Ada-Washington County ID Archives Biographies.....Howell, William Henry 1854 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 5, 2011, 7:53 pm

Source: See below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

WILLIAM HENRY HOWELL, owning and occupying one of Boise's finest residences at
No. 1225 Warm Springs avenue, is widely known as a prominent sheepman and wool
grower of the state. He is numbered among Idaho's pioneers, having removed from
Evanston, Wyoming, in 1885 and taken up his abode in what was then the territory
of Idaho. He was born in Syracuse, New York, April 15, 1854, a son of George and
Eliza (Jones) Howell, but the mother passed away when her son William was but
three weeks old. The father was a native of New York and during the greater part
of his life was a seafaring man, at one time being second mate on the old ocean
liner Minnesota, sailing between New York and Liverpool. After the death of his
first wife he married again and by that union had a family of four children. The
father passed away in 1876.

   William H. Howell, the only child of his father's first marriage, was reared
by his maternal grandmother in Syracuse, New York. He quit school at the age of
fourteen years, left home and came west with an uncle, who settled at Bannock,
Montana. This was in the year 1869. Mr. Howell has since been identified with
the west, residing at different periods in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and
Idaho. At the age of eighteen years he took up railroad work as a brakeman on
the Southern Pacific Railroad, his headquarters being at Ogden, Utah. When
nineteen years of age he was a freight conductor on the Southern Pacific and
later he spent several years in the employ of the Union Pacific and for a number
of years resided in Evanston, Wyoming, during which period he was connected with
railroad service in various capacities in the employ of the Union Pacific. His
railroad experience covered fifteen years in all. He was for several years a
conductor on both freight and passenger trains.

   Following his removal to Idaho in 1885, Mr. Howell turned his attention to
sheep raising, with which he has since been identified, and is now the vice
president of the Butterfield Live Stock Company of Weiser, Idaho, a concern that
is extensively engaged in the handling of sheep, having many thousand head of
pure bred and registered sheep of the Hampshire, Lincoln and Rambouillet breeds.
At the present writing the Butterfield Live Stock Company has about fifteen
thousand registered pure bred sheep, this being thought to be the largest flock
of pure bred sheep in the United States. A. G. Butterfield, of Weiser, is the
president of the company, of which Mr. Howell is the vice president. The company
also owns many thousand acres of valuable ranch land in the vicinity of Weiser,
most of it in Washington county, Idaho. Mr. Howell is widely recognized as one
of the successful sheepmen of the state, operating along this line during the
past third of a century, and success in very substantial measure has crowned his
efforts. He has also been identified with many other activities of Idaho which
have profited by his cooperation and sound judgment. He was one of the chief
organizers of the old Bank of Idaho, a state bank, which was soon nationalized
and merged into the present Pacific National Bank. He acted as director of the
former and continued in the same capacity in connection with the latter until a
recent date, when he sold his interests in the bank. He is now the vice
president of the Idaho Dressed Beef Company.

   On the 9th of October, 1879, in Ogden, Utah, Mr. Howell was married to Miss
Eliza Rebecca Staker, who was born in Ogden and is a member of one of the old
Mormon families of that state. They have three daughters living: Grace, now the
wife of A. L. Jones, of San Francisco, California; Mary Ann, at home; and Ada
Blanch, the wife of Elwood Gray, also of San Francisco. There are also two
grandchildren: Eileen Howell, aged nine, who has been adopted by her
grandparents and lives with them; and Elwood Gray, Jr., now about a year old.

   Mr. Howell is a republican and was twice elected to the office of county
commissioner of Ada county. He is a thirty-second degree and Knight Templar
Mason, also a member of the Mystic Shrine and the Benevolent Protective Order of
Elks. He became a charter member of El Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine in
Boise and is also a charter member of Boise Consistory, S. P. R. S. Masonry
finds in him a loyal follower and worthy exemplar, and he enjoys the highest
respect of his brothers of the fraternity- In community affairs he has always
been deeply and helpfully interested, and his cooperation can be counted upon to
further any plan or project for the public good. One of his activities in Boise
covered the city sprinkling contract, which he held jointly with Edward Oetner
for a period of five years. The execution of this contract involved the
expenditure of about thirty thousand dollars in equipment. Later he sold his
interests in this to his partner. He now occupies what is known as the handsome
Kingsbury residence at No. 1225 Warm Springs avenue, which he purchased a few
years ago. This was built of Idaho cut stone about sixteen years ago and is a
fine residence of sixteen rooms, thoroughly modern in its equipment and
appointment. It was built at a time when material was cheap at a cost of
twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars and is worth much more than that at the
present. It is richly and tastefully furnished, and one of its chief attractions
is its warmhearted hospitality, which the family cordially extend to their many
friends.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

IDAHO
DELUXE SUPPLEMENT
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1920


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