Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 520 & 523; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
A. R. Howard, M. D. In London, England, March 19, 1851,
the gentleman of whom this sketch is written was born. His
father, P. P. Howard, and his mother, who previous to her marriage was
Miss Dorothy Carter, possess great talent and social culture. In
the paternal line our subject’s kinsmen have all held high positions in
the communities where they have resided, being Members of Parliament,
theologians and physicians.
Peter Theodore Howard, the grandfather of our subject, was a
physician and surgeon and also served as a Member of Parliament for
twelve years; an uncle, Matthew M. Howard, was also a Member of
Parliament for a number of terms. An exhaustive family tree in
possession of this family show their connection with many of the noted
names of England. The great-grandfather of our subject was a high
official in the British army during the Revolutionary War, and on two
occasions was threatened with hanging by American citizens.
The father of our subject was born in 1803 and is still living
and owns large estates both in England and Canada. To him and his
wife were born five children, namely: Josephine, who lives in
England; Leonora Annetta; our subject: Eugene Elgin and Sarah
Isabella. The latter if by marriage a cousin of the Rev. T.
DeWitt Talmage and resides in Paris. Eugene E. is a namesake of
Lord Elgin.
The second daughter in this family, Leonora, studied medicine in
Ontario, was graduated in Ann Arbor, Mich., and went to China as a
physician and surgeon under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal
Church of America. In connection with her medical and surgery
work she also devoted much time to missionary labor. Her name is
known the world over. After about five years spent in China she
became the wife of the Rev. Alexander King, of Dundee, Scotland, who
stands in the same relation to the church in Scotland as the Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher occupied in America, or Mr. Spurgeon in England.
Even after her marriage Dr. Howard King, as she is now called,
continued year after year to add to her fame. She cured the
Viceroy’s wife of disease after all native physicians had failed.
This Viceroy is the noted Li Hung Chang, who is in favor with the white
people and holds the Emperor in check when occasion demands. In
token of their gratitude Li Hung Chang and his wife built a medical
college and hospital for Mrs. Dr. King. She is the physician of
the aristocracy of China and being a well-known philanthropist, figures
as such in the social and religious affairs in every part of the
civilized world.
When our subject was about two years old the family removed to
Toronto, Canada, but after sojourning there two or three years,
returned to England, where Dr. Howard received his education under a
preceptor, as is customary among the better lasses of people in
England. When he was eleven years of age he once more accompanied
the family to America, settling in Toronto, Canada, where he attended
Prof. William Robbins’ Normal School one and one-half years. He
studied medicine under his noted uncle, Dr. William Wilkie Howard, and
also took one course of lectures at Queens Medical College, Kingston,
Canada. He left home when a mere youth in a boyish fit of anger
and has never attempted a reconciliation with his relatives, his
knowledge of the family being therefore very limited.
At the time of the completion of his medical studies Dr. Howard
was twenty-eight years of age and for a time lived in Chicago and later
took three curses of lectures in Cincinnati, Oho. He as
thoroughly posted in his profession when he came to Canton and such is
his popularity that while he began in poverty he has without receiving
aid from friends or relatives made a comfortable fortune for
himself. In all his efforts he has received the hearty
co0-operation of his wife, who was prior her marriage Miss Viola
Beever. She is a native of Ohio and was united in marriage with
the Doctor in Galesburg, Ill. Dr. Howard is a conscientious
worker and is gretly respected throughout the county. His success
has been phenomenal and he has effected several marvelous cures, but
modestly says that “so far as curing people goes, no doctor can say ‘we
give them medicine and they get well.’”
The Doctor has a comfortable home in Canton, and a view of this
with the lawn and other pleasant surroundings appears in this volume.
