Windham

HOWE, Marshall Otis

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, pp 211-212 
(portrait p 212)

Marshall Otis HOWE, of Newfane [Windham County, Vermont], was born 04 October 
1832 in Wardsboro [Windham County, Vermont], son of Otis and Sally (MARSH) 
HOWE. His early education was acquired at the district school, supplemented 
by a few terms at the academy. In early life he read several of the standard 
elementary treatises on law and civil government. He has a general knowledge 
of the leading branches of the natural sciences, and has made a collection of 
minerals, grasses, etc. He was agricultural editor of the Vermont "Phoenix" 
from 1880 to 1890, and has been a paid writer for other publications. An 
article comparing, according to the census statistics, the agricultural 
products of Vermont with those of other eastern states and the leading 
agricultural states of the West, which he contributed to the "New York 
Tribune," showed a surprisingly favorable result for Vermont, and the article 
was copied and commented upon by nearly all the papers in the state. Mr. 
HOWE has since more fully elaborated the comparative statistics of Vermont 
production in many newspaper contributions, and in vols III and XI of the 
reports of the Vermont Board of Agriculture. He has treated on the "Past and 
the Present Products of the Soil" in vol V of the Vermont agricultural 
reports.

Mr. HOWE has been a school superintendent for nine years, and now holds that 
office in the town of Newfane. He has been for many years statistical 
correspondent of the department of agriculture for Windham County. He was 
census enumerator in 1880, and in 1882 he represented Newfane in the state 
Legislature, where he attended strictly to his duties, never but once failing 
to be present and vote when the yeas and nays were called. In 1890, on 
recommendation of the Vermont delegation in Congress, he was appointed 
supervisor of the eleventh census for the district of Vermont. For the past 
twenty-five years Mr. HOWE's home has been in Newfane. In 1866 he [Marshall 
Otis HOWE] married Gertrude L. [born about 1846], daughter of Avery J. and 
Mary (WHITE) DEXTER, of Wardsboro [Windham County, Vermont]. They have five 
sons [all born in Vermont]: Marshall A. [born about 1868], Hermon A. [born 
about 1869], Arthur O. [born about 1871], Carlton D. and Clifton D. [both 
born about 1875]. Marshall A. HOWE, the eldest son, is now a member of the 
faculty of the University of California. [Approximate years of birth 
calculated from ages in the 1880 census enumeration of the family in Newfane, 
Windham County, Vermont.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly