Biographies | 1896 Bios


Rev. William Edwin Howe


REV. WILLIAM EDWIN HOWE, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Guthrie Center, Iowa, is a native of Clarion county, Pennsylvania, born in West Freedom, August 30, 1849. His early years were spent in his native county and when a youth of sixteen he came with his parents to Muscatine, Iowa, where he soon afterward secured a position as deputy in the post-office, and served as such four years. During the time he served in the post-office he made up two years' preparatory study in Greek and Latin, and in 1876 he entered Garrett Biblical Institute, where he graduated May 5, 1879-receiving the degree of B. D. Previous to deciding upon his life work, Mr. Howe spent one year in the study of law at Muscatine.·In 1880 he was admitted to the Des Moines Conference, and his first appointment was at Altoona, where he served as pastor one year.· Afterward he filled appointments successively at Carlisle, two years; Farmer City, one year; Hamburg, three years; Sidney, three years; Shelby, two years; and since 1892 has served as pastor of his present charge at Guthrie Center.

Mr. Howe is a man of strong individuality and is thoroughly in earnest in his work. As a temperance worker and an advocate of all moral reforms he is as radically in earnest as he is in the spread of the gospel, and his labors at the various stations where he has been located have been attended with success. During his pastorate here at Guthrie Center he has had over two hundred accessions to the church. The Methodists at this place erected their house of worship in 1891, at a cost of about $12,000, and they own a parsonage which is valued at $1,500.

Of Mr. Howe's family history we would also make mention in this connection. His parents were the Rev. Jared and Mary Ann (Young) Howe. His father was a native of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, born in the year 1812. At about the age of thirty-five years he entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, joining the Erie Conference, and to the work of the ministry he devoted the rest of his active life. After his removal to Iowa he retired, sustaining a supernumerary relation to the conference. He died at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in December, 1871. His wife survived him until December, 1883. The Howes are of Scotch origin, have had among their ranks many professional men, and have been noted for longevity. The Young family, of which Mrs. Howe was a member, are descended from the Irish, and they are an exceptionally long-lived family, averaging seventy years: Rev. Jared Howe and his wife had five sons and three daughters, all of whom are living, namely: Morrison Y., a prominent educator, having been principal of the First ward school in Muscatine, for nineteen consecutive years; John E., one of the leading architects of Muscatine; Jennie, a resident of that place; Simeon K., an attorney of Kansas City, Missouri; Horatio S., an architect and builder; William E., whose name appears at the head of this review; Luella H., wife of John S. Lyon, a contractor and builder, now in Texas; and Leona E., assistant principal of the Muscatine high school. Two of the sons, Simeon K. and Horatio S., were Union soldiers in the Civil war.

The Rev. William E. Howe was married in Muscatine, Iowa, September 16, 1880, to Miss Adda Boydston, a native of that place and a daughter of James and Mary Boydston. Mr. and Mrs. Howe have had four children--Mary Myrtle, Edwin Raymond, Mabel Estelle and Robert Edmund. All are living except Edwin R.

A Memorial and Biographical Record of Iowa, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company 1896, pg. 16.

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