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Creation.— The most Noble <fc Puissant Ld. Charls' How, El. of Lancaster, & Bn. How of Wormleighton 1st coraisr. of ye Treasury, Ist Gentn. of ye bedchembr. to his Maj., Kt. of ye garter, & one of ye (Jovrs. of ye Ohartr. houee. Creatd. Bt. How of Wormton. in ve county of Warwick, Novr. 18, 1606, in ye 4:th of James ye 1st, & El. of Lancaster, Jun.ye Sth, 1643, in ye 19th of Charls. ye 1st, of this famy. which derivs. themsplvs. from a youngr, branch of ye ants. Bns. How's, men fams. many eges Since in Engd. among which where Hugh ■ How ye father & Son great faverts. of Kn. Edwd. ye 2d., John How, Esqr. son to Jn. How of Hodinhull in ye County of Warwk.
AEM8 — He bear'th Gules, (Eed) a Chevron (pointed arch) ^r^/en*, (Silver) between 3 croscroslete Or, (Gold) 3 Wolfs heads of ye Same crest on a wrath (or wreath) a Wyvern orDragn. partd. per pale Or &■ Vert (Green) perced through ye mouth wth. arow, by ye Name of How, ye wolfs are ye fams. arms, ye cross, for gt. accts.
°The above is a' fac simile of the original Coat of Arms said to have been brought from England by John Howe about 1030, and adorned the walls of the " Wayside Inn," or Howe Tavern, in Sudbury, for over 150 years.
^*
Coat of Arms of I,ord ChedwortJi, (Senry FredericJc Sotve).
THE
HOWE FAMILY GATHERING
iS JY ^ ^
Harmony Grove, South pRAMiNGH^tMr'
THURSDAT, AUGUST 31, 1871.
BY
REV. ELIAS NASON, M.A.
" Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."
PUBLISHED BY ELIAS HOWE,
103 COURT STREET, BOSTON. 18 7 1.
pkice; fifty cents.
■ ■ -- '^
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
I.
■THB^OWB S-AMILT IK AMERICA.
The number of those who bear the name of How, or Howe, in America, is very great ; yet they may, for the most part, be traced to James and Abraham Howe (perhaps broth- ers), of Koxbury, admitted freemen in 1637-38 ; to Edward and Abraham Howe, of Watertown; to Daniel and Edward Howe, of Lynn; and to John Howe, who was m Sudbury as early as 1638, and who died m Marlborough, in 1687.
Of these early settlers, James was the son of Eobert, of Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex Co., England, and died in Ipswich, m 1702 ; Edward, of Lynn, came over in the True- love, in 1635, and died in 1639, leaving issue from which most of the Howe families in Connecticnt have descended. Daniel, of Lynn, after holding several public offices in Massachusetts, removed to Southampton, on Long Island. They were all honest, hardy, vigorous men, having, in the main, large families, which, multiplying and increasing from generation to generation, have, by their industry, genius, probity and valor, aided in laying the foundations, and in building up the structure, of this Eepublic ; and they are now found busily engaged in the various trades and professions, arts and industries of life, in almost every section of the Union. So far as known, but one of them was ever executed for a crime, and that was Mrs. Elizabeth Howe, of Ipswich, hung for witch- craft in 1692 ; but her virtues, just as those of her great Master, sanctified the altar; and her name, now as the mists of supersti- tion break away, becomes illustrious.
II. — THE ORIGIN OF THE HOWE MEETING.
In accordance with a desire deeply im- planted in every breast to know our kindred and to be known of them, a meeting of some members of the Howe family was convened at 289 Washington Street, Boston, on the twenty-ninth day of March, 1871. The sub- ject of holding a general meeting of the Howes, in America, was fully discussed, and it was finally determined that such a gather- ing would be one of unusual interest, both in°a social and a moral point of view ; that it was due to the good old friendly name of Howe to hold such a reunion, and that ef- fective measures should be taken to provide
for it.
The following account of this preliminary meeting was drawn up by Edward Howe,
Esq., of West Boylston, who died suddenly in April following, and was greatly lamented by a large circle of relatives and friends. Some account of his life will be found in the Register of the Howe Family.
In pursuance to a call for a meeting of the descendants of John, Abraham, Daniel and Edward Howe, issued by six of the de- scendants in the vicinity of Boston, there met at 289 Washington Street, Boston, about twenty of the family, and the following busi- ness was transacted : —
Mr. C. M. Howe, of Marlborough, opened the meeting by reading the call, which was as follows :
PERSONAL. Howe Family. The de- scendants of John, Abraham, Daniel and Edward Howe, of Watertown and Rox- bury, afterward of Lynn, Sudbury and Marl- boro' (who landed in this country about 1634), are invited to meet at A. M. Leland's Pianoforte Rooms, 289 Washington Street, Boston, on Wednesday, March 29, 1571, at 12 o'clock, M., to make arrangements for a family gathering and public celebration some time during the coming summer.
C. M. Howe, Marlborough ;
S. H. Howe, Bolton;
B. L. Howe, Groton Junction;
G. M. Howe, Framingham;
Elias Howe, Boston;
WiLLARD Howe, South Framingham.
Colonel Frank E. Howe, of New York, was chosen Chairman, and Edward Howe, of West Boylston, Secretary.
After several speeches from some of the gentlemen present, Mr. S. H. Howe, of Bolton, moved " That the sense of the meet-, ing be taken whether we will have a celebra- tion or not."
Voied, That we have a celebration.
Voted, That the Chairman appoint a Com- mittee of three to nominate an Executive Committee of ten (10) to carry out the ar- rangement.
Colonel Howe appointed Messrs. S. H., C. M., and Willard Howe a Committee to nom- inate, who reported as follows, viz. :
Col. Frank E. Howe, New York;
S. H. Howe, Bolton ;
Willard Howe, South Framingham ;
Elias Howe, Boston; .
B. L. Howe, Ayer;
Elbridge Howe, Marlborough ;
A. L. Howe, Dedham ;
William. G. Howe, Boston ;
(3)
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
Dr. George M.. Howe, Framingham ; Eev. S. Stokrs Hoave, Iowa City, Iowa.
This report was accepted and adopted.
Voted, That Harmony Grove, South Fra- mingham, be the place fs)r the celebration, and the time be left with the Executive Com- mittee, with instructions that it be holden in June, or as soon after as possible.
Voted, That the Executive Committee take such steps as they deem necessary in carrying out the objects of this meeting.
Mr. Elias Howe, No. 103 Court Street, Boston, was chosen Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer.
Voted, The meeting do now adjourn sub- ject to the call of the Executive Committee. Edward Howe, Secretary.
Names of the persons present at the first meeting, at 289 Washington Street, Boston, March 29, 1871 :
C. M. Howe, Marlborough; WiLLARD Howe, South Framingham; Edward Howe, West Boylston ; Sidney Howe, Marlborough; Albert W. Howe, Danvers ; Elbridge Howe, Marlborough; S. H. Howe, Bolton; Benjamin L. Howe, Ayer; S. A. Howe, 2d, Marlborough; B. S. Howe, Rowley; Elbridge Howe, Natick ; Euth E. HoAVE, Eowley ; Elias Howe, Cambridge ; Allen L. Howe, Dedham ; Frank E. Howe, New York; Lindsay I. Howe, New York; Willard Howe, Danvers, Mass. ; David Howe, 60 W. Cedar St., Boston.
III. •
■THE
PLACE AND TIME OF THE GATH- ERING.
Thus, after careful deliberation, it was agreed to hold the meeting at Harmony Grove, South Framingham, and it was sub- sequently voted that it should take place on Thursday, the thirty-first day of August, 1871, and that the services should commence at 10 o'clock, A. M., of that day.
It was deemed advisable to hold the meet- ing at South Framingham, because it is near the early soat of one of the Howe families, because several lines of railroad intersect at this point, and because in itself the place is very beautiful, and affords accommodations for a multitude of people.
Harmony Grove has long been celebrated as a favorite spot for picnics, rural assem- blies, fetes champetres, and open-air conven- tions. Nature and art combine to make it worthy of its wide-spread reputation.
" Hie /j;elidi fontes, hie mollia prata, Lycori, Hie nemus." — Virg. Ec. x.
The grove itself consists of several acres of tall, majestic pine, oak, maple and chest-
nut-trees, whose spreading branches form a dense and grateful shade.
The squirrel leaps from bough to bough ; the song-birds fill the air with melody. A depression in the grove affords an amphi- theatre in which a speaker's stand and seats for several thousand people have been erected. Near by there is a commodious hall for dancing. On the left of the main entrance to the grove, a green and level lawn spreads out for the erection of booths and tents, and for athletic sports and games, of such as may delight in them. On the west, a broad and placid lake extends to the distance of a mile or so for bathing and for boating; and beyond it rises old Mount Wait, renowned in Indian story; and still farther on are seen the verdure-covered hills and spires of Framingham.
The grove itself is beautiful ; the sur- rounding country teems with charming vil- las, gentle knolls, and sunny glades, verdant meadows, orchards and gardens, forming landscapes which a Claude Lorraine might love to put on canvas. A spot more eligible for the meeting could not, probably, have been selected.
IT. — THE CIRCnLAR OE INVITATION TO THE HOWE FAMILY.
As soon as the Committee had fixed upon the time, the place, and plan of the meeting, a circular was prepared making known the decision, and forwarded to as many as 5,000 of the members and connections of the Howe family. The directories and other works were consulted for the purpose of ascertain- ing the names and residences of the kindred, and letters solicited in reply. After describ- ing the plan, the purpose, and the place of meeting, the circular presented this most cordial invitation to the festival :
"To this beautiful 'Harmony Grove' every person bearing the name of Howe, or How, as well as every one connected by ties of marriage with this family, or descended from this family, is most cordially invited for the purpose of spending the day above mentioned 'in union sweet and dear esteem,' of calling to mind the days of ' Auld Lang Syne,' and of telling one another how we love the good old family name of Howe.
" Should anyone possess any ancient rec- ords, portraits, or relics pertaining to the family, let him not fail to bring them for the ' Howe Cabinet,' to be exhibited on the occasion. It is the earnest desire of the Committee to extend an invitation to every member, connection, and descendant of the Howe family; but this is utterly impossible; therefore let every one who may receive this circular consider himself a Committee es- pecially appointed to extend this invitation to every one who bears our name, or is in any way related to our family. The word is — Free! Come one, come all! Bring those of your name and kindred with you ! "
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
In answer to this Circular, many letters were received from all parts of tli^ country, signifying either an intention or a desire to be present at the gathering ; and sometimes containing photographs, genealogical, or personal items of great interest. A few of these letters we here present, together with several of the many received sipce the hold- ing of the meeting.
Letters Received in Response to the Invitation.
The following letter is from the Hon. Jo- seph Howe, in reply to one from Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, inviting him to be present and deliver an oration at the Howe Family Gathering :
Ottawa, May 8, 1871. My Dear Sik, — Few things would give me more pleasure than to attend the proposed gathering of the Howes, and I will come if I possibly can. At present I know of nothing to prevent me.
I do not know what to say about the Oration, but will think of it, and will let you know in time, should anything occur to prevent my attendance.
With kind regards to Mrs. Howe and all your circle.
Believe me, ever truly yours,
Joseph Howe. Br. Howe, Boston,
The following characteristic letters are from the Hon. Timothy O. Howe, U. S. Senator, Wisconsin :
Washington, May 29, 1871.
Mv Deah Sir, — I have delayed answering your invitation to the IIoweG-athering at South Framing- ham on the 22d proximo. I did hope I could ac- cept it. I would be glad to see a gathering of the clans. I don't know but little about them. The only Howes I ever heard of, for whom I cherished a real admiration, were that Jemima Howe who was captured by the Indians, and that Samuel G. Howe who was captured by Julia Ward.
I admire Jemima because she escaped ; and I ad- mire Dr. Samuel G. because he didn't escape.
I suspect I ought to add to this number your namesake, who worked out the problem of the sew- ing-machine; but all forms of mechanism are such a profound mystery to me, that I never like to allude to the subject. I am always afraid of making some such mistake as an innocent townsman of my own made once when I was a child.
He saw an umbrella for the first time, and he tim- idly expressed a wish to have the proprietor " play 8 tune on it I "
But I regret to say I cannot come to Framingham next month. I have been kept here much longer than I expected. Engagements made long since in Wisconsin wait performance, and I must go there.
But I wish you the very jolliest of meetings. I hope you will discover that you are all brothers and sisters.
I beg you to remember that I claim you all for first cousins, and if any one disputes the claim let him disprove it if he can.
Very truly yours,
Timothy O. Howe.
Elias Howe, Esq.
Green Bay, Aug. 9, 1871.
My Dear Sir, — I shall not be able to meet with my cousins at Harmony Grove on the 31st.
There are several considerations which forbid it, the most peremptory of which are a State Conven- tion, to assemble on the 30th ; and a wedding in the
family of a brother, advertised for " about the 1st of September."
Thanking you for the compliment conveyed in your invitation, I am.
Very truly yours,
Timothy O. Howe. Elias Howe, Esq.
The next letter is from John F. Howe, President of the Pin Manufacturing Co. of Birmingham, Ct. He was present with his family on the occasion.
Birmingham (Derby), Ct., July 19,^1871. Elias Howe, Esq., Sec'y :
Dear Sir, — Your circular addressed to the Howe Manuf 'g Co. was duly received by me. 1 wi'ite this to request the favor of you to send one of them to my brother, " William Howe, North Salem, New York." It is our purpose to attend the Gathering unless prevented by circumstances which we cannot now foresee.
Respectfully yours,
John F. Howe.
In response to an invitation to be present, Mr. Henry W. Longfellow, the poet, sent the following note :
Nahant, Aug. 26, 1871.
My Dear Sir, — I have this morning had the pleasure of receiving your very friendly and flatter- ing letter, and hasten to thank you for your most kind invitation, which I am sorry to say it will not be in my power to accept. My engagements here render it impossible. I can only seud you my thanks and regrets, and my best wishes for a pleas- ant day in the groves of Framingham.
I am, my dear sir, yours truly,
Henry W. Longfellow.
Elias Howe, Esq.
The letter below very pleasantly plays upon the name Howe, and indicates the promptitude with which the Howes supply material for the "Register of the Howe Family." If every one will do the same, the work will soon be finisbed.
Terre Haute, Ind., Aug. 26, 1871. Elias HOwe, Esq. :
Dear Sir,-^ I regret exceedingly that I shall not be able to attend the gathering of the Howe Family next week. If an excuse were needed from so hum- ble a member of the great family, I am sure that I should be more than forgiven, even commended, if it were known that my absence is due to an effort to add to the number, and the glory of this illustri- ous race of the inquisitive patronymic, which effort will probably be crowned with success about that time. May the interrogative branch of the human family (we monopolize this honor, for who ever heard of the What family, or the When or Where families ?) have a jolly good time, and demonstrate to the world that they have been asking " How" to such a good purpose, that they are able to show all the other branches of the human family " How," better than anybody else. While your antiquaries will look after the " previous question," .ind these should be respectfully disposed of, yet let them not " move the previous question" to the exclusion of present and coming ones. I have sent a complete family record of my branch to my brother, who, after filling some blanks, will forward the same to you. Let me know of all that is done, so far as re- ported by the press, and assess me for expenses.
Long may these human interrogation points stand on the earth, and at the end may each prove that he has learned How to go up higher. Yours fraternally,
E. Frank Howe.
It is hoped that the "six-foot sapling of twenty-four summers," who represents the family in the region of Petroleum, and writes
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
the following pleasant letter, has, by this time, " struck oil," and that he will be pres- ent, "clothed in the comeliness and vigor of connubial foliage," at the next Howe gathering.
TITUSVILLE, Pa., Aug. 28, 1871. Col. Frank E. Howe, Chairman:
I beg lenve to present my sincere regrets that the only male representative of the Howe family in the conimercial capita! of the oil region should be un- able to participate in your happy reunion in Har- mony Grove.
Eovje it so happens may be easily explained. The only branch of the family tree that has extended it- self to this locality, cannot put forth its leaves. It has neither bud nor blossoms, but stands a six-foot sapling of twenty-four summers, its tendrils of springing affection retarded by summer drouth. When the coming dews shall refresh it, and it shall be clothed in the comeliness and vigor of connubial foliage, putting forth twigs, boughs, and branches in emulation of its revered ancestry, its loftiest am- bition will be gratified in transporting its trunks and limbs to every succeeding reunion of that celebrated and ubiquitous ZToJO^-sehold, which yet no man hath numbered. I remain yours respectfully,
Wm. Parker Howe.
It was very gratifying to the Committee to receive the ensuing letter and its con- tents, evincing the liberality of the under- signed, as well as the interest manifested in the reunion :
Lowell, Sept. 2, 1871. Elias Howe, Esq., 103 Court St., Boston :
Dear Sir, — While enjoying the interesting exer- cises at the grand " reunion " on Thursday, the op- portunity for me, and those who were with me, to contribute any funds to the treasury, passed by un- heeded till it was too late.
I now enclose a check for twenty-three dollars, which I beg you to accept and appropriate towards paying the expenses of the first " Grand Howe Gath- ering." Tours respectfully,
Edward B. Howe.
Mrs. Sally Howe, $-5.; Mrs. Clara W. Harwood, $5. ; E. B. Howe, $10. ; Miss Aurelia L. Howe, $1. ; Miss Laura F.Howe, $1.; Miss Martha W.Howe, $1.
The following letter, from a member of the family in the far South-west, well ex- presses the interest which the Howes enter- tain for each other, and the records of their ancestry :
ViCKSBURG, Miss., Sept. 14, 1871. ElL(VS Howe, Esq.,
103 Court Street, Boston : Dear Sir, — I deeply regret my inability to be present at the Family Gathering, 31st ult. It was a very happy thought originating said reunion, and doubtless many things were seen, many -words said, and agreeable persons collected together that will render the 31st of August, 1871, memorable in the annals of "The Howe Family." I know myself to be a lineal descendant of John Howe, of Marlborough, in the tenth generation. My father was Rev. Bezaleel Howe, and his father was named Timothy. Thus
far memory. The records of our family are with my oldest brother, B. F. Howe, Esq., of New York. I have livedPiin this place for the last thirty-three years ; yet my love for family name and fame is aa intense as ever, and the purity of my descent has ever been my pride.
I should be pleased to be furnished with any me- morial of the occasion referred to that may be gotten up by the managers, or any medal that maybe struck off commemorative of it, and with " The Genealog- ical Register" that is contemplated, or intended to be published. Any, or all of these sent by express, C. O. D., will be attended to.
Living at such a distance as I do, I have not been able to procure even a newspaper containing a fall account of " The Gathering." Enclosed I send 50 cents to purchase for me such papers as you can pro- cure for me, containing such proceedings.
Any other information you can give me on these points will be greatly appreciated, and will oblige Your obedient servant,
R. D. Howe.
The following letter exhibits the interest taken in the festival, and the generosity and liberality of all members of the Howe fam- ily throughout the country :
Akron, Sept. 23, 1871. Elias Howe, Esq. :
Dear Sir, — Will you he kind enough to inform me if the proceedings of the " Howe Gathering " at Framingham will be published in anj' other form than that already furnished by the newspapers ?
If such is the case I would like a few copies, and also to become a subscriber to any fund necessary to defray any expense of that kind' that has, or may, accrue.
I should have been present at the meeting, but was taken sick at Hartford, on my way there, and could not attend.
I do not know of any of our branch of the Howe family to have been present.
My great-grandfather was an early settler in St. Mary's County, Md. I can give a partial history of some of his descendants when it is necessary.
My father, Richard Howe (aged 72), would like very much to find out if any descendants are living of his uncles Richard and Joseph, who emigrated to Kentucky between the years 1800 and 1806, from Maryland. Yours truly,
C. R. Howe.
A vast number of letters has been re- ceived, and still they continue to come, in relation to the "Gathering." They contain, in many instances, genealogical information, which will prove of invaluable service to those engaged in preparing the " Register of the Howe Family." Several of thera trace the descent back to the original set- tlers. One of them is from a descendant of Mrs. Jemima Howe, who was, with her chil- dren, taken captive by the Indians at Hins- dale, N. H., in 1755. All of them express a lively interest in the Howe Family Gath- ering. They form of themselves a valuable " Howe Library ^"
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
The letter of the Hon. Henry "Wilson, U. S. Senator, which follows, will be read with great pleasure by every member of the Howe family, and especially the touching allusion, at the close, to the lovely and pious wife of the distinguished Senator.
Natick, Mass., Oct. 7, 1871. Elias Howe, Esq.: , . , . .^
My Dear Sir,'— On my return from a brief visit to Europe, I found your pressing invitation to be present at, and participate in,tbe intended gathering of the Howe family at Framingham, in August. Such a galhenng could Bot but be one of the deepest interest to all who bore that name, or were con- nected with it by kindred ties. I am glad to learn that the meeting was largely attended by persons of the family name and blood, from all sections of the country, and that the occasiop was full of joyous associations and fond recollections. Absence, alone, from my native land, prevented my attendance. I regret, and shall long continue to regret, that I was not permitted on that occasion to mingle with those who bear the name of one endeared to me by the holiest and tenderest ties of earth — of one of the purest and loveliest spirits that ever blessed kindred and friends by her presence , or left, in passing through death to a higher life, more precious memories.* Ever yours, i Henry "Wilson.
* The Hon. Henry Wilson was born in Farming- ton, N. H., Feb. 16, 1812; and was married to Miss Harriet M. Howe, of Natick, Oct. 28, 1840. She was the daughter of Amasa and Mary (Tombs) Howe, of Framingham, and died greatly lamented, in May, 1870.
Their only son, Lt.-Col. Henry Hamilton Wilson, bom in Natick, Nov. 11, 1846, died at Austin, Texas, Dec. 24, 1866. Mrs. Wilson was a lady of unusual menital and personal attractions, blending grace with dignty in manner, and ornamenting, both in private and in public life, the doctrines of her Lord and Master. The following sketch, by Mrs. Mary Clem- aaer Ames, will be read with interest:
" Within the last week the body of one has been
laid in her native earth, whoso lovely presence will long be missed in Washington. Mrs. Wilson, the wife of Senator Wilson, went out from among us in the fair May days, and the places which have known her here so long and so pleasantly, will know her, save in memoiy, no more forever. She was a gentle, Christian woman. I have never yet found words rich enough to tell all that such a woman is. My pen lingers lovingly upon her name. I would fain say something of her who now lives beyond the meed of all human praise, that would make her ex- ample more beautiful and enduring to the living. For, in profounder intellectual development, result- ing from wider culture and larger opi'ortunity, are we in no danger of losing sight of those graces of the spirit, which, however exalted her fate, must remain to the end the supreme charm of woman ? There is nothing in all the universe so sweet as a Christian woman ; as she who has received into her heart, till it shines forth in her character and life, the love of the divine Master.
