Charles Howard (August 7, 1804 – November 6, 1883) was mayor of Detroit in 1849.

Biography

Charles Howard was born August 7, 1804, in

Chenango County, New York Chenango County is a County (United States), county located in the south-central section of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 47,220. Its county seat is Norwich, ...

. His family moved to

Port Jervis, New York Port Jervis, named after John Bloomfield Jervis, a Roman civil engineer who oversaw the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, ...

; when Charles Howard was an adult he moved to

Sackets Harbor, New York Sackets Harbor (earlier spelled Sackett (surname), Sacketts Harbor) is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, on Lake Ontario. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augus ...

and worked as a

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

captain. He later joined the firm of Alvin Bronson and Company (later Bronson, Crocker, and Company) as a shipping and forwarding commission merchant, and moved to

Oswego, New York Oswego () is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Oswego is situated at the mouth of the Oswego River (New York), Osw ...

, to represent to firm. In 1834 he married Margaret Vosburg. The couple had two children: Mrs. William J. Waterman and well-known dramatist

Bronson Howard Bronson Crocker Howard (October 7, 1842 – August 4, 1908) was an American dramatist. Biography Howard was born in Detroit where his father Charles Howard was Mayor in 1849. He prepared for college at New Haven, Conn., but instead of ente ...

. In 1840, Howard came to Detroit, now a partner in the shipping firm of Bronson, Crocker, and Howard, to establish an agency for the firm. In 1848, he entered a partnership with N. P. Stewart, continuing his shipping and forwarding business and also as a railroad contractor, building substantial portions of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad line, although his firm lost $280,000 in the project. In 1854, Howard dissolved his partnership with Stewart and formed another one with his brother, Sebre. Howard was simultaneously president of the Farmer's and Mechanics Bank and the Peninsular Bank, and in 1848 he was elected mayor of Detroit. The

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission ...

caused the failure of the Peninsular Bank, and in 1858, Charles Howard moved to New York City. There, Charles and Sebre Howard opened the business "Howard Brothers, Firearms," which was in business from 1863 to 1874. Charles Howard died November 6, 1883, at the house of his son-in-law.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Charles 1804 births 1883 deaths 19th-century mayors of places in Michigan Mayors of Detroit People from Chenango County, New York