The Howard Family Story

Our branch of the Howard family tree starts long ago during the dawn of the United States. Our branch of the Howard family tree is full of hard-working, loyal men and women, who sadly came upon terrible luck and were accident-prone. Here are their tales.

From New England to Quebec

Our earliest Howard ancestors whom we have discovered are Charles Howard (b.1778) and Easter (Shapley) Howard (b. 1785), two Americans who were born in the era of the American Revolution. Charles originally came from Massachusetts--probably the town of Bridgewater--and Easter hailed from Vermont. Our best guesses suggest that they first met, though, in the area of Thurso, Quebec. Thurso is a town that borders very near Ontario on Quebec's southern end, and not terribly far from the St. Lawrence crossing to both New York and Vermont. Whatever their reasons for leaving America and settling in that town, the two found each other and wed probably around the year 1814 or so.

The farmer and his wife had a number of children, though this researcher is not yet confident enough to name them all (as histories can be quite muddled from that era). However, there is one child that we are quite certain of, my great x4 grandfather, David Charles George Howard, born July 23, 1816 in Quebec.

The Farmer's Children

David Howard grew up in the Lochaber/Thurso area of Quebec, where he was born, and followed his father into the farming trade. At the age of 21, he wed Sarah Anne Hillman (b. 6 Aug, 1823)--who was only 14 years old at the time of their union--on October 16, 1837. She was the daughter of J.R. Barron Hillman and Sarah Hillman.

Young Sarah Anne began making babies right away, and had a very fruitful procreational run. David and Sarah's children included:

1. Charles Howard (b. 1839)

2. John Howard (b. 1841)

3. Irvine Lee Howard (b. 1844)

4. C. Delamere Howard (b.1848)

5. Elsie Jane Howard (b. 1853)

6. Stephen Marshall Howard (b. 1853)

7. Lewis A. Howard (b. 1854)

8. Wellington George Howard (b. 1857)

9. Frances "Franklin" Howard (b. 1859)

10. Albert Edgar Howard (b. 1861)

11. Johanna Catherine Howard (b. 1865)

Eleven children, and nine of them boys. Poor Sarah was 42 by the time she gave birth to her last baby.

The Howard Brood and the Paper Mills

The large farm family most likely spoke French fluently, but also remembered their English language skills as well. Most of the children opted not to go into farming, as their father and grandfather had, but instead to find millwright work at nearby prominent paper mills just over the border in Ottawa, Ontario. Logs would be sent down the Ottawa River, and then milled right their on its banks. The Howard men found long-lasting livelihoods from this industry, and you can bet any of the children who relocated to Ottawa, Ontario, did so for only one reason.

Sadly, very little is known about children John and Franklin and how they fared in life. The other nine children are a little better known to us.

Charles Howard: At age 24, in 1863, Charles married Mary Courtney in Hawkesbury, Ontario. They had four boys: Albert Howard (b.1865), Charles Courtney Howard (b.1871), David A. Howard (b.1873), and Henry A. Howard (b.1879). The family lived on the border of Quebec and Ontario for most of Charles's life, but by the time of his death in January of 1917, he and his wife had relocated to Calgary, Alberta.

Third son, Irvine L. Howard, married Margaret Thom and worked as a millwright, and then wheelwright in Ottawa, Ontario, where he and his wife lived on Creighton Street for many years. The two had at least five children. Irvine lived until 1916, when he passed away from heart failure at the age of 72.

C. Delamere Howard also moved across the Ontario border, where he wed Bridget Faihy (b.1850) on April 27, 1883. They had at least one child, Edith Howard (b. 27 Feb, 1885) and likely lived the rest of their days in Ontario. C. Delamere passed away on January 5, 1910.

Eldest daughter, Elsey Jane Howard, married Scot Duncan McDougald in 1870. Poor Elsey Jane went on to have nine children, raising her entire family in Ontario, and expiring at the age of 76 in 1926.

Wellington G. Howard also moved to Ottawa, Ontario and married twice. His first bride was Mary Theresa Hughes, whom he wed on November 29, 1886. She passed away only eight years later. Widower Wellington then married Josephine Richards on May 15, 1895. He passed away on December 9, 1932 at Ottawa Civic Hospital.

Youngest child, Johanna Catherine Howard remained in Quebec her entire life, having wed Quebec resident John McDougall on February 19, 1884. The two had at least two children: Sarah McDougall (b.1888) and Duncan McDougall (b.1890).

On to the United States

Sons Albert and Lewis were the outliers of the family: They were the only members of the family to leave Canada, and head south to the United States. Apparently life at the Ontario paper mills didn't suit them.

Albert E. Howard married Sarah Jane McMillan (b.1861, d.1928) on October 3, 1883 in the family's hometown of Thurso, Quebec. But within five years, he moved his bride to Cleveland, Ohio, and the two remained there for the rest of their lives. Cleveland is where they raised their three children: Albert H. Howard (b.1886), Jennie Howard (b.1894), and William Howard (b.1900). Albert passed away on September 28, 1932, and is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland.

Lewis A. Howard, for my purposes, is the most interesting of the Howard children, as he is my great x3 grandfather. Of his siblings, he was one of the first to marry, when he wed Anna "Annie" Campbell (b.1859, d.1908) in 1873 in his hometown area in Quebec. The couple welcomed their first child (my great-great grandmother), Margaret "Maggie" Florence Howard in August of 1876. Very shortly after that, the young family packed up and moved hundreds of miles away to Caspar, California, best known as a major logging town and home to the Caspar Lumber Company in the late nineteenth century. It seems that Lewis didn't mind going into the family logging and milling business, but was willing to travel far for the right opportunity.

The Caspar Lumber Mill, Caspar, California, c.19th century.

While living in Caspar, the couple welcomed a second child, Clarence Hillman Howard (b. 29 Oct, 1879). Aside from that joy, the outlook for life in Caspar must not have been terribly grand. The family packed up and headed back east by 1880, this time settling in Alpena, Michigan.

Milling in Michigan

Lewis Howard did not give up on his trained industry. The move to Michigan was almost certainly in the pursuit of employment at lumber mills in the northern portion of the state. The Howard family first settled in Alpena, Michigan from about 1880 to 1912. They rounded out their family with the addition of three more children: Nina Howard (b.1883), Neil LeRoy Howard (b.1888), and Anna Marie Howard (b.1897).

Just before the birth of their youngest daughter, their eldest, Maggie Howard, was married to a man named Edward McClure, a local farrier working in Alpena, on February 19, 1896.

By 1900, Lewis's sons, Clarence and Neil were beginning their own careers, entering the milling trade just like their father. Then, it seems, by 1912, the family of woodmen discovered a grand opportunity working at the American Wood Rim Co., in Onaway, Michigan, and at once, they picked up and moved en masse, even including daughter Maggie McClure and her husband Edward, though Edward does not appear to have been terribly interested in wood milling the way his in-laws were.

The Story of Lobdell-Emery Manufacturing and the Howard Family

In the early twentieth century, Onaway was a northern Michigan town that sprang up chiefly around the presence of two sister manufacturing plants: The American Wood Rim Co., and Lobdell-Emery Manufacturing. The Howard family, and many others, found great prosperity in their employment with Lobdell-Emery. Lewis, Clarence, and Neil all worked for the plant. And youngest daughter, Anna Marie Howard, wed a Lobdell-Emery worker named Warren Hennigar on March 3, 1915 in Onaway. Lewis Howard's children Neil and Anna both began and raised families in the mill town. Lewis and his family finally seemed settled.

And then a great tragedy occurred on January 14, 1926. At 8:30am, with a full shift of workers on-site, a rogue spark from a sander triggered a major fire that destroyed the entire plant, and took the lives of three workers (whose bodies were later recovered from the ruins).

The town was devastated. Instantly, most of the male residents were out of work and the town mourned for the lost lives. Lobdell-Emery owners had additional worries, as their manufacturing of wooden wheel rims was vital to the young automobile industry. Being out of business for the time it would take to clear the rubble and rebuild would severely cripple auto manufacturing. So, they began frantically hunting for an available site with necessary buildings already in place. And they found it: The recently shuttered Republic Truck plant in Alma, Michigan suited their needs nicely.

Lobdell-Emery offered that any employees willing to move to Alma, Michigan, would be guaranteed jobs at the new plant. And, thus, a massive exodus commenced out of Onaway, Michigan, leaving it a shell of its former bustling self.

The Howard family was among those who made the move.

