Leonard Alden Howe
The educational advantages which qualified Leonard Alden Howe
for the duties of life were only such as the public schools
afford. Although not educated for any special line of work he has
never feared to venture where opportunity has led the way, and
the simple weight of his character and ability has carried him
into important relations. As president of the Waukon State Bank
he ranks with the leading business men of the city, in which he
has made his home for nearly a half century, for although born at
Lansing, Iowa, he was only about a year old when brought to
Waukon, where he has since lived. His birth occurred March 11,
1863, and he is descended from a long line of New England
ancestry. His father, Leonard Henry Howe, traced his lineage back
to John Howe, who settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1639,
while the mother, Charlotte E. (Spooner) Howe, is a descendant of
William Spooner, who settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1637.
Leonard Henry Howe, son of Eli Howe, was born April 30, 1831, at
Springfield, Vermont, and in the spring of 1857 became a resident
of Lansing, Iowa, where he entered upon the study of law in the
office and under direction of Samuel Kinne. In January, 1858, he
was admitted to the bar and engaged in practice in Lansing with
good success until 1861, when he was elected treasurer and
recorder of Allamakee county, the duties of both positions being
at that time entrusted to one incumbent. He proved most capable
and faithful in office, making a creditable record in that
connection to the time of his death, which occurred July 27,
1863. It was on the 31st of January, 1861, that he had wedded
Charlotte E. Spooner, a daughter of colonel Jeduthan and Betsey
(Webb) Spooner. Her father was born at Hardwick, Massachusetts,
July 6, 1799, and for many years was the publisher of The
Repository, a weekly paper which he removed from Burlington to
St. Albans, Vermont. He continued a resident of new England until
1837, when he sought the opportunities of the growing west and
took up his abode upon a farm in Walworth county, Wisconsin,
where he remained until 1853, when he went to Waterville, Iowa.
At that place, in company with his son Alden, he engaged in
merchandising and also conducted a tannery and gristmill, the
latter being still in the town, although long since abandoned for
milling purposes. On the death of his son Alden on the 17th of
April, 1857, colonel Spooner removed to Lansing, Iowa, and
afterward came to Waukon, where he died March 9, 1867. His wife
survived him for six years, passing away at Waukon, September 29,
1873. Colonel Spooner was a brother of Wyman Spooner, who served
as lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 1864 until 1870. Mrs.
Charlotte (Spooner) Howe was born in. Albans, Vermont, September
6, 1836, and accompanied her parents on their removal to
Wisconsin and later to Iowa. After the death of her first
husband, Leonard Henry Howe, she became the wife of his brother,
Lewis Eli Howe, on the 10th of Mary, 1865. Her long life has been
spent in active and useful work, her influence being one of
positive uplift in the home and the church and an influence for
good among all with whom she has come in contact. She is still
living near her children in Waukon. Her second husband, Lewis Eli
Howe, was born in Norridgewock, Maine, September 13, 1822, and
with his brother Leonard went to Lansing, Iowa, in 1857, removing
to Waukon in 1865. He served as deputy county treasurer under his
brother Leonard and afterward engaged in the real-estate business
in Waukon for many years. He was in influential participant in
many of the changes that took place during the early settlement
of Allamakee county and was everywhere recognized as a man of
sterling integrity and character. He died May 1, 1885, leaving
three children: Lewis L., who was born April 17, 1866, and died
August 27, 1889; Bessie S., who was born June 25, 1868, and was
married September 27, 1892, to Arthur E. Pratt, their home being
in Waukon; and Horace A., who was born December 14, 1875. He
married Evy Gibbs, November 2, 1898, and for a number of years
has been engaged in the life insurance business.
Leonard Alden Howe, who was the only child of his mother’s
first marriage, was brought to Waukon by his mother and maternal
grandfather soon after the death of Leonard Henry Howe. At the
usual age he entered the public schools of this city and advanced
through consecutive grades. In the school of experience he has
learned many valuable lessons, and has made his life one of
usefulness and activity. While he has advanced his personal
success, he has also contributed to the general welfare in his
advocacy and support of many measures for the public good. His
initial step in the business world was made on the 1st of
January, 1883, when he entered the Waukon Bank as clerk and
bookkeeper, since which time he has been continuously connected
with financial interests. The bank was then a private institution
owned by L. W. Hersey, G. W. Stoddard and C. T. Granger. In
April, 1892, the business was incorporated under the state law as
the Waukon State Bank, at which time Mr. Howe became a
stockholder and the assistant cashier. Two years later he was
promoted to the position of cashier and so continued until the
death of Mr. Hersey in 1903, when he was elected to the
presidency of the bank and is still at the head of the
institution. He recognizes the fact that the bank is most worthy
of public confidence which most carefully safeguards the
interests of its depositors and his progressive methods are
tempered by a conservatism that maintains an even balance. Mr.
Howe has been interested in other business enterprises in Waukon,
and is recognized as a man of sound judgment, keen discrimination
and unfaltering energy. From 1885 until 1888 he was associated
with E. J. Spaulding in the lumber business, and from 1892 until
1900 he was in partnership with R. J. Alexander in the clothing
business. However, his attention was largely given to the banking
business, while his association with other concerns was that of
an investor. In 1887 he became the local agent of the
Northwestern Mutual life Insurance Company of Milwaukee and won
success along that line, but in 1901 turned this agency over to
his brother Horace.
Mr. Howe has been twice married. On the 14th of June, 1892, he
wedded Miss Vesta Greer, who was born in Waukon on the 23d of
September, 1872, her parents being Isaac and Ann (Hatch) Greer.
She was a graduate of the Waukon high school in the class of
1891. By her marriage she became the mother of a daughter, Vesta,
whose birth occurred April 14, 1894, and who passed away on the
4th of May following. The wife and mother died April 22, 1894,
only a few days after the birth of her child. Ten years later, on
the 15th of September, 1904, Mr. Howe was again married, his
second union being with Miss Blanche Hinkley, who was born in
Cherokee county, Iowa, on the 31st of August, 1876, her parents
being Myron and Anna (Briggs) Hinkley, of Mount Vernon, Iowa. She
is a graduate of the Le Mars Normal School of Le Mars, Iowa, and
also graduated in the three years’ course in the college at
Cedar Falls, In 1902 on the completion of the regular classical
course, she won the degree of B. A.. from Cornell college of
Mount Vernon, Iowa. For two years prior to her marriage she acted
as assistant principal of the high school at Waukon. Mr. and Mrs.
Howe have one child, Alden, born May 3, 1909.
Mr. Howe belongs to Waukon lodge, A.F. & A.M., of which he
was master in 1903 and 1904, and he has also been high priest of
Markwell Chapter R. A. M., for eight years. He joined the Iowa
National Guard in 1882 as a member of Company I of the Fourth
Regiment, organized at Waukon. He remained a member of the
company for about five years and afterward served as a
non-commissioned officer on the staff of Colonel Thrift and of
Colonel Stewart for about five years longer. Mr. and Mrs. Howe
hold membership in the Presbyterian church, of which he is a
trustee, while for thirty years he has been a church treasurer.
His influence is always on the side of progress, reformed and
improvement. He has faithfully and capably performed the duties
that each day has brought, and in every relation of life has
measured up to the highest standards of manhood and citizenship.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
Return to 1913 biographies index