair.

My Gr. Gr.Gr. Grandparents were John and Mary Ann Howard. John Howard was born in 1813 at Oregon County, Vermont, USA and Mary Ann was born in 1814 in Massachusetts, USA. They were married on 13 March 1834 in Tower of Neward, Tioga County, New York, USA. He was a Veteran of the Cival War 13th Regiment Wisconsin Volume. He and Mary Ann became plantation owners in Missouri, USA. Together they had seven children and it was one of these sibblings, Fernando James Howard, who immigrated to Canada with his family in 1905. Fernando was in his early 60's when he and his family becamse homesteaders in Northern Saskatchewan in Canada. They left behind them a great legacy of family history and wonderful memories. Please feel free to email me, Patrick K. Best at [contact link] for the rest of their history.

Fernando Howard was a Civil War Veteran. Fernando James Howard and his wife, Alice were the earliest settlers of North Bend. Their sons, Frank and Ralph and son-in-law Will Campbell had filed on the first three homesteads in the district, October 22, 1906, Fernando James Howard (Grandpa Howard) and the eldest son Bert, followed them the following spring. Floyd Howard did not follow the family to this county until 1920.

Fernando's parents, John and Mary Howard owned a plantation in Missouri and owned slaves. Fernando was just about to own his first slave when slavery was abolished.

In 1907, three generations of Howard's immigrated to the North Bend district. These people consisted of Fernando and Alice Howard Sr., Ralph, Bert, Frank, Floyd and sister Ruby, as well as Bert's son Clifford. They immigrated from Kansas along with the Houghmans, Mudges, Sidwells, Westgates and the Campbells. Knowing one another before they immigrated to the North Bend district encouraged a special spirit of cooperation, caring, sharing and giving. Ken Houghman recalled some of this camaraderie of 1911. He said, "I remember Mr and Mrs Howard Sr., who were so good to us and gave us many a meal. There wasn't anyone to show us how to farm so the pioneers had a hard time finding out how things should be done and nobody had any money."

Fernando and Alice Howard were committed Christians and held daily Bible devotions that involved their entire family. They also home schooled all of their children. These people had a kindness and warmth that passed from one generation to the next. Their first concern was for people rather than material wealth.

Fernando Howard received a Boer War pension and later Clifford Howard received a pension from the First World War. These pensions were a stable source of income in a land that was filled with uncertainty. The homestead of Fernando Howard, housed four generations of Howard's. Many loving memories and happy times live on in the hearts of all the Howard's that deeply appreciate their heritage.

The Howard's were strong in character and lived a very clean life. They were people orientated and lived by the fundamental principles of honesty, integrity, hard work and a focus on God.

Broome County's History

Until the end of the American Revolution, this area was inhabited by Native Americans. Two main settlements were found at Onaquaga, near present-day Windsor, and Otseningo, located along the Chenango River, just north of the present-day City of Binghamton. Smaller Settlements could be found at Chugnuts, Castle Creek and the Vestal area. As part of the Iriquois Confederacy, and considered a threat to the revolutionists' efforts, the Sullivan-Clinton campaign was used to remove the Native American population. After the conclusion of the Revolution, the land was divided among many land speculators, including William Bingham, who obtained over ten thousand acres at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, and the developers of the Boston Purchase (also called Boston Town Towns) which encompassed much of northers Broome, as well as parts of Chenango, Tioga and Tompkins Counties.

William Bingham was a wealthy Philadelphia banker whose interest after the revolution was in land. Aside from this area, Bingham also owned over 500,000 acres of land in the state on maine. Bingham envisioned a new village at the meeting of the two rivers and hired local merchant Joshua Whitney to be his land agent. Whitney was responsible for the first street plan of the village, worked to entice new settlers to the area, and became the area's first elected representative to Albany. Bingham died in 1804, never visiting the area that would bear his name. Nonetheless, Whitney continued to work dilligently to build the new town. In 1806 the area was seperated from Tioga County, and the new county was named after Revolutionary War veteran and then Lieutenant-Governor John Broome.

With the opening of the Erie Canal, this area, like many, sought their own canal to connect to the Erie to aid development. Finally in 1834, work began on the Chenango Canal, a 97 mile long engineering marvel which connected Binghamton in the south with Utica and the Erie Canal in the north. The first packet boat arrived in 1837 and new development followed the route of the canal. Despite the economic failure of the canal (it never made a profit), the county benefitted from the arrival of new settlers and merchandise, as well as providing a means of shipping finished goods in and out of the area. Mills sprang up along the southern end of the canal, and department stores and hotels rose along the retail corridor. In 1848, the Erie railroad arrived, and the coming of the ironhorse spelled the end for the canal. Within two decades the area had become a transportation hub, with north-south and east-west railroad lines and the canal. But by 1874, the Chenango Canal route was closed in Binghamton, the oly remnants being a proposed expansion along the Susquehanna River that would later become part of the Vestal Parkway.

The period surrounding the Civil War saw great change for the area. Its leading politician, Daniel S. Dickinson, serve in the United States Senate from 1844-1850, and after the outbreak of the war spoke countlessly in favor of the Union. The needs for munitions and other war products brought assembly-line factory work to the area, and guns and other products were developed in this region. After the end of the war, the area enjoyed the fruits of the Industrial Revolution, and new major industries opened. Stow Manufacturing relied on the invention of the flexible shaft. The lumber industry was transformed into a large furniture and wagon business. Bay far, however, the area was truly changed with the arrival of the first cigar manufacturing company in the 1870's. By 1890 over fifty factories were operating with five thousand people involved in the manufacture of over 100 million cigars each year. Binghamton ranked only behind New York City as the top cigar making city in the country. Immigrants from Eastern Europe and other countries poured into the area to work in this industry, or one of the many other companies producing over two hundred different types of products by the turn of the century.

As the area's population was doubling every ten to fifteen years, so was the area's municipalities. By 1900 the county had 16 towns, six villages and one city. Binghamton had the largest population, Despite the largeness of the cigar making industry,it had all but disappeared by 1930 due to the rise in popularity of the cigarette, automation, and labor unrest. Many of the former cigar workers took solace in finding employment in the factories of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Corporation. Begun as Lester Brothers Boot and Shoe Company in Binghamton in 1854, it moved to create its own company town, Lestershire, to the west of Binghamton. Financial problems forced the sale of the company to a creditor and fellow shoemaker, Henry B. Endicott of Massachusetts in 1890. In 1899 he made former Lester Brothers factory forman, George F. Johnson, his partner. Johnson's Square Deal program quickly transformed the company into an industrial giant, with over 20,000 employees by the mid 1940's, and a production of 52 million pairs of shoes each year. Johnson's and E-J's philanthropy included the donation of parks, land for churches, two libraries and the six wooden carousels still in use today.

At the same time Johnson City (formerly Lestershire) and the planned community of Endicott (incorporated in 1906) were growing, so too was a firm that started in Binghamton in 1889 as the Bundy Manufacturing Company. Involved in timer clock production, it merged with several other firms and went througha variety of names before hiring Thomas Watson, Sr. in 1914. His corporate leadership moved the company into a new era, and in 1924 he changed the name of the company to International Business Machines. IBM has since become the area's leading employer.

During the height of the Great Depression Edwin A. Link followed his dream to develop the pilot trainer, or flight simulator. Link Aviation, through its many forms has lead the world in training of pilots, and the technology has evolved into a virtual reality world of products on today's markets. Like Link, many other companies were involved in the cold war growth of the defense business. IBM, General Electric, Universal, Link and others relied heavily on those dollars, and with the ending of the cold war, many businesses saw those markets evaporating. The area hit an economic slump, which left many to believe that the "Valley of Opportunity" was gone. But a resurgence based on diversity of business and slower growth has helped to bring the area moving back toward its former levels of employment and industrial strength.

Despite our rich business history, it has always been the story of our people -- the thousands of immigrants and their distinct ethnic food, costume, languages, "Gold Dome" churches, and heritage that have made this region a true melting pot. The legacy our businesses such as E-J, and our continual ethnic and business heritage make this region a strong and vibrant part of the American Culture.

The History of New York State, Book X, Chapter I, Editor, Dr. James Sullivan
Online Edition by Holice & Deb

Union, created March 16, 1791, had, originally, a territory of 700 square miles, but in the formation of other counties and towns has been reduced to 33. This region was the home of the Tuscarora Indians, and the name Union is derived from the fact that the two divisions of Sullivan's punitive army met here in 1779. In 1782 Amos Draper, a trader, made his home on the Vestal side of the river and by 1791 there were enough people in the area to supply 177 men to do road work in the highways. The town seems to have made a steady growth from the beginning, first as a timber section, then as one of the best farm areas, and today in addition to agriculture, it is prominent in its industries. Many of the hamlets of the town are of ancient origin. One, Nanticoke, has ceased to exist. Union Center and Hooper have survived.

Union village, once but a trading point, has been greatly changed. The baby among the villages has become very much an grown-up. Prior to 1888, George Harry Lester began to buy certain farms in union, with the intent of building a shoe factory town. A village came to be, and was incorporated September 15m 1892. In this same year, H. B. Endicott, of Boston, with George Johnson as his manager, took over the Lester plant, the remaining history of the region where the Endicott-Johnson corporation is located, is the history of the growth of two model towns, Johnson City and Endicott. Union and Endicott soon grew together, and the fact was recognized in the consolidation of the two places as Endicott, in 1921. Union then had a population of about 3,000; Endicott numbering 13,000. There are more then 10,000 people in Johnson City.

A Poem to Commemorate the lives of Fernando and Alice Howard by their Great Great Grand Daughter Carol Vulliamy

Fernando Sr. and Alice Howard - 1901

Fernando and Alice arrived at the North Bend in 1901- a long way to come
The comforts of home now far away, the young couple saw work to be done.
The raw frontier so wild and free but alas starvation and death- not far away
With freezing weather arriving soon; quickly build a house- they cannot delay.

The first year was so hard with food and water not handy, nor feed for horses
Survival strategies they constantly created- lest they yield to nature's course
Problems resolve best when there are good family and neighbors close around
To that end the Howard offspring lived close by; several generations abound

The social supports Alice missed in this new land so she held Sunday school. The children came for miles to learn about Gods grace and the Golden Rules. New settlers and those in need knew that there was always a hot meal with love

This Howard family progressed well as they heard God say Love From Above

Fernando was a soldier in the Boar War so he had security to ease his way
A busy father of five and providing meals for so many people who stayed
He contributed to the survival of many of the surrounding homesteaders.
Without his support others may have packed up and said, let's forget er."

Ralph John Wesley wrote his autobiography which was started shortly before his death. He never finished his work but the last contribution the he made to this writing was regarding the death of his wife, "Ville" (Ruvilla) more than forty years before his own passing. Their family of five children was Ezra Lewis, James, Alice, Grace and Elsie.

The first comers to the North Bend District were two men from the Kan as State of the United States. They came in a covered wagon, and decided to camp in the Greenstreet Hills for the winter. Their camp was on the south boundary of section (52-26-W3rd) and for a number of years, this camp location could still be found. This was the winter of deep snow, the winter of 1906-07. Towards spring they were running for some miles rolling and hilly so they stated west toward snowdrifts, it took them all day to make it to the lake and there they found Greenstreet and Jones had located on the east end of the lake.

In the spring when the land was dry enough to travel, they moved north again and located on the bench land on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River. Their names were Frank and Ralph John Wesley Howard. After building their houses they sent for their families and their friends and after one or two years, there was quite a colony of American settlers. There was Ben Mudge and his wife; Frank Howard and his father and mother (Mr. Howard Sr. was a Civil War Veteran), Frank's brothers, Bert and his wife; Ralph and some years later, Floyd Howard came. W.W. Campbell and his wife, Ruby, who was a sister to Frank Howard; Bob and Ken Houghman; Porter Westgate; Mr and Mrs Sidwell Sr. and their family; Hackrot, who drove mules; Mr and Mrs Flanders and family, including Earl and Ray and Barney Shears.

