Recollections of My Life and Reflections on Times and Events During It: A Memoir by Father W. J. Howlett Main Menu Introduction Table of Contents Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Other Writings by Father W. J. Howlett Timeline Howlett Family Tree William J. Howlett Family Tree Maps and Geography: Howlett's First Trip West Fr. Howlett moved with his family to Denver when he was a child, and then moved to St. Thomas Seminary in Bardstown, KY several years later. This map recounts the path he took to get to both places. Maps and Geography: Howlett's European travels Fr. Howlett traveled far and wide during his trip to Europe. Here is a map of the places he recorded visiting. Maps and Geography: Howlett in Paris, 1872-1873 This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while in Paris, France. Maps and Geography: Howlett in London, 1874 This map shows the locations that Fr. Howlett mentioned visiting while vacationing in London, England Maps and Geography: Colorado Missions with Terrain Fr. Howlett's Colorado mission locations, with Colorado terrain. Index Acknowledgements Contributors' Biographies HIST 394 at CUA, Spring 2020

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plentiful in that new country. The country really was new as far as the white man was concerned, for only twenty-five years before it was the property of the Pottavottamie Indians who had been removed farther west by the Government. In fact the Indians were not all gone yet, for a portion of the tribe was still at Silver Creek, a settlement only a few miles out from Dowagiac, but in the opposite directions from our home. My recollections are not very interesting of this place and consist mostly of school happenings, but simple as they were they recall the manners of those simple times. 

          Our schoolhouse was a small one-room frame building in an oack [oak] grove at the crossroads about a mile distant. It bore the name “Oak Grove School.” There were about twenty-five children attending, mostly young, for the older ones had to help on the farms in Summer. In the Winter time the number was about forty when  the older boys and girls were present. We were just ordinary children loving fun as much as, if not more than our lessons,  but I do not remember any fights were engaged in. I do remember that on one occasion some of us barely escaped the broomstick of an irate mother. A family from Alonzo, but the resemblance was so striking that among the children he was invariably called “Monkey.” He did not seem to resent it, and the name became so associated with him that it lost its unfavorable significance. One day at the noon recess we lacked one member in making up a set for some game and some of us were asked to go to the Neff house and bring Alonzo. Innocently we went to ask for him and it happened that it was his mother who answered our knock. We told her of our game and asked if she would let “Monkey” come with us. She reached fro [for] the broom, saying: “I did not know I had a child named ‘Monkey’,” and she chased us out of the yard. We were surprised that she thought us disrespectful, but we made our escape and kept away from that house afterwards.

          Another little silly incident was when I took my first and last, chew of tobacco. One of the larger boys, Charley Huff by name, chewed tobacco. I sat beside him in school and he offered me a bit from his plug. It was hard-pressed and coal black, but it tasted like licorice, but I know that I lost the last meal taken previously and a few that I should have taken subsequently, besides, missing a day or two from school. 

          It was there in the early winter of 1853-4 that I saw the first priest of my recollection. He was the Rev Francis Gointet (commonly pronounced Quinty) from the College of Notre Dame, Indiana. He was a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross whose Fathers, with Father Edward Sorin, CSS, had established themselves at Notre Dame about ten years previously. The Indians

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