" Such a woman was Mrs. Wilson in this gay cap- ital. When great sorrow fell upon her, and cease- less suffering, the light from the heavenly places fell upon her face; with an angel patience, and a child- like smile, and an unfaltering faith, she went down into the vallej' of shadows. She possessed a keen and wide intelligence. She was conversant with public questions, and Interested in all those move- ments of the day in which her husband takes so prominent a part. Retiring by nature, she avoided instinctively all ostentatious display; but where help and encouragement was needed by another, the latent power of her character sprang into life, and then she proved herself equal to great executive effort. No one can praise her so eloquently as he who loved her and knew her best. To hear Senator Wilson speak of his wife when he taught her, a little girl in school; when he married her, 'the loveliest girl in all the county ' ; when he received into his heart the fragrance of her daily example ; when he watched over her dying, only to marvel at the endurance and sweetness and sunshine of her patience, is to learn what a force for spiritual devel- opihent, what a ceaseless inspiration, was this wife to her husband. Precious to those who live, is the legacy of such a life."
LETTER OE JAMES MURRAY HOWE.
I have been much gratifled at having the oppor- unity to meet so many of the Howe family. When we New England families meet together after a scp- iration of years, we generally give an account of vhat has occurred in the branches cf the family to vhich we severally belong, and at this great gatheiing )f all the Howes it seems proper that the several iranches should report concerning their own imme- liate ancestry, and who they were, and what became )f them. In accordance with this view I propose to five you a little sketch of my own immediate family, kfy grandfather was Dr. Esies Howe, who lived and lied in Belchertown, Mass. He was a surgeon ii he army, during the War of the Revolution, and lerved upon the staff of General Gates. After the var was over he established himself in Belchertown, ind through a long life practised medicine in Bel-
hertown and the neighboring towns. He had three
sons; William, Estes, and Samuel, all of whom became lawj-ers and judges in the States in which they resided. William in the State of Vermont, Estes in the State of New York, and Samuel, my father, in the State of Massachusetts. It is not common for three judges to come from one family, much less was it in former days, when the title of Judge conveyed to every man's mind the idea of integrity, uprightness, and justice. My father left sis chil- dren ; three sons and three daughters, four of whom are at Framingham to-day.
I am glad we have been so successful in gathering the Howes together, and hope at some future time we may have another meeting, doubting not that cousins Joseph of Halifax, Frank of New.. York, and Ellas of Boston, will always be ready to resume the respective roles assumed by them to-day, so much to the gratification of all the Howes.
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
VI. DEATH OF A MEMBEK OF THE COMMITTEE.
While engaged in making preparations for the festival, the sad intelligence of the death of a respected member of the committee who had taken a lively interest and an active part in the proceedings, cast a shadow over every heart, and taught anew the lesson that our meetings here are but preparatory to the meetings in a lovelier land ; and that what is to be done here must be quickly, nobly done. Mr. Benjamin L. Howe, of Ayer, Mass., died in that town on the twenty- fourth day of June, 1871, aged 55 years. He was a man of ability, possessing a cheer- ful temper of mind, and enjoying the con- fidence and respect of his fellow-citizens. He was, at the time of his decease. Deputy State Constable and Deputy Sheriff of Mid- dlesex County, and one of the School Com- mittee of the town in which he lived. His funeral was very largely attended, the cor- tege numbering over one hundred carriages. A more extended account of him will be given in the " Register of the Howe Fam- ily," now in course of preparation by Messrs. Nason, Trask and Temple.
VII. PEELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE MEETING.
In order to entertain the large Howe fam- ily and its connections physically, socially, and intellectually, the committee engaged Yale's mammoth tent, whose ample folds would cover at least eight thousand people, and a caterer, to provide therein a dinner for the company. Arrangements were made for special accommodations with the various railroads leading to the place of meeting. The Hon. Joseph Howe, Secretary of the Dominion of Canada, was ergaged to deliver the principal oration of the day. Others were invited to make addresses and remarks appropriate to the Gathering. The services of Hall's celebrated band, augmented by the Metropolitan, were secured, and several original odes, adapted to some well-known airs, were composed by members of the fam- ily for the occasion. A Cabinet of Curiosities was formed, and blank-books prepared for registering names : swings, boats, balls, etc., were got in readiness for the amusement of the young.
A very beautiful badge of blue satin rib- bon, bearing the Howe family coat-of-arms, with the words in gold, " Howe Family Gathering, Harmony Grove, South Fra- MiNGHAM, August 31, 1871," was prepared, to be worn at the meeting, and to be pre- served as a memento of the day; and an elaborate programme of the services of the day, with the words and music to be sung, was printed.
Only those experienced in such matters know what time, what forecast, and what outlay such arrangements call for, especi- ally when the number of persons who will
share the entertainment is unknown. But in anticipation of a glorious gathering of the good old family of Howe, the work, with right good-will, was done.
VIII. LEVEE AT THE REVERE HOUSE.
As several distinguished members of the Howe family had arrived in Boston season- ably to attend the gathering, it was deemed advisable that a reunion, where they might become acquainted with each other, and per- fect the arrangements for the ensuing day, should be held at the Revere House on the evening of the thirtieth day of August, and a notice to this effect was given in the pub- lic prints. Owing to a drenching rain, the number present was quite limited ; yet the utmost harmony, cordiality, and good-will prevailed. The meeting was entirely infor- mal, and, after mutual greetings, wit and wisdom flowed forth naturally from almost every tongue.
The Hon. Joseph Howe was full of sprightliness and mirth. Colonel Frank E. Howe — who is, by the by, quite courtly in his bearing — made many happy hits. Thos. P. Howe, Counsellor, of New York, re- counted well the struggles of Elias Howe in bringing out his great invention; James Murray Howe, of Boston, and James Howe, President of the Eagle Lead Works, Brook- lyn, N. Y., were full of good-humor. The Hon. William Wirt Howe, youthful in ap- pearance for a judge, conversed quite elo- quently, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Avith her quick imagination, proved an even match for him.'
"Do they make out these Smithsonian forecasts of the weather," she inquired, in reference to the rain^ then falling, " by mathematics or by guess?" "By guess, I think," returned the judge. "Oh, yes!" replied the poetess, " and that takes erain ! "
The Hon. H. S. Howe, of Bolton, enter- tained the guests in his usual happy man- ner, and at an early hour the company retired, all pleased, no doubt, with the new acquaintances they had formed, the agree- able tete-a-tetes they had enjoyed, and the hope of seeing the whole "Howe Clan" to- gether in the morning.
IX. HARMONY GROVE ON THE MORNING OF THE GATHERING.
The sky, on the morning of the tlu. '■v-first of August, was overcast; but the c. 'ds slowly rolled away, the sun shone forth ii. splendor, and there followed one of the clearest and serenest days of the whole season.
The heavy rains of the preceding evening had purified the atmosphere, and given it an exhilarating freshness, so that it was just a luxury to breathe and feel one's self alive upon that peerless day. The shower had oleansed the grove, and brightened every leaf and flower; and as the sunbeams fell
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
in golden flashes here and there through openings in the oak and chestnixt-trees, the birds poured forth their sweetest carolings ; the insects sparkled in the light, and ren- ovated Nature seemed herself to extend a cordial welcome to the company. Over the main western entrance to the grove were in- scribed, in bold red letters: "Howe Fam- ily Gatheking ! Wklcojie I "
On the green plateau beside the grove the mammoth tent, adorned withflags and stream- erg, made a fine appearance ; near it stood an- other tent, large and commodious, bearing on its front "The Howe Cabinet"; and close by still another tent, for the use of the Finance Committee. The speaker's stand was handsomely decorated with flowers, with flags of the United States and England, and in the front was the inscription, made in ru- bric, of the simple word — " Howe ! "
Blank-books were opened on a stand for registering the names of the family, and a large circular swing, nine-pins, and boats upon the lake, were in readiness for the amusement of the younger members of the family. Huge boxes of viands, fruits, etc., were continually arriving for the furnishing of the tables, which were already decorated with rich bouquets of flowers.
The dancing-hall was swept and garnished, and a restaurant near the entrance to the grove was well stored with icocreams, pies and cakes, and tea and cofi'ee, and the like, for the refreshment of the multitude.
X. THE GATHEKING OP THE HOWE FAMILY.
At about nine o'clock in the morning the trains began to arrive from the diff'erent points of the compass, freighted with the members, male and female, old and young, of the Howe family. Some had come from the immediate neighborhood, Sudbury, Marlborough, Hudson, Lowell, Haverhill, Ipswich, Cambridge, Boston; some from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire ; some from the distant cities and prairies of the West; some from southern climes; some from the British Provinces. Among them might be seen the sturdy yeoman, with his healthful wife and bright-eyed sons and daughters ; the intelligent mechanic, with his well-dressed companion and the " baby" ; the merchant, with his bland address ; the minister of serious mien; the physician, lawyer, statesman; the old man, with his whitening locks, like Jacob, leaning on his staff; the maiden in her bloom and beauty ; the laughing boy, the prattling child, led by its tender mother.* Reporters of the press
* The youngest person present was Everett Chase Howe, aged live months and four days, of Marlbor- ough, and the oldest person there, bearing the Howe name, was Edward Howe, Esq., formerly a merchant of Portland, Me., born July 12, 1783, and conse- quently in his eighty-ninth year. He still writes a steady, clear, round hand, as his autograph in the Register of the day attests.
were present taking notes, and here and there were standing groups of interested spectators from the neighboring towns.
It was a beautiful and touching sight, the assembling of these people of a kindred blood from homes so distant and so varied, and as they met beneath the grateful shades pf Harmony Grove, and interchanged con- gratulations on this delicious morning, light beaming in every eye, and joy in every heart, the universal sentiment appeared to be that the " good time " spoken of had ac- tually come.
The ends of the earth seemed to meet to- gether in this grand family gathering : A Howe from Canada shakes hands with one from Oregon; a missionary, Mrs. Benton, nee Howe, from Syria, salutes one of her kindred from the Sandwich Islands. All seemed to be well acquainted with each other. Inquiries for the absent ones pass from lip to lip ; stories of the exploits and suff'erings of ancestors are related ; new re- lationships are discovered; pedigrees and matrimonial alliances traced out; personal incidents recounted ; names and addresses interchanged ; and the pleasure of the pres- ent meeting, and the hope of one to come, is everywhere expressed.
On every side the sounds arise: "How are you, cousin ? " " How is your mother ? " "Where do you now live?" "To which Howe family do you belong? " " Was your ancestor John or James, Edward or Abra- ham?" "Shall I introduce you to my brother, M. G. Howe?" "Whom did your sister Mary marry? " " Isn't this a splendid day?" "A grand good gathering? "
Yes, it was a grand good gathering! The hearts of the Howes were opened ; the ten- derest chords of feeling touched; the holier sentiments of the soul awakened ; the golden ties of fraternity strengthened ; and loftier aspirations entertained of adding pc?- virtu- tem some fresh lustre to the good old sur- name Howe.
Sometimes a life of years is most surpris- ingly compressed into a single day. So Avas it with some persons in that company. They met their kindred face to face; they saw themselves surrounded by a host of friends ; they saw that heart responded unto hearty and eye to eye ; they felt that they were not alone in this widcAvorld; they gained new courage for the battle-fields of life ; and thus "- in those brief, joyous hours of social con- verse, mutual congratulation and fraternal sympathy, they lived long years; and to them memory will revert with pleasure till the beating of the pulse shall cease. Even by an indifl'erent spectator, were any spec- tator cynical enough to be indifferent, such a scene of family affection and felicity can never be forgotten. The flowers themselves may fade and perish, but the aroma still remains.
As the crowd, now decorated with the beautiful badges in blue and gold, swelled
to
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
lip to thousands * in the gi-ove, it became a source of exquisite pleasure to look over it and trace the similarity, the family like- ness, in the form and features of the people. Liglit complexions, long and oval faces, characterized by Eoman noses, everywhere prevailed. Black eyes and hair were the exceptions. A peculiar pleasant Howe ex- pression characterized almost every coun- tenance, of' which the face of the Hon. Joseph Howe might be taken as one, and that of Col. Frank E. Howe as another type. Even the intonations of the voice appeared to have a character peculiarly their own, which indicated unmistakably the Howe descent. The genealogist here could in a moment see that
" 'Tis not all in bringing up " ; but still there's something in the blood.
Seldom has it been our privilege to look upon such a healthful, well-dressed, well- behaved and happy throng of people. We saw no dandies, loafers, shabby-genteel political brawlers ; but every one seemed to have come here from a happy and well-or- dered home. The Howes — and would that we were one of them — need surely never be ashamed to meet their kindred.
XI. EXERCISES AT THE GROVE.
As soon as the company was seated in the amphitheatre, the large and beautifully printed programme was distributed, a part of which we give below :
PEOGEAMME.
1. Pratek.
2. Opening Address, by Col. Prank E.
Howe, President of the Day, of New York.
3. Song, words by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe,
of Boston.
4. Oration, by the Hon. Joseph Howe,
Secretary of State of the New Do- minion. 6. Song, words by Caroline Dana Howe, of Portland, Me.
6. Address, by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe.
7. Music by the Band.
8. Address, by the Hon. Wm. Wirt
Howe, of New Orleans.
9. Song, words by Mrs. Mary Howe
Hinckley, of San Francisco.
10. Other Speakers.
11. Dinner in the Mammoth Tent, at
one o'clock, p. m.
12. Amusements and Sports, after 2.30
p. M.
The bands,t led by David Culver Hall,
*It is estimated that upwards of three thousand persons were on the grounds during the day. One reporter sets the number as high as thirty-five hun- dred. Among them we noticed one person deaf and dumb, who continually pointed up to heaven as the place for the final meeting.
fThe combined bands consisted of Hall's Brass Band, D. C. Hall, Leader, and the following select members : Rhodolph Hall, T. L. Allen, H. D, Brooks,
played, with great beauty and effect, for the welcome to the grounds, the "Wedding March " of Mendelssohn, which was fol- lowed by the overture of the " Poet and Peasant," by Suppe; the beautiful air,
" Her bright smile haunts me still," and several other favorite pieces. Col. Frank E. Howe, President of the day, and other officers, then, at ten o'clock, ascended the platform, in company with the Hon. Joseph Howe, the orator, and Mrs. Powers, of Boston, together with the Hon. William Wirt Howe and faiDily of Louisiana, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and other distinguished members of the Howe family.
Among those advanced in life we noticed the Eev. Moses Howe, of New Bedford; Mr. Edward Howe, of Portland, who took great interest in the festival, and Mrs. Amasa Howe, the mother of the late accomplished wife of Senator Wilson, now in Paris. Her eye still sparkles with the glow of youth, and her faculties are as yet unimpaired by age. Col. James Brown, of Framingham, almost ninety years of age, was still in good health, and seemed greatly to enjoy the fes- tival.
Decorated as the stage was with flags and wreaths of flowers, touched now and then by some stray beam of sunshine stealing through the overarching oaks and pines, and containing, as it did, so many of the celebri- ties of the family in a single group, it drew and held, as if by fascination, every eye of the vast throng surrounding it. The follow- ing unique and ■congratulatory telegram now brought forth hearty cheers from the vast concourse :
"Lafayette, Ind., Aug. 31, 1871. " Jb Col. Fraiik E. Howe., flarmony Grove : "The undersigned, an infinitesimal por- tion of the Howe family residing out here in Hoosier land, sends his greetings, with the information that he first saw daylight under the shadow of old Moosilauk, N. H. At the age of seven he was removed to near the Hub, and educated to pulling waxed ends and pegging boots. At sixteen, he left the land of steady habits. Alone he paddled his own canoe to the valley of the Wabash, where he has resided for the last twenty- eight years. His better-half and children are present with you to-day. Long live the everlasting Howe family! May their num- ber never grow less — including the Howe Sewing Machine.
" Ira G. Howe."
After this, the Eev. William A. Houghton,
W. A. Owen, W. E. Owen, D. H. Moore, G. H. Brown, H. French, S. K. Conant, A. P. Holden, J. M. BuUard; Metropolitan Brass Band, Arthur Hall, Leader, and the following select members : Charles H. Ball. J. Riley, I. H. Odell, G. W. Metoalf, J. W. Plummer, William Briggs, William Barker. E. N. Catlin, the talented leader of the orchestra at the Boston Museum ; Wm. H. Whiddon, second leader, and O. A. Whitmore, solo clarionetist, of the St. James Theatre : together forming an array of mu- sical talent unsurpassed.
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
II
of Berlin, addressed the throne of grace in an earnest and appropriate prayer, during which he rendered thanks for the beautiful day; for the social gathering; for mercies vouchsafed to the fathers of the family ; for the honorable record which they bore. He implored the divine blessing upon the chil- dren here and those absent, upon the speaker of the day, and the nation which he repre-
sents; also upon the land of our birth; and he prayed that the smile of God might con- tinue to rest upon us and our children, until gathered to the first-born in heaven.
At the conclusion of the prayer, Col. Frank E. Howe, of New York, rose, and gracefully addressed the audience as fol- lows:
INTEODUCTORY AND CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS
BY
COL. FRANK E. HOWE.
Kinsfolk and Friends :
Beckoned by shadowy hands, a family numbering thousands conies to circle a a hearth to-day; bending their steps back to the roof-tree again, come kinsmen who have cast out their fortunes over a con- tinent— some of them treading easily upon the eminences of a realm on which, it has been said, the sun never sets.
Pilgrims to the shrine of home, you have left life's din for a day, to freshen fading mem- ories, to grasp hands with hearts in them, to know each other better, and to brighten and strengthen the links of that chain which binds you together. It is my priv- ilege, uttering the voice of all, to pronounce the salutation and welcome of all to all. It will be fitting in me to claim only a little space of your time, making way for others who have added lustre to our name. My discourse shall be mainly brilliant flashes of silence. Home Tooke told the judge that the business of the Court was not to talk, but to help the crier keep order ; and no doubt a presiding, officer should be as silent as a judge — perhaps he should be as soJ)er, too. My brief words to you cannot be all of mirth and gladness ; something sub- dued hushes merriment. A gladness^that is not gay issues from these scenes and memories. We meet each other and the cheek puts on a smile, a smile that comes from the heart ; but sighs and sadness come also, because of
" The graves that have grown green, And the looks that have grown grey I "
Many are here — the good, the gifted, and the true — many whom Heaven has crowned with graces and with genius, many whom Earth has crowned with honors and riches and attainments ; but still solitude and loneliness enter these precincts; some are not here, their places are vacant, and they will not return again to us.
" Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still."
The sentiment of such a reunion is no mere holiday affair; it is deeper, more sa- cred and tender. Attachment to the soil holding the ashes of their fathers, fondness for the scenes and the associations of their childhood, affection for the localities iden- tified with their ancestors, have, in all ages and climes, been characteristics of man- kind. The feeling hardly stops with hu- manity. Throughout animated nature, some such instinct seems to prevail — it is not ancestral pride alone, but a longing to go back to the places, the visions, and the things of infancy and early home. The Eomans brought beasts of the field and fowls of the air from many distant regions, and brought with each a measure of its parent soil; and it was one of Rome's tra- ditions, that when placed in the amphithe» atre, these mute and exiled captives sought each its handful of native land.
Even inanimate creation seeras to share this human yearning, and things that have no sense or touch or motion cling to the memories of birth and to the associa- tions of childhood. Weird symbols of this human longing are strewn on Time's banks and shoals — trees sometimes will bend all their branches back to earth ; and the little sea-shell, carried far away from its ocean home, still ever murmurs of the billows and the storm. All these things unite in the thoughts, emotions, and mysteries of this filial and fraternal day.
How diverse in character and lot are those I see around me ! How fate ha3 made us all unlike, and divorced and ex- iled far and wide the descendants of a sin- gle parentage ! Distinct, like the waves, to-day, at least, we are one, like the sea.
Of those who wore the name before us, and inscribed it on the roll of useful and remembered names, I would gladly speak, but this grateful task belongs of right to others, and I forbear. All that language need do will be done to remind us of their trials and their labors, and to inspire us
12
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
with emulation of the patriotism and the virtues which adorned their lives.
We are liere for hardly more than one little hour — like him of old wrestling with the angel, let us hold it fast, nor let it go till it blesses us, and leaves fond and fra- grant memories to abide with us, and bring us back again and again in after years, to lay new offerings upon our ancestral shrine.
Col. Howe's address was delivered in a clear and distinct voice, and was warmly applauded during the delivery, and at the close.
The audience then most heartily joined in the following admirable song of wel- come, written by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and adapted to the familiar tune of " Home, Sweet Home." [See next page.]
At the close of this song the President introduced to the audience, in the ensuing very neat and felicitous speech, the Hon, Joseph Howe, as the orator of the day :
"I shall have the pleasure to present to you, in a moment, one who, before he utters a word, expresses a thought, and whose mute presence only would herald an idea hopeful to all the nations of the earth. England's ensign and the flag of stars stream over us together — symbols of a world-wide sway, they canopy this platform with an archway of unity as unbroken as the sky that bends above us. These pen-
nants personify two great nationalities ; these blended colors, those who sit beneath them, the spectacle on which we gaze, the very rites we pay — all are emblems of an era in the civilization of the world. The two English-speaking nations have conse- crated the year 1871 to fraternity and inter- nationality. America and Great Britain have made this an epoch of Anglo-Saxon brotherhood.
" Our distinguished kinsman is here in double friendship. Enjoying the confi- dence, and wearing the honors of his sovereign, he comes to us ; we twine our flag with his, and hail him for the lineage he bears, for the name he honors, and also as the harbinger of international recon- ciliation, of peace on earth, good will toward men.
" I present to you the Hon. Joseph Howe, some time of Canada, in the New Do- minion, but just now of Massachusetts, in New England."
The orator rose amid the continued accla- mations of the assembly. He is a well- built, solid man, of something more than sixty years, with a frank, open, good- natured expression of countenance, an earnest, searching voice, and an English manner of address. His eloquent words were listened to with profound attention, and they elicited frequent expressions of applause.
SONG OP WELCOME.
