Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe (bishop)

American Episcopal bishop For other people named Mark Howe, see Mark Howe (disambiguation).

The Right Reverend Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe D.D., LL.D.
Bishop of Central Pennsylvania

Church	Episcopal Church
Diocese	Central Pennsylvania
Elected	1871
In office	1871–1891
Successor	Nelson Somerville Rulison
Previous post(s)	Rector of St. Luke's Church, Philadelphia, PA
Orders
Ordination	March 12, 1833 by Alexander Viets Griswold
Consecration	December 28, 1871 by Benjamin B. Smith
Personal details
Born	(1808-04-05)April 5, 1808 Bristol, Rhode Island, United States
Died	July 31, 1895(1895-07-31) (aged 87) Bristol, Rhode Island, United States
Nationality	American
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	John Howe & Louisa Smith
Spouse	Julia Bowen Amory (m. 1833; died 1841) Elizabeth Smith Marshall (m. 1843; died 1855) Eliza Whitney (m. 1857)
Children	18
Signature

Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe (also Anthony, DeWolf, De Wolf, and DeWolfe; April 5, 1808 – July 31, 1895) was an Episcopal priest and later first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, the present day Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem.

Early life and education

Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe was born Mark Antony De Wolf Howe on April 5, 1808, in Bristol, Rhode Island. (As an adult, he changed the spelling of his second middle name to De Wolfe.) He was the son of John and Louisa (Smith) Howe, and a descendant of James Howe, an English immigrant to Roxbury and Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1637. Maternally, he was connected to Richard Smith, the first town clerk of Bristol, Rhode Island from the 1680s. He was also a great-grandson to Senator James De Wolf.

He attended Phillips Academy, Andover, and Middlebury College in Vermont. He left Middlebury to pursue education at Brown University, his father's alma mater. He graduated from Brown in 1828, having becoming friends with Francis Wayland, a president of Brown.

He taught Latin at Brown, as well as in the public schools of Boston. At the same time he studied law at his father's law office. Howe studied religion under John Bristed (son-in-law of John Jacob Astor and father of Charles Astor Bristed).

He was the recipient of several honorary degrees, including a LL.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1876.

Ordination and pastoral career

In 1832, Howe was ordained deacon by Alexander V. Griswold, bishop of the Eastern Diocese, at Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church, South Boston.

Before the end of 1832, Howe became rector of Saint James' Episcopal Church, Roxbury, Massachusetts, serving until 1846, when he was called to Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he remained rector for 25 years.

He attended General Conventions in 1850, 1859, and 1865, helping lay the foundation for the church hymnal. He wrote Memoirs of the Life and Services of the Right Reverend Alonzo Potter, D. D., LL. D. in 1871.

That same year, Howe was elected bishop of the newly formed Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. The original Diocese of Central Pennsylvania was the predecessor diocese of the current Diocese of Bethlehem, and as a result, he is counted as first bishop of Bethlehem as well. He was the father of writer Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe. In 1891, Howe retired to his home in Bristol, Rhode Island, where he died on July 31, 1895.

Consecrators

Howe was the 99th bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church.

Family

Main article: DeWolf family

Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe married, first, Julia Bowen Amory (1804-1841) and had 5 children:

Louisa Smith Howe, October 3, 1834 – March 18, 1845
Thomas Amory Howe, March 24, 1836 – February 7, 1840
Mary Amory Howe, May 4, 1837 – January 4, 1867, married William Hobart Hare, D.D., Missionary Bishop of Niobrara.
Helen Maria Howe, July 19, 1838 – April 4, 1839
Julia Amory Howe, April 30, 1840 – May 9, 1841

Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe married, second, Elizabeth Smith Marshall (1822-1855) and had 8 children:

Herbert Marshall Howe, July 16, 1844 – September 30, 1916
Reginald Heber Howe, April 9, 1846 – June 6, 1924
Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe, 1848 – June 2, 1860
Julia Amory Howe, January 31, 1850 – June 22, 1850
Elizabeth Marshall Howe, May 12, 1851 – 1904, married George Pomeroy Allen
Frank Perley Howe, September 19, 1853 – August 24, 1922
Alfred Leighton Howe, April 4, 1854 – 1911
John Ernest Howe, September 22, 1855 – May 1, 1857

Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe married, third, Eliza Whitney (1826-1909), daughter of Asa Whitney, and had 5 children:

Anna Barnard Howe, May 8, 1858 – May 28, 1858
Arthur Whitney Howe, May 15, 1859 – 1953
Antoinette DeWolf Howe, January 13, 1861 – April 3, 1862
Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe, August 28, 1864 – December 6, 1960
Wallis Eastburn Howe, September 12, 1868 – September 15, 1960

Notes

Some sources give his birth year as 1809.
The Diocese of Pennsylvania was divided in 1871, with the western portion named Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and Reading made the see city, overseen by Bishop Howe. The see was moved to Bethlehem in 1890. In 1904, the diocese was divided, with the eastern part keeping the name Central Pennsylvania and the western half taking the name Diocese of Harrisburg. The eastern diocese changed its name to Bethlehem in 1909, and Harrisburg changed its name to Central Pennsylvania beginning in 1972. Therefore, the original and current dioceses of Central Pennsylvania are not in fact the same jurisdiction.

References

^ Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard, eds. (1904). The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Vol. V. Boston: American Biographical Society. Retrieved April 26, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
^ "Recent Deaths: The Late Bishop Howe". Boston Evening Transcript. July 31, 1895. p. 3. Retrieved April 26, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
Mark Antony DeWolf Howe, b: 1809 Archived June 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
History of Central Pennsylvania Archived October 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine)
Walt Howe Genealogy Archived June 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

The Episcopal Church Annual. Morehouse Publishing: New York, NY (2005).
Howe, M. A. DeW. Jr. The Right Rev. Mark Antony De Wolf Howe, D. D.: First Bishop of Central Pennsylvania. 1901.

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