The Immigrant Ancestors: John and Sarah Brown Howe

One of the greatest treasures in Sarah Eva Howe's scrapbooks is a handwritten history of immigrant ancestor John Howe. Judging from the handwriting, the history could have been written by Sarah (John's granddaughter) or by Sarah's mother, Alice Ada Cost Howe. The lined theme paper is fragile and tattered with age. The writing is faint but legible except where the paper is torn.

John Howe, 1823-1890

In the following transcription, I've placed brackets around words that are my "best guess" when a word has been lost and to indicate information I inserted for clarification.

John Howe was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, May 5th 1823.¹ His parents were Primitive Methodists connected with the Established Church of England in which latter church he was baptized in infancy.

He was married June 2nd, 1845 to Miss Sarah Brown, a resident of the same county.

With their infant son William they came to America 1847 and after a short stay in New York City and Brooklyn reached Flemingsburg, Ky. in 1848. Here the subject of our sketch united with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. After about nine years of successful business life, Mr. & Mrs. Howe with their little family of four children removed to a farm in Illinois. A quiet life did not suit him and because of sickness in his family, failure of crops and other difficulties, he sold his property in Illinois and after a short stay in St. Louis, Mo., and Madison, Ind., he returned to his favorite Kentucky.

In the spring of 1859 he located in Carrollton, Ky. where he remained until his death, which occurred about seven o’clock in the morning of Saturday, July 1st [1890].

Mr. & Mrs. Howe early became connected with the Methodist Episcopal  Church in Carrollton, and he was until his death closely identified with its growth and development from a small [church] resting in an old building to a large and flourishing congregation worshiping in a beautiful edifice.

The wife of his youth [Sarah "Sallie" Brown] died March 4th 1877 leaving a family of five sons and a daughter, all of whom united with the Methodist Church in early life which was always an occasion of gravity and thankfulness for their parents.

Nov. 4th 1879 Mr. Howe was united in marriage to Mrs. Jane [Hopkins] Bell,² whose loving care and faithful companionship contributed greatly to Mr. Howe and the peace and happiness of his later years.

Sarah "Sallie" Brown Howe, 1823-1877

John Howe and Sarah "Sallie" Brown were married 2 June 1845 at the Cavanaleck Presbyterian Church in County Tyrone, Ireland (though both of them lived in nearby County Fermanagh). Based on census and family records, they had seven children who lived to adulthood:³
William Ficklin ("Willie") – 1846-1916 ⁴
Elizabeth Margaret ("Lizzie") – 1848-1869
John Irvin – 1853-1891 ⁵
Robert James ("Rob") – 1855-1910 ⁶
Joseph Brown – 1857-1929 ⁷
George Thompson – 1860-1881
Sarah Verena ("Sallie") – 1862-1950 ⁸

Their son Robert was the father of Sarah Eva Howe, the compiler of the scrapbooks. A notation indicates  that Sarah Eva was named for her father's sister, Sarah Verena Howe ("Aunt Sallie").

John established a woolen mill in Carrollton, and the mill prospered to the point that at least four of his five sons earned their livings there or in businesses related to the mill.

John died 1 February 1890 and is buried beside Sallie in the Carrollton United Methodist Church Cemetery in Carrollton, Carroll County, Kentucky.


Endnotes
¹ This and many other dates and other facts in this post came solely from Sarah Eva Howe's scrapbooks, the Howe family Bible, and other family sources, including grave stones in the Carrollton Methodist Church cemetery
² Ancestry.com. Kentucky, County Marriage Records, 1783-1965 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Accessed 4 February 2019.
³ The names and dates are consistent in family sources. Some are confirmed in secondary sources such as FindAGrave.com and in the following official records.
⁴ Kentucky. Vital Statistics Original Death Certificates – Microfilm (1911-1964). Microfilm rolls #7016130-7041803. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky. (Death Certificate #12473)
⁵ Kentucky. Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records – Microfilm (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.
⁶ U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925; #48427 issued 12 Jan 1876; Ancestry.com. Accessed 17 Jan 2016
⁷ Ancestry.com. Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1965 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Accessed 4 Feb 2019
⁸ Kentucky. Vital Statistics Original Death Certificates – Microfilm (1911-1964). Microfilm rolls #7016130-7041803. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky. Also: Ancestry.com. Kentucky, County Marriage Records, 1783-1965 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.  Accessed June 3, 2016