James Bruen Howell (July 4, 1816 - June 17, 1880) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and politician. The son of a

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, Howell served as an appointed

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

for slightly over one year.

Biography

Early years

James B. Howell was born July 4, 1816, near

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, the son of Elias and Eliza Howell."James B. Howell," ''National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Volume 9.'' New York: James T. White and Company, 1899; pg. 450. The family moved west to

Newark, Ohio Newark ( ) is a city in Licking County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located east of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus at the junction of the forks of the Licking River (Ohio), Licking River. The population was 49,934 at the 2020 United ...

, in 1819, where James attended the

public schools Public school may refer to: *Public school (government-funded), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging private schools in England and Wales *Great Public Schools, ...

, graduating from high school in Newark. James' father,

Elias Howell Elias Howell (August 17, 1785May 12, 1844) was an American politician who served one-term as a United States Representative from Ohio from 1835 to 1837. Biography Born in New Jersey in 1785, he attended the public schools and in 1819 moved to ...

, was prominent in Ohio politics and was elected to the

Ohio State Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such t ...

in 1830 and to

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

as a member of the

anti-Jacksonian The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States which evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John ...

National Republican Party The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States which evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John ...

in 1836. James Howell graduated from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

, located in

Oxford, Ohio Oxford is a city in northwestern Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,035 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A college town, Oxford was founded as a home for Miami University and lies in the southwestern portion ...

, in 1837. Following graduation Howell studied law for two years under Judge Hoeking H. Hunter of

Lancaster, Ohio Lancaster ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, and its county seat. The population was 40,552 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Ohio, Ohio's 30th largest city, having surpassed Warren, Ohio, Warren and Fin ...

, gaining admission to the Ohio state bar in 1839. Following his admission to the bar, Howell opened a law practice in his hometown of Newark. Troubled by ill health, in 1841 Howell decided to move to a more satisfactory locale. He settled upon the tiny town of Keosauqua in Van Buren County in the territory of

, where he opened a new legal office and began to rebuild a legal practice.

Political career

Soon after arriving in Iowa, Howell became actively involved in the Whig Party, one of the two major American political parties of the day. His political interests led him to purchase an ailing newspaper, the ''Des Moines Valley Whig,'' the operation of which soon came to consume his interest. Howell subsequently gave up law to dedicate himself to full-time editorship of his partisan newspaper. At the end of 1846 Iowa was admitted to the United States and a period of protracted growth followed. In 1849 Howell moved with his newspaper to the booming Iowa town of Keokuk, located on the southeastern tip of the state, renaming the publication the ''Gate City Daily.'' In his role as editor, Howell was a consistent opponent of

slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865 ...

and to the ultra-

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

movement known as Know-Nothingism. As was the case with many Whigs, Howell shifted his political allegiance to the new Republican Party during the middle years of the 1850s. He was a signer of the convention call to establish the Republican Party in Iowa and a delegate from the state to the

1856 Republican National Convention The 1856 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met from June 17 to June 19, 1856, at Musical Fund Hall at 808 Locust Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the first national nominating conventio ...

held in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Howell was himself a frequent, albeit unsuccessful, Republican candidate for state and national office in the period. Following the national Republican victory of 1860, Howell appointed as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Keokuk, then a

political position A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politic ...

. He served in that role from 1861 to 1866. An accident which crippled him for life left Howell unfit for enlistment in the Union cause during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, although he remained a bitter opponent of the Southern rebellion. In 1870, the

Iowa General Assembly The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Repre ...

elected Howell to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James W. Grimes.Dan Elbert Clark,
History of Senatorial Elections in Iowa.
Iowa City, IA: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1912; pp. 143-49. He served out the end of Grimes' term from January 18, 1870, to March 4, 1871, but was not a candidate for reelection to the Senate. He was one of three commissioners of the court of Southern claims appointed by President

Ulysses Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as commanding general, Grant led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War ...

in 1871 to adjust claims for stores and supplies and served until 1880.

Death and legacy

Howell died June 17, 1880, in Keokuk at the age of 63. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery.

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, James B. 1816 births 1880 deaths Iowa lawyers Ohio lawyers Iowa Republicans People of the Six Years' War Politicians from Newark, Ohio Miami University alumni American people of Welsh descent Republican Party United States senators from Iowa Politicians from Morristown, New Jersey Lawyers from Morristown, New Jersey People from Keosauqua, Iowa 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century United States senators