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Descendant from the Mayflower.
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Alonzo's parents:
Jonathan Howland (1798 - 1842)
Phebe Guile Howland Faurot (1799 - 1863)
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Alonzo's siblings:
1. Augusta Howland Eldridge (1823 - 1885) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=74385683
2. James Henry Howland (1831 - 1917)
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Alonzo's wives:
1. Eveline R Gardiner Howland (1838 - 1873) Married November 25, 1854 in Calhoun County, Branch, Michigan.
2. Emma S. Silver Harlow Howland (1850 - 1926) Married December 1874 in Allen County, Kansas.
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Alonzo's children:
1. Edgar L Howland (1859 - 1874)
2. Flora Howland (1864 - 1865)
3. Clarence John Howland (1864 - 1921)
4. Ralph A Howland (1866 - 1948)
5. Fred Alonzo Howland (1872-)
6. Baby Girl Howland (1884 - 1884)
7. Evelyn Rosalie Howland (1890-1986) She was Fred Howland's daughter. Alonzo and Emma adopted her when her mother, Cora Bell Jackson Howland, died.
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1858-1859 Moved from Calhoun County, Michigan to Colorado and then settled in the Kansas territory.
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1860 Kansas Census:
Allen, Kansas Territory, United States
James H Howland-M-28-N York
Eliza A Howland-F-30-N York
Pheba A Howland-F-6-Mich
Alonzo Howland-M-25-N York
Eveline Howland-F-21-N York
Edgar Howland-M-1-Mich
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1870 Kansas Census:
Kansas, United States
Alonzo Howland-M-35-New York
Evaline Howland-F-31-New York
Edgar L Howland-M-11-Michigan
Clarence Howland-M-6-Kansas
Ralph Howland-M-4-Kansas
Charles Eldridge-M-21-Michigan
Lidia J Benbow-F-18-Indiana
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1880 Kansas Census:
Geneva, Allen, Kansas, United States
Alonzo W Howland-Self-M-45-New York, United States
Clarence J Howland-Son-M-15-Kansas, United States
Emma Howland-Wife-F-31-Maine, United States
Fred Howland-Son-M-9-Kansas, United States
Ralph Howland-Son-M-13-Kansas, United States
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1900 Kansas Census:
Iola Township Iola city Ward 3-4, Allen, Kansas, United States
Alonzo M Howland-Head-M-66-New York
Emma S Howland-Wife-F-51-Maine
Evalyn Howland-Granddaughter-F-10-Kansas
Catherine Cook-Servant-F-51-England
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Bio from Cutler's History of Allen County, KS published 1883:
ALONZO W. HOWLAND, dealer in live stock, Section 29, P. O. Geneva, was born in Saratoga County, N. Y., in 1834, and reared on a farm in Calhoun County, Mich. He has earned his own livelihood since thirteen years of age. Mr. H. was employed for some time in grocery business, and also learned the trade of stone mason in Calhoun County. He came to Kansas in April, 1859; located in Allen County, pre-empting 160 acres in this township, on which he resided some five years. In 1864, he moved on to his present farm, Section 29, Township 23, Range 18. Mr. H. had very small means on his arrival in this State. He worked some at his trade, and farmed, and by industry and energy, has made himself one of the representative men of Allen County. He owns about 440 acres of land, and is an extensive raiser and dealer in live stock. On his place is a fine stone residence, which he built some fourteen years ago, and an orchard of about 500 fruit trees. Mr. H. was elected a member of the Board of Commissioners of Allen County, in 1872, and re- elected in 1874. He was married in Calhoun County, Mich., when twenty years of age, to Miss Eveline Gardner, who died here in May, 1873, leaving three children. He was married again, in Allen County, Kan., in December, 1874, to Miss Emma Harlow.
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From the November 8, 1909 Iola Register:
The death of Mr. A.W. Howland, which occurred Wednesday afternoon, November 3, 1909, at his home in this city, removed one of the oldest residents of Allen County, one who came here when the land was young, and who grew up with the young state and amassed a competence from the able exercise of his only capital, energy and foresight.
One of Mr. Howland's last activities was the making of preparations to celebrate on April 27th of the present year the fiftieth anniversary of his arrival in Allen County, and it was expected that there would be half a hundred old residents gathered under his hospitable roof to enjoy the dinner and talk over old times. It was March 20, after the announcement of these plans and before their consummation, that the stroke of paralysis came which resulted in his death.
Alonzo W. Howland was born in Stillwater, N.Y., November 24, 1834. His parents moved to Calhoun County, Michigan when he was two years old and at the age of 13 he was thrown upon his own resources by reason of the death of his father and family reverses. He turned to farm work and later learned the stone mason's trade. When he attained his majority, he married Miss Evelyn Gardner, of Coldwater, Michigan, and with his brother J.H. Howland and their families in March 1859, he started for Pikes Peak, following the slogan of Horace Greeley, "Go west, young man, and grow up with the country".