Sung at the Howe Family Gathering and Qelebration, Harmony Grove, Sout h Framingham ,Maa8. .-,«__ -Aug. 31s<, 1871.
Composed expressly for the occasion, by Mrs. JTJLIA 'WARD HOWE. Music, "Home, Sweet Home," Moderato. ^^
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The winged seeds are carried far On
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Even thus the souls of humankind
On Will's strong currents fly, And their appointed limit find,
To fall, and fructify. But Love has blown his blast to-day
Beneath the glittering dome, That we should feel within his sway,
The deathless joy of home. And this one comes from desert wastes,
And this from sunny isles, And this one,crowned with sorrows,hastes,
And this one crowned with smiles.
Blest was the freedom that enlarged Our youth's unfolding powers,
The daring impulse that surcharged. With life, our pilgrim hours.
But happier yet the sacred bond
That doth our presence claim, That conjures memories full and fond
With one ancestral name. Freedom and love are welded both
In ties of kindred blood ; So let us, thankful, pledge our troth
To human brotherhood
ORATION
OP
HON. JOSEPH HOWE,
Secretary of State of the Dominion of Canada.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : —
To be invited to address such an audience as this, in the centre of intellectual New England, I regard as a great distinction. Yet the position has its drawbacks. The committee have announced an "Oration"; but a simple and good-humored introduction to the business of the day is all that I shall attempt. If disposed to be more ambitious, and to try a bolder flight, I should be afraid to risk comparisons that you would not fail to institute, and which I am not vain enough to challenge. You have not forgotten the stately and nervous arguments of Webster, or the polished elocution and silvery voice of Everett; and though those masters of the art have passed awa}"", you can still sit at the feet of Emerson, listen to the fiery decla- mation of Phillips, wonder at Lowell's mar- vellous felicity of phrase and luxuriance of illustration, and fold to your hearts, -with a love akin to worship, our good friend Oliver Wendell Holmes. Let us thank God for these great lights, which have diffused, or are still shedding their radiance over the industrial and intellectual life of a great nation ; but this is a family party, and as a member of the family, I throw myself upon your indulgence. We are here not to make a parade of our eloquence, if we have any, but to spend a day in holy brotherhood and sweet communion.
Drawn from many States and Provinces, but springing from a comjnon stock, we meet for peaceful and legitimate purposes, to grasp each other's hands, to look into each other's faces, to study each other's forms, and to mark how the fine original structure of the race has borne change of aliment, diversity of climate, and the wear and tear of seden- tary or active life, amidst the rapid mental and.bodily movement of the fast age in which we live.
These family gatherings were, I believe, first suggested in New England, and their success is to be traced to the natural out- crop of feelings that are very rational. A wise nation preserves its records, gathers up its muniments, decorates the tombs of its illustrious dead, repairs its great public
(I
structures, and fosters national pride and love of country, by perpetual references to the sacrifices and glories of the past. But, divide the nation by households, and under every roof you will find, let national pride be ever so strong, that family pride, the in- terest in the narrower circle that bears a common name, is quite as active. Our lit- erature is filled with types of the septs, and clans, and families into which the wide world is divided, and who cling to their old recollections and traditions with marvellous tenacity.
In the British Islands this family senti- ment finds vent, and expands itself with great luxuriance and grace, under the shel- ter of the law of primogeniture. Emerson, in his delightful book on England, tells us that there are "three hundred palaces" scattered all over the face of that country. A great many of these are comparatively modern structures, reared by the merchant princes and great manufacturers of England, who, in comparatively modern times, have been enriched by the abounding commerce and restless industry of a great and prosper- ous empire.
But by far the larger number are the growth of centuries ; " the stately homes of England," where her historic families, many of them older than the Conquest, store up and preserve all that can illustrate the bril- liant and heroic qualities of the race, and prompt to the highest order of emulation. Many of these old structures, such as War- wick Castle, the stronghold of the king- maker, and Alnwick, the seat of " the stout Earls of Northumberland," though converted into luxurious modern residences, and em- bellished with all that high art in these recent times can furnish, occupy the com- manding sites which made them formidable centuries ago, and wear the outward sem- blance of strong medieeval fortresses, from which a stone has scarcely been removed. In many other cases the stern front of war has been softened and toned down by the gradual process of decay, the luxuriance of vegetation, or by improvements, which have placed modei-n structures, of vast propor- tions, upon the old feudal sites, replete with
4)
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
15
every convenience for ease and comfort, which, from the thickness of the ■■yalls, and the defensive character of the design, could not always be commanded in the old feudal castles.
But whether the style of the structure be ancient or modern, it is surrounded by an estate, which, from generation to generation, has belonged to one family, — been known by one name, — and the house, whatever the style of architecture may be, is filled with all that can illustrate the manhood and the intellectual vigor of that family, from its rise, amidst the convulsions of some shadowy by-gone age, down to the hour in which, with mingled wonder and admiration, we survey the marvellous results of a system not recognized by the institutions under which we live.
That those families should desire to pre- serve their estates intact, and gather around them the evidences of their antiquity and achievements, is not at all surprising, when we reflect that a very large proportion of them are inseparably interwoven with the great events which have made the history of their country memorable; and the val- uable services rendered to the nation by many of these families, not only throw around their country seats and personal rel- ies an indescribable charm, but give them a strong hold on the affections of the people.
A Stanley won the field of Flodden. One of the Talbots, who led the English forces in France, and fought against Joan of Arc, was the victor in forty-seven battles and dan- gerous skirmishes. The Percys have seven times driven back the tide of foreign inva- sion, and for eight hundred years have stood in the front of resistance to regal tyranny : and, say the writers from whom I quote,* " One Eussell has staked his head for the Protestant faith; a second the family es- tates in successful resistance to a despot ; a third has died on the scaffold for the liber- ties.of Englishmen; a fourth has aided ma- terially in the revolution which substituted law for the will of the sovereigns ; a fifth spent his life in resisting the attempt of the House of Brunswick to rebuild the power of the throne, and gave one of the first ex- amples of just religious government in Ire- land; and a sixth organized and carried through a bloodless but complete transfer of power from his own order to the middle classes."
These are eminent services, and we can- not wonder that the family seats, where such men were bred, are religiously preserved by their descendants, and regarded with deep interest by the nation.
There is no name more familiar to Amer- icans than that of Lord North, who, under George the Tliird, conducted, for many years, the disastrous war which was only closed by the establishment of the indepen-
* Sanford and Townshend's Governing Families of England.
dence of these United States. How few of all the able and distinguished men, who, on your side, led in that great struggle, have left behind them homes that have been pre- served, properties still undivided, or com- mon centres, where their pictures, books, and family muniments have been treasured up, to keep alive for succeeding generations the memory of their martial or diplomatic achievements ! By the personal exertions of Everett, Mount Vernon has been pre- served ; and, to their honor be it spoken, the Adams family, by a rare exhibition of hereditary qualities, have held their prop- erty and maintained their positions in the highest circles of political and social ele- vation. But nearly all the others, though honorably known to history, have passed away, and have left no property to embellish the scenery, no rally ing-places for their descendants, no familiar evidences of their existence.
In the heart of Oxfordshire stands Wrox- ton Abbey, the seat of the Norths. It is an old ecclesiastical structure, turned into a modern residence of surpassing beauty, where all that is antique is preserved with religious care, and gracefully interwoven with whatever can administer to refined lux- ury and convenience. It is surrounded by- forty thousand acres of the best land in Eng- land. The outlying farms are cultivated by a prosperous tenantry, whose families have occupied the same lands for centuries, many of whom keep hunters worth five hundred guineas, and pay a thousand sovereigns a year of annual rent. Ancestral trees, older than the Abbey, fling their shadows down upon sinuous walks and carriage-drives that appear almost endless ; whilst every window in the lipuse looks out upon verdant lawns, well-kept gardens, or clumps of tree-roses, interspersed with masses of evergreens, the preservation of which is so much favored by the moist climate of England.
The Baroness North, granddaughter of Lord North of the Revolutionary War, and her husband, Colonel North, reside on this beautiful estate ; and while distinguished for the latgeness of heart and great hospitality which become their stations, are not un- mindful of the hereditary obligation which devolves upon them to treasure, to enlarge, and to transmit to their descendants, all that can illustrate the daily life, the personal traits, or the distinguished services of the house to which they belong, in all its branches.
You are aware that the family of the Norths was interwoven with the Guild- fords and Greys. The hundred rooms and long corridors of Wroxton tell the family story, from its foundation in 1496 to the present hour. Beautiful women, in the cos- tume of the period in which they flourished — children of all ages — eminent Lawyers, Privy Councillors, Soldiers, Ambassadors, and judges, line the walls of every staircase and of every room.
i6
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
Many of these pictures are valuable as •works of art, but their cliief value is in the record they supply of forms long passed away — of features that cannot be repro- duced, and for the facilities they afford to every rising generation to study and trans- rait the family story, by the aid of authentic materials, which in our countries, and under our systems, we can very rarely supply.
Two or three rooms in this old house deeply interested me. One was Lord North's Library, in which every book that he had ever owned or handled has been pre- served. Though unsuccessful as a War Minister, he was a scholar and a wit, and many of the volumes are rare editions, or presentation copies, enriched by autographs or annotations.
A small room, opening from the library, was Lord North's study. A very remark- able likeness of him overhangs and looks down on the table at which he wrote his des- patches. The inkstand, and I might almost add the pens, with which they were written, have been preserved.
A bed-room in this fine old edifice inter- ested me even more deeply. I slept one night in it without knowing to whom it had belonged. It was a stately chamber, hung with arras, greatly faded, with quaint old andirons in an open fireplace, a low bed- stead with high posts ; and all the furniture, though admirably preserved, bearing the un- mistakable impress of antiquity. To my great surprise I was told, on coming down to breakfast on the following morning, that I had occupied the apartment of Lady Jane Grey, and slept in her bed, nothing having been changed in the room, since her death, but the bed-linen, which had worn out. I am not quite sure that I ever slept so soundly in the same apartment a second night as I did the first. Visions of the beautiful mar- tyr to misplaced ambition seemed ever flit- ting round me, and I sometimes fancied that the grim headsman, with his axe, was linger- ing in the long shadows flung out by the massive walls.
A volume might be written descriptive of the beauties of Wroxton, and of the treas- ures of art and of biography which it con- tains, and yet it is a ■comparatively modern edifice, nor do the Norths trace back their lineage nearly so far as many of the great historic families of England.
But I have taken this single house to show you how_ strong is the family sentiment in our mother country, and to answer, in ad- vance, those who would smile at our humble endeavors to engraft upon our democratic institutions some graceful forms of develop- ment for a yearning that is universal, and for the outcrop of feelings as old as history.
Neither in the United States, nor in Can- ada, is any provision made for this develop- ment. By our old laws two-thirds of the real estate were given to the eldest son ; but modern legislation has swept this provision away, and property is cow equally divided
in all our States and Provinces. The uni- versal feeling sustains this condition of the law ; entails are discouraged, and fortunes are earned only to be distributed, often with a rapidity that far outruns the process of accumulation. A spendthrift is too apt to follow a miser, and the thriftless, bred in luxurious homes, often seem to have come into the world for no other purpose than to scatter what the industrious have earned, and to disperse, without a thought of name or race, all that their fathers prized; and in which their descendants, if not below the ordinary scale of humanity, Avould be sure to take an interest.
The democratic system, which prevails all over this continent, cannot be changed. It has its advantages, and the evils arising from the law of primogeniture cannot be veiled, even by the graceful surroundings to which ' I have referred ; and the practical question which we have met here to endeavor to solve is this : Can we, without disturbing the law, or disregarding the common sen- timent of the continent, keep alive our fam- ily name — trace back our family story, and. while dividing our property among our chil- dren, divide with them also all that we have been able to learn, to authenticate, and to transmit, of the family from which they have sprung?
May we not do more ? May we not so pass this day as to make it a festival in the finest sense of the term — to the repetition of which the thousands who bear our name will look forward with intense delight?
In England, the Howes have lived and flourished for centuries. The Howe banner hangs as high, in Henry VII. 's chapel, as any other evidence of honorable service, and the battle of the first of June will be remem- bered so long as the naval annals of England last. In the old French wars, for the pos- session of this continent, one Ho\ve fell at Ticonderoga, and another was killed on the Nova Scotia frontier. In the Kevolutionary War, the Howes were not fortunate. I have heard cay father describe Sir William, as he saw him leading up the British forces at the battle of Bunker Hill, with the bullets flying like hail around him. But I am ap- prehensive that in that old war God was not " on the side of the strongest columns," and that the time had arrived when the peopling and development of a continent could not be postponed by the agencies of fleets and armies.
The Howes, who have been ennobled, trace their family back to the reign of Henry VIII., and seem to have held estates in Somersetshire, Gloucester, Wiltshire, Not- tingham, and Fermanagh, in Ireland. Jack Howe, as he was familiarly called, who was a member of Parliament in the reigns of William and Anne, was a fluent speaker, and, like a good many other people in those days, had a great dislike to standing armies. His son, who sat for Nottingham in the Con- vention Parliament, was one of those who
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
17
established the liberties of England, in 1G88.
But many branches of the family are scat- tered all about England. I fouml three Howes, bearing my own family Christian names, lying side by side in the churchyard at Newport, in the Isle of Wiglit, and I learned tliat in the western end of the Island a family of honest farmers, who are all Howes, have been living there on the same land, beyond the memory of man.
I found three others, all males, lying just inside the graveyard at Berwick-on-Tweed. I could not hear of any Howes in the neigh- borhood, and I took it for granted that they must have been killed in some old border fight, which is not at all improbable if they came from the south side of the stream.
But, passing over the nobles and the ple- beians of England, I must confess that there is one Howe of whom we may all be proud. This is .John Howe, who was Chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and whose fine form and noble features are preserved in some of the old engravings. He must have been an elo- quent preach.er, for he won his place by a sermon which the Protector happened to hear. That he was a fine scholar and learned theologian is proved by the body of divinity, written in classic English, which he has left behind him. That he was a noble man is proved, also, by a single anecdote which is preserved to us. On one occasion he was soliciting aid or patronage for some person whom he thought deserving, when Cromwell turned sharply round, and, by a single ques- tion, let a liood of light in upon the disin- terestedness and amiability of his character, whiefi will illuminate it in all time to come. "John," said the Protector, "you are always asking something for some poor fellow ; why do you never ask anytliing for yourself? " My father's name was John, and I have often tried to trace him back to this good Christian, whose character in many points his own so much resembled. I may hazard one observation, before passing from the English Howes, and it is this : that the pres- ent possessor of the peerage had better bestir himself, and do something to add lustre to his coronet, or else we Howes in America will begin to think it has dropped on an in- active brain. He fights no battles, he writes no books, he makes no speeciies, and, al- though I believe he is a very amiable person, and was a great friend of the late Queen Dowager, I beg to enter my protest against the apparent want of patriotism, or mental activity, which this very supine recipient of hereditary rank seems to display.
But, passing over the Howes who have fig- ured, or still dwell, on the other side of the Atlantic, I take it for granted that tlie whole of this vast audience are descended from those who settled in New England between • 1630 and 1657. It would appear, by the cir- cular kindly sent to me by your secretary, that there were seven of tliese, although my father used to tell me that there were but
four. Two of them, Joseph, of Boston, and Abraham, of ^Yatertown, may have been sons of some of the otiiers, if they married early, which is probable ; but I take the list as I find it, and to me it is full of interest. What was the Old World about when these men came to America ? Why did they come ? are questions that naturally occur to us. In 1629, Charles I. dissolved his Parliament, and no other was called in England till the Long Parliament met in 1640. During the eleven years which intervened, we all know what was going on in Engl'and. Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury, Strafford was first Minister, and that hopeful experiment was being tried of ruling witliout Parlia- ments, which ended in the wreck and ruia of the monarchy. Within tliese eleven years five of tlie seven Howes were settled in New England, and the reasonable presump- tion is that they found old England too hot for them.
They had no fancy for paying ship-money on compulsion, for having their ears cropped, or for standing in the pillory for the free ex- pression of opinions ; and, perhaps foresee- ing wliat was coming, they accomplished what it is said Cromwell, Hampden, and others at one time meditated, and reached America before the Civil War began. The earlier battles of Worcester and Edgehill were fought in 1642, and before this five of the Howes had made good their lodgement in America. If the two who date from 1652 and 1657 were not born in this country, they may have taken tlie field ; but of the fact we have no authentic record.
It is enough for us to know that these an- cestors of ours were God-fearing, worthy men, sprung from the sturdy middle class of English civic and rural life, who left their native country not because they did not love it, but because they could not stay tliere without mean compliance and tame submis- sion to usurped authority. We would per- haps have been just as well pleased had they remained behind, and struck a few manful blows for the liberties of England ; but we must accept the record as we find it, with this source of consolation, that no brother's blood was upon their hands when they landed in America. That they were men of worth and intelligence ' there is proof enough. They were freemen and proprietors in the townships where they settled; selectmen, representatives, officers, Indian commission- ers, and seem to have brought from the old country, in fair measure, the common sense, industry, and thrift so much needed by the em- igrant. That they were men of fine propor- tions and of sound constitutions, I may infer from the audience before me, and from the fact, which your secretary has recorded, that five of these old worthies left forty-four chil- dren behind them. That those " forefathers of our hamlets " set us a good example, their simple records prove. Thatthe Howe women have been fruitful, and the men vigorous, is consistent with all I know of tlieir descend-
iS'
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
ants on this continent and this vast audience, where forms of manly beauty and female loveliness abound, shows me that in physical proportions and feminine attraction the race has been well preserved. But in tliese sound bodies are there sound minds? What of the intellectual qualities and mental develop- ment of the family? Plave our women been born " to suckle fools, and chronicle small beer"? Have the men displaj^ed the energy and capacity for affairs demanded of them by the free and rapidi}' expanding communities in which they lived? It is only by the nuitual interchange of fact and thouglit, at such a gathering as this, that we can answer these questions to our own s.at- isfaction. But if I were challenged by the transatlantic branches of the family to bear testimony upon these points, I think, even with my limited knowledge of your coun- try, I could produce a group of eloquent senators, eminent soldiers, distinguished philanthropists, and successful business men, to prove conclusively that, in these United States, the race has not declined.
In turning to the Provinces it must be borne in mind that but one of all the Howes in these States took the British side in the Eevolutionary War. Of my father I spoke, some years ago, at Faneuil Hall; and my good friend Lorenzo Sabine (one of the best writers and most accomplished statesmen produced in the Eastern States) has kindly embodied what was said in the second edi- tion of his " Lives of the Loyalists," to which I must refer those who take interest in the British- American branch of the fam- ily. To-day I have leisure to say only this : that if it be permitted to the saints in Heaven to revisit the scenes they loved, and to hover over the innocent reunions of their kindred, ray father's spirit will be here, gratified to see that the familj"-, divided by the Revolution, is again united, and that his son, to use the language which Burns puts into the mouth of the peasant woman in his "Cotter's Saturday Night," is " re- spected like the lave."
Of the past liistoiry of the family, on both sides of the Atlantic, wc may be justly proud. That the present is full of hope and promise this great festival assures us. For the future I have no fears. We meet to gather up the fragmentary biographies of the' family, and to encourage each other in well-doing that the family may not decline. B}' honest industry and manly exercises we must see to it tiiat the race is well preserved, and bj' careful cultivation that the brain is well developed. Savage, in his Genealog- ical Dictionary, tells us that seven of the Howes, prior to 1834:, had graduated at Har- vard University, and twenty-three at other colleges in New England. Nearly all the Howes that I have ever known were dear lovers of books, and reasonablj'- intelligent. To keep abreast with the active intellect of the age we must be students still. We inherit a rich and noble language. We are
the " heirs," says Professor Greenwood, "of all the ages in the foremost files of time." ■' Knowledge," Disraeli tells us, " is like the ■ mystic ladder in the Patriarch's dream. Its base rests on the primeval earth — its crest is lost in the shadowy splendor of the em- pyrean; while the great authors, wiio, for traditionary ages, have held the chain of science and philosophy, of poesy and erudi- tion, are the angels ascending and descend- ing the sacred scale, and maintaining, as it were, the communication between man and Heaven."
But we must not be mere students. This is not an age wherein people. should be con- tent to see visions and dream dreams. The work of the world is before us ; and on this continent there is work enough and to spare for centuries to come. We must do our share of it, and the family will be judged by the style and manner in which it is done. The Scotch have a familiar phrase : '• Put a stout heart to a stiff brae " ; and Goethe tells us : " All I had to do I have done in kingly fashion. I let tongues wng. What I saw to be the right thing that I did." Maj'' your hearts be "stout" when the " braes " are " stiff." Let the world take note of you that you are good husbands, good fathers, good citizens, and true and honorable men ; that your descendants may come up here to Framingham, looking back at this festival as thougl:, from its fruits, it were worth a repetition; and come, not to glorify a mere name that has no significance, but to see that an honorable name which they inherit is kept untarnished, and transmitted with new lustre to t/heir children.
But let us hope that these family meet- ings may be made to subserve a higher pur- pose than the mere renewal of broken ties of relationship in limited circles. May they not embrace a wider range, ascend t,o a higher elevation, and have a tendency to draw together, not only single families, but that great family that the unhappy events which led to the Revolutionarjr War divided into three branches ? Germany had its Seven Years' War, and its Thirty Yeai's' War, to say 'nothing of centuries of rivalries and di- visions, and yet a common sentiment, "the Fatherland," is rapidlj'- uniting all who speak its language, love its literature, and are proud of its martial achievements. The Civil Wars of France have been endless, and yet the common ties of literature and language, however rudely those of brotherhood are broken at times, draw the whole people to- gether; find though kings and emperors, re- publics and comi^afunes, pass away, under them all the common sentiment is, "Vive la France ! " and tiiis is the cry of a united people, when each system in its turn has been overthrown.
Great Britain and the L'nited States have had eleven years of war, eight at the llevo- lution, and three in tlie foolisli struggle which lasted from 1812 to 1815. What are eleven years in history? Your own Civil War
THE HOWE FAMTLY GATHERING.
19
lasted nearly four, and more men were killed in if than Great Britain and the United States .could ever put into the field in those old con- tests, which sensible men everywhere remem- ber only to regret. You hope to be, and I trust the hope may be realized, a unit^ people. Why should not the three groat branches of the British family unite, our old wars and divisions to the contrary not- withstanding? Tliis is " a consummation devoutly to be wislied." Ocean steamers, railroads, cheap postage, and telegraphs, make a union possible ; and gatherings such as this may hasten on the time, when, living under different forms of government, and each loyal to the institutions it prefers, tlie three great branches of the British family may not only live in perpetual amity, but combine to develop free institutions everywhere, and to keep the peace of the world.
