John Siegler Howe

Biography

John Siegler Howe was born on February 6, 1857 in Tuscola, Douglas, IL, United States. His parents were William H. Howe and Harriet Ann (Lester) Howe.

John married Estella Longshore. Together they had the following children: Earl William Howe; Lora Berta (Howe) Holt; Flora Howe; Clifford J. Howe.

He died on May 13, 1943 in Portland, Multnomah, OR, United States.

Biography

"John S. Howe. For all the remarkable development in Montana in recent years in the extension of crop growing and pure agriculture, sheep and wool still constitute a large and important share of the state's business resources. John S. Howe of Miles City is one of the big producers of wool, and has been in the industry since 1900. While not one of the oldest sheep men in the state, his activities have brought him well deserved prominence.

"Mr. Howe is a native of Illinois, born in Douglas County, February 6, 1857. His father, William Howe, came to Illinois from Kentucky, having been born in Bourbon County in 1829. He was a farmer's son, acquired a common school education, and spent his life as a farmer. After the Civil war he became a republican in politics and held sev- eral local offices. He died at the age of sixty-four. His wife was Harriet A. Lester, a daughter of Sigler Lester, also of Kentucky, and more remotely of Virginia ancestry. Mrs. William Howe died recently when past eighty years of age. She was the mother of eight children: James, of Barnston, Nebraska; John S.; Perry N., of Tuscola, Illinois; Etta, wife of James W. Drennen, of Osceola, Iowa; Charles, of Champaign, Illinois; Effie, wife of James Reed, of Whitewater, Wisconsin; Leona, wife of William Joseph of Tuscola, Illinois; and Nora, wife of Charles Robinson, of Ohio.

"John S. Howe grew up on his father's Illinois farm, had a high school education, and also attended the Northern Indiana Normal School. He left school to go farming in his native county, and in 1880 went to what was then the western frontier at Dodge City, Kansas. After some experience as a cowboy and range rider he took up a ranch and started a herd of cattle and for five years operated in Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado. He then went down into Indian Territory, and in the viccinity of Guthrie took some part in real estate speculation and was also a buyer of wheat for the mills at Winfield, Kansas. His business duties required the regular interchange of business between Oklahoma and Kansas for several years. He participated in the pioneer phases of western or south-western life for thirteen years and then went back to Illinois and was a factor in the agricultural and business life of that state until he determined to enter the sheep industry in Montana.

"Mr. Howe came to Montana in 1899, and the following year started sheep ranching north of the Yellowstone River. For a number of years he utilized the public domain and so far as numbers and extent of operations was concerned he reached the zenith of his sheep raising career in the country north of the Yellowstone. Later he moved his headquarters to the mouth of the Mizpah Creek. He started his operations twenty years ago with 4.000 half-blooded sheep and eventually developed a flock of 25,000. He has handled sheep every year since 1900, and has been through all the ups and downs of the industry. Several times wool prices were below the cost of production. He failed to be discouraged by these backsets, and his reward came during the World war when wool went to about 65 cents a pound. With the reduction of the public range he necessarily decreased his flock, and has made more of the feature of intensive sheep ranching and farming. Ever since he came to Montana he has been a member of the Wool Growers' Association, and has been a thorough student of sheep and wool in every phase and a wide reader of all recognized periodicals on that subject.

"In the fall of 1907 Mr. Howe established his headquarters at the mouth of Mizpah Creek He then bought the Aaron Laney sheep ranch of 7,500 acres of deeded land and has since added about 5,000 acres, lying on the west side of Powder River and astride Mizpah Creek. His ranch is now under development as an irrigalion project, the purpose being to provide his stock with winter feed. Recently he has also introduced to his ranch a line of good native cattle bred up to registered Shorthorns and Herefords. The finished product he markets in Chicago. Mr. Howe is also a stockholder in the Commercial State Bank of Miles City.

"He has been interested in politics chiefly as a voter. His political convictions led him into the republican party at an early date. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America,

"On March 8, 1886, while he was a figure in the livestock industry of Kansas and Oklahoma, Mr. Howe married Estella Longshore, who was born in Iowa in 1868. Her mother is still living, a resident of Burlington, Kansas. Her father was a captain in the Union army during the Civil war, was a harness maker and merchant and died in Iowa. Mrs. Howe is the youngest of three daughters. One married sister lives at Atlantic, Iowa, and the oldest is Mrs. Woodruff, of Coffey County, Kansas.

"Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Howe, Earl, the oldest, was educated in the University of Illinois, is a successful rancher on Powder River, and by his marriage to Hattie Logan has a daughter, Bette. Laura Howe, the second child, is the wife of Elmer Holt, vice president of the Commercial State Bank of Miles City and is the mother of Laura, Bertie and Benjamin. Flora is a graduate of the Northwestern Lniversity of Chicago and was a Young Woman's Christian Association worker in the army and was still in France in the summer of 1919. Clifford, the youngest child, is a member of the class of 1920 at the University of Illinois and was accepted for training in the Camp Taylor Artillery School but did not enter because of the signing of the armistice." (Tom Stout, Montana, Its Story and Biography (The American Historical Society (1921), 1261-62).

• Residence: 1900 - Garrett Township Atwood village (pt.), Douglas, Illinois, United States
• Residence: 1910 - Miles Ward 1, Custer, Montana, United States
• Residence: 1920 - Miles Ward 2, Custer, Montana, United States
• Residence: 1930 - Miles, Custer, Montana, United States

Sources

• Stout, Tom (ed.), Montana, Its Story and Biography (American Historical Society, 1921), pp. 1261-62.
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Oct 28 2018, 15:37:44 UTC