Captain Allison Howes

 

ALLISON HOWES COLLECTION [DHS Acc. No. 2008.26.1] TRANSCRIPTION OF DOCUMENTS: These papers were donated by Laurel Evans. They had been in the possession of her mother-in-law, Janet Howes, who was daughter of William Howes and granddaughter of Allison Howes Jr. Allison7 Howes was born in East Dennis, 30 Apr 1825, the son of William6 Howes Jr. (1781-1869) by his wife Lydia (Howes; 1794-1868). He married, in Boston, 1 Mar 1854, Mary C. Lincoln (b. Brewster, 24 Oct 1832; d. Pierre South Dakota, 5 Dec 1925, daughter of Isaac Lincoln of Brewster). After following the sea for many years, Allison moved to Nebraska to go into the lumber business, went to the Black Hills in search of gold, moved to Deadwood where he ran a lumber mill, then moved to Pierre, South Dakota, where he died 15 Feb 1911. It is easily possible to understand how and why Allison became a man of the land. He had terribly bad luck with vessels, having lost several to wrecks. Whether this was his fault, or fate, he evidently developed the reputation for not being a good master, and subsequent vessels are down-grades to him. He started in blue-water shipping, traveling around the world, with very large vessels, and ended up coasting in the Gulf of Mexico with non-descript small schooners. The documents show clearly that he never achieved the wealth that his brothers and others had, and the poor record of achievement apparently followed him even to the Dakotas. He mastered the Bark Nestor and the Palestine, the Brig Plumas, the Amulet, the Scargo and the Belle of the West

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