The new Lobdell-Emery Plant in Alma, Michigan, 1926

Neil Howard and His Tragically Cursed Wife, Maude Oates

Years before the big move to Alma, Michigan, Neil Howard met and married a widow named Maude (McDonell) Oates on October 1, 1913. The 25 year-old bachelor was taking on a family of four children, and a 25 year-old bride with a very tragic past.

Maude Oates had wed a man named James Oates, and began having babies when she was only about 15 years-old. Her children included Ray Oates (b.1902), Agnes Oates (b.1904), Willie Oates (b.1905), and Waldo Oates (b.1908). Young Willie apparently had an "unusual physical deformity", though we know not what is was. And it likely matters quite little, as he went missing while playing in the woods near the family's home with Ray and Agnes on August 14, 1908. The three year-old (or some reports claim five year-old) was, for many months, believed to be kidnapped--apparently, because of his physical deformity. Sadly, about two months later, on November 3, 1908, his body was discovered in a tree near their home. The little boy had accidentally strangled to death, and hang/lay there for many weeks, in spite of search party efforts to find him.

Less than six months after her son was found dangling from a tree, Maude experienced another horrifying event, when her husband James fell from a hay wagon and died from a head injury therein incurred on March 19, 1909. She probably didn't know it, but she was newly pregnant with the couple's last child, Della Oates (b.1909).

After she married our Neil Howard in 1913, Maude went on to have four more children: Madeline Howard (b.1915), Louis E. Howard (b.1921), Margaret J. Howard (b.1923), and Patricia Colleen Howard (b.1926).

By the time she was finishing making babies, her eldest son, Ray, was also working at Lobdell-Emery in Alma, right alongside his stepfather. The family lived at two different residences in Alma: One on Hawley Rd., and another on Michigan Avenue.

Maude's luck had been improved, as far as we know, for about 24 years, before her curse reappeared, with additional tragedy in 1933. On February 22, at about 5:45 in the evening, Patricia, Margaret, and another girl went out on the icy Pine River in Alma to hunt for cat-tails on the river bank. The ice gave way under the feet of six year-old Patricia, and she fell into the freezing waters. The other two girls ran for help, and Neil came running to save his daughter, but could not. The following day, 300 men from Alma and neighboring communities dragged the Pine River for her body.

A little more than two years later, Maude lost her second husband. Neil Howard died of a heart attack in Alma, Michigan on October 23, 1935 at the age of 47. Whatever became of Maude and the rest of her children we know not. Hopefully their fortunes have improved.

The Other Children of Lewis and Annie in Michigan

Neil's older brother, Clarence Howard, was somewhat unfortunate as well. The eldest son never married and worked his entire life for Lobdell-Emery, both in Onaway and Alma. By 1930 he was living with his sister Anna and her family, and then with sister Maggie and family by 1934. It was in that year, at the age of 55 that he suffered a massive stroke that left him quite ill for six weeks, before he succumbed. Clarence passed away on September 13, 1934, just a little over a year before Neil's deadly heart attack.

Anna (Howard) Henniger had four children: Dorothy H. Henniger (b.1916), Louis W. Henniger (b.1918), Robert C. Henniger (b.1920), and Betty M. Henniger (b. 1923). We know not much of Anna's life, except that she parted this world in 1943 at the age of 46.

Nina Howard is believed to have possibly married a man named Pearl Bean--quite a name! Nina Bean seems to have disappeared from all known records, though we keep on searching for her trail. What little we do know is that she passed away in 1934 at the age of 51.

Of the five siblings, four died between the ages of 46 and 55. Eldest daughter, my great-great grandmother, Margaret (Howard) McClure was the only exception. Perhaps her husband, Edward McClure, absorbed the brunt of the curse on her behalf. Poor Edward passed away in 1926 at the age of 57, leaving Maggie as a 50 year-old widow. Within three years, in 1929, she remarried to a man named Charles Leeson in Alma, Michigan. Maggie survived until at least 1949, and perhaps as late as 1958.

Legacy

Our branch of the Michigan Howards are all but extinct, in name. The only remaining limb stems from Neil's children with poor Maude. He had one son to carry on the name, Louis Edward Howard, who went on to have two sons of his own. Those sons have passed on in recent years, and it is unclear if they passed along the Howard name. In blood and spirit, of course, the Howards are very much still in Michigan. As a student at Alma College in Alma, Michigan, I was quite unaware of what close family ties my family had with the town, or the reach of Lobdell-Emery factory. The town seems quite inescapable to our family, though.