Henry N. Howell Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 361-362

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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HENRY N. HOWELL, one of the prosperous and substantial agriculturists 
as well as honored citizens of Milford township, Beadle county, South 
Dakota, was born in Orange county, New York, April 20, 1833, a son of 
David E. and Sarah (Turner) Howell, both natives of the Empire state. 
The father, who was a farmer by occupation, moved to Delaware county, 
New York, and located on the Delaware river, where he purchased land 
and began to clear the soil of the heavy timber with which it was 
covered. After a short residence there two sons died, and the second 
winter found the family in very limited circumstances as they had 
raised nothing but turnips and a few other vegetables to carry them 
through the winter. 

This being the case, our subject was forced to find employment in the 
lumber camps to help provide necessary food for his father's family. He 
continued to work in the woods until his seventeenth year, when he 
found a position as brakeman on the New York & Lake Erie Railroad. He 
broke that winter and then began as fireman in the spring. This 
employment enabled him to support his father's family. In 1853 he was 
given an engine on a regular run, and held that position three years 
when a strike occurred. Charles Minot, the noted railroad 
superintendent of the early '50s, was retired, and D. C. McCullom was 
elected to fill his place; but as the latter was very unpopular with 
the engineers, this led to the strike. Mr. Howell went out and later 
found employment on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, where 
he served as engineer until the panic of 1857, which caused a 
suspension of most all traffic and forced him to seek employment 
elsewhere. He then tried farming, but a failure of crops made him 
abandon that business, and he secured a position with the Terre Haute, 
Alton & St. Louis Railroad. When Charles Minot was again made 
superintendent of the Erie Railroad, he called for his old engineers 
and our subject was one of the first to respond. He continued with that 
road as engineer until 1872, when he was made traveling engineer over 
three hundred and fifty miles of road, but his nerves failed and he was 
forced to give up his position in 1881. 

With the hope of restoring his health, Mr. Howell came to Beadle 
county, South Dakota, in October, 1882, and took up the southeast 
quarter of section 14, Milford township, as a homestead, and the 
northwest quarter of the same section as a tree claim. He has since 
acquired eight additional quarter-sections of land, and has been 
remarkably successful in his farming operations, making a specialty of 
the raising of wheat. He sustained a loss of seven thousand dollars in 
a lawsuit for an addition to Los Angeles, California, the case being 
decided against him, as the records of the supreme court will show. 

At Beloit, Wisconsin, in December, 1859, Mr. Howell was united in 
marriage with Miss Adda Du Bois, of Freeport, Illinois, who was born in 
Onondaga, New York, August 8, 1831, a daughter of Thorn and Catherine 
(Connell) Du Bois, who moved to Rockford, Illinois, in 1855. Our 
subject and his wife have no children. 

During the Civil war Mr. Howell was drafted, but feeling under 
obligations to the railroad company, and on their promise to refund 
money paid for bounties, he furnished a substitute, but the company 
failed to repay the amount. He took an active part in the organization 
of his township, and at different times has been called upon to fill 
nearly all of its offices. Considering his restored health, and the 
property acquired since coming here, Mr. Howell may be justly 
considered one of the most successful men in Beadle county. In politics 
he was a Republican until 1885, but has since voted independent of 
party ties. - He is still a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers, which he assisted in organizing, and carries a policy of 
three thousand dollars in its insurance. He was reared a Presbyterian, 
but since coming to Dakota has attended the Methodist Episcopal church. 
One of the highly-respected and useful citizens of his community, we 
take great pleasure in presenting this brief record of his life to the 
readers of this volume, knowing that it will be perused with special 
interest by his many friends.