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biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
PROF. WILLIAM H. HOWE, Principal and proprietor of Oskaboosa Business College, was born in Goshen, Elkhart Co., Ind., Dec. 3, 1852, and was the only son of Arlow L. and Sarab Howe, the former a native of New York and the latter of Indiana. Sarah Howe died in the year 1854, when William L. was adopted by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel McGaw, who came to Mahaska County in 1856, bringing the subject of this sketch with them, and here he remained until 1865. Arlow L. Howe went to Minnesota, and was married to Miss Hannah Albro, a native of New York. Arlow L. Howe, father of the subject of this sketch, was a soldier of the late Civil War, enlisting in 1862, in the 3d Minnesota Infantry as a private soldier, and later on was promoted Orderly Sergeant of his company, and served the full term of his enlistment, three years. At the close of the war Arlow L. Howe visited Iowa and took William L. home with him to Minnesota to live, as both grandparents had died during the period of ten years he had lived here in Iowa. During the year of 1886 he attended the annual session of the G. A. R. at San Francisco, Cal., of which he is a member. William L. Howe worked with his father on the farm from 1865 till 1873, when he started out for himself, farming from 1873 to 1877, and having laid up a little he concluded he would invest in an education. His early days were spent in the Normal School at Oskaloosa, and after quitting the farm in 1877 he entered Oskaloosa College, where he pursued a course of studies for two years and a half, when his health failed him and he abandoned the, course. In 1879 he attended the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Ill., and graduated the same year with high honors. He returned to Oskaloosa upon the completion of his commercial course, and taught penmanship through the county until August, 1880. He was asked by the Board of Oskaloosa College to make application for the principalship of the Commercial Department of the college, which he did with a number of others from the different parts of the county, and the board, after due examination of the forms of application, decided that William L. Howe was the one to fill that responsible position. After being notified of his election as Principal of the Commercial Department, Prof. Howe entered upon his duties with a vim that has made him popular from the beginning as a penman and commercial teacher. He began his work in a small room with three students, and the attendance increased in two years so that he was obliged to move into the third story of the main building, where he could have the required room. In 1884 there was a demand made upon him to open a night school for the teaching of penmanship, book-keeping and general commercial branches in a business course. He acceded to that demand, the school was opened in the central part of the city, a large attendance was secured, and from that day the Oskaloosa Business College proper, of which Prof Howe is Principal and proprietor, was an assured success. Much credit is due him for the establishment of this needed institution of our city. In its details, its course of study, the methods employed in teaching, and in fact all that goes to make up a first-class commercial college, it is in all respects the equal of any similar institution in the West, and to see it will convince any skeptical person if he wishes a thorough commercial education. In September, 1885, Prof. Howe bought the furniture of the old Ottumwa Business College, and placed one of its students at its head, and it also is in good running order now, and the Ottumwa people have given him many fine testimonials for reviving this old school and making it the beacon light it is to-day. In March, 1886, Prof. Howe opened another business college in Marshalltown, Iowa, and put another one of his students in charge, which shows the disposition he has to do well by his best students if they wish to become teachers in the great world of commerce. All these schools are well patronized both from home and abroad, and his students are found in responsible positions everywhere, which speaks well for their instructors as well as the schools from which they graduate. The Professor was married, in 1881, in Oskaloosa, to Miss Hettie Adlon, a daughter of John B. Adlon, a prominent business man of this city. By this marriage there are two childrenÄ-Samuel J. and Emily Cloris. Prof. Howe is a member of the I.O.O.F.,S. of V. and M. W. of A. In the first order he has filled all the chairs, and in 1884 was representative in the Grand Lodge of the order. He is also a very active member of the K. of P., and is Second Lieutenant in the U. R. K. of P. As a prominent resident of Oskaloosa, and a representative citizen of the county, the publishers of this ALBUM are pleased to present in their galaxy of portraits, that of Prof. Howe.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy