Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Howes, Thomas 1840 - 
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Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

THOMAS HOWES.

    Among those of English birth, who have located in Oketo township, Marshall
county, where they have met with much success in general farming and stock
raising, is Thomas Howes, a pioneer resident of the township, who was born in
Northamptonshire, England, October 20, 1840, being the son of Lazarus and Mary
Howes, farming people, both of whom were natives of that country and spent their
lives there.

    Thomas Howes received his education in the English schools and grew to
manhood on the farm. He engaged in farming for himself and on March 22, 1866, he
was united in marriage to Eliza Leveridge, who was also a native of England,
where she was born in 1841. In 1866, following their marriage, they came to
America. After landing in New York they came direct to Kansas. They made the
trip as far as Keokuk by rail, and then up the river to Atchison, from which
place they came to Marshall county with an ox team that they had purchased. They
had little to bring to their new home, as they brought only their bedding from
their home in England. After their arrival in the county, they homesteaded one
hundred and sixty acres in Oketo township, but eighty acres of the tract was
later taken away from them. They lived in the prairie schooner until Mr. Howes
could cut the logs and build a one-room house, twelve by fourteen feet, and in
this they lived for seven years, after which they built a frame house. The first
year they were on the place, five acres of the tract was broken and a crop of
buckwheat was raised. Their first year in their new home was a hard one, for
they had been able to raise but little on their farm and they were without funds
to buy. Much of their food consisted of game that was killed on the prairie,
consisting of chicken, duck and wild turkey. Their nearest market at that time
was at Marysville, a small pioneer town. The second year was more prosperous. In
time the farm was placed under a high state of cultivation and as a general
farmer and stockman, Mr. Howes became successful. He increased his farm, until
he is now the owner of three hundred and sixty-five acres of prime land, all of
which is well improved.

    To Thomas and Eliza Howes were born the following children: Charles, Mary,
Lillian, John, Lottie, Esther, Louise, and Walter. Charles is now a resident of
Pottawatomie county; Mary is deceased; Lillian Triggs resides in Balderson
township; John is a resident of Oketo township and is now serving as township
trustee; Lottie Herring lives in Oketo township, where her husband, Samuel
Herring, is a farmer; Louise Tatman is a resident of Oketo township and Walter
is on the old home farm. In 1899 Eliza Howes died, and Mr. Howes continued to
live on the home farm until 1904, at which time he was married to Mina Harrison
Lawson, the widow of Jacob Lawson, who was born in Sweden and settled in
Marshall county in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson were married in 1870 and lived on
the home farm until the time of his death in 1902. They were the parents of the
following children: Charles Albert, deceased; John, of Smith county; Edmund, of
Morton county; Arabelle Johnson, of Blue Rapids; Augustus J., of Colorado, and
Alice Garrison, who lives in Morton county. Mina Howes was born in the state of
Indiana in 1853 and is the daughter of George and Lorina Harrison, natives of
that state. They lived there until 1858, when they came to Illinois, in which
state they lived until 1872. In the latter year they located in Oketo township,
where they lived for one year, when they moved to Jewell county, where they
lived until their deaths.

    Mr. Howes is the oldest living pioneer of Oketo township and is one of the
substantial men of the county. He is identified with the Republican party and
has always taken an active interest in the affairs of the district. His life has
been an active one and he has accomplished much that is worthy of emulation.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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