Such a union, to be permanent, must be based on mutual respect, and on a just ap- preciation of the position and resources of each branch of the Great Family. The marvellous growth and vast resources of these United States are frankly acknowl- edged by every rational English and British- American man that I know. That your country contains nearly forty millions of people, as intelligent, industrious, inventive, and martial, as any other equal number on the face of the eartli, we frankly admit; but I am often amused at th(5 style of exagger- ation adopted in this country, and at the mode in which we Britishers are talked of on platforms, and in circles not over well- informed. Four millions of freemen on the other side of the line, who govern them- selves, and who can change their rulers when Parliament sits, any night ofi the year, by a simple resolution — who could declare their independence to-morrow, or join these United States, if so inclined — are often spoken of as serfs and bondmen, because they do not care to rupture old relations, and go in search of political guaranties, which, by their own firmness and practical sagacity, they have already secured. That we ai'e not laggards and idlers over the bor- der, may be gathered from the growth of our cities, and from the rapid development of our industry in all its branches. Though but a handful of people commenced to clear up our country at the close of the Revolutionary War, we have already a population more numerous than Scotland, and have peace- fully organized into provinces a territory more extensive than the United States, larger than the whole Empire of Brazil ; the volume of our trade has increased to §120,000,000; and the mercantile marine of the Northern Provinces places them in the rank of the fourth maritime country in the world. My own native Province, I am proud to say, takes the lead in this honorable form of en- terprise. Nova Scotia owns more than a ton of shipping for every man, woman, and child on her soil. The babe that was born
yesterday is represented by a ton of ship- ping that was built before it was born.
But are the British Islands so decrepit and effete as we sometimes hear in this country? Is the empire which is sustained by the two other branches of the family, unworthy of the friendship of these United States ? Would it not bring its sliare of everything that con- stitutes national greatness into the union of which I have spoken ? Republican America, impoverished by the war of Independence, loaded with debt, having a great country to explore, finances to reorganize, institutions to consolidate, and a navy to create, has done her work in the face of the world in a manner that challenges its respect and ad- miration. , Her contributions to literature, her able judges, sagacious statesmen, elo- quent orators, acute diplomatists, and emi- nent soldiers and sailors, have won for her a place in civilization and history, which all British Americans and Englishmen proudly acknowledge. ■ You are " bone of our bone," and as one of your Commodores exclaimed, when lending a helping hand to Englishmen in the Chinese rivers, '• blood is thicker than water" ; and the laurels you win, and the tri- umphs you achieve, even at our expense, but illustrate tlie versatility and vigor of the life-currents whicli we share.
Now let us see what the elder branch of the family has been about for the last eighty years, and whether, as we approach the fountain-head, the stream shows less anima- tion. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, all London was built of wood, and thirty years after the Howes settled in New England, four hundred streets and thirteen thousand houses were consumed in the great fire. In 1783, the population did not exceed six hundred thousand, and the docks were not yet constructed. By tlie time I saw London first, in 1831>, the population had in- creased to a miUion and a half; but within the last third of a century the numbers have swelled to about four millions, so that the metropolis of our empire is nearly as large as the cities of New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, New Orleans, San Fran- cisco, and Buffixlo, all put together.
At the close of the Revolutionary War, the British Empire was assumed to be on the decline. Thirteen noble provinces had just been lost. She had been humiliated by land and sea. Her power on the American Continent had been shaken to its founda- tions. Her great rival had defeated and triumphed over her; and, with her capital imperilled by mobs, and her treasury loaded down with debt, she had but a grim" outlook for the future, at that disastrous period. But the people around the old homestead were not discouraged. The brain-power was not exhausted, nor the physical forces spent. They went on thinking, working, and fighting, as though, like Antaeus, they gathered strength from their fall; and now, at the end of four-fifths of a century, let us
20
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
see what they have accomplished. On this continent, profiting by the lessons of the past, and learning the science of colonial government, they have planted and fostered great provinces as populous as those they lost. They have explored and planted Australia and New Zealand, conquered an empire in the East, taken Sinj^apore, the Mauritius, British Guiana, and Hong Kong; and now, instead of the few feeble colonies left to them in 1783, when this country broke away, they have nearly seventy great prov- ince's and dependencies, scattered all over the Avorld, to whom Webster's drum-beat is familiar; which contain a population of hundreds of millions, and secure to the mother islands an abounding commerce, in- dependent of all the rest of the world, but which they threw open to free competition, with a somewhat chivalrous confidence in their own resources.
Of the men produced in these modern days, why should I weary you with a bead- i-oll? Nelson and Wellington, Clive and Napier, stand in the front of a noble array of warriors who have carried the Eed Cross Flag by land and sea ; and under its ample folds great statesmen have remodelled their institutions, reformed their laws, enlarged the franchise, limited the prerogative, and laid the foundations of civil and religious liberty broad and deep. Nor have the Mother Islands hung their harps upon the willows ; while their engineers have covered the ocean with lines of steamships, and their architects have embellished the scenery with noble structures, their great writers have remodelled history, and the melodious strains of Scott and Byron, of Hemans and Camp- bell, have been heard above the din of work-
shops that never tire — the ebb. and flow of capital enlarging with each pulsation, and the gradual unfolding of tliat marvellous web and woof of finance whose meshes envelop the world.
r have but little more to say. If it be wise to gather the Howes together, and re- new old family ties, how much more impor- tant will it be to bring together the three great branches of the British fiimily, and unite them in a common policy, as inde- structible as their language, as enduring as the literature they cannot divide !
Out of such a union would flow the bles- sings of perpetual peace, for no foreign power would venture to assail us ; and we would be sufficiently strong to be magnan- imous when international difficulties arose'. Ships enough to keep the peace of the seas would be all we should require. With a landwehr of millions in reserve, our stand- ing armies might be reduced to the minimum of cost. Capital would ebb and flow freely over the whole confederacy ; our transports, instead of carrying war material, might carry the surplus population to the regions where labor was wanting, and land was cheap; ocean telegrams would come down to a penny rate ; and our national debts would disappear, by the gradual increase of the population, and the growth of the general prosperity. May the great Father of mer- cies hear our prayers, and so overrule our national counsels, that we may come to be one people, living under difFei-ent forms of government it may be, but knit together by a common policy, based upon an enlightened appreciation of each other's sti'ength, and on a sentiment of mutual esteem.
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
21
At the conclusion of this classical address,* of which we here give a verbatim copy, Col. Howe invited the audience to join in singing the following beautiful hymn, writ- ten for the day, by Miss Caroline Dana Howe, a well-known poetess of Portland, Me., who was present on the occasion. It was sung to the air of "Bonnie Doon," the band leading. [See page 22.]
After the singing of the foregoing song, Col. Howe stepped forward and introduced Mrs. Julia Ward Howe to the audience, with these felicitous words: "Mrs. Julia Ward Howe needs no introduction; she long ago introduced herself.f I might say of her as Napoleon said of Madame de Stael — ' She carries a quiver full of arrows that would hit a man were he seated on a rainbow.' "
Mrs. Howe then presented herself, amid the enthusiastic cheers of the assembly. She was elegantly dressed, and with a very bland and graceful bearing she observed that she did not know, until she saw the programme, that she was expected to make an address besides reading a poem, but that in order not to disappoint expectations, she
* The Hon. Joseph Howe, Secretary of State of the Dominion of Canada, was born in Halifax. ZST. S., in 1804; was editor of the Nova-Scotian, 1828-40, and Secretary of State of Nova Scotia, 1848-54. He now resides at Ottawa, and is one of the ablest statesmen and most eloquent orators of the Dominion of Can- ada. He is the son of John Howe, editor and loy- alist, horn in Boston, Oct. 14, 1754; grandson of Jo- seph Howe, horn in Dorchester, March 27, 1716-17; great-grandson of Isaac Howe, born in the same town, July 7, 1678; great-great-gnuidson of Isaac Howe, baptized in Roxbury, if arch, 1655; great-great- groat-grandson of Abraham Howe, born (probably) in Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex Co., England, made free- man here, Mav 2, 1638, and died Nov. 20, 168.3. His father is supposed to be Robert Howe, of Hatfield, Broad Oak- England; and James Howe, made free- man in 1637, was probably a brother, so that Mr. Allibone is in error in stating that the Hon. Joseph Howe is "a lineal descendant of the celebrated Puritan divine, John Howe," who was born in 1630, and died in 1705. The Speeches and Public Letters of the Hon. .Joseph Howe, edited by William Ar- mand, M.P.P., were published in Boston, 1855, in two volumes, octavo. They are very able.
jeor The Committee feel under great obligations to this gentleman, who gave his valuable time, and paid his own expenses, refusing all remuneration, and insisting on making a very liberal contribution (a pan of which only they could accept) to the fund to pav the general expenses. They found him a man of generous impulses — one of nature's noble- men — and wonder not at his popularity at home, or th.at he is idolized among his own people.
fMrs. Julia Ward Howe, daughter of Samuel Ward, a distinguished banker of Kew York, was married to Dr. Samuel G. Howe, of Boston, in 1843. She published Passion Floivers in 1854. "These effusions," says a critic in the Southern Quarterly Peview, " are'written by a woman who knows how to think as well as how to feel — one who has made herself famili.ir with the higher walks of literature — who has deepiv pondered Hegel, Comte, Sweden- borg, Goethe, Dante, and all the maslera of song, of phifosophv and faith.
She published Words for the Hour, 1856; The World's Own, 1857: and Hippoli/tus, a tragetly, in 1858. Her Battie-Uymn of the Republic, published in the Atlantic Monthly, 1862, is one of the most thrillins Ivrics which the late civil war called forth. Mrs. Howe was born in 1819, and her motlu^r, a daughter of Mr.-B. C. Cutler, of Boston, was a lady of poetic talent.
Avould say what few Avords were suggested by meeting so many of her friends and kindred. She spoke of the principle of association as being one of the strongest in man's nature. It was this principle which was always attacked by tyrants and despots, in illustration of which she mentioned the prohibition of the Marsellais-e by the French monarchs. The family instinct in America was democratic, the relations of parent to child free and easy. In future, when she goes to a distant town, she should ask, be- fore any other^ question, "Are there any Howes here?" Of course they must differ in matters of opinion, but she hoped they all agreed in fundamental principles. She did not know if there were any strong- minded women among the Howes, but lioped there were no feeble-minded ones. She mentioned the different inventions by members of the family, and spoke especially of the benefit which Elias Howe had done to all women by his invention of the sew- ing-machine. She thought he must have pitied his mother, or his sister, or perhaps • his wife. She had never known any Howre idlers. The " how not to do it " was some- thing unknown to them. She closed her remarks by quoting " Si monumentum quosris adspice." [If you are seeking for a monument, look around you.]
At the close of her admirable address, she recited, with a fine effect, the following hu- morous and original poem on the name of Howe, which has since been set to the beau- tiful air " Do They Miss Me at Home? " by^ Grannis. [See page 23.]
This unique poem drew forth hearty ap- plause, and was followed by an admirable piece of music by the band, when the President introduced the Hon. Wm. Wirt Howe, of New Orleans, in the following well-chosen words :
" The orator of the day, to whom you listened a short time ago, came from the far Nortli. I have the pleasure of introducing to you now another member of our family who comes to us from the far South — from the city of New Orleans. I knew him per- sonally in Louisiana during the war, and I can testify to the honorable part he bore as an officer in the army of the United States. Eeturniug to the practice of the law in New Orleans, he at once attained such eminence that his appointment on the bench of the highest court of Louisiana followed, almost as a matter of course, giving the sincerest pleasure, not only to his immediate friends, but to all who are interested in the adminis- tration of justice in that State. Allow me, then, to present to you the Hon.William Wirt Howe, of the Supreme Court of Louisiana."
Judge Howe, a tall, slender man, with a Grecian forehead, then stepped forward, amid the plaudits of the people, and, in a clear and resonant voice, delivered a most eloquent address.
THE NAME WE BEAR.
Suna at the Howe Family Gathering and Celebration, Harmony Grove, South Framingham,M'ass. ^ Aug. Zlst, 1871.
Composed expressly for the occasion, by CAKOLINE DANA HOWE, of Portland, Me.
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Music, "Bonnie Doon."
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borne a-.vw^Down thro' the ages yet to be.T'or nature knows her triumph hour, And at the mandate roll of power A kindred sympathy to claim.
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Oh: thenlet us honor, and guard it with care,Thename ofourfat!iers, the name that we bear.
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Our kinsmen of the long ago.
Tossed like ourselves on stormy seas; They watched the deadly conflict grow,
Prayed, fought, and won proud victories. This same old earth, their brave feci trod, / These same pure stars above them shone ; Our fathers' fate, our fathers' God,
Thro' all these years has been oar own. Descended from these lords of earth,
Our lives the royal stamp should wear; While clear insignias of our birth.
Up to the Lord of Heaven we bear. So shall these sainted souls of yore,
Who trod our soil with bleeding feet, Around the throne their anthems pour,
As we their great reward complete. : The good, the pure, it never dies.
Those honored women, and brave men, Who made such noble sacrifice.
Still live in all true lives again.
Their empire of the ancient time,
Shall hold through generations hence : While passing years, in grand old chime,
Ring in a new intelligence. We lack no element of power,
One mission has the guiding star; And one the lowly blooming flower,
While both, God's chosen vassals are. If one but rightly fills his place.
However small that sphere may be ; No seraph at the throne of grace.
Hath surer claim of Heaven in fee.
Friends ! kinsmen ! of a worthy race,
Oh let us proudly fix our eyes Where lionor holds her court of grace,
Tiirough noble deeds, and high emprise. For he alone is truly great.
Whose virtue goes before his fame ; Whose soul stands ever i-obed in state,
To make illustrious his name.
I SIT AND LOOK OUT OP MY WINDOW.
Sung at the Howe Family Gathenv,g and Gelehration, Harmony Grove, South Framingham , Jfans., " Aug. 31st, 1871.
Poetry by JULIA WAED HOWE. 7-
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1. I sit and look out of my winaow,The sky wears her fair Summer brow ;I have promised a poem you wait for.Anci
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tell it to give me my verses, And what does It answer me, "'Howe? " And what does it answer me"Ho we?
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2 I dream in the meadows sweet-scented,
And I'oilow the tiirf-cutting plough; So Burns found his mouse and hisdaisy;
I L-eelv to — and only find Howe. Then I go to ray books very learned ;
I must write those same verses, I vow ; Come, help me, yon Greeks and you Germans;
The books, too, have learned to say Howe.
3 Yet \ know 'tis occasion most fitting
When birds that have flown from the bough Come luck with their broods and their music
At the i)leasant suggestion of Howe. " And I know there are wondrous inventions
To which other continents bow ; There are sewers and reapers and wringers
Baptized in the good name of Howe,
4 There's a man who unloosed a soul's prison
With a ]Kiticnt ende.iv(»r, I trow, Brought the l)lind and the dumb into freedom,
And that soul in its gladness knows Howe. And one was all ready for battle,
Wlien Southerners made their great row. And one hopes that battles are over, And the woman must show the world Howe.
5 I sit and loolt otit of my window.
The sky wears her fair summer brow ; I have promised a poem that you wait for,
And fancy says nothing but Howe. Thus others can sing to you better,
I may shut my worn music-liooi-: now; But I'll close with a true woman's Idcssing—
"God's grace to the children of Howe."
24
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
ADDRESS
OF THE
HON. WM. WIRT HOWE,
Judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana.
We are gravely assured by Mr. Darwin that tlie family of Howe, as well as the more numerous family of Smith, and the possibly more aristocratic family of Howard, are de- scended from certain " apelike progenitors," with hairy skins, and pointed ears and pre- hensile tails.
We are further informed that these ape- like progenitors were arboreal in their hab- its; that they were devoted to climbing; that their favorite study was literally the pursuit of the •' higher branches " ; and their most vaulting ambition was to leap from limb to limb of the primeval forest.
Kow, whether Mr. Darwin be right or wrong in his theory — whether his skilful antagonist, Mr. St. George Mivart, have demolished him or not — it is certain that the Howes (as well as the Smiths) are ar- boreal in their habits ; that though their hairy skins may have been modified to more or less smoothness, and the points of their ears become more or less rudimentary, yet they are still fond of trees ; their natural academy is the grove ; their natural tem- ple the over-arching forest; their natural place of meeting, on such an occasion as this, the cool arcades of the New England woods.
It is well that we should meet under such noble trees. We may have lost the power of climbing them, possessed by our "pro- genitors," (that power appears sometimes in our boys, by the process of " reversion," and trousers perish everlastingly,) — we may, I say, have lost the art of climbing these noble trees, between whose dark stems the forest glows so beautifully with the rising and setting sun, yet we have not lost the faculty of enjoying their color, their form, their shade, their associations. They have come down to us from a former gener- ation ; they were contemporaries of those ancestors whom we have met to talk about fo-day.
I have thought that on such an occasion a speaker might, without impropriety, allude to his immediate ancestors, and, so to speak, leap from limb to limb of his immediate fam- ily tree ; for this is a private meeting, and we may talk of things in which the world at
large. would feel no special interest. It is perhaps matter of regret that I have noth- ing very surprising to sa}- in this regard. I cannot affirm, Avith the man in the song, that " my grandfather was a most wonder- ful man "; I cannot allege, after the manner suggested by Tony Lumpkin, that " my mother was an alderman and my aunt a jus- tice of the peace."
And, by the way — or rather out of the way — t)!j^j^even certain forms of joke have their points worn away by the continual drop- ping of the years. In one of Sheridan's com- edies there is a character who purjiorts to be crack-brained, and one of his most ridiculous plans is to run stage-coaches by steam, and light them with gas. We see no joke in that : yet it was probably received with shouts of derisive laughter hj the gods of the gallery at Drury Lane. And so poor Tony Lump- kin's jest about a mother being an alderman and an aunt a justice of the peace, is no longer, I fear, a proper subject for mirth in Massachusetts. It has even been said by the journals — and we must believe every- thing we see in them — that an eminent lady of our own family has been made a justice of the peace in Boston, and that she will soon be uttering the Delphic thunders of judicial decision, and launching the live lightnings of the writ oi fieri facias.
But this is a digression, and let us return to our — ancestors. I will not go back, like Moliere's lawyer, to the garden of Eden, but will come down to an even more mod- ern point than the opposing lawyer suggested when he recommended his antagonist to " pass on to the Deluge."
I learn that my great-grandfather, Abner, died, in tlie revolutionary army, in 1776. His son. Job Lane Howe, born in Brook- field, Mass., in 1769, removed to Shoreham, Vermont, in 1796, where my father, the eldest son, was born in 1797. Vermont was then a frontier countrj''. An irreverent child might have met a she-bear in those dense for- ests without any special interposition. Peo- ple crossed the Green Mountains then, and settled on Lake Champlain, as now they cross the Rocky Mountains and settle on Puget Sound.
/t^''
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
My grandfather seems to have been a good pioneer, for two reasons at least : in the iirst place he was a public-spirited citizen, and in the second place he had great theoretical and practical skill in mechanics, being an architect, a builder, a mill-wright, a wheel- wright, and a ship-builder. He planned and built the first church — or, I should say, "meeting-house" — erected at Shore- ham; /ind so thorough was his work, that it is still told that the shingle roof lasted with- out repair for fifty years. He also manufac- tured some of- the first wagons used over those early rough'Toads ; and it is related, as evidence of the sincere manner in which he did this work, that one of these wagons, after being used thirty years, sold for moi'e than its original cost, having been built after the manner of Dr. Holmes's " one- hoss shay."
In 1806 he removed to Crown Point, New York, and it may be said that he substan- tially founded the town. He built the dam across the stream which there falls into Lake Champh in ; built extensive grist-mills and saw-mills; erected the brick meeting-house, and the principal mansion and store, which still stand on the village green. He also estab- lished lumber-yards, and at last a shipyard.
Nor did he work for himself alone. It is related that he was benevolent and public- spirited. In 1814 he volunteered, as captain of a troop, for the defence of Plattsburg. In 1816, known as the famine yeai', when there was a frost in Northern New England every month of summer, he freely fed the poor, and refused to sell his grain to spec- ulators from abroad, who offered him high prices. This may have been very bad polit- ical economy, but wo have reason to suppose it was pretty good religion. He was often found, with a force of his men, improving a road or a bridge ; and, on one occasion, be- ing told by a neighbor, " This will do you no good," he promptlj' replied," It will do some- body good."
In 1829, on account of a wide-spread pres- sure in the money market, he was obliged to make an assignment of his extensive prop- erty for the benefit of his creditors ; yet I rejoice to say that it was really made for their benefit; and he lived to see every debt paid in full, and something left for his chil- dren.
He died in the Fall of 1839, at the age of 70, and, though full of years, his death was greatly hastened, apparently, by a singular mishap. The winter before, he went out on the snow-crust in the woods some miles from home to select ship-timber, for which he had an excellent eye. While thus engaged, the sun came out, the crust melted, and he was o-bliged to wade home through snow that was leg-deep. The exertion was excessive for a man in his 70th year, and probably hastened his death ; for, by reason of sti-ength, of temperance, of an orderly, industrious life, he might easily have attained the age of fourscore.
Indeed, the region where he lived was rather famous for longevity. It is said by some veracious chronicler, that once a trav- eller, riding along Lake Champlain, saw a white-haired veteran of perhaps 95 years sitting by the roadside weeping bitterly, and said to him, with' respectful sympathy, "Venerable man! wiiy do you weep?" "Oh!" said he, "I was a bad boy this morning, and father thrashed me."
Well, I have told you, in very few words, the story of the life of the only remote an- cestor with whose history I have any es- pecial acquaintance. There is not much in the story. I would not tell it, except in what I consider a family circle ; it is neither exciting nor romantic ; tliere is no glamour about it. He lived laborious days, without haste, without rest, doing the duty of the hour, as builder of churches, mills, ships and towns, but building wiser than he knew, I fancy; for, as an honest and sincere, worker, who wrought as with the loving, yet inexorable. Eye of tlie Great Taskuiaker ever resting upon him, he was really one of those pioneers who help to lay broad the founda- tions of the State.
