REV. ELIJAH F. HOWE resigned the pastorate of the First Congregational Church of Peoria in April, 1887, on account of failing health, and entered into rest, August 11 following. As a pulpit orator, he was rich and original in thought, clear and forcible in expression, earnest in appeal and enthusiastic in the presentation of the Gospel. So often were his thoughts recalled during the week that ”as Mr. Howe said,” became quite a stereotyped expression with many who attended his services. His portrait, presented no another page, will be valued by his many friends. 

The birthplace of Mr. Howe was Grafton, Mass., and his natal day September 19, 1832. he was prepared for college at Munson, Mass. The Rev. James Tufts, a professor in the academy, says of him: “E. Franklin Howe called at my boarding place in the spring of 1853, to see me in regard to entering the Academy to prepare for college. He was, I saw at once, a mature, prompt, earnest young man, desiring if he came to teach penmanship in the academy in aid of his support, which he did very successfully through his course. He commenced his studies the spring term, and continued here the following years, entering Yale College well prepared in 1855. 

“Mr. Howe was not a brilliant scholar, and probably did not learn so easily as if he had commenced his studies younger, but he was always industrious and faithful, striving to get every lesson as well as he could. Such scholars usually improve rapidly, so that Mr. Howe stood much higher relatively as a writer and scholar when he entered college than when he commenced his preparation. Uncommonly patient and persistent, he did all his work thoroughly as he was able, never relaxing his efforts, no matter how great the difficulties. This was especially noticeable in his writing and his composition exercises. Though he could debate fluently and speak acceptably in religious meetings, yet he could not write and compose easily, and had none of that felicity of diction which he afterward developed. Still his patience never failed. There was not a student in school who showed more persistence in learning to think, write and compose than Mr. Howe, till he really began to excel in a clear, terse, thoughtful style, somewhat as he afterward appeared in his pulpit performances.” 

After being graduated from Yale in the class of 1859, Mr. Howe studied theology at Yale and Princeton. He began his pastoral life at South Canaan, Conn., in 1861. His second pastorate was at Terre Haute, Ind., where he remained eleven years from 1865 to 1876. He then accepted a call to Newtonville, Mass., and in 1882, a unanimous call to the First Congregational Church of Peoria, placed him in charge of the pulpit in September of that year. 

The Rev. Hiram Eddy writes of him, “I like to write about that dear man. E. Frank Howe was one of my nearest neighbors in the ministry here in Connecticut, and while he and I remained in the State we were quite intimate. I loved him and I thin he loved me. I had great confidence in his mental culture and in the depth of his Christ-warned experience. He was always ready for any good deed, for any good work. You felt a Christ in his sympathy and here was the charm of his preaching. It was luminous, warm, and coming home to the hearts of the hearers. He was more like the lovely and loveable John than like Peter or Paul. He drew not in the sensational sense but in the sense of winning. His people loved him and they felt he was one of them. He was a brother among their brothers, a child among their children, a neighbor among their neighbors and was a member of all their homes. Of course souls were won to Christ and many will call him blessed. Let us thank God for such a noble ministry.” 

A college classmate of the Rev. Mr. Howe pays the tribute to him: “I was one of the many class-mates of Frank Howe who knew him and loved him well, but I also stood in a closer and more sacred relation to him, for there were few who knew him and loved him as I did, and fewer whom I loved and knew as I knew and loved Frank Howe. He was one of the deacons of the College Church from our class, and, while all the deacons, so far as I now remember, were faithful men and officers, yet it is no disparagement to the others to say that not one in all the college was more faithful or more useful than Deacon Howe. During his student life his prominent characteristics were his unhesitating adherence to the right in everything, his burning desire to do good to all about him and to develop the very best that there was in himself, his cheerful spirit, his lively affections, and before all, above all and throughout all, his pronounced personal religion.” Numerous were the letters expressive of similar sentiments to the above sent to the bereaved widow, and the congregation for which the Rev. Mr. Howe ministered until so short a time before his death. 

We make the following extract from a tribute from the First Congregational Church of Peoria, written by Miss S. S. Lines, on of its members: “He was pre-eminently a man who had the courage of his convictions. Aggressive and strong in his own opinions, he gave fort no uncertain sound, yet he was tolerant of and listened with deference to the opinions of others, and his pacific spirit often during heated discussions or argument ‘kept the balance true and fair.’ His sense of humor was keen and his scorn of meanness intense. His sympathy was hones doubt and his clear presentation of the truth won the confidence of some whose only safety from agnosticism had been their belief in the fatherhood of God. He was quick to give and respond to a sympathetic touch. His name was known and loved among those who were not of his own parish, and many who were outside of any church relation will long remember his thoughtful kindness. None looked to him in vain for help. The handful of choice flowers, his blooming plant, the little note, the timely word, the warm pressure of the hand, the appreciative glance, the prayer which voiced the agony and strong crying for help and which seemed to bring the answer down, are all remembered and cherished by countless hearts. Literally, he entered into our joys and shared our sorrows. The little child in its innocence; the young, looking forward with expectant eyes; the strong man in the stir and rush of business life, some of whom have said no other man ever came so near to them; the mother weary of her household round; the gray haired man and woman, sinking under the burden of helplessness; the joyous, the suffering and the sinning he carried in his great, true heart, they were his people and knit to him by tender chords of love.” 

The maiden name of his first wife of our subject was Frances Gates, of Munson, Mass. They had four children, two sons and two daughters, all living. The are: Frank c., an attorney in Peoria; Lewis B., a stenographer; Grace G. and Fannie C., all of whom are at home. Mrs. Frances (Gates) Howe died in November, 1882. The second wife of the Rev. Elijah F. Howe was in her young Sarah Storrs, and was born December 12, 1845. Her father, Charles Storrs, a commission merchant of New York City, lived and died in Brooklyn. On May 5, 1869, Sarah Storrs was united in marriage with David Proctor, then of Peoria, Ill., and to them were born there children, Charles, Julia and David. Mr. Proctor was a man of wealth, and died in December, 1880. On October 26, 1885, his widow became the wife of  the Rev. E. Franklin Howe, the subject of this biographical notice. She now occupies an elegant home on Perry Street and enjoys the esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. (page 339)