Soon the countryside filled up and all homesteads were taken. These included Mr and Mrs Jack Sparrow, Mrs Jacob Sr. with her family of Frank, George and Percy and a stepsister, Ms Grey. There was also Mr and Mrs Oliver and family of sons, David, Bob and Bill, as well as Mr and Mrs William Bright with their children Lloyd and Beverly. Additional families were Walter Wigg, Bill Moylan, Charlie Robertson and Bob, Colin Spence, Mr and Mrs Appleton and Bill, and Bill, Albert Marshall, wife and family; Ted Moore, Bill Hanlon; W. Tucker (hermit); Mr and Mrs Leer and family, including Bill Burke and his sister; Mrs Watts; Fred Richards; Mr and Mrs Meakin; Percy Ashley and his father and mother; Harry Mumford; Bernard Bullivant and Tom Benton.

A year or two later others came. These were Bill Morris, John Naylor; Mr Kurjata, wife and family, Stan and George, Sidney Benham; Fred Isaac; Jack Homer and wife; George Fuhrman; George Helm; John Nelson; Gad Neale; John Isaac; the Hortons, father and mother and a big family; Fred Nelson (for whom Nelsons Lake was named); Goodward; and Jack Archibald, wife and family.

A ferry went into operation in 1913 to connect North Bend to Frenchman Butte, across the river. Roy Sidwell was one of the first ferrymen and was the last ferryman to operate the ferry when it closed down.

A community Hall was built in 1928 and it catered to all the surrounding districts for dances, sports and other meetings, sometimes weddings, sometimes funerals. The trading center and later the Post Office were located in Frenchman Butte, but grain was hauled to Lloydminster, until 1928 when the CNR line was built in Frenchman Butte.

The first Christmas after Grandma Howard arrived, she and Aunt Ruby invited all the settlers in the "Bend" to come for dinner. They had a little tree decorated with homemade pretties and Ruby made individual sacks of homemade candy for each expected guest and three extras. Sure enough, just in time for dinner, along came three strangers, looking for homesteads. They were warmly welcomed and found not only a Christmas dinner and a Christmas Tree but also a personal gift waiting for them. Subsequently, they all took homesteads in the "Bend", proved them up and shortly after that obtained mortgages on the land, which they were never able to pay back, and lost their homesteads. This happened in quite a few cases. Then, as now debts were more easily contracted than cleared.

Ralph brought his family out to the homestead for a few years, them moved to Lloydminster where he soon became known as an expert well driller. In those days when good water was not to be found, deep wells were the only answer. Ralph and his wife Ruvilla had eight children, one of whom died in early childhood. Then five or six years later, sorrow came to the family in the loss of Ruvilla, wife and mother. After the children were grown up, Ralph and his brother, Frank, who never married, farmed and batched together until 1954. When Frank went to Chetwynd, BC and joined his nephew Fernando Campbell in another stint of pioneering. While there, although well past 80 years old, he made a horseback trip up the Sukunka Valley and a trip with Fernando, and camp outfit truck, up the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse. Ralph passed away suddenly in 1955 at the age of 80.

When familys develop a "rift" and they strive diligently to create a definite separation--one from another--so that outsiders cannot associate any one of them with the other one----OOOOHHH MY WHAT PROBLEMS IT CAN ESTABLISH FOR THE GENEALOGYIST!!!!!
This is what has happened to this specific group of HOWARDs!!!
AS LEGEND HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN: There was a Howard that most likely had slaves. The typical synario of children in slave quarters fathered by the slave owner; it was never clear if this Howard reared this child as his own white child because he was too white to be left in slave quarters OR if the child was left to be reared by the mother in the slave quarters.
At any rate, for a person knowing what to look for, this male child had a lot of characteristics of a Black child but slightly modified due to the White genetics....HE BASICLY WENT THRU LIFE PASSING AS WHITE AND REARING HIS FAMILY AS A WHITE FAMILY....
So far as I have ever been able to find out he had four (4) boys. I never heard anything about any girls.
I have never been able to find out where this man lived as a child or as an adult family man... NOR have I been able to find out even the approximate birth, death, marriage dates/locations.
I DO know 1)That in later, adult years all four boys lived in or around Loudon County, TN.;
2)Three (3) of them stayed there & reared their families in Loudon Co., TN.;
3)In later years after the children (3 boys 1 girl) were grown, one of the boys (Glen) moved to and died in Oklahoma.;
4)Two (2) boys (Kenneth--don't know # of children but do know had a daughter that became a nurse--& I forget the other brother's name) never left Loudon County.;
Kenneth Howard III (don't know if this is a son or grandson to Kenneth) still lives somewhere in the East TN area at last known accounts of him but refuses to acknowledge any relationship to these four brothers...;
5)The fourth (4th) boy (George) left Loudon County, TN at an early age. He settled in an area just north of Memphis, TN, at that time known as a legally incorporated town of Raleigh Springs, TN. He bought a small farm in a foreclosure sale, married a WINGO and had at least two (2) children. Don't remember the second boy's name but the other boy is named William Henry Howard who still lives in the original home place in the Raleigh Springs community,--now incorporated into the city limits of Memphis, TN. Bill Howard never married and the brother has had several wives and supposedly is not married to the current mate.
This fourth (4th) son (George) reported to the rest of the brothers/family that he was distancing himself from each & every one of them because he did not want his life style to be associated, even remotely, in any way shape, form, or fashion, with the rest of them. HE SAID HE WAS SO DESPERATE TO SEPARATE HIMSELF FROM THEM THAT HE INTENDED TO TEACH HIM FAMILY THAT ALL HIS FAMILY MEMBERS WERE DEAD & THAT HE HAD NO BROTHERS/SISTERS. The wife of Kenneth Howard reported that the last time any of them ever had any correspondance from him was when he notified them of the purchase of the farm in Raleigh Springs, TN.----did a really convincing job of his story too since William Henry Howard will argue with you that his father was an only child and had no living relatives---the only living relatives he had growing up were from the WINGO clan.

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE WHO IS FAMILIAR WITH THIS BRANCH OF HOWARDs?????
IF THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE WHO IS WILLING TO SHARE NAMES, DATES, PLACES, STORIES, PICS, OF THIS CLAN????
Everywhere I attempt to search I draw a total blank--as if butting my head against a blank wall!!

Thanks,
Anni at [contact link]

Fernando Howard was a Civil War Veteran. Fernando James Howard and his wife, Alice were the earliest settlers of North Bend. Their sons, Frank and Ralph and son-in-law Will Campbell had filed on the first three homesteads in the district, October 22, 1906, Fernando James Howard (Grandpa Howard) and the eldest son Bert, followed them the following spring. Floyd Howard did not follow the family to this county until 1920.

Fernando's parents, John and Mary Howard owned a plantation in Missouri and owned slaves. Fernando was just about to own his first slave when slavery was abolished.

In 1907, three generations of Howard's immigrated to the North Bend district. These people consisted of Fernando and Alice Howard Sr., Ralph, Bert, Frank, Floyd and sister Ruby, as well as Bert's son Clifford. They immigrated from Kansas along with the Houghmans, Mudges, Sidwells, Westgates and the Campbells. Knowing one another before they immigrated to the North Bend district encouraged a special spirit of cooperation, caring, sharing and giving. Ken Houghman recalled some of this camaraderie of 1911. He said, "I remember Mr and Mrs Howard Sr., who were so good to us and gave us many a meal. There wasn't anyone to show us how to farm so the pioneers had a hard time finding out how things should be done and nobody had any money."

Fernando and Alice Howard were committed Christians and held daily Bible devotions that involved their entire family. They also home schooled all of their children. These people had a kindness and warmth that passed from one generation to the next. Their first concern was for people rather than material wealth.

Fernando Howard received a Boer War pension and later Clifford Howard received a pension from the First World War. These pensions were a stable source of income in a land that was filled with uncertainty. The homestead of Fernando Howard, housed four generations of Howard's. Many loving memories and happy times live on in the hearts of all the Howard's that deeply appreciate their heritage.

The Howard's were strong in character and lived a very clean life. They were people orientated and lived by the fundamental principles of honesty, integrity, hard work and a focus on God.

