Gaston, Joseph. "The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912." Vol. 3. Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. p. 307. ALFRED COBB HOWLETT One of the best informed men in Jackson county on pioneer conditions in this section of Oregon is Alfred Cobb Howlett, proprietor and manager of the Sunnyside Hotel at Eagle Point. His residence in this county covers a period of forty-five years, and during that time he has been identified with various activities and has engaged in different occupations and many are the interesting reminiscences he can relate of his early days in Oregon. He was born in Augusta, Maine, on the 16th of March, 1832, and is a son of James and Mary (Cobb) Howlett. The father was born in Boston, Massachusetts, his natal day being the 4th of March, 1801, while the mother's birth occurred in Lynn, Massachusetts, on the 3d of April, 1803. Soon after their marriage they went to Maine, residing in that state until 1838, when they removed to Missouri, settling in Boone county. In 1849 the father and his two eldest sons, James Henry and our subject, went to California. They made the journey with an ox team, going by way of New Mexico to Los Angeles, and spent the winter just outside of that city at San Gabriel Mission. That spring they engaged in mining and subsequently went to Amador county, California and there continued their prospecting for a time, and then engaged in the mercantile business. They continued to be identified with this until 1852, when they went to the Suisun valley and engaged in ranching. In 1856 they were joined by the mother and the remainder of the family, who came around the Horn. They made their home in the Suisun valley until the father's death in January, 1875, after which the mother returned to the east and lived with her daughter at Evanston, Illinois, until she passed away in 1886. During his early life James Howlett engaged in the manufacture of tobacco for the European trade on what was an extensive scale for that time. He was a very religious man, however, and feeling that he could no longer conscientiously deal in this commodity he withdrew from the business entirely. Later he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and the latter years of his life were devoted to farming and church work. He was a local Methodist preacher and supplied many pulpits in California during the pioneer period. Both the father and mother were people of rare culture and education, and Mrs. Howlett, who was reared in the Quaker faith, was for many years a regular contributor to the Ladies' Repository of New York city, a very popular household periodical of that period. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Howlett numbered ten, six of whom, four sons and two daughters, lived to attain maturity, our subject being the second son. Alfred Cobb Howlett was a youth of seventeen years when he came to California with his father and brother, and had already assumed the duties of manhood. His early education was acquired in the common schools of Missouri, but this was later supplemented by a year's study in the academy at Vacaville, California. During the first four years of his residence here, from 1850 to 1854, he worked in the mines, and later he assisted with the operation of the home ranch in the Suisun valley, remaining there until 1857. He subsequently decided to enter the service of the church and in 1858 he was licensed to preach, and the following year he was admitted to membership in the conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. In October, 1861, he began his duties as circuit preacher in Oregon with headquarters at Eugene. His circuit embraced sixteen appointments covering a territory of one hundred and seventy-five miles, and he visited each place of appointment once a month. In the fall of 1862 he was transferred to the Oregon city circuit and the next year he was given charge of the field at Yreka, California. After a year's service in this circuit he was located at Williamsburg, Josephine county, and there terminated his work as a circuit rider. In 1867 he came to Jackson county, settling at Eagle Point, where he taught school during the week and preached on Sunday. He was later forced to abandon this, as the exposure and hard work while on the circuit was beginning to tell on his health, so he went up into the mountains to live until he should be well and strong again. In 1868 he withdrew from the Methodist conference and located on a ranch adjacent to Eagle Point, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and stock-raising, but his Sundays were still devoted to religious work, and he held church services every week at various places in the community, and performed such other duties as usually devolve upon a home missionary. Subsequently he removed to Eagle Point and went into the hotel business and in 1901 he erected the present Sunnyside Hotel. It is most delightfully located, fronting on Little Butte creek, and commands a beautiful view of the surrounding valley. In connection with the management of his hotel, Mr. Howlett is still operating his ranch of one hundred and forty-seven acres, which is one of the well improved and valuable properties of the community. Ever since September, 1856, he has also been a contributor to the press, many of his articles appearing in the Pacific Methodist of San Francisco. For more than forty years he has been a newspaper correspondent and for the past twenty-seven years has written from one to three letters each week for publication. He possesses a marvelous capacity for work and is most versatile and so intelligently commands his forces that anything he undertakes is performed most capably and efficiently. Mr. Howlett has rendered notable service to the community where he has resided for so many years in various capacities and has the distinction of having organized the first Sunday school in this part of the county, which was convened on Bear creek. In July, 1863, in the vicinity of Oregon City, Mr. Howlett was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Cooke, who was born in Lafayette county, Missouri, on the 31st of December, 1847. In 1852, at the age of five years, she crossed the plains to Oregon with her parents, William Willis and Martha Jane (Young) Cooke, who located at Oregon City. The father was a native of North Carolina and the mother of Missouri but they both passed away in Clackamas county, this state. To Mr. and Mrs. Howlett there were born thirteen children, six of whom died in infancy, the others being as follows: Walter Henry, who is living in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Alfred Willis, who died at the age of fourteen years; Sarah, the wife of James M. Lewis, of Meadow Lake, Washington; Mildred Maria, who married C. E. Hoyt, of Fort Klamath, Oregon; Octavia Grace, the wife of Grant Shaw, of Fairview, Oregon; Lucy Hattie, who is at home; and Agnes Love, also at home. The family affiliate with the Congregational church, Mr. Howlett having joined the East Willamette Association of Congregational churches in 1907, since which he has been engaged in home and missionary work for this organization. He is one of the highly esteemed and widely known residents of the county, and has hosts of friends as he is a man who strives to put into practice in his everyday life those principles which he advocates others adopting. He has always been a hard worker and as he is a capable business man he has succeeded in his undertakings, thus acquiring a comfortable competence and some valuable property. Despite the fact that he has attained the venerable age of eighty years he is still leading an active life and gives his personal supervision to his various interests, his energy and enterprise putting to shame many a man years his junior. Transcriber's additional notes: Census Indexing: 1860 HOWLETT A C 28 M W ME CA TEHAMA ANTELOPE TWP p887 1870 HOWLETT ALFRED C 38 M W ME OR JACKSON JACKSONVILLE P O p399 1880 HOWLETT ALFERD C. 48 W ME OR JACKSON BIG BUTTE p60 1900 HAWLETT ALFRED C 68 M W ME OR JACKSON EAGLE POINT PCT p280 ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2008 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.