Lockley, Fred.  "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the
Sea." Vol. 2.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.  p. 310.
Includes portrait

MRS. ALMA L. HOWE

The following tribute to the worth of one of the pioneer women of Oregon was
paid by Fred Lockley and appeared in the Portland Journal of February 18, 1927:

"A few days ago, while at Hood River, I climbed the long flight of steps leading
to Montello avenue, where on a clear day -- and most days at Hood River are
clear -- a wonderful view can be had of the Columbia river. I stopped at No. 415
Montello avenue to visit one of my long-time friends, Mrs. Alma L. Howe, who is
one of Oregon's native daughters, having been born in the vicinity of
Fairfield. She has lived in the Hood River valley since 1883. If there were more
people like Mrs. Howe the world would be a better place to live in. Her heart is
as big as all outdoors. She has had only one child of her own, but she has
mothered possibly fifteen children. Saving souls alive is her specialty.

"In conversing with me about her family, Mrs. Howe said, ÔMy father, Isaac
Lawrence, was born in Kentucky in 1835. My mother, Harriet (Millsap) Lawrence,
was born in Missouri in 1837. She was a half-sister of the late Lorenzo A. Byrd
of Salem, who made the overland journey to Oregon in 1846 in company with the
Rev. Cornwall. In 1854, when my father was nineteen years old, he and three
other boys of about the same age decided to come to Oregon. They brought an
express wagon and a team to carry their bedding and provisions and started to
walk across the plains. Their team soon became exhausted, so the boys got jobs
driving ox teams for other emigrants, thus paying for their board.

"ÔWhen father arrived in Oregon he worked first for L. A. Byrd. My mother came
to Oregon in 1856 and was married in the same year. Soon afterward they settled
on a ranch on the Willamette river in Marion county and I was born on that place
June 7, 1860. Father was also engaged in the lumber business and when I was
seven years old he moved his sawmill from Fairfield, Oregon, to Lake Labish,
just north of Salem. In 1870, when I was ten years old, he moved his mill from
Lake Labish to Portland and bought land on the east side of the Willamette river
on Water street, near the foot of U street. His plant was known as the East Side
mill and when I was fifteen years old he sold it to the firm of Abrams & Hogue.

"ÔMy mother died in 1865, leaving four children. My oldest brother, John E.
Lawrence, is dead. I was the next child. My sister, Mary Louisa, married David
Parmenter and they live at Canby, Oregon. Alice, my next sister, married Fred
Darling and died some years ago. My father remarried in 1867 and my stepmother's
name was Emma Ditmar. Her father was a pioneer settler on French prairie. My
father and stepmother had five children, only one of whom, Mrs. Francis Beard of
Astoria, is now alive. When my father started the East Portland mill in 1875 he
established a logging camp near Westport. He died at the age of fifty-seven on
his farm on Crooked creek, near Astoria.

"ÔI went to school at Fairfield and Professor King, of Butteville, was my first
instructor. His son Charles is a member of the Portland firm of Olds, Wortman &
King. I was next a pupil in the Lake Labish school and in 1870, when we removed
to Portland, I attended school where the Odd Fellows Temple was later built. At
that time there were two school buildings there -- the brown schoolhouse and the
white schoolhouse. The smaller children went to the white schoolhouse. I was in
Portland when they started the Hawthorne school. Professor T. R. Coon, who
spends his summers here in Hood River and his winters in Portland, was my
teacher. His wife, Delia Coon, was his assistant. .1 was a pupil of Professor
Coon for two years and finished the eighth grade. In those days Portland and
East Portland were separate communities and there was a good deal of rivalry
between them. East Portland had no high school, and Portland had one, but the
residents of East Portland didn't think it was patriotic to send their children
to school in the rival community of Portland, so I didn't go to high school.

"ÔWhen I was eighteen I married Samuel T. Howe. The ceremony was performed by
the Rev. William Roberts, a pioneer Methodist circuit rider, who married us on
September 8, 1878. My husband, who hailed from Indiana, was a dentist. He
practiced his profession in East Portland. At the time of our marriage Rafferty
Brothers had a drug store on J street, between Third and Fourth. C. H. Rafferty
was a physician and surgeon and H. S. Angell was also a doctor in East Portland.
H. C. Cooley had a drug store and was also a physician. Dr. J. C. Hawthorne was
likewise a physician and had charge of the State Insane Asylum on Hawthorne
avenue. B. F. Hutchison was engaged in the practice of medicine and J. M.
Kitchen was another doctor of East Portland at that time. W. W. Royal, C. B.
Smith and S. Smith were likewise well known physicians, while Thomas Robison had
a drug store, as did also Ross & Welch. If you will go and see Dr. Rafferty he
can tell you all about the business firms of East Portland of fifty years ago.
Our home was just across from the East Portland Park on Fifth street.

