Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

HOWE There are several early emigrant ancestors of this name, but John Howe, of Watertown, Sudbury, and Marlborough, Mass. was one of the earliest, if not the first, of this name in New England, and his progency now constitutes a large part of the family of this cognomen in the eastern states. The Howes of America are descended from Abraham Howe, of Roxbury, and John "How" of Sudbury and Marlborough, Mass. Some of them, notably Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine, have developed remarkable mechanical ingenuity, and several are distinguished for their intellectual attainments and philanthropy. (I) John Howe, a son of John Howe, of Warwickshire, England, was for a long time a resident of Watertown, Mass. In 1638 or 1639 he was one of the first settlers of Sudbury, where he was admitted freeman May 13, 1640, and was selectman in 1642. His name appears on the contract of Feb. 7, 1842, as a member of the committee representing the town with whom John Rutter agrees to build the first meeting house erected in the town. He petitioned in 1656 for the grant of Marlborough, and is said to have been the first white settler on the grant, to which he moved in 1657. He was appointed by the pastor of the church and selectmen to see to restraining the youth on the Lord's day. His kindness and honesty gained for him the confidence of the Indians to such an extent that he was often called upon to settle disputes among them. He opened the first public house in Marlborough, and he kept it for several years. His grandson, David Howe, son of Samuel Howe, received of his father in 1702 a grant of one hundred and thirty acres of land, in the "New Grant" territory, on which he built the Red Horse Inn or old "Howe Tavern," the famous "Wayside Inn" of Longfellow. The date of his death is given as 1678, and also as 1687, July 10. By his wife, Mary, who survived him twenty years, he had twelve children. Children: John, Samuel, Sarah, Mary (died young), Isaac, Josiah, Mary, Thomas, Daniel (died young), Alexander, Daniel and Eleazer. (II) John (2), eldest child of John (1) and Mary Howe, was born 1640, in Sudbury, and resided in Marlborough, Mass., where the births of his children are recorded. It is presumed that he had other children born before his settlement in Marlborough. He was killed by the Indians in Sudbury, April 20, 1676, and his house and buildings were destroyed by the same enemy. He was married Jan. 22, 1662, but the Christian name of his wife, Elizabeth, is all that is preserved. Children, b. in Marlborough: John, David and Elizabeth. Others were born in Sudbury (mention of Josiah and descendants appears in this article). His brother, Samuel Howe, was proprietor of the farm in Sudbury, Mass., on which sat the noted Howe Tavern, made famous by Longfellow in his "Tales of a Wayside Inn." (III) Josiah (1), fourth son and sixth child of John (2) and Elizabeth Howe, was born in 1650, in Sudbury, Mass. He settled in Marlborough and married, March 18, 1672, Mary, daughter of Deacon John Haynes, of Sudbury. Josiah Howe died 1711, and his estate was administered by his widow. Josiah Howe was a soldier in King Phillip's war, and was one of those who rallied to the defense of the town when attacked by the Indians. Children: Mary (died young), Mary (died young), Josiah, Daniel and Ruth. (IV) Josiah (2), son of Josiah (1) and Mary (Haynes) Howe, was born in Marlborough, 1678, settled there and married, June 14, 1700, Sarah Bidelow. He married (second) Nov. 22, 1713, Mary Marble. Children of 1st wife: Phineas, Abraham and Rachel. Children of 2d wife: Sarah, Mary, Josiah and Jacob. (V) Phineas (1), son of Josiah (2) and Sarah (Bigelow) Howe, was born in Marlborough, Dec, 1707, settled in Shrewsbury, North Precinct, and was admitted to the Shrewsbury church. His farm was in what is now the town of Boylston. He was married March 22, 1732, at Shrewsbury, where he was living, to Abigail Bennett, who died there Jan. 4, 1801, aged ninety-three years and twenty days. Children, b. in N. Precinct & bap. Shrewsbury: Phineas, Bezaleel, Silas, Abigail and Elizabeth. (VI) Silas, third son of Phineas and Abigail (Bennett) Howe, was baptized Feb. 13, 1737, and settled in what is now Boylston, then the north precinct of Shrewsbury, Oct. 10, 1817. His wife's baptismal name was Abigail, but her family name is unknown. She died Jan. 18, 1813, aged sixty-nine years. Children: Levi, Ephraim, John, Silas, Abraham, Abigail, Persis, Tamar, and one who died in childhood unnamed. (VII) John (3), son of Silas and Abigail Howe, was born