Broome County's History

Until the end of the American Revolution, this area was inhabited by Native Americans. Two main settlements were found at Onaquaga, near present-day Windsor, and Otseningo, located along the Chenango River, just north of the present-day City of Binghamton. Smaller Settlements could be found at Chugnuts, Castle Creek and the Vestal area. As part of the Iriquois Confederacy, and considered a threat to the revolutionists' efforts, the Sullivan-Clinton campaign was used to remove the Native American population. After the conclusion of the Revolution, the land was divided among many land speculators, including William Bingham, who obtained over ten thousand acres at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers, and the developers of the Boston Purchase (also called Boston Town Towns) which encompassed much of northers Broome, as well as parts of Chenango, Tioga and Tompkins Counties.

William Bingham was a wealthy Philadelphia banker whose interest after the revolution was in land. Aside from this area, Bingham also owned over 500,000 acres of land in the state on maine. Bingham envisioned a new village at the meeting of the two rivers and hired local merchant Joshua Whitney to be his land agent. Whitney was responsible for the first street plan of the village, worked to entice new settlers to the area, and became the area's first elected representative to Albany. Bingham died in 1804, never visiting the area that would bear his name. Nonetheless, Whitney continued to work dilligently to build the new town. In 1806 the area was seperated from Tioga County, and the new county was named after Revolutionary War veteran and then Lieutenant-Governor John Broome.

With the opening of the Erie Canal, this area, like many, sought their own canal to connect to the Erie to aid development. Finally in 1834, work began on the Chenango Canal, a 97 mile long engineering marvel which connected Binghamton in the south with Utica and the Erie Canal in the north. The first packet boat arrived in 1837 and new development followed the route of the canal. Despite the economic failure of the canal (it never made a profit), the county benefitted from the arrival of new settlers and merchandise, as well as providing a means of shipping finished goods in and out of the area. Mills sprang up along the southern end of the canal, and department stores and hotels rose along the retail corridor. In 1848, the Erie railroad arrived, and the coming of the ironhorse spelled the end for the canal. Within two decades the area had become a transportation hub, with north-south and east-west railroad lines and the canal. But by 1874, the Chenango Canal route was closed in Binghamton, the oly remnants being a proposed expansion along the Susquehanna River that would later become part of the Vestal Parkway.

The period surrounding the Civil War saw great change for the area. Its leading politician, Daniel S. Dickinson, serve in the United States Senate from 1844-1850, and after the outbreak of the war spoke countlessly in favor of the Union. The needs for munitions and other war products brought assembly-line factory work to the area, and guns and other products were developed in this region. After the end of the war, the area enjoyed the fruits of the Industrial Revolution, and new major industries opened. Stow Manufacturing relied on the invention of the flexible shaft. The lumber industry was transformed into a large furniture and wagon business. Bay far, however, the area was truly changed with the arrival of the first cigar manufacturing company in the 1870's. By 1890 over fifty factories were operating with five thousand people involved in the manufacture of over 100 million cigars each year. Binghamton ranked only behind New York City as the top cigar making city in the country. Immigrants from Eastern Europe and other countries poured into the area to work in this industry, or one of the many other companies producing over two hundred different types of products by the turn of the century.

As the area's population was doubling every ten to fifteen years, so was the area's municipalities. By 1900 the county had 16 towns, six villages and one city. Binghamton had the largest population, Despite the largeness of the cigar making industry,it had all but disappeared by 1930 due to the rise in popularity of the cigarette, automation, and labor unrest. Many of the former cigar workers took solace in finding employment in the factories of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Corporation. Begun as Lester Brothers Boot and Shoe Company in Binghamton in 1854, it moved to create its own company town, Lestershire, to the west of Binghamton. Financial problems forced the sale of the company to a creditor and fellow shoemaker, Henry B. Endicott of Massachusetts in 1890. In 1899 he made former Lester Brothers factory forman, George F. Johnson, his partner. Johnson's Square Deal program quickly transformed the company into an industrial giant, with over 20,000 employees by the mid 1940's, and a production of 52 million pairs of shoes each year. Johnson's and E-J's philanthropy included the donation of parks, land for churches, two libraries and the six wooden carousels still in use today.

At the same time Johnson City (formerly Lestershire) and the planned community of Endicott (incorporated in 1906) were growing, so too was a firm that started in Binghamton in 1889 as the Bundy Manufacturing Company. Involved in timer clock production, it merged with several other firms and went througha variety of names before hiring Thomas Watson, Sr. in 1914. His corporat