"ÔIf you will interview some of the old settlers of Portland they will tell you
about the big storm that blew down most of the trees in East Portland Park. This
was in January, 1881. It was the biggest wind that Oregon ever experienced, at
least within the memory of man. After the trees were blown down they cut the
park up into lots and sold them. I was not in East Portland at the time of this
big storm, for we moved to Hubbard in 1880 and after a year we went to La
Center, Washington.

"ÔIn 1883 we came to Hood River for my husband's health. At that time there was
one store here, owned by John Parker. There was also a blacksmith shop, a livery
stable and a small frame building used as a hotel. It is now a part of the Mount
Hood Hotel. Mr. Walling ran the hotel at that time. The post office was
conducted in the store. Mr. Smith moved to town the year after I came. When I
first came he had his store at Franklin, two miles out, where the Franklin
schoolhouse now is, not far from the Columbia Gorge Hotel. We bought a
forty-acre tract at what is now known as Cottage Farm. Our daughter, Hester
Alice, was born August 20, 1882, in Marion county, Oregon, and passed away
January 10, 1922, in New York city while on a visit to the east.

"On January 10, 1901, I lost my husband and when I was thrown on my own
resources I did nursing to earn money to pay for this place. As soon as the land
was paid for I borrowed money and put up a six-room hotel, gradually adding to
it until I had a large hotel and fifteen bungalows. I sold most of the original
place, retaining only eleven acres, and made a living for myself and the
motherless tots I have cared for by keeping summer boarders. That is how I
became acquainted with Thomas Lawson, the author of "Freizied Finance," who
used to spend his vacations at my farm. Mr. Lawson presented me with the works
of O. Henry, bound in leather, and also sent me a set of books entitled "Our
Wonder World," which I prize very highly. Among the well known Portlanders who
used to spend the summer on my farm were Sam Hill, Simon Benson, John Yeon and
the King, Corbett, Ladd, Doiph and Kerr families. I lived on that farm for forty
years. With the help of my daughter I ran the hotel for thirty years. After her
death I leased the hotel and moved to this place.

"ÔI want you to meet Teddy Howe, who is seventeen years old. He was nearly blind
but is gradually regaining his eyesight. At the blind school they taught him to
make brooms and to weave cane bottoms for chairs. I have given him my name. He
is handicapped in life's race and needs someone to mother him. During the past
thirty-five years I have mothered many children. Just as every child needs to be
mothered, they also need anchorage. Otherwise they will drift and their lives
become shipwrecked. Teddy used to be in the baby home. I do not know who his
parents are but I believe he has good blood because he has good instincts. John
F. Carroll raised a fund of five hundred dollars for him some years ago. When I
took Teddy he was a lad of five years. The fund was turned over to me and I
invested in a Journal bond for that amount. Two years ago I made a trip, to
California. On this trip I made it a point to hunt up every one of the boys and
girls I had helped to rear. Most of them are married and all are doing well. By
"doing well" I mean they are producers and not depending upon society for
support. Most of the girls have happy homes and the boys are at work, so I feel
that the time and money I have invested in them was a good investment.

"ÔOne of the things I am greatly interested in is the preserving of the old-time
traditions of this country. For many years Indian Nellie made her home with me.
I kept her until she died and saw that she had proper burial. When it came to
ideals of honor and gratitude, the white people can learn a good deal from the
Indians. For thirty years or more the Indians called me "the law-maker." They
used to come to me to settle their troubles among themselves and their disputes
with the white people. Indian George was a regular visitor at my home for
twenty-five years and ate many meals at my house. He was one of the last of the
Wasco Indians. His mother was a Nez Perce, his father a Wasco. When Oscar
Stranahan died Indian George said, "Oscar a good man; too bad he dead; but still
we got Mrs. Howe." He was celebrated all over the valley for his ability to
foretell the weather. He was about ninety when he died. Some years ago, when I
was very sick, the Indian preacher held meetings every night, which all the
Indians in the neighborhood attended, praying for my recovery. I think that paid
me for all the meals I have furnished the Indians and all the trouble I have
taken for them.'"

Mrs. Howe adheres to the Methodist faith and is a member of the board of the
Hood River church of that denomination. For eight years she served on the school
board, doing all in her power to further the advancement of education in Hood
River, and is now connected with the local hospital board. She was the second
woman in Hood River county to become a member of a jury and the only one who
served a second time. She is one of the associate commission of the Juvenile
Court of Hood River county. In her nature, self is so completely subordinated to
duty that she is never conscious of making a sacrifice and her life has been
filled with good deeds. Mrs. Howe possesses those qualities which are most
admirable in woman and is loved, admired and respected by all who have been
brought within the sphere of her influence.


Submitted to the OR. Bios Project in September 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Oregon Biographies Project. 
The submitter has no further information on the individual featured in the
biography.