in Marlborough, Mass., about 1775. He had a homestead in Boylston, where he married and died, leaving among other children a son Phineas, named for his grandfather. (VIII) Phineas (2), son of John (3) Howe, of Boylston, was born in that town Dec. 1, 1802. He was a brickmaker and farmer, and after he removed from Mass. to Canton, Oxford county, Maine, carried on a large stock farm and drove beef cattle gathered in the new region lately settled by a sturdy community of well-equipped farmers and stock raisers to the great Brighton cattle market near Boston. He married Phila P. Holland. Children: John Ward and Sybil. (IX) John Ward, son of Phineas (2) and Phila P. (Holland) Howe, was born at Canton, Oxford county, Maine, May 19, 1831. He attended the district school in winter, and as a boy worked on his father's farm during the summer months. He also assisted in driving the cattle to the Brighton market, and knew the highway route he so frequently traveled on foot through Maine, New Hampshire and northeast Massachusetts and the fairest resting places in the route before he was fifteen years of age. He invested in real estate all the money he made by farming and cattle dealing, and was sharp to make profitable sales of farms and town lots, especially in Rumford Falls, then an embryo town, and his real estate holdings at the time of his death were particularly valuable in that place. He voted with the Republican party, was a member of the Farmers' Alliance and of the local grange. He was a member of Anasagunticook Lodge, No. 32, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Canton. Mr. Howe was married July 10, 1859, to Clara C. Marsh, of Dixfield, Maine. Children, b. in Canton, Maine: 1. A son who died in infancy. 2. Ellsworth Ward, died in his fourth year. 3. Elliot Ward, mentioned below. 4. Sybil Alice, married John Clair Minot, of Augusta, Maine, assistant editor of the Kennebec Journal. 5. Cora Belle, who resides with her widowed mother in Dixfield, Maine, her mother's native town. 6. Carroll Phineas, married Grac Colcord, of Dixfield; children: Harlan Colcord and Ada Carver Howe. Carroll Phineas is a grain merchant in Dixfield. 7. Abbie Marsh, married George Cary Gray, of Portland, Maine, member of the firm of Twitchell Champlin Company of Portland. (X) Elliot Ward, son of John Ward and Clara C. (Marsh) Howe, was born in Canton, Oxford county, Maine, Oct. 3, 1866. He had excellent school advantages, going from a district school in his native town ot Wilton Academy, where he was graduated, and thence to the Dirigo Business College, Augusta, Maine, until 1888. He found an excellent situation in a wholesale grocery house in Boston and remained there one year. He returned to his native state in 1889 and accepted a position in the Atkinson Furniture Company of Portland, and was soon sent by the company to Gardiner, maine, to open a branch store, which he conducted successfully up to 1895, when the business was transferred to Augusta as a more central position, and he remained in Augusta one year, when he resigned in order to open a business as dealer in grain, wood and lumber in his native town of Canton, and he sold out the business in April, 1905, and opened a furniture and undertaking business at Rumford Falls, where he also became interested financially and as a director of the Rumford Fuel Company. He is the president and one of the promoters of the Rumford Falls and Bethel street railroad. He is one of four promoters of the Hanover Springs Company, organized for the purpose of bottling and distributing both plain and carbonated water from the celebrated spring of Hanover. He also owns and operates three different farms. He was a selectman of the town of Canton for two years, and served as a member of the school board almost continuously. He was a representative from Canton in the state legislature in 1902-03, and was a member of the house committee on taxation. His progress in the Masonic fraternity began with membership in Hermon Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Gardiner, and thence to the Royal Arch Chapter of Rumford, the Strathglass Commandery, Knights Templar, the Kora Temple and the Eastern Star. He was initiated into the Anasagunticook Lodge, No. 32, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Canton, Maine, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Rumford Falls, the Rebekah, and Grange. He married, May 5, 1889, Mary Ella, daughter of Thomas and Emily Wright, of Jay, later of Canton, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Howe have their home in a delightful street in Rumford Falls, Maine.