To those financial Jews who think that Wall Street is a little heaven below — a sort of Jerusalem the Golden — his life would be an absurd stumbling-block; to those polit- ical Greeks who hope to go to Saturn when they die because there are such magnificent "rings " in that planet, it is the merest foolish- ness ; but to those who reflect that the Com- monwealth must, after all, be founded on the lives of those who do their work hon- estly and sincerely — and chiefly in the pri- vate station — such a modest life may seem of considerable value, as being, in its small way, in the nature of a corner-stone. Even Thomas Carlyle might be satisfied with work done so thoroughly as his.
We have a singular variety of " Great Man " nowadays. The Hon. Jabesh Leath- erlungs, being quite unable to earn an hon- est living, rushes into politics ; plays the demagogue ; gets on by flattery and bribery; goes to Congress ; prints speeches, which he not only never delivered, but which he never even composed ; skips along through life from one false pretence to another, as men cross broken ice by jumping from cake to cake ; and he is called " our eminent fellow- citizen." I have no quarrel with the Hon. Jabesh Leatherlungs, or with his devoted friends, who call him " our eminent fellow- citizen." But I do affirm that it is a great mistake to say that Mr. Leatherlungs, or any other man like him, is in any wise the cause of our national prosperity. He is not a cause, he is only an accidental concomitant. He is no more a cause than the fly that sat on the chariot was the cause of its locomo- tion ; no more than the curculio is the cause of the apple-crop.
The country gets on in spite of him. The cause of our national prosperity is to be
26
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
found in the honesty and industry of our pioneers, wiio move on in the van, doing the hard work, and doing it well.
And J think we may, without being Phar- isaical, thank God for a virtuous New Eng- land ancestry — an ancestry pure in heart. We are told by Professor Tyndall that what is called radiant heat may be so gathered into a focus as to make platinum white-hot; and j-et the same concentrated rays may be poured into the human eye not only without injury, but without sensation, so unconscious and impregnable is this organ bj'^ its nature to the attacks of radiant heat. In like man- ner, it seems as if the white souls of our grandsires, who lived among these healthy hills, were unconsciously impregnable to those attacks of temptation which consume the present generation as in a furnace seven times heated.
Ic might be too boastful to say that we Lave inherited tliis disposition to well-doing, and this indifference to evil. But we may try to cherish the good example of our worthy ancestors. In the elder and better days of the Roman Republic it is notable that the fathers taught their sons by contin- ual personal companionship, and example of that kind is such a power! One of my earliest recollections is being taken bjr my father into the great kitchen, iato at night, to see a band of fugitive slaves fed, as they made their way through Western New York to Canada. We may differ on the political questions which at that time were involved in such an act, and we have a right to diflfer ; but we will all agree in our estimate of the power of such a scene upon the mind of a child. And whenever I hear those memor- orable words, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me," the scene in the old kitchen returns ; and it seems as if the light which shone from the great fire on. the hearth- stone was not a whit brighter or warmer than the light of universal brotherly kind- ness which beamed from my father's face.
I thank you, my friends, for the kind wel- come you have given to me and mine ; and I join you heartily in best wishes for all who are known " By the name of Howe."
At the conclusion of this admirable ad- di-ess, the following song, entitled "The Good Old Name of Howe," written expressly for the occasion by Mrs. Mary R. Howe Hinckley, of San Francisco, Cal., and adapted to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne," was sung with feeling by the congregation. [See next page.]
Miss Warner then advanced gracefully, and sang, in a clear, sweet, and finely mod- ulated voice, the first two stanzas of the ^' Star-Spangled Banner," the band support- ing, and the audience joining in chorus. The President then made the announcement that a series of three races for prizes would occur in the afternoon :
1st. A foot-race on the highway near the grove — first prize, silver cup ; second prize, silver fruit-knife.
2d. A potato-race — first prize, silver napkin ring; second prize, silver pencil- case.
od. A tub-race — first prize, gold pencil- case ; second prize, silter pencil-case.
This concluded the exercises at the speak- ers' stand, and the President then informed the audience that the hour for dinner had arrived; and, preceded by the band, playing a lively air, the vast concourse of Howes moved quickly forward to the mammoth tent, where the smoking viands were await- ing them.
XII. THE DINNER.
The table was spread by Mr. S. F. Twitchel, of South Framingham; and it may well be supposed that, after the long services at the grove, the people came with sharpened appetites to the ample board. Grace having been said by the Rev. Moses Howe, of New Bedford, the viands were discussed without reserve, and full justice done to every course and side-dish of the banquet.*
Dinner being over, the company resolved itself into a general speech-making assem- bly, led by Col. Frank E. Howe, who was full of sparkling wit, which kept the com- pany in the happiest mood, and who, by his free and happy hits and bonhomie, inspired every one- to say whatever he might think would be of interest to the assembled family. He then read a telegram Just received from the Lyman family, M-hich was holding its second reunion at Northampton, Mass., con- gratulating the Howe family on its gather- ing, and wishing it health and prosperity. Many amusing anecdotes of their ancestors and relatives were told by different persons. The President paid a high compliment to Mr. Elias Howe for his eftorts in arranging for this reunion, and proposed that he should have charge of the money contubuted toward the payment of expenses.
The President, Col. Frank E. Howe, in- troduced the Rev. Moses Howe as follows :
" I am very glad that there is present one of whom I have known, and whom I have respected, since my early boj'hood. Though quite an old man, he still retains, in a won- derful degree, his youthful feelings ; he is jovial and witty. >
" He has married more persons than almost any living clergyman, and is willing, I have
*Whatthe HoweFamilt Ate.— We learn from Mr. Twitchel, the caterer at the great Howe Gath- ering, some facts .about the taste of the Howe fam- ily, that may be of general interest. They ate 1200 ears of corn, 70 watermelons, 32 peeks of the famous South Framingham doughnuts, 150 pies, besides a wagon-load of chicken, beef, lamb, an(\ham. — Fra- mingham Gazette.
THE GOOD OLD NAME OF "HOWE
55
Suna at the HoweFamthi Gathering and Celebration, Earmony Grove, South Framingham , Ma»8. •^ ««-. Aug. 3lst, 1871.
Composed expressly for the occasion, by Mrs. MAKY E. HOWE HINCKLEY, of San Francisco, Cal.
Music, "Auld Lang Syne."
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1. You meet to-day to cel-e-brate With fil-ial heart and brow,
As Children of one
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fam - i-ly, — The dear old name of Howe.
Brothers and Sisters,-T-t)y that name You
- " .0. hold in rey'rence dear ; How fitting you should set apart. This day for friendly cheer.
And as you meet, in converse sweet,
"Beneath the greenwood bough," Think of the absent ones, who claim
The dear old name of Howe. "We cannot all be there, to join
The Family Gathering, — And thus a loyal Daughter, sends
This friendly offering.
The English name our Fathers bore,
We proudly cherish now ; Aye ! wear it " in our heart of hearts,"
The dear old name of Howe. Though planted first on England's soil,
A scion of that tree, Borne o'er the sea— was grafted ■
On the Tree of Liberty.
For when the call for Freemen came,
(As ye are rallying now — ) In time of peace, proved to uphold
The grand old name of Howe.
Our Fathers, arming for the fight,
Left anvil, desk and plow- Upholding in the cause of right,
The noble name of Howe.
Oh grand old daj's when Heroes lived ;
Green is their memorj'- now ; And Children's children reverence
The dear old name of Howe. Now the old Family Tree sends forth
Its strong roots everywhere : And North,andEast,and South, and West,
Some goodly branches bear.
Broad is the land our Fathers tilled,
The Harvest's Avealth untold ; Home of the Free ! enshrined in thee.
Their precious trust we hold ! God of our Fathers, — reverently,
Before thy Throne we bow : Help us to keep unstained and pure,
The good old name of Howe.
2S
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
no doubt, to perform that ceremony here to- day, if there are any here who wish to be married.
*The Rev. Moses Howe was born in the west par- ish of Haverhill, Mass., Aug. 22, 1789. He was a clerk in his uncle David Howe's store, in Haverhill, nearly six years. He preached for the first time. May 1, 1814." and was ordained in Salem, Mass., May 2, 1819. He was married to Frances, daughter of Asa and Kuhaniah Dearborn, of Portsmouth, N . H., Sept. 11, 13-23, by whom he had three sons, viz. : Moses a., born Aug. 14, 1S26; William S. G., born Nov. 9, 18.31; and Lyman B., born Feb. 2.5, 1838.
This veteran in the ministry has preached about
" I refer to the Eev. Moses Howe, of New Bedford, familiarly known as Elder Howe."*
8,000 times, attended 2,215 funerals, and joined in marriage 3,680 persons. He is a lineal descendant of James Howe, of Ipswich, who was admitted free- man Majr 17, 16-37, and -who was the son of Robert Howe, of Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex Co., England. He is therefore of the same branch as the Hon. Jo- seph Howe of Canada. May his last days be his best days, and " his strength be renewed." according to the promise, and he "mount up with wings as eagles." [Is. si. 31.]
EEMARKS OP REV. MOSES HOWE,
. OF NEW BEDFORD,
Aug. 31, 1871.
Mr. President :
Being over eighty-two years of age, and therefore a very old man, you would not, I suppo.so, expect from me a long speech, even if the time were not short.
I claim the privilege of addressing you^ my friends, as brothers and sisters. That such we are I think I can prove to my own mind, if not to yours. We will not go back to the creation, but only to the days of Noah, who had three noted sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These young men, in some way or other, were informed, and believed, that there was to be a great flood, and, with that wise forecast for the future which has dis- tinguished our branch of their descendants — I speak with due modesty — they took each a wife.
To Asia went the descendants of Shem, to Africa the descendants of Ham, and to Europe and America the descendants of Japheth. Does it not follow, therefore, that the latter was our progenitor, and his full name Japheth Howe? Thus is our rela- tionship of brothers and sisters established.
I am glad, my brothers and sisters, to meet so many of you at this celebration, to see so many joyous faces, to hear the friendly voice, and to shake the hands of so many of this warm-hearted family. I trust that this occasion will prove-a blessing to us all, and cause our hearts to be united fcore firmly than ever before.
We have each decorated ourselves with a badge — a badge of blue. There is a sig- nificance to this color which perhaps has not occurred to you.
It antedates to the time of one of our an- cestors— Moses of olden time, the son of Amram. In his day, the children of Israel were commanded to make for themselves robes, a garment not unlike the dressing- gowns which men are wont to wear, and to put thereon around the wrist a ribbon of blue, and around the neck a ribbon of blue, and around the skirt a ribbon of blue,
" that," to use the words of sacred Writ, " they might look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them."
And so, were their hands at any time lifted in anger to a servant, the blue ribbon of the wrist would remind them of the command, "Thou shalt not kill, and if thou smite a servant so that he die, thou shalt surely be punished."
Were they speaking in reproach of their neighbor, the blue ribbon on the neck would remind them of the command : " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Were they pursuing a wrong course in life, the blue ribbon upon the skirt of the gar- ment would bring to their remembrance the command which saith : "Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil, but ye shall walk in all the commandments of tlie Lord, that ye may live."
Thus were these three great command- ments, which forbid the Avrong in thought, word, or deed, taught the children of Israel by the ribbon of blue which they were com- manded to wear.
May these badges of blue ever remind us of our obligation to obey the laws of God, to love Him with all the heart, and to love our neighbor as ourselves !
I will close, Mr. President, by expressing one wish : M.ay the several members of the Howe familj'^ be noted for their Christian faith, their Christian hope, and their Chris- tian charity, even to the latest generation.
The chairman then stated that there were five members of the family now living, whose united ages were 404 years. Mr. John Howe, of Providence, sang an original com- ic Song by one of his relatives, which he called his " Aunt Jerusha." Eev. Mark Anthony DeWolfe Howe, D. D., of Philadelphia, made a brief speech of welcome and cor- dial greeting. A relative of the family, Mrs. L. Golding Benton, a former mission- ary to Asia, related some interesting remr
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
29
iniscenccs of her grandfather, Capt. Daniel Howe, of Deerficld, who was twice captxired by the Indians, and once, reduced to slav- ery * Other remarks were made by Mr. Wm. Howe, of Kahway, N. J., Mr. Sidney Howe, and Mr. Julian Howe, of Michigan. At dinner, the following resolutions were then offered by Moses G. Howe, Esq., a lawyer of Boston, and son of Rev. Moses Howe, of New Bedford, and adopted :
KESOLUTIONS OF THE HOWE FAMILY.
That the members of the Howe fam- ily here assembled in Harmony Grove, be- fore returning to their several abodes, offer the following resolutions : , . , ,
Resolved, That this occasion, which has brought into a family union so many of our kiadred from various parts of the country, from Canada to the distant Pacific, has been exceedingly interesting and profitable, inasmuch as it has revived in our recollec- tion, and brought to our knowledge, the names, the memory, and the deeds of an honorable ancestry. Because it has re- newed many acquaintances, and brought into more intimate fellowship many who long since separated, and many who never before met.
Resolved, That we send our greetings to our brothers and sisters far and near, who now beai-, or who have borne, the name of Howe, and we regret they are not with us on this occasion, and we wish them good health, happiness, and properity.
Resolved, That whereas we have inher- ited from our ancestors an honorable name, we will endeavor to transmit it untarnished to our posterity. .
Resolved, That our thanks are especially due, and are herewith given to Mr. Ehas Howe, of Boston, who first conceived the idea of having this celebration, and who, after a labor of months, has brought it to a successful consummation. Also that we are under great obligations to our distin- guished cousin, the Hon. Joseph. Howe,
* We regret that we liad not tbe opportunity of takinsf down, at the time, the very entertaining re- marL<l of this ladv. She is now lecturing in this country upon Life and Scenes in Palestine. Ihe Lvcmm JIagasine thus speaks of her '■ , ^ ^
" Mrs Benton has resided with her husband, Kev. Wm. A. Benton, for more than twenty years, as American missionary in the Holy Land.
" As Syrian life and manners have hardly changed since the davs of the Apostles, any graphic and truthful account of the present life and manners of the people of Palestine, gives the most vivid and in- structive commentary of the times when the Chris- tian religion was established. , . , i ,
"Mrs.' Benton (we know from having heard her lecture, no less than from a host of testimonies) has the rare gift of holding audiences of young people spell-hound hy her picturesque, yet unpretending eloquence. She reproduces the customs and lile ot Syria as it may be seen to-day, so vividly, and witli such interesting anecdote, that she makes e^-ery one see the people among whom Christ preached, and the country in which " he went about continually doing sood"; and from the scenery and customs ot which^he drew his illustrations of moral truth. She now resides at Oakdale, West Boylston, Mass.
for his interesting and instructive address. Also to the presiding officer, and all others who have contributed by poem, address, song, or otherwise, to make the occasion a success. t
A collection was then taken up for de- fraying the expenses, after which Col. Howe offered the final sentiment: "To our absent friends ! " when the company with- drew to witness the foot-races. One was on the road, the other on the campus.
The potato-race was thus arranged : Three parallel lines, a few feet apart, and, it might be, two rods in length, were marked off on the green sward ; at equal distances along these lines some ten or a dozen holes were sunk into the earth. Each contestant stands beside a basket of apples at the head of his line, and, at a given signal, starts, with an apple, for the first hole in his line, and drops it in ; returns to the basket for another apple for the second hole, and drops it in; returns for a third, and so on, till the holes in his line are filled. He then, in the same manner, carries them back severally to the basket. He who takes the apples soonest to the basket wins the game. The three runners were unequal as to size and age, but sprang with right good will the instant that the word was given, to the execution of the task. A thousand wit- nesses encircled them, some cheering for the long, some for the lithe, some for the little boy. One has more strength, one has more suppleness, one more agiUty. The, " little boy" is the quicker on the " turn," the lithe boy bends the nearer to the sod. The little boy leads — the sympathy is for him — he pants a trifle ; one apple misses mark ; the lithe boy almost creeps upon the ground, but steadily, surely. He is gaining- slow and steady never fail to gain— -and there he is — line cleared three apples m ' advance — and there he stands, amid the acclamations of the multitude, the athletic victor. Well done, Sumner L. Howe!- He also won thp first prize, a silver cup, in the foot-race, and we hope that he may win it in the race of life.J
The boat-race was omitted.
+ The Rev. ElbridgeG-. Howe, of "Watibcegan, 111., hut now of Paxton, Mass., and the veteran Edward Howe, Esq., of PortUand, Me., rendered the Com- mtoee grelt and valuable assistance m furnishing Msts of tames, and in sending circulars to members of the family n all parts of the country. Credit is also due to Dr. Esles Howe, of Cambridge and James Ho we, Esq. of New York, for very v.nluable as- siTance Miss Delia Howe, of Goshen Ct., aged 79 vep^s manifested her interest in the Gathering by travelling 150 miles, 30 of which w.as by ^tage, upou that dav in order to be present with her kiu-sfoiks. %1 is t^e daughter of J--niah 1^°-^]/, ^f^^ In the Kevo ul onary ^\ ar. Mis. Ke.itl (.uowe; Walker, ot Cumberland, R. L., aged SO, also made trrntt efforts to bo present. . .,
^ rWalter W. Howe won the second prize, a silver nencil n the potato-race. The foot-race, one-fourth of ami e was run in a little less than a, minute ; H. G TucUei won .the second prize in this, a silver fruit knife.
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
XIII. — THE HOWE CABINET OF CUEIOSITIES.
The contributions of antique relics, books, papers, pictures, and indeed all sorts of heir-looms, to the " Howe Cabinet," were very liberal, and drew forth many exclama- tions of surprise and wonderfrom the admir- ing visitors. Indeed, quite a large group of people made this tent the rendezvous for the day; "and this," as one of them remarked, " with reason, for here I see the Howes of former generations."
Among the books, pamphlets, and papers in the Cabinet, which was under the charge of Mr. Willian Howe, of Marlborough, we noticed, with much interest: (1.) An ancient musical publication with this title — "Worshippers' Assistant. By Solomon Howe, A. M., Northampton, Mass., 1799 " ; also, " The Farmer's Evening Entertainment," by the same author, 1804. (2.) "A Treatise on Being Born Again. By S. Wright, Boston, 1742," with this autograph on the title-page: " Th^ddeus How, his book, 1757." (3.) "jSTew Guide to the English Tongue. By Thomas Dil- ■worth," with this autograph: " Eachel How, July 31, 1751." (4.) The old Family Bible of "the Wayside Inn." Folio. From Genesis to Isaiah inclusive. (5.) A rare and curious printed sermon, bearing this significant title: "Discourse written by Uriah How, of Canaan, in the 20th year of his age, and left with his friends wlien he went on a campaign to Canada, and was killed in the year 1758." " He listed in the wars Apr. 9, 1758, and set out on his march for Canada June following, and on the 6th of July received a mortal wound from the .enemy, at, or near, Ticonderoga, and re- turned back to Albany, and there died of his wound, Sept. 1, 1758." Printed in 1761. pp.12. Text, Isaiah sxx. 1. This curious sermon is followed by some dozen or more quaint verses, of wliich the first and third will serve for a specimen :
"Come on, "brcave soldiers, who .nre bolcler Than our Ntw England boys ? TYho dare expose their lives with those Of them4;bat fear no noise.
" Come let us then all as one man Fight for E:I^•G George's laws, And put our trust in God, that's just, For he'll defend our cause," etc.
(6.) Ancient Indian deeds to Jolm Howe and others on parcliment; a letter fro'm Oliver Prescott to Col. Howe, of the " Wayside Inn " ; a very old and rusty memorandum-book, supposed to have be- longed to Mr. Peter How, of Hopkinton. The following receipt was lying open be- tween its pages :
"Eec'd of Mr. Peter How thirty-seven shillings and sixpence a year and an half rent of 100 acres of Land in Hopkinton to 25 of Sept. last.
Edw'd Hutchinsok,
Treas'r of the Trustees. EosTON, Dec. 4, 1780."
From this rare book we copy the follow- ing memoranda :
"Abigail Stanhope, deceased Sept. the 17th, 1722, aged 28."
"Joseph How, dyed Octr. ye 13th, 1723, aged 17 yrs., 2 mos., and 3 days."
" Sam'l How, dyed July 17, 1732.
"Sudbury, Nov. 26, 1731. Eeceived of Peter How, of Hopkinton, the sum of si.x pounds, ten shillings, in full satisfaction for the sarvis of my son Joseph, to him performid, in the space of six months and twelve days, in the year one thousand and seaven Hundred Thirty. I say received by me,
Jonathan Stanhope."
Tlie following minutes seem to refer to the officers of a military company :
"John Bowker, Sar. ; Benj. Burnap, Elisha Hayden, Cor. ; James Lock, Abra- ham Tilton, James Wark, D. ; Mark Whit- ney, Nath'l Smith." These were Hopkinton ' men.
Among other relics of the same kind, was an original document, with the autograph of Daniel Gookin, major-general of Massa- chusetts, and author of the " Historical Collections of New England." It was dated June 14, 1682, or about five years an- terior to his decease. Also, a deed ' from James, an Indian, dated 1680, to Thomas Martin, Also, a document signed by Col. Ethan Allen, the friend of the " Green Mountain Boys." A settlement of the estate of Nehemiah Howe, of Poultney, Vt., in which was shown the "setting-out," or troiisseau, of one of the Misses Howe, in 1784, attracted much attention. A bride in such array in 1871, would " make a figure in the world."
A copy of Tate and Brady's Psalms, bear- ing date 1762, recalled to mind the singing of the Howe family circles in the days of old.
From a worn and yellow leaf we copied the following receipt, which indicates a bus- iness transaction of one of the Howes upon the frontier, in the " times Avhich tried men's souls :
"Bennington (Vt.), 21st July, 1777. Eeceived of Mr. Abner How, for the use of this State, twenty-three pounds. It was for a yoke of Ary Ward's cattle, sold as Tory property. Received per me,
Ika Allen."
Among the portraits, we noticed one of the Eev. Nathaniel Howe, distinguished for his unique, truth-telling century sermon; one of his son. Gen. Appleton Howe, late of Vv'eyniouth; one of Lyman Howe, and one
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
31
of Silvia Howe, both of Shrewsbury, en- tered by J. S. Howe, and also a very striking one of Mr. Elias Howe, inventor of the sew- inar-niachine. The photograph of the old " Howe Homestead," in Framinghani, elic- ited many encomiums.
Fonr generations from the " Old Home- stead" were represented in a group of photo- graplis bearing the names :
" I. Mrs. Elias Howe. II, Elbridge Hoave.
