Harrison County, West Virginia Biography of Daniel HOWARD ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Nancy Taylor March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 435 DANIEL HOWARD is a veteran of two great and essential industries, railroading and coal production. His career has been a long and useful one, from the time, as a mere youth, he took upon himself the responsibilities not only of his own existence but in part the care of other members of the family. One of the leading figures among the cola operators of the Fairmont District, his familiar title of "Uncle Dan" conveys a degree of affection and esteem and also a tribute to his business success. Mr. Howard, who is a resident of Clarksburg, was born in Ennis, Ireland, November 19, 1848. He was five years of age when his parents, John and Ellen (Russell) Howard came to America and settled new Vandalia, Illnois. That was the home of Daniel Howard until he was sixteen years of age. In the meantime he had acquired a common school education, and his father's death call him home from a college in Chicago to the more serious duties involved in his own support and such contributions as his labors could make to the support of the family. Mr. Howard spent about twenty-five years in the railroad service, and was employed in different states of the Middle West. His last position was that of joint freight agent for the Big Four and Illnois Central railroads at Chicago. On leaving railroad work Mr. Howard was a coal salesman for two years, and then came to West Virginia to look after the coal properties for the O'Gara Coal Mining Company of Chicago. MR. Howard established his home in Clarksburg in 1905. Since then there has been a rapid accumulation of important industrial organizations in which he has been an influential and active figure. In 1906 he organized the Central Fairmont Coal Company, of which he has been president from the beginning. This company operates the well known Snake Hill Coal Mine of Harrison County. He is president of the Monarch Coal Company, the Big Vein Cola Company and the Farimont-Reynoldsville Coal Mining Company, the Blue Ridge Coal Company, the Washington Fuel Company, and has been sales manager of the Peacock Coal and Harrison County Coal companies, and also for the Monroe Collieries Company, in which he is still financially interested. Mr. Howard was the first president of the Central West Virginia Coal Operators Association, subsequently succeeded by the Northern West Virginia Coal Operators Association. HE was the organizer of the Clarksburg Coal Club, in which he has been active from the beginning. No operator in the Fairmont region is better or more favorably known than Daniel Howard. He is a member of the American Mining Congress, the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute and the International Railway Fuel Association. He has been a Mason for Fifty years, becoming a Master Mason in the State of Kansas, and is a past master of the lodge in which he was raised. He is a member of the Knights Templar Commandery, the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Howard is an Elk, a member of the Clarksburg Rotary Club, and is a past president of the Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce. In politics he is a republican. January 31, 1871, he married Miss Harriet Frederick, a native of Knox County, Ohio. There were married at St. Louis, Missouri. MR. and Mrs. Howard traveled life's highway together for more than half a century, celebrating their golden wedding anniversary, and their union was broken by the death of Mrs. Howard almost a year later, on January 22, 1922. There are two surviving children. Frederick Howard is superintendent of the Central Fairmont Coal Company and a resident of Clarksburg. The daughter, Mildred Howard, is the wife of Hon. Fred E. Guthrie, a prominent lawyer and banker of Marion, Ohio.