Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe (bishop)


Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe was an Episcopal priest and later first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania.

Early life and education

Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe was born Mark Antony De Wolf Howe on April 5, 1808, in Bristol, Rhode Island. He was the son of John and Louisa 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.
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 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

Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe married, first, Julia Bowen Amory 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 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, daughter of Asa Whitney, and had 5 children: