Daniel Robinson Howe
financier
A 20th-century representative of one of the ancient and honorable New England families, Mr. Howe in his own right has won position among the Hartford's financial leaders and public spirited citizens. He is a descendant in the eighth American generation of Abraham Howe, who came to Massachusetts from England, settling first at Watertown where he is named as a proprietor. He then moved to Marlborough, which town for several generations was the family seat. He is first of record in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in 1660, and there he died, June 30, 1695. He married, May 6, 1657, Hannah Ward, who died Nov. 3, 1717, daughter of William Ward, ancestor of general Artemas Ward of revolutionary fame.
(II) From Abraham Howe dissent is traced through his son, Capt. Daniel Howe, born 1658, died April 13, 1718, a large landowner in both Marlborough and Lancaster.
(III) His son, Jonathan Howe, Jr. (so-called to distinguish him from another Jonathan Howe), was born April 23, 1695, died July 25, 1738. He married Sarah Hopgood, of Sudbury, Massachusetts.
(IV) Their son, Solomon Howe born December 11, 1718, died Oct. 13, 1762. He was a farmer of Marlborough until about 1738 when he moved to Mansfield, Connecticut. He married, about 1738, Mary Howe, born in Marlborough, Nov. 18, 1719, died Nov. 16, 1792.
(V) Their son, Daniel Howe, born at Marlborough, Massachusetts, June 13, 1740, died in Mansfield, Connecticut, December 8, 1807. He married Aug. 26, 1761, Bridget Smith, who died March 20, 1815, aged 71 years.
(IV) Their son, Edmund Howe, born in Mansfield, Connecticut, April 25, 1780, died December 10, 1834. He was a farmer and merchant. He married, March 3, 1807, Eunice Grant, born 1781, died Oct. 12, 1844, a descendant in the sixth generation of Matthew Grant, of the General Ulysses S. Grant family.
(VII) Their son, Edmund Grant Howe, father of Daniel Robinson Howe, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, Nov. 8, 1807, died April 23, 1872. He began business life with his father, later became a dry goods merchant. Trading under his own name. In 1829 he located in Hartford, and in 1831 establish the dry goods firm of Pratt, Howe and company, a firm that was abundantly successful until its dissolution in 1857. Junius S. Morgan, father of the late J. Pierpont Morgan, was Mr. Howe's partner for 15 years while engaged in the dry goods business. After the dissolution of Pratt, Howe & Co., Mr. Howe went to New York City where for three years he was a partner in the banking firm of Ketchum, Howe & Co.. In 1860 he returned to Hartford and became a member of the banking house of Howe, Mather & Co., continuing senior member until his death 23 years later. He was one of the organizes of the Hartford Carpet Company, and of the Greenwoods Company for manufacturing cotton goods. He was the first president of the City Bank of Hartford, serving from 1851 until 1857, and from 1866 until 1872 was president of the Exchange Bank. He served the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company as vice president, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company as director, the Hartford and Wethersfield Horse Railroad Company as its first president.
Mr. Howe held the rank of Capt. in the State militia, and while never an aspirant to political honors he served one term in the General Assembly, discharging the duties of that office with the same conscientious care and thoroughness that distinguished him in his personal business affairs. He was a man of unusually fine business ability, forceful, far sighted, progressive and well balanced. His integrity was undisputed, and he was held in the highest respect and esteemed by all who knew him. He was one of the leading businessmen of his day, and widely known both within and without this State.
Edmund Grant how married Francis Kies, daughter of Samuel and Pamela (Davis) Kies. Her mother, Pamela (Davis) Kies, was born at Charlton, Massachusetts, March 4, 1778, died June 24, 1824. Five children were born to Edmund Grant and Francis (Kies) Howe: Edmund Miner, deceased; Charles Grant, deceased; Frances Pamela, married William J. Wood, deceased; George Summer, deceased; and Daniel Robinson, of further mention.
(VIII) Daniel Robinson Howe prepared for college in public schools of Hartford, and entered Yale University, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Arts, class of '74. He began business life as a clerk in the dry goods store of Collins and Fenn in Hartford, following that service by a clerkship in the Hartford National Bank. He then formed a partnership with Atwood Collins, founded the banking house of Howe and Collins and for several years was engaged in private banking operations. He then retired and has since devoted himself to the management of his own private business affairs and in the administration of the duties of several trusteeships have been confided to him. He, however, holds important connections with several Hartford corporations of note, serving as vice president of the Society for Savings, director of the National Exchange Bank, director of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, and trustee of the Connecticut Trust and Safe Deposit Company. He is an ex-treasurer of the Hartford Orphan Asylum, the American School for the Deaf and Watkinson Juvenile Farm School. He's a member and deacon of the First Church of Christ, is an expresident of the Federation of Churches and of the Young Men's Christian Association. His college fraternities are Kappa Sigma Epsilon, Delta Kappa, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and at Yale also of the senior society, Scroll and Key. For many years he was a member of the Hartford and Hartford Golf clubs, his present membership being with the University Club. He is not actively interested in politics, but takes more than passive interest in public affairs, always supporting those measures and enterprises that promise good to the community.
Mr. Howe married, Feb. 16, 1876, Henrietta A, daughter of Erastus and Mary (Atwood) Collins, her father a dry goods merchant of Hartford, her mother of a Philadelphia family. They have three children: I. Edmund Grant, educated in Hartford public schools, at Yale at Leipsic, Germany, and at the Sorbonne, Paris, now instructor at the University of Pittsburgh; he married Elenor Wilson, of Parkersburg, West Virginia, and has a son, Daniel R. 2. Henrietta, married Clement Scott, of New York City, and they have one child, Clement. 3. Marjorie Frances, married Maynard Hazen, of Middletown, Connecticut.