Will County ILGenWeb Biographies..... 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.

************************************************

File contributed for use by:
Dori Leekly & Margie Glenn

Author: History of Will County, Illinois; Chicago: Wm LeBaron Jr & Co, 186 Dearborn Street, 1878.

H. HOWK, retired merchant and miller, Joliet; the subject of this sketch was born in 
Watertown, Jefferson Co., N. Y., Feb. 23, 1806; in his early life be engaged extensively 
in lumbering in his native State; in 1851, he came west, and located in Joliet, and in 
connection with Joel A. MATTESON, afterward Governor of the State, took a contract on the 
R. I. & P. R. R., extending from Blue Island to within ten miles of Joliet; they graded 
and put in the culverts a distance of thirty-four miles. His son subsequently built a 
storeroom on the West Side, near the lock, and engaged in supplying boats on the Canal. 
Mr. HOWK built the Joliet Mills, on the lock, with six runs of stone, and in company with 
Mr. HYDE, his nephew, and now sole proprietor, operated them seven years; he contracted all 
the machinery in Watertown, N. Y.; since retiring from the mill, he has not been actively 
engaged in business pursuits, but is leading a quiet, retired life, enjoying the fruits of 
honest toil and the competency gained by a well-directed and well-spent early manhood.