III. Elbridge H. Howe.
IV. Carrie Howe."
A well-executed coat-of-arms of the Howe Family, from the " Wayside Inn," — the old revolutionary "tavern stand" of Sudbury, made famous by the classic pen of Longfellow, awakened many pleasant associations, and seemed to make the ro- mantic incidents of the poet's pen a positive reality. Other relics from the old hotel confirmed the accuracy of the lines de- scriptive of the Wayside Inn as given in the poem. We are happy to be able to present a fine front view of the building as it now appears.
THE WAYSIDE INN.
[From a Photograph of Mr. J. W. Black. See Prang's Cbromo, on last page.]
This famous rcoling-place for man and beast, so long associated -with the name of Howe, is situated on the road running from Wayland over the "Causeway" to Jilarlborougli, and about two miles from the depot of the Lowell and Framinghani Rail- road at South' Sudbury. It is nearly tliree and a half miles from Sudbury Centre, and something like a half a mile to the north of Nobscot Hill, in Framinghani. The road, on wliich it is built, was originally the "North Path" of the early settlors from Watertown to Hartford, and afterwards, the stage-road from Boston to Albany.
The House was called, in the days of David Howe, the first occupant, " The Howe Tavern in Sudbury," to distinguish it from the tavern of .John Howe, only two miles distant, in Marlboroogli. In the days
of Ezekiel, son of David Howe, who took the house as early as 1746, the soldiers and teams, to and from the French war on the lakes, made this their halting-place. "Eze- kiel How, Innholder in Sudbury " — for so the Rev. Josiah H. Temple copies for me from the State archives — "victualled sol- diers on their return from an e.xpedition, 1758." During the occupancy of Ezekiel, the Jiouse received, from its sign-board, the name of the " Red Horse Tavern," as the poet intimates :
" And, lialf-effaced by rain and shine. The Red Horse prances on the .sign "
Col. Ezekiel dying in 1796. Iiis son Ad:im kept the liouse for about forty years, when it passed into the hands of his son Lyman, and at his decease, a few years since, out of
32
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
the Howe family. Originally it was of but one story in height ; and a part of that build- ing was standing as late as IS29. The poet- ical name of " Wayside Inn " was given to it by Mr. Longfellow, wlio has most truthfully, as well as most beautifully, described the quaint old house and its most celebrated landlord.
We are happy here to insert the descrip- tion of
THE WAYSIDE INI^,
BY H. W. LONGFELLOW.
One Autumn night, in Sudbury town,
Across the meadows bare and brown,
Tlio windows of the wayside inn
G-loamcd red with tire-light tlirough the leaves
Of woodbine, hanging from the eaves,
Their crimson curtains rent and thiu.
As ancient is this hostelry
As any in the land may be.
Built in the old Colonial day
When men lived in a grander way,
With ampler hosiiitality ;
A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall,
2SJ"ow somewhat fallen to decay ;
With weather-stains upon the wall.
And creaking and uneven floors,
And chimneys huge, and tiled and tall.
A region of repose it seems,
A place of slumber and of dreams,
Remote among the wooded hills !
For there do noisy railway speeds.
Its torch-race scattering smoke and gleeds;
But noon and night, the panting teams
Stop under the great oaks, that throw
Taugles of light and shade below
On roofs, and doors, and window-sills.
Across the road the barns display
Their lines of stalls, their mows'of hay;
Through the wide doors the breezes blow;
The wattled cocks strut to and fro,
And, half-eflfaced by rain and shine.
The Red Horse prances on the sign.
Round this old-fashioned, quaint abode
Deep silence reigned, save when a gust
Went rushing down the country road.
And skeletons of leaves, and dust,
Shuddered and danced their dance of death,
And through the ancient oaks o'erhead
Mysterious voices moaned and fled.
But from the parlor of the inn
A pleasant murmur smote the ear.
Like water rushing through a weir;
Oft interrupted by the din
Of laughter and of loud applause.
And, in each intervening pause.
The music of a violin.
The tiro-light, shedding over all
The splendor of its ruddy glow.
Filled the whole parlor large and low :
It gleamed ou wainscot and on wall;
It touched with more than wonted grace
Fair Princess Mary's pictured face;
It bronzed the rafters overhead ;
On the old spinet's ivory keys
It played inaudible melodies;
It crowned the sombre clock with ilame,
The hands, the hours, the maker's name,
And painted with a livelier red
Tlie Landlord's coat-of-arms again;
And, flashing on the window-pane,
Emblazoned with its light .and shade
The jovial rhymes, that still remain.
Writ near a century ago
By the great Major' Molineaux,
Whom Hawthorne has immortal made.
Before the blazing fire of wood
Erect the rapt musician stood;
And ever atfti anon he bent
His head upon his instrument,
And seemed to listen, till he caught
Ooufessious of its secret thought —
The joy, the triumph, the lament,
The exultation and the pain ;
Then, by the magic of his art.
He soothed the throbbings of its heart,
And lulled it into peace again. *■
Around the fireside at their ease
There sat a group of friends, entranced
With the delicious melodies,
Who, from the far-oft' noisy town,
Had to the W.ayside Inn come down.
To rest beneath its old oak trees.
The fire-light on their faces glanced,
Their shadows on the wainscot danced.
And, though of difl-'erent lands and speech.
Each had his tale to tell, and each
Was anxious to be pleased and please.
And while the sweet musician plays,
Let me in outline sketch them all —
Perchance uncouthly as ihc blaze
With its uncertain toucli portrays
Their shadowy semblance on the wall.
But first the Landlord will I trace;
Grave in his aspect and attire,
A man of ancient pedigree,
A Justice of the Peace was he,
Known in all Sudbury as " The Squire."
Proud was he of his name and race,
Of old Sir William and Sir Hugh;
And in the parlor, full in view.
His coat-of-.arms, well-framed and glazed.
Upon the wall in colors blazed;
He beareih gules upon his shield,
A chevron argent in the field.
With three wolfs' heads, and for the crest
A Wyvern part-per-pale addressed
Upon a helmet barred; below
The scroll reads, " By the n.ame of Howe."
And over this, no longer bright,
Though glimmering with a latent light.
Was hung the sword his grandsire wore,
In the rebellious days of yore,
Down there at Concord in the fight.
The following letter from a member of the Howe family will be read with interest :
"Framingham, Oci!. 6, 1871. -
_ " The Wayside Inn, so well known to the travel- ling public, and made immortal by the poet Long- fellow, is situated in the southwesterly part of Sud- bury, on the old stage road leading from Boston to Worcester. It was built and opened as a house of entertainment in the year 1700, or 1701, by David Howe, grandson of John Howe, the first settler of Marlborough. It was kept by father and son for five generations, the last of the name being Lyman Howe, who died, at the age of fiftj^-nine years, in the spring of 1S60. By his death this branch ot the Howe family became extinct, and the famous • Howe Tavern,' by which name it was familiarly known during a period of one hundred and sixty years, then passed into the hands of strangers, and ceased to be an inn. As a house of entertainment, it was always characterized bj' its good order and hospital- ity, and not less by the sumptuous table with wirich it refreshed the hungry tr.aveller. Before the inno- v.ation of railroads several stages made their daily call at this house, stopping long enough to change horses and allow the passengers, often from the remotest sections of tlie country, and sometimes from foreign lands, to breakfast, or dine, and leave their parting blessing for the good landlady: whilst, filling the spacious yard in front, were to be seen the lie.ivily- loaded teams bringing produce, destined for the Boston market, from New York, Western Massa- chusetts, and intermediate places along the route. And within this ancient inn, among other reminis- cences of its history, is pointed out the room where Lafayette, the friend of American liberty, once took lodgings for a night, while on a visit to the country he had helped to save.
" Yours truly,
" G. M. Howe."
Among other curious heirlooms was the old sword, referred to in the poem, worn by Col. Ezekiel Howe in the Concord fight, and a silver-mounted waich, which he hnd
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
33
carried through several battles. There were also muskets, pistols, and powder-horns, in attestation of the military achievements of the family.
A pair of snow-shoes and large shoe- buckles attracted much attention. A curi- ous knitting-machine, invented by Mi% J. M. Howe, of Oregon, also elicited much praise, and will doubtless add to the reputa- tion of the family for inventive genius. An old wooden trunk, or chest, originally belonging to Mr. Abraham How, wlio died in Eoxbury in 1676, was labelled with this line of its descent:
"Abraham How. It then descended to his daughter, Hannah How, Avho married Capt. Eliezer How; then to their son, En- sign Gershom Howe, who married Hannah Bowker; then to their daughter, Merriam How, who married Jotham Bartlett; then to their son, Antiphas Bartlett, who married Lois White ; then to their daughter, Lois Bitrtlett, who married William Felton; then to th.eir son, Cyrus Felton, the present owner." The chest is about two feet in length, and is made of hard pine, oak, and chestnut. It has a curious figure carved in
front, and is painted red. It is certainly good for another brace of centuries. /
The wife of the Rev. Nathaniel Howe was represented by her wedding-shoes worn January 2, 1792, and another Howe by an enormous wedding-bonnet of the coal-hod pattern of 1829 ; another by the next-to- nothing pattern of 1869. But under many points of view, the most interesting article in this rare cabinet was the original sewing- macliine, invented by Elias Howe in 1845, standing beside one of the improved ma- chines of 1870. It is enclosed in a box less than twelve inches long, and is in good working order still. What strange associ- ations cluster round this old machine, wliich, to some extent, has changed the destiny of the industrial world, and ren- dered the name of Elias Howe, like those of Watt and Stevenson, immortal.
We are happy to be able to insert here some remarks, on the invention of this ma- chine, by Thomas P. Howe, Esq., Counsel- lor, of New York, and also a clever poem, by Mrs. H. Grifiith, a relative of the Howe family, of DeKalb, III.
THE INVENTION OF THE SEWING-MACHINE,
' By THOMAS P. HOWE, Esq.
The invention of the sewing-machine, by Elias Howe, jr., is a triumph of genius of which the Howe family may well be pi-oud, for probably no other invention of any age has contributed so much, in the same length of time, to the happiness and comfort of mankind, or done so much to elevate wo- man from exhausting and killing drudgery. For centuries the need of a machine to per- form the tedious work of the needle, and to save woman from the slow death resulting from its constant use, has been seriously felt, and as early as about the commence- ment of the present century efforts began to be made for the production of such a ma- chine. The problem was, however, a difii- cult one to solve. All efforts to operate the common hand- sewing needle by machinery, and thereby produce a practicable sewing- machine, have been utter failures, and the production of an efficient machine in this way has been thus far, and probably always will be, too much for human genius. The problem of producing a successful sewing- machine Avas not then to be solved by sim- ply giving by machinery the ordinary motion to an ordinary hand implement, but involved the necessity of new devices alid combina- tions, operating differently from anything before known, and opening into a field of invention which the genius of man had never before trod.
Elias Howe, jr., the inventor of the sew- ing-machine, was a native of Cambridge- port, Mass., and, at the time of the produc- tion of the invention, poor in money, but rich in genius, of good habits, and untiring perseverance. In 1845 he produced tlie sewing-macliine, which has immortalized his name, and whicli presented the peculi- arities of a needle witli the eye in the point, a device for securing the thread under the cloth, and a feeding apparatus for advanc- ing the cloth to the needle as.it was sewn. For securing the thread on the under side of the cloth, Howe used a shuttle carrying an independent thread, which device is still used in a large share of the machines now manufactured, though in some it has been changed to a looper. Patiently and unfal- teringly, in the midst of poverty, with a feeble wife and two helpless children de- pendent on him for support, and his beloved wife finally dying at his side, young Howe toiled on till success crowned his eftorts, and the sewing-machine became one of the established improvements of the age. The value of this invention to the people of the United States alone, in money, from the mere saving of labor, has been shown, by proof, to be more than one hundred mil- lions of dollars per annum ; but its value in the promotion of the happiness of man- kind, is beyond human calculation.
34
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
ELI AS HOWE, JR., the Inventor of the Sewing - Machine.
BY MRS. H. GRIFFITH.
Long ye.irs ago, in the primitive age,
Wlieu tlic hand-press tardily printed the page,
And news rattled along in the four-horse stage,
xVnd men plowed with the wooden plow; "With the old hand-sickle their reaper for grain ; The donke3' and pannier tlicir fast express train; And they travelled on foot, in dust and in raiu:
The world had not heard of Howe.
Women comhed the wool with a card of wire. While the busy wheel buzzed in front of the fire ; Each house-wife a spinner, and weaver, and dyer.
[Motherhood's cares, no less than now,] By day labored as hard as the man at the plow ; By night bent o'er the seam, with aching brow, As she pleaded with G-od some relief to allow;
Yet only the echo said — Hoioe ?
From one age to another it was echoed down. Till at last there was horn, in an Eastern town, A son to a farmer, sturdy. and brown —
We acknowledge G-od's hand in it now — One He designed to be just the man; To study it out and perfect the plan. Which, at the pi-ayer of a woman, began,
And answer- the question — Eowef
He worked in the mill on his father's farm.
While G-od watched o'er him and guardedfrom harm,
Gav:^ strength to his mind, and nerve to his arm,
M'hiah was all his inheritance now. Tho :^'ii his father preserved an unblemished name, He li.bd no ;jreat honor, or fortune, or fame, Svi lie gave i-.ich one of eight children the same —
Only the name of Howe.
When the Sor.-iig-ilachine set to work in his brain.
He f.i inght not of joy, of pleasure, or gain.
But ttMled night and day, through sorrow and pain.
Till the li ii'.s grew deep in his brow. Hi- fiihioMcl t:;>- iron, the wood, and the steel, Till e ;ch his mr.a-icul thought seemed to feel, A'l i with click and rattle, and joyous peal,
Ti.ey answered the question — Howe?
Me'i praise inventors from day to day. As ihey print, <■'.• plow, or flash news o'er the way, While to sleep in"a palace will no journey delay. But woman'will gratefully bow.
And blessing, with blessings, forever will bless The man whose invention relieved her distrcij^. While Sympathy's tear she can scarcely repress
As she thinks of jEli<M Howe. De Kalb, iZZ., Aug. 22, 1871.
XIV. THE CLOSE OF THE MEETING.
This family meeting, which was in every- thing a complete success, was closed at five o'clock, p. M. ; and the heavy-laden trains bore away to tlieir respective homes a noble family, wliich had spent one of the loveliest days of the season in friendly greetings, in sweetest social intercourse, and in rich in-* tellectual and festive entertainments, unin- terrupted by a single incivility, mishap, or accident.
In this meeting political and religious differences were forgotten, social distinc- tions set aside ; show and sham unthought of, — one and the same spirit animated every breast, and that was the spirit of amity and fraternal love. It seemed to be an earnest and a foretaste, of the meetings and the greetings, which after tearful separation here, we still may hope to enjoy upon the " Golden Shore."
For this meeting of kindred and connec- tions every member of the family looked with delightful anticipation; by this meeting every spirit was quickened into higher life and loftier inspiration ; and to tliis meeting every one will look back as upon one of the greenest spots on Memory's waste.
Wlien will another bome?
In response to this question, we are per- mitted to insert the following suggestions of Mr. Elias JHowe, the eminr'nt music pub- lisher, and Secretary of the Committee of " The Howe Family Gathering."
EEMARKS AND SUGGESTIONS OF MR. ELIAS HOWE,
Secretary of the Esecutive Committee of the Howe Gathering.
Dear Cotts'ins fak aintd near ! — Our first Howe Family Gathering was a grand success, affording intense delight and pleas- ure to several thousands of our kindred and connections. The day was splendid, and every one appeared to enter into the joy and spirit of the occasion. The lonely found tliey had relatives full of fraternal sympathies ; the distant found they had a " local habitation and a name " ; tlie young met hearts responsive to their own ; the aged felt "surcease of sorrow"; and one and all enjoj'ed a social and an intellectual banquet, never to be lost from the rich treasures of our memory.
Now, as a natural consequence of this delightful meeting, large numbers of our family, from all parts of the country, have, either in person or in writing, earnestly ex- pressed to me a desire to have a second gathering, or reunion, the ensuing year.
Our first meeting was but just the calling of the roll ; we knew not on whom we could rely, or how to send. forth invitations to so many people scattered over such a vast ex- tent of territory. Had it 'not been for the great and generous aid vvliich a large num- ber of gentlemen and ladies, in all parts of the country, j^romply gave, success had been uncertain; and, for their assistance, they will please accept the very cordial thanks of the committee. To them is largely due tlie magnitude and enjoyment of tlie gathering.
Our cousins now desire another inter- view. They have had a pleasant introduc- tion to each other, and would continue the acquaintance. Where, then, and when, they ask, shall be our next reunion?
Although •' Harmony Grove " is a delight- ful spot, the whispering of the wind among the forest leaves, in some degree, prevents
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
35
the people from hearing well the speakers, and the accommodations of the viUage for a family so numerous are very limited.
It is therefore respectfully suggested that cur second family gathering take place at the Music Hall, in Boston, on or about the tenth day of October, 1872 ; that it com- mence at about 9 1-2 o'clock, a. m., with a concert, social levee for mutual introduc- tion, the forming of acquaintance, etc., with opening speeches and singing. Din- ner might be served in Bumstead Hall at one o'clock, and, after this, the speaking and the music be resumed for the remainder of the afternoon and evening, and the next day, if thought desirable.
The Music Hall is capable of seating some three thousand people ; Bumstead Hall is in the same building, and there is also an ante-room adjoining, suitable for tlie exhibition of the relics and heirlooms of our family. In the event of an inclement day, we should here find ourselves in most comfortable quarters, and the opportunities for hearing the speakers and the music of the bands, the celebrated organ, and the songs by the Howe family combined, would be enjoyed.
It might be added that, in coming to Bos- ton, many of our kindred might unite their business with their pleasure ; and such ar- rangements might be made by the commit- tee, that, if timely notice were given, rooms and board for a day or week, at greatly re- duced prices, might be engaged. Tickets of admission to the Music Hall might be issued to the members of our family at one dollar for gentlemen, and fifty cents for ladies, which would cover general ex- penses, such as hall-rent, music, circulars, advertising, and tlie lilce.
But these are mere suggestions, and it is hoped that all who take an interest in a second gathering will freely add to them as they may think proper, since many improve- ments on the plan here diffidently presented, may unquestionably be made.
The Eegister of the Howe Family is now in the course of rapid preparation. It will be a work of great interest to every member of our stock and lineage now ex- isting, and to come. It will contain a com- plete history of the Howe family in Amer- ica from the earliest settlement of any person of the name here, down to the pres- ent time. The writers will carefully trace out, from private and public papers, the lineage and descent of the various branches, and will endeavor clearly to present, as far as possible, the pedigree of every person bearing the name of Howe.
Sketches of such as liave in any way dis- tinguished themselves in art, or science, literature, military, or political life, or in any of the learned professions, together with accounts of accidents, adventures, per- sonal exploits, trials and misfortunes, pecu- liarities, proverbs, and facetiae pertaining
to the family, will be written by the Her, Elias Nason, of North Billerica, Mass. Tiie genealogies of the Howes of Boston and vicinity will be prepared by "William B. Trask, Esq., an experienced genealogist of that city ; and the Rev. Josiali H.'Tera- ple, of Franiingham, who is well qualified for the task, will make out the history of the Sudbury branch of the family. These gentlemen will be assisted in their researches by Alfred Poor, Esq., of Salem.
The Register will be ornamented with portraits, fac-similes, coats-of-arms, mod- els of inventions, views of homesteads, res- idences, manufactories, etc., of members of our family.
The labor of preparing, and the cost of printing, such a work, containing, as it will, a thousand pages or more of compact matter, will be verj'- great; and it is there- fore hoped that every member of the fam- ily will take a lively interest in its progress, will send in to the editors as full account of his own family as possible, and also his name, to me, as a subscriber to the book, the price of which will be $6 and upwards, just according to the cost of binding.
Books, pamphlets, and papers relating to our family, sent to either of the above- named gentlemen, will be used with care, and returned with promptness to their own- ers. If directed to 103 Court Street, Boston, they will be sure to reach them. Photographs for the "Howe Pliotograjjhic Gallery " will be thankfully accepted.
It is presumed that the expense of pub- lishing the Register will amount to $7,000 or $8,000, and therefore it will require at least one thousand subscribers to meet the oirtlay. But I am assured that this enter- prise will be most cordially seconded and sustained by the members of our wide- spread family.
Allow me here again to express my sin- cere acknowledgments to ray cousins of the Howe family, far and near, for the assist- ance rendered in relation to our " Gather- ing"; to wish them each and every one health, peace, and prosperity; to extend to them a hearty welcome to 103 Court Street, when they visit Boston, and to subscribe myself their affectionate cousin,
Elias Howe, Secretary of the Executive Qo'iiimittee of the
Howe Gathering, held at Framing ham,
August 31, 1871.
XV. EEPOETS OF THE PUBLIC PKESS.
The press was well represented by its gentlemanly reporters at the gathering. Very full and satisfactory accounts of the proceedings of the day were given in the Boston" Traveller," "Transcript," "Jour- nal," "Advertiser," "News," "Post," and other city and local journals. At the close of its report, the "Post" remarked:
" On all sides the celebration was re- garded as of the most gratifying and sue-
36
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
cessful character. "What has been so well begun, will no doubt be continued annually. The occasion was one of much interest and enjoyment, and fully justified the orignators of the same, who, it is very evident, are an honor to their name and their land. It was very largely confined to such of the family as reside in New England, though represen- tatives were present from nearly every part of the country. The project was conceived in Marcli last, at which time an Executive Committee was appointed. These gentle- men addressed themselves to the task with characteristic energy, and the gathering yes- terday was a proud and happy result."
Another journal says :
" It seemed to be the universal opinion that the reunion had been a complete suc- cess, and every one hoped that a similar meeting might be held next year, at which the difl'erent members of this great family
should come to know each other better than they ever had before."
" It was throughout," says the " Fram- ingham Gazette " — and this-,Avas the general sentiment — "a magnificent success. Great praise is due Elias Howe for his efforts. He was ably seconded by the other mem- bers of tlie committee, including Willard Howe, Elbridge Howe, and Hon. C. M. Howe."
XVI. THE REGISTER OF THE NAMES.
A register was opened for the names of those present: but it was impossible for only a part of them to make the record. The name and address of such as had an opportunity to write them are given on the following page. The names of a few, from whom letters have been received, are also added.
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
37
REGISTER OE NAMES.
