From "History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana"
Morris Howland
Mr Howland, who is the grandson of Elisha Howland, and the son of Powell Howland, was born on the 30th of January, 1823, in Saratoga County, N. Y., where he resided until sixteen years of age, and received such advantages of education as the neighboring schools afforded. His father having determined to leave the Empire State for the unsettled West, his son Morris started on the 25th of September, 1839, with a pair of horses and a wagon for Indianapolis, reaching his destination after a journey of forty-two days. The family on their arrival located in Centre township, where Morris remained four years, after which he engaged in flat-boating at points between Cincinnati and New Orleans. In 1844 he embarked in business near Evansville, Ind., and on abandoning this enterprise made an extensive tour by steamboat and on horseback through many of the States of the Union, with a view to pleasure and an intelligent comprehension of the extent and resourses of the country. On returning in 1845, he, on the 22d of January of that year, married Miss Susan Marquis, of Perry township, Marion Co., and settled in the last-named township, where he became a farmer. The children of this marriage are Sarah (Mrs. F. S. Turk) and Mary (Mrs. John Epler). Mrs. Howland died in August, 1852, and he was again married on the 22d of February, 1854, to Miss Jane Gentle, who was of Scotch descent, and a resident of the same township. Their children are Powell, Lida, and Minnie. Mr. Howland has principally engaged in farming and stock dealing, in which he has been signally successful. He has been actively interested in developing the resources of his county and township, and constructed the first gravel road in the county, of which he is still president. He is a member of the Wool-Growers' Association, and of the Short-Horn Breeders' Association, and actively interested in the subject of horticulture. He was in politics a Democrat until the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854, when a disapprovel of the measures adopted by the party induced him to cast his vote with the Republicans. He has been actively interested in the success of his party, and participated in various local campaigns, though not an aspirant for the honors which it confers. Though repeatedly declining official positions of importance, he has held various offices in the township, among which may be mentioned that of justice of the peace. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and connected with Southport Lodge, No. 270, of that order. Mr. Howland is an active member and one of the founders of the Southport Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has been successively steward, class-leader, and trustee. His influence and active labor in the cause of temperance have accomplished a salutary work in Perry township, and given it a decided moral strength in the county.