Our Family Tree

[page 288] "ROBERT S. HOWARD, of Leroy, has been a resident of the Prairie State since 1858, and has built up for himself a good record as a man of the highest integrity, and one who has exerted a good influence in society. He is an ardent Prohibitionist, earnestly and actively opposed to the use and manufacture of spirituous liquors, and a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which he has been prominently connected since 1845. . .
"Mr. Howard is a native of Madison County, Ky., and was born June 15, 1827. His father, Ignatius Howard, was a native of the same State, and his grandfather, of English birth and parentage, was one of the earliest pioneers of the Blue Grass region. He served as a soldier In the Revolutionary War, and yielded up his life on the battle-field as a tribute to liberty of thought and conscience. By his death there were left a widow and two small children, the father of our subject being but three or four years old when his father died. The [page 291] mother subsequently married Thomas Taylor, of Madison County, Ky., who became a well-to-do farmer. Ignatius Howard was reared on the farm of his stepfather, and lived there until a few years before his death, his last days having been spent in Owen County. He and his only brother, James, served as soldiers in the War of 1812. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Elizabeth Stalker. She was also a native of Madison County, Ky., and died at the home of husband in Owen County. The parental household consisted of eight children.
"Robert S. Howard was the sixth child and third son of his parents, and remained under the home roof until sixteen years old. He then went to Jessamine County, Ky., and became an apprentice to learn the cabinet-maker’s trade. . .
"After the close of his army service Mr. Howard returned to his cabinet trade, and in the latter part of 1848 started in business on his own account, in Jessamine County, Ky., and operated there for the following ten years. In 1858 he emigrated to Illinois, and purchased eighty acres of land in Empire Township, this county, where he carried on farming six years. He then rented his farm and again returned to “jour” work at his trade in Bloomington, where, after a year thus occupied, he opened a furniture store. He conducted this until 1872, then sold out and came to Leroy and opened a store of the same kind, which he operated until 1883, when he sold out and retired from active business. His homestead comprises twenty acres of land within the city limits, upon which is a good set of frame buildings, and owns other valuable property in this vicinity. . . "

"Mr. and Mrs. Howard have no children of their own, but have reared two others. Joseph F. Sageser, the nephew of Mrs. H., was taken in charge by our subject and his wife when six months old, carefully reared and educated and given the best advantages; he is now a practicing physician of Chicago, and a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The other child, a little girl by the name of Annie Cook, became an inmate of the household when six years of age, and remained until her marriage."