Rev. J. William A. Benton, Mount Lebanon,
Syria, Asia. Loanza G. Benton, Mount Lebanon, Syria,
Asia. Eev. Daniel Dole, Hawaiian Islands. C. C. Dole, "
Mrs. M. A. Howe, St, John, N. B. John D. Howe, " "
Jamie Howe, " "
Thomas Temple, Fredericton, " Mrs. Thomas Temple, " "
Bertha Ida Temple, " "
Bessie Temple, " "
Eufus Howe, Consecon, Ont. Mrs. W. W. Field, Consecon, Ont. Henry P. Winter, Reporter, Boston Daily
News. E. Eraerton, Reporter, Boston Daily Ad- vertiser. \
C. B. Tillinghast, Reporter, Boston Daily
Journal. Charles H. Ames, Reporter, Northampton Free Press.
D. S. Andrews, Norway, Me. Mary E. Andrews, " " P. H. Fiske, Readfield, " J. D. Howe, Portland, W. V^a.
C. Burr Vickery, Washington, D. C. Leverett N. Howe, St. Charles, Minn. Hollis Howe, Faribault, Rice Co. " George G. Howe, " u »
Henry P. Howe, Dansville, Tenn. R. D. Howe, Vicksburg, Miss. Jesse Haven, Enterprise, Utah. O. C. Howe, Mobile, Ala. John Milton Howe, Portland, Oregon. John D. Howe, Omaha, Nebraska.
E. K. Howe, Lakeview, "
Hon. William Wirt Howe, New Orleans, La.
Bainbridge Howe, Alameda, Cal.
William Howe, San Francisco, Cal.
A. T. Dewey,
A. B. Bancroft, "
C. E. B. Howe, "
Ezra Howe, Carlisle, Ky.
Julia Howe, " "
J. B. Howe, Louisville, Ky.
Mrs. Jennie Howe, " "
Hannah W. Howe, La Fayette, Md.
James Howe, " "
Charlton H. Howe, La Grange, Mo.
William H. Howe, Florine Station, Mo.
Aaron S. Howe, Clinton, Henry Co. "
James Howe, Plattsburg, "
J. Morris Howe, Mt. Idaho, Idaho.
Rev. Samuel Storrs Howe, Iowa City, Iowa.
Charles W. Lewis, Fernandina, Fia.
Rev. Lucian Howe, Fort Gratiot, Mich. Mrs. Fran Howe Foote, Grand Rapids, Mich. CJiarles C. Hickey, Detroit, '•
i^^lbert Howe, .Jackson, "
Mrs, J. E. Howe Bartholmew, Lansing, " ■ Charles N. Howe, Saline, "
George A. Howe, Belpre, Ohio. Persis P. Howe, " "
C. A. Howe, «' "
Mrs. Charlotte P. Stone, Belpre, Ohio. Henry Howe, Springfield, " "
Rev. Timothy Winter Howe, Pataskala, O. J. S. Howe, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dr. Storer W. Howe, «' "
Henry Howe, " "
Dr. A. J. Howe, " "
C. R. Howe, Akron, " Rev. H. R, Howe, Pine Grove, " George W. Howe, Cleveland, " James M. Hiatt, Clermont, Ind. Ira J. Howe, La Fayette, " Mrs. Ira J. Howe, '"' " Charles P. Howe, " " Anna J. Howe, " " Edw. P. Howe, Indianapolis, "
E. Frank Howe, Terre Haute," Joseph M.Howe, Bloomington " Samuel T. Howe, Spencer, " John B. Howe, Lima, " James Howe, " "
D. W. Howe, Franklin, " S. L. Howe, Chicago, 111.
W. E. Howe, "
F. A. Howe, " " i----'^ J. L. Howe, " " Samuel Brown, " " Sylvanus Howe, Robinson, 111. Julia Ward Howe, Newport, R. I. John Howe, Providence, " J. G. Brown, " '•' Eliza Howe Brown, Providence, R. I. Mrs. Relief Howe Walker, Cumberland,
R.I. Mrs. Seraphine Pierce, Cumberland, R. I. Henry B. Noyes, Bristol, Mrs. Willard Pierce, Diamond Hills, William E. Tolman, Pawtucket, Martha L. Howe Tolman, " Mrs. Henry Hill, "
Mrs. Jane Howe, "
William Blanchard, Lawrence Co., Pa. William Parker Howe, Titusville, Mrs. Mary Howe Little, "
A. J. Howe, Meadville, Edmond Howe, W. Philadelphia,
B. F. Howe, " J. Howe Adams, "
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
Eev. Mark A. De Wolf Howe, D. D., W. Philadelphia, Pa.
Amory Howe Bradford, Montclair, N. J.
William Howe, Kaliway, , "
Thomas H. Howe, Greenville,
Harriet Howe, Trenton, x ••
David Howe, Lincolnville, Me.
Sarah L. Howe, "
Edward Howe, Portland, "
Caroline Dana Howe," "
Daniel K. Frohock, " "
Eliza M. Howe Frohock, Portland, Me.
Jeremiah Howe, " "
William S. Howe, Pittsfield,"
Otis Howe, Rumford, "
S. C. Smith, N. Bridgton, " ''
William C. Howe, Bethel, "
Charles W. Howe, " "
Mrs. Florida Mason Howe, Hallowell, ile.
Charles K. Howe, "• "
Linwood Mason Howe, " "
Joseph E. Howe, '• '•
Betsey D. Howe, '' ■'
Jesse B. Howe, Hanover, •'
Ida N.Howe,
Mrs. Mary A. H. Clement, Standisli. " Kate S. Clement, " "
Dr. John I. Howe, Derhy, Conn.
Mrs. Jane Maria Ho\v€ Downs, Derby, Conn.
William Howe Downs, '.'
Hellen G. Downs, ■'
Mary E. Howe, Canaan,
William Howe, Ridgefield,
Miss Emma F. Howe, "
Allen Howe, Greenwich,
Lewis L. Howe, "
William A. Howe, "
George M. Howe, Stafford Springs,
John Howe, Stamford,
David W. Howe, West Goshen,
M. E. Howe, " "
Birdsey T. Howe, Goshen,
Delia Howe, "
Elbridge G. Howe, Hartford,
H. H. Howe, Burlington, Vt.
J. W. Hobart, St. Albans, "
A. J. Howe, Montpelier, "
Mrs. A. J. Howe, " "
Storrs L. Howe, " "
Mrs. Storrs L. Howe, Montpelier, Vt.
Ciiarlotte Howe Merrill, "
Elizur F. Howe, Tunbridge, •'
Ellen W. Howe, "
Albei-t Howe, W. Concord,
William H. Howe, East Barnard,
Milton Davidson, Richmond,
Joshua B. Howe, Readsi)oro', '•
Mrs. P. J. Howe, Middlebury,
Albert ISF. Howe, Dover,
Lois Maria Howe, " '-
L. H. Gould, East "
T. P. D. Matthews, Cornwall,
Abbie P. Matthews, "
Alvin A. Howe,' Ludlow,
L. N. Howe, Northfield,
Mrs. William McGuire, Lunenburg, •-
John B. Browning, New Haven, Conn
Gardner Morse, " " «'
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Sarah A. Morse, New Haven, Conn.
William H. Howe, Glastenbury, " •
Eliza A. Howe, " "
George Leavens, West Killingly, "
Fanny A. Leavens, " " "
Isaac O. Close, Round Hill, "
John I. Howe, Birmingham, "
Mrs. John I. Howe, " "
James H. Howe, Troy, N. Y.
John K.Howe, " "
Allen B. Howe, <' "
Mrs. L H. Howe, "
Mrs. Charlotte M. Howard, New York, N.Y.
Ora Howard, " "•
George A. Howe, " "
William B. Howe, " "
Jane Howe Stockwell, " "
Levi J. Stockwell,
Henry A. Howe,
Marshall Howe Clement,
Thomas P. Howe,
Mary L. Conant,
Col. Frank E. Howe,
W. W. Howe,
Joseph M. Howe,
Newton Howe,
N. F. Howe,
Mrs. Ellen Howe Clark
Georgiana Clark,
Lewis J. HowCjQueensbur}', Glens Falls,
James Howe, Fort Edward,
Henry B. Noyes, Corning,
Mrs. Sarali A^ L. Noyes, Corning,
Elias B. Howe, Mannsville,
Samuel 0. Howe, Mount Vernon,
Russell G. Howe, " "
Maria G. Howe, " "
Dr. A. B. Howe, Jordan,
C. E. Howe, Deersville, Mrs. M. L. Merriman, Copenhagen, Lyman Richardson, Elton, Mrs. H. M. Williams, Watertown,
D. B. Howe, Clarence, James Howe, Brooklyn, J. R. Howe, " L. W. Howe, " Thomas P. Howe," George E. Glines," Cranston Howe, " Mrs. E. E. Lippincott, Brooklyn, Edward S. Cornwell, Buffalo, D. H. Patterson, Killbuuk, J. M. Howe, Rochester, Mrs. Martin B. Willmore, Milford, John A. Howe, Albany, William Howe, Syracuse, " Mary Howe, B. Aurora, " Charles F. Allen, Belmont, " Miss N. Howe, Long Island, " S. B. Howe, Schenectady, " G. W. Conhitt, Ulster ville, " G. W. Howe, Binghamton, " Betsey Howe Perham, Fitzwilliam, N. H. Benjamin L. Howe, Ashuelot, Moses Howe, East Acworth, Alvan Davidson, South " Mrs. A. J. Small, N. Sanbornton, Mai-y F. Bean, Henniker,
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
Frank L. Howe, Keene,
Micah Howe, Dublin,
L. L. Howe, "
P. D. Howe, Manchester,
Rozina Howe, "
D. W. Howe, "
Amanda E. Howe, "
John M. Howe, "
Benjamin P. Howe, "Winchester,
Josiali S. Howe, Laconia,
Mr. J. S. Howe,
Lucy M. Howe, Nashua,
P. W. Howe, E. Jaffrey,
Benjamin Howe, Hudson,
Walter W. Howe, "
Homer Howe, "
A. G. Howe, Pisheryille,
N. E. Howe, "
I. G. Howe, Concord,
M. E. Howe,
Ira Gove, "Ware,
William H. Howe,
Stimpson Howe,
George W. Howe,
George Windsor Howe,
Clara A. Howe,
Warren G. Howe, Lizzie 0. Howe, Nellie P. Howe, N. M. Walker, H. T. Estabrook,
Samuel Howe,
Evoline Arnold,
William P. Gleason,
Mrs. Mary A Gleason,
Miss P. A. Gleason,
Miss O. W. Gleason,
Miss P. A. Gleason,
William N. Howe,
Persis Howe.
Lizzie Howe,
Sumner Loring Howe,
Abby D. Howe,
Elmer D. Howe,
Nellie F. Howe,
Sophia A. Getting,
Charles W. Getting,
Need ham Howe,
Candace N. Howe,
Oliver 7i. Howe,
Ida N. Howe,
Annie M. Howe, •
Tbadden livjwe,
Lyh-an N. Ho\re,
lucy A. Howe,
William J. Arnold,
Anna E. Arnold,.
L. Arnv-vld,
Howard W. Arnold,
C. A. Wilt,
Elizabeth Witi,
P. A. Howv:,
Mrs. P. A. Ho>re,
L'lcy Whitney,
Lini S. Whitney,
Lauri P. AVhitney,
Annie L. Howe,
Mrs. Mary Howe Lawrence,
N. H.
Marlboro', Mass.
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William Stetson, Jr., Marlboro', Mass.
E. K. Stetson, "
Mrs. A. H. Stetson, "
A«na J. Stetson, "
'Prank E. Stetson, "
Jennie G. Stetson, "
Prank E. Stetson,
Josiah S. Howe,
Cyrus Pelton,
Emile T. Morse,
Mary H. Morse,
Martha A. Morse,
Stephen Morse,
Winslow M. Warren,
John A. Prye,
Elvira P. Prye,
Mrs. L. S. Wheeler,
George S. Russell,
Hattie B. Russell,
Mr. L. S. Brigham,
S. H. Howe,
Mrs. S. H. Howe,
Ephraim Howe,
W. G. Howe,
Amariah Howe,
Ellen M. Howe,
Clarence E. Howe,
Mary J. Howe,
Susan M. Barker,
Charles 'M. Howe,
Sarah E. Howe,
Grace L. Howe,
Walter W. Howe,
Sarah W. Howe,
Plorence I. Howe,
Herbert M. Howe,
Winthrop Howe,
Lyman N. Howe,
Lucy A. Howe,
Trueman Edwin Howe,
Calvin Clisby Howe,
Edward Holyoke Howe,
Elbridge Howe,
S. B. Pratt,
Mrs. Martha A. Howe,
Warren Howe,
Anne M. Howe,
Cordelia Morse,
Lucy Ann Howe Ward,
George A. Howe, "
Emilv B. Hov/e, "
Sabra H. Howe, - ' "
Lizzie E. Morse, Quincy, Mass.
Rev. Dennis Powers, Abington, Mass.
Mrs. Mary T. Powers, " "
Artemas L. Howe, Rock Bottom, Mass.
Phebe S. Howe, " "
Mrs. Anna H. Lord, Chelsea, "
N. L. Hov/e, West Amesbury, "
A. W. Howe, " "
John W. Howe, Clinton, "
Delia S. Howe^ " "
Mary C. Howe, -^ " "
Rev. Elias Nason, North Billerica, Mass.
E. J. C. Levering, Auburn, "
Jos. S. Howe, Methuen, *'
Joseph Howe, " *'
Niles Howe, " «
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40
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
Christopher Howe, Methuen, Mass.
John Howe,
Charles Howe,
E. D. Southworth, Douglass, "
C. C. Southworth,
E. L. Howe, Cochituate, "
Asa H. Goddard, Princeton, "
Mrs. Adeline Howe Elder, Chester, "
Abbie M. Howe, Ashland, "
Edward S- Nason, " "
Mrs. E. S. Nason, "
E. L. Howe, Wayland, "
Helen M. Wilkins, Peabody, "
E. P. Howe, N. Bridgewater, "
Newel Brown, Belmont, "
Mrs. Mary W. Brown, Belmont, "
Henry W. Longfellow, Nahant, "
Edward Howe and wife, Mary B. Fox Howe,
"Westfield, Mass. Mrs. Elizabeth A. (Howe) Bush, Westfield,
Mass. Hon. H. J. Bush, Westfield, Mass. Capt. A. L. Bush, and wife Josephine,
Westfield, Mass. William J. Howe, Eandolph, Mass. Mrs. Wm. J. Howe, " "
Mrs. Abby T. Howe, " "
Joanna W. King, " "
Ellen P. King,
Mary P. Pickens, Foxboro, " Martha W. Howe, " "
A. E. Danforth, Hudson, "
Edwin D. Bruce, " "
Mrs. H. M. Bruce, " "
Edw. A. Holyoke, " "
Anson B. Howe, " "
Mary E. Bigelow, " "
Dana Howe, " "
Elsie Howe, " "
J. M. Howe, "
Sarah J. Warner, " "
Zopher Warner, " "
Asa Sawyer, Berlin, "
Mrs. Emma Sawyer, Berlin, '• Louisa S. Hastings, " "
Mary Grace Howe Houghton, Berlin, Mass. Eer. W. A. Houghton, "
Lydia Howe Peters, "
Luther Peters, "
Eebecca Howe Bartlett, "
Mattie A. Bartlett, • "
Warren S. Howe, "
Albert Babcock, West Berlin, George Howe Pitman, Dorcester, Mrs. Charlotte M. Pitman, Dorchester, G. Fowler,
Laura E. H. Fowler, . "
Harvey Howe, "
E. E. Howe, "
Mrs. Lucy H. Howe, "
Ella L. Howe, "
H. F. Howe, "
Edward Howe, "
Wm. B. Trask, "
Ezekiel Pitman, Wakefield, Mrs. Mary Pitman, " Charles H. Hill, "
Eliza L. Howe, Weymouth,
Haverhill,
Joseph B. Howe, South Weymouth,
Avery S. Howe, Weymouth,
J. Clarence Howe, South Weymoutli;
Frank E. Howe, "
Minerva B. Howe, "
Clarissa P. Howe, - " -
Clara A. Howe, "
Alice E. Howe, "
Mrs. Appleton Howe, "
Harriet A. Howe, ' "
Henry S. Howe, Warren,
Charles W. Howe, Norfolk,
Emma E. Howe, Brooklino,
Kimball T. Howe, Woodvilie,
Charles Howe Hadley,
George A. Howe, West Boylston,
William T. Howe,
Joel Howe, "
Thomas Harlow, "
Olive M. Waterman, "
Olive J. Waterman, "
A. E. Waterman, "
William G. Howe, Haverhill,
James Howe,
Mrs. Susan W. Howe,
Ann G. Keniston,
Dr. Eichard C. Howe, "
Joseph Brown, "
H. Maria Brown, '•
Mrs. L. J. Harris, "
Moses Howe, "
James C. Howe. "
Nathan Baker, Weston,
Elisha Baker, "
Mary Baker, "
Nathan Baker, Jr., Weston,
Ari Baker, "
Josiah A. Eockwood, Upton,
Susan H. Eockwood, ' "
Merrick Howe, Leominster,
William F. Howe, North Leominster,
Charles H. Howe, Leominster,
Oliver K. Howe, Sterling,
Lucj- G. Howe, "
Isabella Howe Hastings, Sterling,
S. S. Hastings, "
Stephen Howe, Baldwinsville,
Henry M. Howe, Sekonk,
Sarah Littlefield, Milton,
Geoi'ge H. Howe, Brighton,
Corinth Howe Plumm-er, Brighton,
Lucie J. Brigham, Concord,
Dalby Onthank, Southboro',
Alvah S. Howe, "
David H. Brown, "
Julia E. Brown, "
S. F. Onthank, "
Lydia B. Onthank, '"
Syhm J. Howe, Templeton,
Martha A. Howe Barnard, Woburn,
Mrs. Kate Howe, Palmer,
Addison Howe, Ashburnham,
Leroy A. Howe, "
Eliza M. Gates, "
Mrs. Francis E. Howe, Braintree,
William Howe, South Braintree,
D. B. Howe, Fitchburg,
Amos A. Howe, "
Mass.
THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
41
Mrs. E. M. Gates, Fitchburg,
C A. Howe, Dover,
Isaac Howe, "
G. L. Howe, "
Louisa B. Smith, Dover,
Sarah E. Smith, "
George L. Howe, "
B. Howe Conant, Wenham,
Eev. John Haven, Charlton,
Mrs. M. M. Haven, "
William B. Haven, "
Mrs. E. B. Haven, "
J. Frank Howe, Springfield,
Elijah Howe, "
E. B. Howe Douglass, Greenwich,
Angenette H. Vaughan, "
Mrs. S. E. Howe Pitman, Salem,
Alice Howe, "
George Browning,
Alfred Poor,
Miss Helen Varnum, Dracut, Mass.
Nellie M. Lee, " "
Mr. Henry Varnum, " "
Mrs. Ljdia A. Howe Lee, Dracut, Mass
Mr. Liab Lee, " "
Augusta A. Eox, " "
Winthrop A. Eox, " "
Mrs. Jeremiah Howe, " "
Aaron H. Rogers, Holden, "
Silas Howe, " "
Persis W. Howe, " "
J. Warren Rogers,
Almira Rogers,
Edwin Howe, " "
S. C. Howe, " "
Leroy A. Howe, " "
George B. Howe, Danvers,
izzie A. Howe, "
Albert W. Howe, " Josephine E. Howe, " Geo. Howe Peabody, Chas. H. Peabody, Wm. H. Clark, Paxton, Lewis Bigelow, " Mrs. H. D. Howe, " Eliza M. Howe, " Nahum S. Newton, " Marcia M.Newton, " Wm. H. Harrington, Paxton, Olive G. Harrington, Lucy A. Harrington, Laurette A. Harrington, " L. S. M. Howe, "
Mary E. Howe, "
W. H. Glaus, "
Mrs. W. H. Glaus, "
David G. Davis, "
Rev. Elbridge G. Howe, " Mrs. Erancena (Howe) Brock, Ayer, " John Howe, East Somerville, "
Sarah F. Howe, East Somerville, " Jennie A. Howe, " Joseph Howe, Lizzie C. Howe, Joseph T. Howe, Natick Mrs. Amasa Howe, " E. H. Brigham, "
Elbridge Howe, "
Mass.
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Olive M. Howe, Natick, Mass.
Ida M. Howe, " "
Lucy F. Howe, "
George Howe, "
W. H. Coolidge, "
L. L. Howe, "
Augusta P. Washburn, Natick,
Gilbert Warren Hovvre,
Persis A. Howe,
Bertha F. Howe,
Frank F. Howe,
Elbridge H. Howe,
Melinda Howe,
Carrie E. Howe,
Eliza L. Cole,
John L. Cole,
Alice E. Cole,
Fred E. Cole,
James E. Cole,
Grace E. Cole,
Charles E. Cole,
Hon. Henry Wilson,
John L. Perkins, Charlestown,
Thos. Pitman,
Mrs. Caroline Pitman, E. W. Howe, Mrs. E. W. Howe,
S. O. Little,
Mrs, S. O. Little,
L. Hull and E. Maria (Howe), Charlestown,
Mass. Lucius S. Howe, Charlestown, Mass. Emory Hunt, South Sudburv, " E. B. Hunt, " ' " " " .
N. B. Hunt, " " "
Angelline V. Hunt, South Sudbury, Mass. Alice Howe Hunt, John Eaton, Ruth Eaton, E. T. Eaton, E. N. Eaton, John H. Eaton, Lucinda B. Fairbanks, Reuben Hunt, Mrs. Reuben Hunt, A. M. Howe, Martin Goodnow, Solomon A. Howe, Maiden, J. R. Howe, "
Mrs. J. R. Howe, "
Wm. H. H. Howe, Millard F. Howe, ."
Solomon A. Howe, Jr. " Lois R. Howe, "
Lois R. Howe, Orange, Geo. W. Howe, " Mary Howe, "
Lewis R. Howe, " Mary L. Howe, " George W. Howe, " Moses G. Howe, Lowell, Augustus J. Howe, " Mary J. Howe, "
Jeroboam Howe, " James M. Howe, " Abbie Howe Chase, " Mabel Howe Chase, " Grey Herbert Chase, ' '
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THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING.
Persis Howe Gove, Lowell, Mnss.
Florence C. Gove,
E. Lillian White,
Horace F. Howe,
Annie C. Howe,
Ella E. Howe,
Ella A. Howe,
Edwin A. Howe,
Anna A. Howe,
Lucy A. Hale,
Lizzie E. H. Olcutt,
Edward B. Howe,
Sally Howe,
Clara W. Harwood (nee Howe), Lowell,
Aurelia L. Howe,
Laura Howe,
W. G. Howe,
Charles W. Howe,
Wm. C. Howe,
Aaron P. Howe,
Elizabeth H. Critcherson, Eraminghaui, '
John Critcherson,
Ophelia Critcherson,
S. E. Critcherson,
Buddy Moore,
M. D. Moore,
E. M. Moore,
C. M. Moore,
Hattie M. Daniels,
Charles E. Daniels,
E. D. Daniels,
F. R. Daniels, John C. Howe, Benj. F. Wilson, J. H. Hubbard, Hepzebali Hubbard, Elisabeth Stone, Geo. Marshall Howe, Harriet Maria Howe, Waldo Vernon Howe, Gertrude Howe, Helen Marshall Howe, Wm. E. Temple, S. Isabella Temple, Addie M. Temple, Eev. J. H. Temple, Alice L. Howe, South Framingham, Florence A. Howe, " N. H. Moore, Ella F. Moore, " LydiaL. T.Moore," Lizzie M. Moore, " F. L. Moore, " David Howe, Boston, A. Therese Howe, Boston, Jacob Howe, " Miss Jennie Howe, " Chas. W. Howe, " Milton Howe, " Mrs. C. A. Wood (?iee Howe), Boston, Oscar F. Howe, " Mary E. Howe, " Geo. A. Howe, " Ma/W. Howe, " Henry Howe, South Boston, Mary A. Howe, " " Lyman E. Howe, South Boston, Adam Howe, " "
Mass.
F. B. Howe, South Boston, Mass.
Mrs. Martha F. Parker, Boston,
Hiram Wellington, "
Mrs. Ann H. Wellington, "
Hamilton Howe, Boston Highlands,
Mrs. Hamilton Howe, "
Florence A. Howe, "
Blanche B. Howe, "
Emma Perkins, Boston,
Jennie Perkins, "
Mrs. Fannie Howe Teele, Boston,
Mrs. Hannah Howe Berry, Boston High- lands, Mass.
Fannie Howe Berry, Boston Highlands, Mass.
^John King Berry, Boston Highlands, Albert Howe, Boston, Mary A. Crocker, Boston, Lucy Howe Horn, " B. F. Horn, Sidney Howe, "
Charlotte A. Howe, " S. Gleason, "
Samuel N. Howe, " Thomas H. Howe, " Emma A. Perkins, " Mary J. Perkins, "
Hon. Geo. S. Hillard, " A. C. Garratt, M.D. " Caroline Olivia Howe," George Howe, "
Rufus K. Robinson, " Delia Howe Robinson," R. Frank Robinson, "^ Frank M. Howe, "
E. F. Hall, "
0. H. Monroe, " Ellen Elvira Gibson, " E. L. Cornwell, " Manley Howe, "
1. J. Howe, " Charles Howe, " I. A. HoAve, " Frank A. Howe, " H. R. Sharp, " Arthur Hall, " Lydia C. Hall, Annie E. Hall, " Frank J. Hall, " Herbert A. Hall, " Emma A. Hall, " Asa W. Wait, " Hannah R. Wait, " Lizzie F. Wait, " O. S. Fowler, " J. J. Brown, " William Howe, Cambridge, Rowena Howe, " Ella R. Howe, " Edith F. Howe, " David Howe, Cambridgeport, A. M. Howe, Cambridge, Estes Howe, " Mary E. Howe, " Jas. Murray Howe, " SaraR. Howe, " Jas. Murray Howe, Jr Tracy Howe,
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THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
43
Kate C. Howe, Cambridge, Miiss.
David Howe, Cambridgeport, ''
S. M. Howe,
Frank M. Howe, North Cambridge, M iss. Eliza Howe Teeie, Cambridgoport, M.tss. Mary Howe Green, " ""
Mary Addle Green, " "
Hattie A. Howe, "
Anna C. Howe, " "
Mrs. Caroline H. Howe, " "
Wni. H. Howe, Ellas Howe, "
Ellas Howe, Jr., "
Edward F. Howe, G. Herbert Howe,
S. W. Howe, Jr., Worcester, "
A. M. Howe, Elmer P. Howe,
Lyman Howe, " "
Alise L.^lritcherson, " Francis W. Howe, " Harry E^Rice,
Lewis Gates, " "
Delia Gates, " "
H. E. Simmons, '•
Mrs. H. E. Simmons, '• "
John Simmons, •' "
H. A. Towor,
Emmeline Tower, " • "
Mary A. Maynard, ''' ''
Artemas Hawes, " "
Mrs. Artemas Hawes, •' "
Mrs. Mary L. Howes {iiee Howe). Worces- ter, Mass. Henry A. Howe, Worcester, Mass. Alden A. Howej " "
Roxa Howard, . " "
Barnard Sumner, " "
Mrs. E. D. Warner, " Nancy Eaton, " "
Alexander Marsh, " "
Mrs. Maria Marsh, " Henry A. Marsh, " '•
Wm. Curtlss, Westborough, Mass. Mrs. Wm. Curtlss, " Sarah H. Wilson,
Caroline P. Mirick, " "
Lyman Howe, " "
Abbie L. Brigham, " Eaierson B. Wilson, " "
J. B. Brigham,
George Howe, Winchester, '■
Mary Howe, " "
Sarah E. Leiand, Sherborn, Mass. Charles H.Howe, " Lewis Howe, Winchcndon, " Francis Howe, Brookfield, " Elbridge Howe, E. '• "
Alphonse Howe, " " "
John M. Howe, " " Oliver C. Howe, " "
Julius A. Howe, " "
Albert S. Howe, Erookfield, " Angennet C. Vaughn, Brookfield, Mass. Lorenda S. Whiting, " .
Mary Lucy Smith, " "
Jennie Howe, " "
Henry Howe, " "
ii It
Alvin Howe, Brookfield, Mass.
Emeline H. Bardwell, Southbridge, " Joshua Howe, Georgetown, "
Nathaniel Howe, " "
Mary J. Howe, " "
Geo. H. Richardson, " "
Eanna J. Richardson, " "
Alfred A. Howe, " ' "
Mrs. G. E.Howe,
Hattie Howe, " "
Francis Augustine Howe, M. D., Ncwbury-
port, Mass. Mrs. Mary F. Howe, Newburvport, M.i>-s. Geo. W. Hill,
Mrs. H. D. Jones, " " '
James W. Osborn, So. Abintjton "
David B. Howe, " "^ "
Mrs. D. B. Howe, " " "
diaries Howe, " " "
Mrs. Charles Howe, " "
Isaac S. Howe, " "
Hannah AV. Howe, " "
Elijali Howe, Jr., Dedhani, Julia Ann Howe, " "
Oliver H. Howe, " "
Isaacus Colburn, West •• "
*4. L. Howe, " "
Wm. R. I-Iowe, Franklin, "
Charles Howe, " . "
Carrie Howe, " "
Ahnira Howe Morse, Medfield, "
Mary B. Morse, ^' "
Lizzie P. Morse, " ''
John Ord, Jr., " "
Eliza H. Bishop, "
Mrs. Eliakim Morse, " "
Henry W. Howe, Waltham, "
Mrs. Sara M. Howe, " "
Sarah E. Smith, " "
Almira A. S. Batchelder, " Nahum Howe, "
Mary E. Howe, "
Lavinia A. Howe, "
Lucy A. Howe, Northboro, Fannie B. Howe, " "
Mary S. Howe, " "
Ruel Howe, "
Ephraim C. Howe, " "
Gilman B. Howe, " ''
Silas Howe, " "
Ann G. Howe, "
Anson Rice, " "
Mrs. Percls Howe, " "
Alonzo B. Howe, '- "
Edwin F. Howe, Bolton, "
E. W^ Barker, " • "
C. G. Barker, " "
A. A. Barker,
E. G. Barker, " "
H. D. Barker, " "
S. H. Howe, " "
Edwin B. Eames, Holliston, "
Elmira B. Eame's, "
Pamela H. Clark, Elijah Clark, Charles E. Draper, " Charles H. Morse, "
Mrs. Rebecca Travis, "
a
44
THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
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Mrs. Josephine L. Pierce, Holliston, Mass.
Prederick W. Wilder, " "
Edward W. Howe, Milford, "
Natlian C. Howe, " " '
Mary J. Howe, " "
Mrs. Mary K. Glines, " " ,
E. D. Howe, Gardiner, "
James H. Howe, " "
Harrison Howe, " "
Lucy E. Howe Sweet, Gardiner,
Ebenezer Howe, "
Simeon Howe, "
Marcus H. Howe, "
Ephraini D. Howe, "
C. S. Greenwood, South Gardiner,
Elbridge Howe, South Gardiner,
Willard Howe, South Eramingham,
Charlotte A. Howe,
Erank Fay Howe,
Harrie M. Howe,
Lucy Ann Ballard,
Charles Howe,
Mrs. Charles Howe,
Curtis Howe,
Mrs. Curtis Howe,
Brainard Rice,
Mrs. L. E. Eice,
P. P. Field,
Mrs. P. P. Field,
Charles D. Power,
■Tosiali Hem en way,
Mrs. Josiah Hemenway.
Edward S. Hemenwaj',
Mrs. Edward S. Hemenway, South
mingham, Mass. Erank Hemenway, SouthEramingham, Henry Eames, Mrs. Henry Eames, Luther Eames, Mrs. Luther Eames, H. Gardner Eames, Elipholet Eames, Mrs. Elipholet Eames, W. R. Eames, Flora Eames, Wilbor Eames, Mrs. Catherine Eames, Angelina Eames, Fannie Eames, Emily Eames, Edwin Eames, Charles A. Stearns, Mrs. Charles A. Stearns, Mary Stearns, Henry O. Stearns, Galvin Bullard, Franklin Manson, Curtis II. Barber, Mrs. Curtis H. Barber, Thomas L. Barber, S. W. Howe, Hopkinton, Mrs. C. M. Howe, " W. N. Howe, "
Clara L. Howe, " John A. Fitch, '<■ Lucy Ann Howe, " Martha L. Howe Long, Hopkinton, James Long, "
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Era- Mass.
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Nelson Howe, Lynn, Mary A. Howe, " Ida A. Howe, "
Ada J. Howe, "
Nelson Howe, Jr.," Horace J. Howe, " Mrs. Barnard Adams, Lynn, Enieline Howe, Ware, Lyman C. White, " Mrs. Lyman C. White, Ware, J. Henry Howe, "
Merrill N. Howe, Lawrence, Hattie E. Howe, "
Freddie M. Howe, " Levi Howe, "
Mrs. Levi Howe, "
^eorgie P. Howe, " Mr*r-Martha M. Howe, Marblehead, Charles H. Howe, "
William T. Howe, "
Gideon Howe, West Medway, Susan B. Howe, "
Emma T. Howe, "
Lillian S. Howe, '«
Ralph G. Howe, <'
Joel Howe. Spencer, Albion K. Howe, Wellesley, Emerson Howe, Ipswich, Ruth C. Howe, Eliza Howe Perley, " A. W. I-Iowe, Rowley, N. L. Howe, "
Lucy A. Howe, " Susan D. Howe, " Celia A. Howe Prescott, Rowley, George Pi-escott, "
^Mary Jane Bailey, *"
Charles T. Howe, Saxonville, '_ ,_ Harriet A. Harlow, Shrewsbury, William H. Howe, "
Amasa Howe, "
Seth W. Howe, "
Kate W. Howe, "
Anna S. Howe, "
M. Eliza Howe, "
Gideon Harlow, "
Abby P. Allen, ■ "
Mrs. Maria Howe Mason," Persis H. Tainter, Watertown, Mrs. W. A. Benton, Oakdale, Sarah B. Dodge, Lancaster, Mrs. Susan Stickney Howe, Byfield, J. Henry Howe, Enfield, Mary J. Howe, " Carrie M. Howe, " Mrs. Helen A. Howe Ripley, Enfield, Hattie A. Howe, "
Henrv C. M. Howe, "
Willie E. Howe, "
Rufus Hastings, Sterling, Isabella Howe Hastings, Sterling, Sarah S. Plastings, "
Abbie S. Hastings, "
Humphrey B. How^, Medford, Susan E. Howe, "
Lizzie W. Howe, "
Arathusa A. Gilmoi-e, Mansfield, Sarah A. Miller, Worthington,
Mass.
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THE HOWE FAMILT GATHERING.
Jubal Howe, Newton, Lucy Howe Rice, Barre, James S. Stoddard, Millbury, Franklin Howe, '■
Mass.
Rev. E. G. Howe, Marshfield,
O. K. Howe, BoyJston Mills,
Stillman Clark, Hardwick,
Albert Howe, P. M., West Townsend,
45
Mass.
SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE FUND OF THE HOWE FAMILY GATHERING,
SOUTH FRAMINGHAM, AUGUST Zh 1S71.
S. H. Howe, Bolton, Mass. . . . $ Col. Frank E. Howe, New York, N. Y. Edward B. Howe, Lowell, Mass. Hon. Joseph Howe, Halifax, N.S. . Wm. G. Howe, Haverhill, Mass. Hon. Wm. W. Howe, New. Orleans, La. James Howe, Brooklyn, N.Y. Estes Howe, . . .
A. L. Howe, Dedham, Mass. . Dr.Geo.M. Howe, Framingham, Mass. Willard itowe. So. " " Chas. M. Howe, Marlboro', •' Elbridge Howe, " " Dr. W. J. Howe, Randolph, . " Lewis A. Howe, Marlboro', . " Stors L. Howe, Montpelier,Vt. L. W. Howe, Marlboro', Mass. H. H. Howe, Burlington, Vt. . James Murray Howe, Cambridge, Mass. John J. Howe, Birmington, Conn. . Manley Howe, Boston, Mass. . Geo. H. Howe, Brighton, '• . G. W. Howe, Natick, " . E. W. Howe. Charlestown " . Rev. Moses How, New Bedford, Mass. M. G. How, Lowell, " J. H. Howe, Troy, N.Y. . Dr. F. A. Howe, Newburyport, Mass. J. A. Howe, J3oston, " Joshua B. Howe, Readsboro', Vt. . S. A. Howe, Marlboro', Mass. . 1 John A. Frye, " " ' .
B. F. Howe, Ashuelot, N.H. . J. C. Howe, Sudbmy, Mass. . O. F. Howe, Boston, " N. Howe, Lynn, " Dr. Richard C. Howe, Haverhill, Mass. S. H. Howe, Marlboro', " G. W. Howe, " " N. S. Howe, Little Rock, Ark. O. Howe, Cambridge, Mass. . Prof. Thos. H. Howe, Boston, Mass. Gilbert Howe, So. Framingham, Mass. John D. Howe, St. John. N.B. Capt. F. Brigham, Hudson, Mass. . Wm. A. Howe, Greenwich, Conn. . Mrs. Lucretia Howe Amsden, Boston
Highlands, Mass. Chas. Howe, Boston, Mass. S. A. Howe, Maiden, " Harry Howe, Ontario, Sai-a R. Howe, Cambridge, Mass. . J. C. Howe, Homewood, 111. . Geo. W. Leland, HoUiston, Mass. . Geo. A. Howe, West Boylston, Mass.
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1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00 1 00
1 00
00 00
W. J. Howe, West Boylston, Mass., $1 00
J. B. Case, Haverhill, '
J. H. Richards, Marlboro', '
John M. Tyler, Cambridge, '
Joseph Howe, Somei-ville, '
A. F. Howe, Brookline, '
John Howe, Stamford, Conn. .
Geo. H. B. Howe, Bradford, Mass.
J.W.Weston, New York City,
A. M. Howe, Cambridge,
Mary Howe, "
Joel Howe, West Boylston,
Artemus Barnes, AVorcester,
Joseph M. Howe, Bloomington, Ind.
Lewis R. Howe, Orange, Mass.
Geo. W. Howe, " , •' .
E. H. Brigham, Natick, " . O. Howe, Brookfield, " .
C. W. Howe, Boston, " . Joshua Howe, Geortjetown, " . L. L. Howe, Dublin, N.H. Edwin Howe, Holden, Mass. . Chas. Punchard, Chelsea, Mass. Levi S. Stockwell, New York City, Samuel P. Teale, Cambridge, Mass. Frank M. Howe, N. Cambridge, Mass.
F. A. Henderson, Boston, " Edwin A. Howe, Ludlow, Vt. .
A. M..Howe, Worcester, Mass. P. B. Howe, Haverhill, '' . Mrs. L.R. Hartshorn, Somerville, Mass. S. Howe, Gardner, "
D. H. Gregory, Princeton, " D. B. Hinckley, Marlboro', "
G. W. Goodnow, Cambridge, "
B. F. How, Boston, " Gilman B.' Howe, Marlboro', " J.W.Howe, Newton Upper Falls, '• Rufus Howe, Marlboro', " H.W. Howe, Portland, Me. . Walter Howe, Charlestown, Mass. . Susan H. Rockwood, Upton, " Stephen Morse, Marlboro', " . Geo. W. Howe, Middlefield, " . Adeline Elden, Chester, " John Milton Howe, Portland Oregon, P, B. Howe, Marlboro', Mass. . Geo. B. Howe, Auburndale, Mass. . Edward W. Howe, Jamaica Plain, Mass. 50 M. Howe, Dublin, N.H. . . . 50. Robert C. Howe, Louisville, Ky. . 50 C.W. Howe, Paxton, Mass. . . 50 Mrs. Littlefield, unknown, . . 50 0. H. Munroe, Braintree, Mass. . 20
1 00
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1 00
00 00 00 50 50 50
HERALDRY.
The folio-wing 7iotes on Heraldry are introduced-, by request, f ran Mr. H. Whitmore's able vjork on this subject:
William
For the proper description of coat-armor, which is technically termed the "blazon of arms," it Avill be convenient to divide such representations into five parts ; viz. : the shield, crest, supporters, helmet, and motto.
The shield may be of any shape., with this exception : the lozenge or diamond shape is the only form which females can use^ and is reserved for them. The crest is a common adjunct of the shield, and consists of any object placed above it, and used as a hereditary distinction. It is generally placed on a wreath made of twisted ribands of the two principal tinctures of the shield ; sometimes the crest rises out of a coronet. Some of the earlier crests were merely coronets surmounted by feathers. The supporters, which are sometimes placed on each side of the shield, consisting of men or animals, are, in English heraldry, almost the exclusive privilege of peers and members of certain orders of knighthood. The use of the helmet is optional, and should never be mentioned in a blazon, of €irms. The motto is a word or sentence upon a scroll, generally, but not always, placed below the shield. ■ •
The colors upon a shield termed " tinctures " are represented in engravings by
Sablo, or Black, by cross lines.
Vert, or Green, by diagonal lines from left to right.
Purpur, or Purxjle, by cfiagonai lines from right to left.
Or, or Gold, by dots. Argent, or Silver, by a blank. Azure, or Blue, by horizontal lines. Gules, or Eed, by perpendicular lines.
The points of a shield are
1 called the dexter chief
point.
2 called the middle chief
point.
3 called the sinister chief
point.
4 called the honor or collar
point.
5 called the fesse point.
6 called the xiombril or
navel point.
7 called the dexter base
point.
8 called the middle base
point.
9 called the' sinister base
point.
It willbe noticed that the dexter, or right-hand side, is to the left of the observer, and the sinister, or left- hand side, is on his right.
"Whenever one tincture predominates, it is con- sidered, with but one exception, to be the tincture of the shield; when two occupy equal portions, it is divided. The divisions are as follows : — Per pale, made by a perpendicular line. " fess, " horizontal line.
" bend, " diagonal line from point 1 on
the shield, to 9. Per bend sinister made by a diagonal line, from
point 3 to 7. Quarterly, made by a perxjeudicular and a horizontal
line intersecting. Per saltire, by two diagonal Rnes intersecting.
Tiie •' cliarges " are objects placed upon the shield ; the simplest correspond with the divisions of the sliield, and are termed " ordinaries." These are: The chief, a band occupying the upper third of the
.shield. The fesso. a band occupying the centre third of the
shield liorizontally. The pale, a band occupying the centre third of the
.shield perpendicularly.
The bend, a band occupying one-third of the shield,
diagonally, as from point 1 to 9. The bend sinister occupying one-third of the shield
diagonally, as from 3 to 7. The cross being the fesse and pale conjoined. The saltire, composed of the bend and bend sinister.
The chevron resembles the lower half of tlie saltire,
with tlie upper lines brought to a jioint. Couped — cut off in a straight line. Sa. — abbreviation of sable. Crescent — chai'ge used by a second son. Erased — having a torn edge.
Enfiled — a sword is said to be entiled with any object which it is represented as having pierced.
Escallop — shell.
Ppr. — Abb^viation of proper — -terra for objects re- presented by their common form and color.
Ar. — Abbueviation of Argent.
Escallop, in the field — signiiies that an ancestor has been on a long pilgrimage, or engaged in the Crusade.
Difference— a figure added to a coat-of-arms to dis- tinguish those of a family who bear the same arms.
How (Lord ChedworthJ. Or, a fesse between three wolves' heads, couped at the neck, s«., a crescent for diff. Crest — A .dexter arm, erased at the elbow, lying fesseways, and holding in the hand a scimitar, erect, entiled with a boar's head, couped, all ppr. Motto — Justus et i^ropositi tenas.
The following are charges comprised under tl.. name of sub-ordinaries : —
The canton — a square placed in the dexter chief, and occi;«pying one-ninth of the shield.
The ioescutcheon, thebordure. the lozenge, the label, annulet, crescent, fleur-de-lys, the martlet, the escallop, etc.
By the term "blazon " is meant the description of arms so precise as to enable the reader to depict the cscutclioon correctly. The rules are: 1st, the field is to- be described, whether of one tincture or two; if of two, the form of division is to be mentioned, as per pale, per fesse, etc. 2d, the principal ordinary is to be n.amed, and if none, the principal charge being the one nearest the fosse point.' The remaining charges placed on the field are next to be described, the centre charge being described as " between" them, then the charges on tlie jjrinoiijal charge, the canton, and lastly the difference ; being a label for first son, crescent for second, etc. The crest, supporters, and motto are to be seisarately blazoned after the shield. In blazon repetition should be avoided. The name of a tincture should not be repeated, but if two consecutive portions are of the same tincture, it may be mentioned only after the last.
(46)
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