Yolo-Butte County CA Archives Biographies.....Howard, Richard 1857 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 10, 2005, 10:57 am

Author: Tom Gregory

RICHARD HOWARD

    The name of Howard is well-known in all the English-speaking world and many
among the bearers of that title have won fame on many a hard-contested field.
Richard Howard, quiet and well-to-do farmer, retired to his home near Madison,
Yolo county, did not come to his present location by an easy way and without
some fierce experience in life. He was born January 31, 1857, in Missouri.
Afterwards removing to Denton, Texas, with his parents, he grew up on the free
soil, absorbing the free manners and methods of the unique Lone Star
commonwealth. On the breaking out of the great war of the Rebellion his father,
Seth Howard, shouldered a musket and served in the Confederate army through the
entire conflict. He returned to his Texas home the defeated soldier in gray, but
an honorable soldier even if the cause he battled for was lost. A mustered-out
trooper after four years of unsuccessful war seldom finds his home and its
surroundings blooming in prosperity, and when Seth Howard shed his gray jacket
for more peaceful work the war-mutilated South was beginning her effort at
recuperation. About three years afterward he pulled up stakes and took the road
for the west, wending his way through Arizona, the sunset route of the immigrant
of that period. He was elected captain of the wagon train, which numbered
thirteen grown men and two boys that carried arms and that drove the mule and
horse teams. The Indians were occasionally taking a shot at the passing wagon
trains, but fortunately they did not attack the Howard train, although they were
very arrogant and showed a disposition to stampede the stock and lift the
whitemen's scalps, just as a reminder that they were still the implacable foes
of the paleface. But the other troubles of the train-people were legion. That
seemed to be the year of cloudbursts and other classes of rainstorms, and they
found the streams and dry-washes swollen by the sudden showers. They caulked
their wagon beds and ferried the families over and swam the stock across. They
saw war signal-fires among the hills and knew the Indians were sending the
"news" by wireless, and the whites frequently traveled by night to throw the
signallers off the line. Richard, the subject of tins article, was one of the
herders and stayed pretty close to the back of his mule during these exciting
times. They finally unhitched in Los Angeles and remained there a short time to
recuperate. Five months and six days afterward, in September, 1868, they located
on a farm at what is now Citrona, then known as Buckeye. In 1873, while they
were living on a leased ranch in Capay valley, the family suffered the
never-to-be-repaired loss of the death of the father. A splendid man was Seth
Howard—always a soldier warring for principle—always a Howard, he was mustered
out for all time.

   The first marriage of Seth Howard united him with Lurana Tadlock, their
marriage occurring in Missouri. She died leaving two daughters, Mary A., who is
the wife of J. W. Gilliam and resides near Citrona, and Emma J., who married E.
L. Gray and resides in Fresno county. The second marriage of Seth Howard was to
Mary H. Tadlock, and their five children are Richard, John, Joseph, Lulu and
Martha. Joseph Howard married Nellie Young, their home being in San Francisco,
where he is a practicing physician. Lulu is the wife of Ewel Windsor, a farmer
near Woodland.

   At the time of the death of his father Richard Howard was about sixteen years
of age, and largely on him fell the burden laid down by the elder. The family
finally settled on a ranch near Cottonwood. Richard Howard now occupies a
splendid ranch three miles east of Madison, comprising about two hundred and
forty-four acres, where he has lived continuously for many years, with the
exception of four years residence in Chico, locating there temporarily for the
school advantages afforded for his children. In Knights Landing he was united in
marriage with Anna E. Dustin, who was born in Cataract, Monroe county, Wis., the
daughter of Preston and Maria (Ascott) Dustin, natives of Pennsylvania and
England respectively, and early settlers in Wisconsin. The father died in that
state and the mother passed away in Yolo county. The children born to Richard
Howard and his wife are Aubrey Milton, Velma Byrle and Vida U. Both of the
daughters are high school graduates. Velma B., a graduate of the Chico state
normal, was afterward a teacher in the Madison grammar school; she became the
wife of Ray D. Head of Chico. Aubrey M. married Etoil Archer, and they live in
Woodland, where Mr. Howard is engaged in the real estate business.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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