General Joseph Howland

Many Beacon residents may be already aware of the philanthropic contributions made by General and Mrs. Joseph Howland to our community: the Howland Library, the Highland Hospital, the Tioronda School and a good deal of the funding for the First Presbyterian Church. But few may be aware of the contribution Mrs. Howland made to our nation during the Civil War.

Eliza Woolsey was born into a prominent New York family in 1826. At the age of 19, she married Joseph Howland, the son of a New York City shipping magnate. They had just settled into their beautiful new estate "Tioronda" (recently called Craig House Hospital) when the fighting erupted.

According to family letters, she began her contribution to the war effort by "attacking the drawers and night shirts" to make pillow cases and hospital gowns for the army. A week after her husband enlisted in May of 1861, she wrote informing him that ". . . the men are all at work, the potatoes in and the corn will be finished tonight." Later she confesses of attending the "Dutch Church at the Corners" (the Re.formed Church on Route 9D) more to "hear the news from Washing.ton than for the sermon's sake."

But receiving news from Washington was soon not enough; Eliza, her mother and her sisters embarked for the war-torn nation's Capitol themselves to join the efforts of the U.S. Sanitary Commission. The commission was organized to raise the hygienic standards of the camps, care for the wounded, coordinate the shipment of food and supplies and compile a directory of the sick and wounded in army hospitals. Mrs. Howland and her sister (who would pen the then-famous poem "In the Hospital" during their work) volunteered for hospital transport service. They were soon stationed aboard a former ocean steamship transformed into a floating hospital.

Her letters home paint a poignant portrait of conditions: "Since the day of the battle, they (two hundred wounded at Williamsburg, Virginia) had lain in the wet woods with undressed wounds. Someone had huddled them on to a boat without beds or subsistence ... One man had lost both legs and had one arm useless, but was as cheerful and contented as possible." Elsewhere, she describes how she and her sister fed one hundred and fifty war weary men with two spoons and ten pounds of Indian meal.

One of the military camps at Washington D.C. was named Camp Woolsey in recognition of the family's devotion and loyalty to the cause. The Woolsey women received both state and national honors for their work on behalf of the wounded. General Howland's 15th New York Regiment presented Eliza with a copy of the Bible, feeling a "deep debt of gratitude for her comfort" and philanthropic labors.

After the war, the Howlands spent twenty years at Tioronda, but following the General's death in 1886, Mrs. Howland never returned to the estate, reportedly because the memories of her late husband made it too difficult. She died in 1908 at the age of 82 at her summer home in Newport, Rhode Island.

There are approximately eighty-six descendants living today who can claim John Howland, thirteenth signer of the MAYFLOWER COMPACT in 1620, as their famous ancestor. We know that Civil War General Joseph Howland, benefactor of this building which originated as a library for the community, was a direct descendant. There are many famous people whose names you will immediately recognize who were also descended from this Englishman who arrived on the Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts on December 21, 1620. (Last year we gave you:) Lillian Russell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Humphrey Bogart, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Smith, and Dr. John Howland. To this, we add:

JANE AUSTIN - Born Jane Goodwin in 1831, she authored twenty books, many of them on Pilgrim history. She was the daughter of Isaac Goodwin, an expert on the Pilgrims, and Elizabeth Hammatt, a noted poet. Jane married Henry Austin of Boston and had three children but that did not stop her from writing books about her ancestors. Her most popular works were "Standish of Standish" and "Betty Alden". She died in 1894.

HENRY CABOT LODGE - A Massachusetts lawyer, author, and politician, Lodge received the first Ph.D. degree granted by Harvard in political science. He wrote popular biographies of Alexander Hamilton, Daniel Webster, and George Washington. He entered politics on the national level when elected to Congress in 1886. In 1893 he was chosen a United States senator and worked closely with Theodore Roosevelt. He helped draft the Sherman Anti-Trust Law and the Pure Food and Drug Law but he opposed the direct election of senators and women's suffrage. Following World War 1, he led the opposition to the League of Nations (an idea he approved) because it was coupled with the peace treaty. Lodge died in 1924.

PHILLIPS BROOKS - Few people will remember this Boston clergy.man but many will still appreciate his work. He was the composer of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" - an all-time favorite Christmas hymn. Brooks was born in Boston in 1835 and died in Boston in 1893. In fact, his whole life centered around Boston where he was rector of Trinity Church and Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts. He was a noted orator and won national acclaim for his funeral sermon preached at Independence Hall in Philadelphia when the body of Abraham Lincoln lay in state there after his assassination.

MAUDE ADAMS - She was born Maude Kiseadden in Salt Lake City in 1872 and left school at the age of 16 to become an actress. She played in "The Masked Ball" and then from 1892 to 1905 had stellar perfor.mances in "The Little Minister" and "Peter Pan". Maude retired from the stage in 1918, one of America's favorite actresses. After retirement she became professor of drama at Stephens College and helped develop im.provements to stage lighting.

WILLIAM HENRY ASPINWALL - Born in New York City in 1807, he became a leading merchant and railroad builder in the gold rush days. Aspinwall succeeded his uncles in the management of the noted G. C. & S. Howland (General Howland's father) trading company. By 1850, his interests centered in Panama where he joined the Pacific Railroad & Panama Steamship Co. He directed the construction of a railroad across the isthmus of Panama and this, in conjunction with his Panama Mail Steamship Co., gave him a monopoly of the best route across Panama and to the gold fields in California. A wealthy man, he retired to the social and artistic whirl of New York City and died in 1875.

GEORGE BUSH - A successful lawyer, businessman, and politician, he was a star first baseman on the Yale University baseball team and a Navy combat pilot during World War II. After making a fortune in the oil business, Bush entered politics, following in the footsteps of his father. He was elected to Congress and later served as ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, eight years as vice president and then in 1988 was elected president of the United States, serving only one four-year term. His wife, Barbara, also is a descendant of John Howland.

The First Howland JOHN HOWLAND - was born in Fen Stanton, Huntingdonshire, England, about 1592/3. He died at Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts) February 23, 1672/3. Plymouth Colony Records state: "The 23rd of February Mr John Howland, Senior of the Towne of Plymouth Deceased ... Hee lived until hee attained about eighty yeares in the world ... and was the last man that was left of those that Came over in the ship Called the May Flower, that lived in Plymouth ... he was with honor intered at the Towne of Plymouth on the 25 of February 1672". On Burial Hill is a monument to John Howland erected in 1897 with funds raised by Mrs. Joseph Howland (General Howland's wife). It was known that he married Elizabeth Tilley, daughter of John and Joan Tilley who were also passengers of the Mayflower. John Howland boarded the Mayflower in England in September, 1620, arrived in Provincetown Harbor, November 21, 1620, and, although called a manservant of Governor Carver, he was the thirteenth signer of the Mayflower Compact in Plymouth Harbor on December 21, 1620. He had two brothers, Arthur and Henry, who arrived a few years later. Sir Winston Churchill, an honorary member of The John Howland Society, was one of Arthur Howland's descendants.