Correction to "History of John Richards Howard" and brief history of Harriet Spinks Brooks Howard

[Note: Although I originally ascribed this piece to Lucie James, the missing portion has turned up and the initials at the end are "D.S.H." I suspect these initials belong to (Sarah) Drucilla Sears Howard, the daughter-in-law of JRH and wife of John Fitz Alan Howard, second son of JRH through Harriet. Spelling and punctuation have been left as originally written.]

History of John Richards Howard

John Richards Howard, son of Richard Howard and Martha Richards was born September 18, 1841 at Fareham, Hampshire, England. His mother died when he was two years of age. His father was an officer in the British Navy and after the death of his Bother the boy was always asking his father to take his along when he went to sea. Then he was ten years old and the father was about to start on a voyage to South Africa on Her Majesty’s Troop Ship “The Birkenhead”, the boy was taken along by his father who told the boy, "I’ll keep you so long on the water you'll never want to see it again.” This was early in the year 1852, and on the night of February 26th, the ship struck a rock on Point Danger a mile from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa and sank in a few minutes. The boy John was asleep in a hammock and his father shook him to waken him and told him to get up as the ship was sinking and as he was not fully awake the father pulled him out of his hammock and threw him overboard into a life-boat that was shoving off; he landed with only one foot in the boat. In the life-boat were mostly women and children belonging to the officers of the ship. In a few minutes the ship sank carrying with it 462 men, mostly British soldiers and Sailors.

The life-boats drifted about until daylight when they were picked up by a ship called the Amazon and were taken back to England again. John was an orphan now and as his father had died in the service of the British Navy the boy became a ward of the Government and was educated and trained at Grenage (Greenwich?) Naval Station located eighteen miles out of London. He also graduated from Oxford University. (Note; father visited this training camp in 1898 when he was returning from his mission).

John still retained his love for the sea and when he grew up, he too joined the Navy and became a sailor. It was while he was on a British Ship between England and America that he became acquainted with some Mormon Elders who were going to England to preach the gospel. He and another sailor read the tracts and books that the missionaries gave them and listened to their message. In due time they became convinced of the truth of the gospel as taught by these Elders and decided to go to Utah. (This sailor’s name was McFadden, and they remained true friends till the last. Mr. McFadden went to Salina, Utah to live.) One night when their ship was in Harbor they slipped overboard and swam about a mile to shore, landing in New York. From there they made their way to Utah, traveling across the plains with the Arthur Brown company. He was in the employ of Brigham Young for many years and assisted in aiding the people who were coming to Utah by driving an ox team back and forth across the plains. He earned and saved his money to send for his sweetheart Harriet Spinks Brooks whom he had left in England. She arrived in 1866 and joined a handcart company bound for Utah. She pushed a hand cart all the way across the plains and upon her arrival in Utah she and John were married. Their children were, Richard Fitzalan who died at the age of sixteen years, John Fitzalan, Alice Fitz Alan, Josephine Mowbray, Marguerite Mowbray and a number of other children who died in infancy.

John brought the first mowing machine into Utah in 1864 and was also the first to introduce bathing in the great Salt Lake. The first bathing resort was at Haights property in Farmington and it was open to the public in 1870. John was in charge of the Toll Gate at Parley's Canyon for four years, and was also one of the first volunteer firemen and policemen of Salt Lake City. He was a member of the 93rd Quorum of Seventies and performed a mission to England in 1880 to 1882. He was also a block teacher and Tithing Clerk, and was employed at Z.C.M.I, as shipping clerk for ten years.

On September 10, 1883 his wife died and two years later he married Mary Brown, a young woman who was also an English convert. They had seven children, Vere DeAlbany, William Dealbony, Ernest Maltravers, Llewellyn DeBruce, Elizabeth Marie, Amy Vengham, and Ann Oldham Howard. For more than thirty years the family home was at 515 4th Ave., Salt Lake City, but in 1901 they moved to Sandy, Utah, and it was here that John passed the remainder of his years. He died at the home of his daughter Marie, in East Midvale on April 26, 1927 in his 88th year.

John R. Howard was one of the energetic pioneers who faced hardship and danger and who retained his faith in the gospel to the end of his days. He helped establish a commonwealth and a place in the valley of the mountains where others who came later might live in peace and comfort.

--D.S.H.


Harriet Spinks Brooks Howard

Harriet Spinks Brooks Howard, Daughter of Marie Stanley and Robert Brooks, was born in Morley, Norfolk, England, Dec. 4th, 1843

We have not been able to ascertain much of her life in England. She came to Utah in 1866, pushing a handcart across the plains, and married John Richards Howard upon her arrival in Salt Lake City.

Their home, except when her husband kept the toll gate at the mouth of Parley's Canyon, was at 515 4th Ave. Here she passed away in Sept. 1983 at the age of forty years. The names of her children are enumerated in the sketch of her husband's life.

From friends who knew her intimately we learn that she excelled in all the virtues of a true wife and mother, but the hardships of pioneering a new country proved to be too much for her to endure long.

--D.S.H.