Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Howk, Andrew J 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 12:00 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

ANDREW J. HOWK. Although it was not until a comparatively recent period that 
Mr. Howk settled permanently in Joliet, yet he has been familiar with the 
place from early manhood and no one has taken a greater interest in its 
progress than has he. The family of which he is a member has been represented 
in America for many generations. He was born in Watertown, N. Y., December 15, 
1831, and was a son of Henderson Howk, a miller of Watertown. When the family 
came to Illinois in 1851 his father built the mills in Joliet that occupied 
the present site of the plant of the Economy Light and Power Company. One of 
his first contracts in the west was in connection with Governor Matteson for 
the building of the Rock Island Railroad from Joliet to Blue Island, after 
which he carried on the mills in partnership with George W. Hyde. His last 
years were spent in retirement from business and he died in this city in 1889. 
During his residence in New York he took an active interest in political 
matters and served honorably as a member of the state legislature. Though not 
a member of any denomination he was liberal in his gifts to all, and more than 
one church has reason to be grateful to him for generous assistance at a time 
when it was sorely needed. By his marriage to Emily, daughter of L. Nathan 
Matteson and a sister of Hon. Joel A. Matteson, he had five children, of whom 
the oldest, Andrew J., and a younger brother, F. M., a justice of the peace in 
Joliet, are the only survivors. John and Augustus were both in business in 
this city until their death. When about twenty years of age our subject 
accompanied his parents to the west. He entered the store of his uncle, 
Governor Matteson, in Joliet, and remained with him until 1853, when he went 
to California and embarked in prospecting and mining. From that time to this 
he has had important mining interests. His success at the start was such as to 
induce him to devote his life to the occupation. When the placer mines became 
exhausted he turned his attention to quartz mining. He located a mine, ''May 
Lundy," on the summit of the Sierra Nevada range, eleven thousand feet above 
sea level, it being one of the highest productive mines now in operation on 
the continent. It was opened in 1881 and he operated it personally for some 
years. He has also had valuable interests in Nevada. In 1863 he went to that 
territory, where he carried on silver mining profitably until 1876; but owing 
to the decline in silver he discontinued the work in the latter year. Of 
recent years he has again turned his attention to mining in Nevada, but mines 
for gold and copper and not for silver. While he has not wholly given up his 
interests in California he has no active connection with mines there now, but 
works in Nevada instead. In 1885 he settled permanently in Joliet in order 
that his son might have the advantage of study in the city schools. Usually he 
spends a portion of each summer in Nevada attending to his interests there. 
Politically he is an ardent supporter of the silver wing of the Republican 
party. In religion he is a member of the Presbyterian Church. While in 
California he married Miss Margie Kirkpatrick, by whom he has one son now 
living, Henderson J. Howk. Often noting the prosperity of Joliet and the 
variety of its industries Mr. Howk recalls the days when he first came here 
and enjoys dwelling upon the contrasts between a half century ago and now. 
Shortly after he came here he built a part of the first brick building erected 
in the town, putting up a portion of the brick block just north of the 
National Hotel. It was his plan to start in business in that block, but his 
health was poor and his physician ordered him to leave. It was in this way 
that he decided to go to California. From 1889 to 1896 he was a member of the 
firm of Kirkpatrick, Howk & Massey, who engaged in quarrying just outside of 
the city limits on South Chicago street.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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