James Howard

 

SOURCE: "Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Illinois," Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887
SURNAMES: BLAIR, BURFORT, GIBBONS, HOWARD, MORGAN, WARE

JAMES HOWARD, a native of New Jersey, emigrated to Logan County, Ill., in 1851, and Champaign County in 1873. He is now the owner of about 150 acres of good land in Brown Township, on section 31, on which the town of Howard (named in his honor) is situated, at the crossing of the Wabash and Illinois Central Railroads. His land is well cultivated, and his farm buildings convenient and substantial. He has devoted the greater part of his life to agricultural pursuits, and is conducting the various departments of his farm in a successful and intelligent manner.

The parents of our subject were David and Sarah (MORGAN) HOWARD. He was born on the other side of the Atlantic, in Wales, his wife in New Jersey. They first settled in Sussex County, N. J. and from there, in 1836, emigrated to Warren County, Ohio, where the mother died in 1840. David Howard afterward removed to Union County, Ind., where his death occurred in 1844. The parental family consisted of four sons and two daughters, and James of our sketch was the fifth child. He was born in Sussex County, N. J., march 2, 1828. He removed with the family of his father first to Ohio and then to Indiana, and after the death of the head of the household became a member of the family of his brother in Butler County, Ohio. Two years later he returned to Warren County, and afterward lived in different places in Ohio until 1851, when he took up his residence in Sangamon County, Ill., but shortly afterward went to Logan County, and thence to Tazewell County, where for a period of seventeen years he was a resident of Boyington Township. In 1873 he removed to Brown Township, this county, of which he has since been a resident.

While a resident of Logan County, this State, Mr. Howard was untied in Marriage, Feb. 26, 1856, with Miss Sarah WARE, of De Witt County, Ill. Mrs. Howard was born June 29, 1827, in Amherst County, Va., and was the daughter of Andrew and Cynthia A. (BURFORT) WARE. She became the mother of eight children, and died at the home of her husband in Brown Township, May 31, 1879. The sons and daughters of our subject are recorded as follows: David A. married Miss Mary M. GIBBONS, and is farming in Brown Township; John E. married Miss Susan BLAIR, and is a resident of Wichita, Kan.; Marion married Miss Anna GIBBONS, and is operating a farm in East Bend Township; Cassius P. is at home; James A. is residing at Ft. Meade, Dak., where he is Postmaster, also partner and local manager of the store at the Post; Joseph died when eighteen years of age, on the 29th of September, 1885; Martha L. and Cynthia A. remain on the home farm with their father. Martha was appointed Postmistress of Howard in June, 1885, and still holds that position. The deceased wife and mother was a lady greatly respected for her womanly virtues and kindness of heart. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for a period of thirty years and adorned the profession in her daily life, both at home and in the outside world. Mr. Howard is also connected with the Methodist Church; he is a Prohibitionist.