THOMAS HOWARD
This
publication exercises one of its most consistent and important
functions when it enters memorial tribute to such honored and
resourceful pioneers as the late Thomas Howard, who came to Hamilton
county, Nebraska, about four years after the admission of the state to
the Union, proved well his powers of mind and body in coping with the
conditions and influences that marked the early period in the history
of this now opulent commonwealth. He was one of the venerable pioneer
citizens of this section of the state at the time of his death, which
occurred at his home in the village of Giltner, on the 28th of
December, 1920, his birth having occurred in Mercer county,
Pennsylvania, April 8, 1837. Mr. Howard was reared in the old Keystone
state, where he received the advantages of the common schools of the
period and his earlier pioneer experience was gained in the state of
Wisconsin, where he was residing at the outbreak of the Civil war. His
youthful patriotism was shown by his prompt enlistment in response to
President Lincoln’s first call for volunteers. At Madison, the capital
of Wisconsin, he enlisted as a private in Company H, Seventh Wisconsin
Volunteer Infantry, and the history of this gallant command represents
virtually the record of his career as a soldier of the Union, for with
it he served during practically the entire period of the war. He
participated in twenty-seven battles, a number of them of major
importance, including Bull Run and Gettysburg. He was three times
wounded, but was not long incapacitated for service. After receiving
his honorable discharge at the; close of the war, Mr. Howard returned
to Wisconsin and there gave his attention to farm enterprise until
1871, when, with team and covered wagon, he and his wife set out for
the new state of Nebraska. They brought with them about sixty head of
horses and cattle and six weeks elapsed before they reached their
destination in Hamilton county. Here Mr. Howard entered claim to a
homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Union township and the
original domicile which he provided was a. small shanty, with dirt roof
and floor, a sod addition having later added to the accommodations of
the primitive dwelling, the first stable also having been of sod
construction. Sutton and Lincoln were Mr. Howard’s principal trading
points in the early days and he did much to provide the family larder
by his prowess with the rifle, with which he killed antelopes, deer and
wild turkeys and participated in two or three buffalo hunts. He was
out-of-doors during much of the historic Easter blizzard, as he found
it necessary to keep careful watch of his live stock and during the
three days that the storm prevailed the family depended upon melted
snow for water, as it was impossible to use the well on the place. The
usual experience of the pioneers in connection with loss through
droughts and grasshoppers fell to the lot of Mr. Howard, and on one
occasion not only all vegetation on the Howard farm was destroyed by
the grasshoppers, but the granary was literally covered with the
insects. Mr. Howard and his wife did not falter in faith or courage
under adverse conditions and their persistency was rewarded with the
substantial prosperity which eventually came to them in connection with
farm industry in the state of their adoption.
In Wisconsin was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Howard to Miss Elizabeth Cutts, who was
born in St. Lawrence county, New York, and concerning whose family
history adequate record appears elsewhere in this work, in the personal
sketch of her brother, Edward Cutts. Mr. Howard continued in active
supervision of his fine farm until 1906, when he and his wife
established their home at Giltner, where he passed the remainder of his
life. Of their ten children the eldest is Laura, who is the wife of
Henry Gimple, a farmer in Hamilton county; Russell now owns and has
charge of his father’s old home farm; Alice, Alva, Margaret, George,
Scott, May, Eva and Bertha are all deceased. Mrs. Howard endured the
trials and hardships of the pioneer days but in the gracious twilight
of life she is surrounded by friends Who are tried and true, is
enjoying peace and prosperity and finds that in her widowhood there is
a generous measure of consolation and compensation granted to her in
the community in which she is known and honored as a true pioneer woman.
Mr.
Howard took lively and helpful interest in community affairs, was a
stanch republican, was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic
and was an earnest member of the Presbyterian church, as is also his
widow.
Source: History of Hamilton and Clay Counties, Nebraska Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1921, pages 189-190
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