Howard Reed Dowell

Howard Reed was born in Upstate New York to Fred and Gertrude Reed, the third of four children. At age three, he and his two older siblings lost their parents and eldest sister, Ethel, after the family had been moving cattle across a frozen lake when the ice broke; they later died after contracting tuberculosis. After Gertrude's death, she arranged for Clara, James, and Howard to be taken to the Children's Aid Society in Manhattan, New York. In June 1909, the three children were placed out in Belleville, Kansas. Although each found a permanent home with different families there, they remained in contact. Howard was placed with Luther and Juliet Dowell near Cuba, Kansas, where he was given a loving home on their farm. He loved the farm animals, working with horses and mules, and playing baseball with his new family. Howard and his wife Nora raised four children on the Dowell family farm, and their descendants call North Central Kansas home.

Concordia, Kansas · United States