In covered wagons the party advanced into Illinois, but on learning of cheap boat rates on the river, they shipped their wagons and teams and rode to St. Louis by boat. From St. Louis they drove overland through Missouri to Ft. Scott and across this country to Geneva, then a mere village. His capital of $17 precluded the purchase of a bottom farm, so he homesteaded a piece of land near Geneva. He erected a stone house on the claim by his own labor and provided the lumber by hauling logs to LeRoy, getting half of the lumber for his work. Four years later he sold the homestead and bought 240 acres, on part of which Geneva is located. The purchase price of this farm was $450. There were hard, trying years after that, but Mr. Howland persevered and won out handsomely when the state settled up and land values increased. In 1888 he moved to Iola, where he has made his home ever since, but he kept his extensive farm lands, amounting to many hundred acres.
After coming to Kansas, Mr. Howland lost his first wife. Three of the four sons born to them survive, however. One who died in Michigan, but the other three are all Kansas residents. The sons are ; Clarence of Geneva, Fred of Hill City, and Ralph of Salina. Mr. Howlands second wife who survives him is Miss Emma Harlowe.
While he devoted practically his undivided attention to his farms, he found time twice during his life to serve as a member of the board of county commissioners. The first time was in 1871 when he was elected and served two years. His associate commissioners were Daniel Horville and Paul Fisher, both deceased. In 1902, after he came to Iola, he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board occasioned by the death of B.F. Ludlum, and completed a term with James Lockhart and E.H. Tobey. At the next election he was regularly elected from the Iola district and served four years. One of the most important business matters before this board was the construction of the courthouse, and to this work Mr. Howland gave his entire time He watched every detail to see that the contract was lived up to and opposed any idea of exceeding the sum voted by the county for the building.
After retiring from office, he still gave to the county his best suggestions and was always interested in county affairs. Stricken when he yet had many years of active life before him, apparently, he gradually lost the magnificent strength which he had always enjoyed and after months of inactivity, relieved by only the occasional trips downtown in a wheelchair, he went to sleep. It is a pretty good story of life, to have gone forth into a strangeland empty handed, and wrenched success from the wilderness, to have labored diligently, provided for one's family, and devoted the after years to public service.

From the April 19, 1895, issue of the Iola Register, the following appreciation is taken, as a fitting and deserved tribute: (The sketch begins with the purchase of the Geneva farm.)
It had been pretty hard sledding these first five years, for when Mr. and Mrs. Howland here everything they owned in the world could have been brought for $150. But after paying for the new farm there was $200 left from the selling price of the old one, and that money was invested in cows. After that things went smoother. The cows were fruitful. Prices advanced. There was work for a stone mason at wages that left a very fair margin after employing a farm hand. And better than all there was shrewd management, rigid economy, and no end of hard work. There was good luck, too, not to left out of the account. "I never lost a hog by cholera." we heard Mr. Howland say the other day. "I never sold a bunch of cattle in my life, that I lost money on. And I used to sell herds of horses for a good deal more than they cost me." Such luck as that could almost be said to better than a license to steal.
And so with the luck, the management, the hard work, and the honest dealing, the 240 acres grew until there are now 1100 acres or more in the home farm, fully equipped with commodious and comfortable buildings, well stocked with cattle, hogs, and horses, and in a splendid state of cultivation. There are other bits of property of sundry kinds stuck away in various places but all available for a chance rainy day. Two or three years ago Mr. Howland turned the farm over to the boys, bought a comfortable house in Iola and moved down here to live at ease and to enjoy the comforts and luxuries that have been so well earned. On account of the death of the wife of his son Fred, he spent last year on the farm again, but is now back in Iola and feels as if he were settled.
Mr. Howland was married when but twenty years of age to Miss Evelyn Gardner at Coldwater, Michigan. Six children were born to this union, of whom three, Clarence, Fred and Ralph, all settled on the Geneva Farm, still survive. Mrs. Howland died in 1873, and about two years later Mr. Howland was united to Mrs. Harlowe who is still at his side and who has been a devoted and much beloved mother to his children.
"It is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings." It has always seemed to us that such a record as that made by Mr. Howland was a most complete answer to the "calamity howling" we have heard so much of these past four or five years. Here was a mere boy, set down barehanded on the Kansas prairies, with a family to support and with no outside help of any kind. The "robber tariff" was hard at work, the "plutocracy" were "sucking the lifeblood of the people", "the greedy corporations" were grinding the faces of the poor, the "conspiracy of capital" was gathering snares about its victims. But somehow or other Lon Howland managed to keep alive every year, until in thirty years there is comfortable fortune to his credit. If "vicious laws" have kept other men back, what has pushed him ahead?
Mr. Howland doesn't take any special credit to himself for his success. When asked about it he simply answers that he "kept things going". He was on the farm most of the time seeing that things did go. He read the newspapers and knew how the markets were. He never went in debt unless he could see a sure out. And he kept his books so that he knew just where every dollar came from and where it went. "And I want to say", he observed to us the other day, "that in my judgement there never was a time in Kansas when a farmer could save as much as he can right now. Wages are low, farm implements are cheap, markets are right at our doors and all kinds of produce are high compared with the prices of the things a farmer has to buy. A farmer may not handle as much money as he has in some other years, but he ought to have more left at the end of the year than ever before. I would undertake to go back to the farm and make enough clear money to buy a farm every year." Such language as that from one who has so good a right ought certainly to be most encouraging.
Personally, Mr. Howland is one of the most companionable and clever of men and one whose honesty we have never heard questioned. His neighbors all speak well of him, and those who know him best are his best friends.
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