HOWARD FAMILY

John G Howard

John G Howard's Obituary

John G Howard, age 62, pioneer of Duluth and actively interested in the development of the iron range, died at 3:15 p.m. yesterday in his apartment at the Lenox hotel after a long illness.

Mr. Howard had extensive holdings of mineral lands in Lake and Cook counties and was regarded as one of the best informed miningt men in the nation. He had lived in Duluth since 1859 when he came here with his parents from Newport, Vt. He had been in ill health for nearly a year. He was a member of the Masonic order and of the Old Settlers' association.

Surviving are the widow, a daughter, Mrs. Robert McMartin of Duluth; a sister, Mrs. Ida Gilbert of California; three brothers, Benjamin of Winnipeg; Edward of Katchikan, Alaska, and Jay Cooke of Duluth. Funeral arrangements will be made on the arrival of Benjamin Howard.

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My great aunt Catherine, Kitty, married John G. Howard. She was the daughter of William C. Jones I, and my grandfather's only sister. My father spoke of watching them draw up in front of the opera house in a sleigh being drawn by six white horses and descending elegantly dressed for the evenings preformance, and not acknowledging their raggedly dressed nephew shivering in the cold. In fairness, they did take in her other brother's daughter Florence to raise. However, they did leave Florence's two brothers in the orphanage, and as far as I can tell, did nothing to help Dad's family when his father disappeared.

There appears to have been some emnity between Kitty and my grandmother. There seems to have been a feeling that she drove my grandfather off, which could very well be true. She was probably overly protective of her little brother and did not approve of his choice of a wife. In the end, the Howards did not escape tragedy as their only son Julius died as a child. Their adopted daughter married a Robert McMartin and the McMartins had a daughter named Pansy who, last I knew lived in Wisconsin and was talented artist.

Catherine was known as Kitty. As a child I remember my aunt Kitty as an always properly dressed and coifed old lady who spent a lot of time primping herself in the mirror. She would descend on us and stay for a month or so, much to the chagrin of my mother who had three little kids to take care of. Kitty was a LADY and expected to be waited on. It is funny the things a child will remember, she had a pair of clip on glasses that were attached to a self retracting broche pinned to her shirt, and there was always an air of scented powder that traveled with her. She wore high collars and I was fascinated by her boots that needed a boot hook to lace them. I don't remember much else as she would stay with us only a few times a year, and she was only one of many elderly aunts that flowed in and out of our lives, and we spent much of our time around them dodging kisses. By default, my father had become the patriarch of the family to whom everyone turned to for help, and he usually found a way to help, even if it was to our detriment.

The Howards are an old Duluth family that according to the family were quite well off. John Dow Howard came to Duluth in 1853 and became one of the wealthiest men in the city, through lumber and land. He turned the real-estate business over to his son Jay Cooke Howard, the lumber business to Benjamin and the shipping business to John G Howard. There was a Howard Shipping Company that started shipping lumber on the lakes and then went to shipping iron ore and grain. I understand the company went into demise in the fifties. On the Superior side of the Saint Louis Bay there is a Howard's Pocket or Howard's Bay that takes the name from them. This is where John Dow had his lumber mill, an ideal spot for lake shipping.

It is interesting that despite their vast wealth, there is nothing in Duluth to mark their existance except for Howard Bay. I am told that they had donated some park land, but haven't found out where it was. Today there is an active ship repair yard in the Howard's Pocket, but no new boats have been built there in years. At one time there was a going ship building business there which the Howards may or may not have been a part of. My father reported being present at some boat launchings when he was a child. The boats were launched sideways into the bay.

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Below are records taken from the files of Forest Hill cemetary in Duluth, Minnesota. The Howard lot is lot 1, of block one, making them among the first to buy into the cemetary.

Recorded 9/20/1893, the price was $600 and was jointly owned by Benjamin F. Howard, John D. Howard and John G. Howard.

"John Dow Howard and Hannah S. Howard, his wife, their lineal descendents and connections named designated as follows:

John G. Howard, Edward C. Howard and Cora Howard, sons and daughter, and Alice Burleigh Gilbert, Grand-daughter, Minnie Greer Howard, deceased wife of Jay Cooke Howard hereinafter named, Catherine M. Jones, mother-in-law of said John G. Howard, all of whom are now deceased and intered therein; and also for Julius D. Howard, son, now deceased and elsewhere interred, and the following deceased and elsewhere interred, and the following named persons now living to-wit:

Benjamin F. Howard, the Grantor above named Ida M. Gilbert, and Jay Cooke Howard, together with the above named deceased sons and daughter comprise all the children born to the said John Dow Howard and Hannah S. Howard: and also for the respective spouses, whether pre-deceasing or surviving, of all the said children of John Dow Howard and Hannah S. Howard; without preference of preference of precedence in right of one over another except as hereby established in the order in point of time in which, the said persons named and designated henceforth shall respectively decease."

INTERMENT RECORDS

on east half of lot
Grave 1,    Howard, Mrs. John Dow,    8/18/89
Grave 2    Howard, Eva    10/23/91
Grave 3    Gilbert, Alice B.    no date given
Grave 4    Jones, Catherine M.    5/10/06
Grave 5    Howard, John G.    6/25/21
Grave 6    Howard, Edward C.    8/27/26
Grave 7    Howard, Catherine    9/4/54

on west half of lot
Grave 4 (also East 1)    Howard, John Dow    9/26/91
Grave 5          Howard, Millie G.    5/20/02