Sorting Out All Those Daniel Howards

This blogger thinks that the untold story of how two Daniel Howards, the older and younger, influenced much of the democratic-republican voting of the 1830's and 1840's in Foster, Rhode Island - and Jeremiah Phillips and his family.  They were by all accounts of towering height, prodigiously long lived, somewhat resembling another hero - Andrew Jackson - and as honest as the day is long.  The people of Foster Center adored them, and they were each elected to office for more than 5 decades.  The son of Daniel Jr. was Horace, and he, too, was highly influential.

Here is a little extract I composed from a reference source.

Daniel Howard the younger.
Even he has that Andrew Jackson look.
His father, it was stated, more so.

The Real Andrew Jackson

_____


From a History of Isaac Howard of Foster, Rhode Island and his Descendants who have Borne the name Howard, by Daniel Howard, Windsor Locks, Conn., 1901.

In the beginning was Isaac Howard, birth year unknown, birth town unknown.  He came to America in 1722, and landed at Marblehead, MA.   In  afew years, he made it to Rhode island, and settled west of then-Warwick (the future Greene Station, of Coventry township).  Then he moved to Gibb's Pond, then to Rice City (Vaughn's Hill), then in 1752 settled on a plot of land south of the future Foster Center.  In 1755 he built a house, replaced years later (1831) by grandson Gorton Howard.

He married one Martha Rice of Coventry having eight known living children.  One of the youngest was named Daniel born in then-Scituate, later Foster.  Before discussing him, it must be noted the significant trait of the Howard family – their enormous height, and their proclivity to long life.

Isaac Howard died 4 November 1776,  leading guesses by his family that he was born about the year 1700.

Daniel was born 20 July 1752, though it is unknown why his first name was chosen.  Family history presents a curious coincidence that on 28 September 1753 Isaac purchased 20 acres of land on the Moosup River from a Daniel Abbot of Providence.

The original Daniel Howard married one Dorothy Clarke 14 February 1776.  He acquired 40 acres of Isaac's farm, and years later was the site of the so-called Howard Hill school house.  By all accounts he resembled President Andrew Jackson and was six-feet-five-inches tall.  He was justice of the peace for 15 years, and served in the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1790, the year Rhode island ratified the U.S. Constitution.  He was town clerk for 25 terms dying in office.  He died 14 September 1827.

Of this Mr Daniel Howard there were ten children, his namesake, Daniel, born 6th on 15 March 1787.

His education was in the local schools being taught by one Benjamin Dolton of the University of Dublin, Ireland.  Daniel was known by his outstandingly beautiful handwriting and was for most of his father's clerkship, his assistant.  Upon Daniel the elder's death, Daniel the younger took the town clerk's office and held it for 25 years.  It is this Daniel who married Jeremiah Phillips' sister.  This Daniel died in 1879.

He had one son, Horace born 31 January 1810.  He was elected as one of two delegates to the late summer 1842 state constitutional convention defending suffrage.

The Daniel Howard (A.M.) and writer of the Howard genealogy was born in Foster, R.I. On 15 December 1864.  This Daniel later became principal of Windsor Lock, Conn.

This Daniel Howard's father was Pardon Tillinghast Howard (born 2 August 1839, m. 3 May 1863, still alive in 1901); Pardon Tillinghast Howard was son of Horace Howard, who was son of Daniel Howard the younger, the son of Daniel Howard the elder, the son of the family founder Isaac..

Implications of WVP as Postmaster

An invaluable book on general 19th century American history is:

This book is one of many that I used in understanding Whipple Van Buren Phillips' world.  Growing up in Kentucky in the late 1950's and 1960's, the Civil War was still very much alive to me.  A day didn't go by when it wasn't refought.  But even with years of school and college, the 19th century was very distant to me.  I had to re-learn it all to understand WVP.  This book is one of the best on the subject for its time period.  I don't say that, those who gave it awards said it.

One thing I discovered reading this and other books was that the mail system was critical.  I refer to snail-mail, of course.  And truly it did seem to crawl at a snail's pace, as there were few good roads in the earliest days.  The Roman Empire had a better mail system than in WVP's childhood in New England, and mail still  traveled best by ship.

That changed with Andrew Jackson's presidency.  He realized that if he appointed mail carriers, they would be indebted, and they would vote for him.  If they did not - they were out!

If Jackson realized the benefits of patronage, Van Buren was a master of it.  All presidents afterwards used it as a lethal weapon to ensure votes, and reward those who supported them.

Post Masters were not accidental.  They were chosen carefully by Governors, Senators, and others to reward important individuals.  Mail was often searched, and reports given to those who asked.  The mail carrier was essential in distributing campaign literature, and canvassing for votes.

Howe states on page 496:

"Jackson's Third Term"

"Although the customs offices, land offices, and Indian agencies all provided federal jobs, the postal system dominated the patronage machine that made the national Democratic Party work.  The expansion of the Post Office thus fostered both the communications revolution and the development of a modern party system.  Even before becoming the formal head, Kendall largely controlled appointments to branch post offices ... Kendall understood the potential of the communications revolution as well as anyone in America - as he would also demonstrate later as Morse's partner in the telegraph industry."

By the time WVP got to Coffin's Corner, which was slowly becoming known as Greene, he was being seen as a young man on the move.  By then, a staunch young Republican, WVP had got the governor's notice.  Essentially, he was being groomed as a politician whether he realized it or not.

The mail train was as innovative as "America On Line" was at the turn of the millennium.  It was a game changer, and WVP was right there at one of the most important junctions on the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill railroad system which was being run by the powerful extended Sprague family.

These things don't just happen.  From the moment WVP left Foster and went to Kent County, he was noticed.  The Spagues noticed, the bankers noticd, the sprawling Tillighast clans noticed, and soon wealthy Providence men would notice as well.

Lovecraft paints a picture of WVP as owning the town of Greene.  This is not right.  There were already wealthy and powerful men in the neighborhood.  However, WVP leveraged his charm, political and business savvy, and saw opportunities where others did not.  Being postmaster, like his uncle in Illinois, was crucial for his plans.





A review of What Hath God Wrought is here.

An Amazon preview is here.

That Middle Name: Van Buren. From whence?

Oh perhaps you remember a little song:

The Battle of New Orleans

 written by Jimmy Driftwood 

 sung by Johnny Horton 

 In 1814 we took a little trip 

Along with Colonel Jackson 

down the mighty Mississip. 

We took a little bacon 

an' we took a little beans 

And we caught the bloody British 

at the town of New Orleans.

Well, despite some interesting inaccuracies of this wonderful song, there was another little trip that President Jackson took.  Try to find it in the history books.  Folks, it ain't easy!  It took me weeks slogging through textbooks, Google documents, and ancient Google newspaper scans.  Sadly, due to some court cases, Google has reduced the ability to search these old archives now.  This blogger was very, very lucky to be in the right place and the right time to get this information.

A long essay can be found in the tabs above.  It will be revised periodically.

One of the primary reasons that the blog is essential is to capture images to use in the texts of essays and other online documentation.

Here is the map constructed from the meager data obtained.