Tulare County Biographies

REV. JOSEPH B. HOWARD

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
        Though a comparative newcomer in Tulare county, the Rev. Joseph B. 
Howard, pastor of St. Aloysius's Roman Catholic church in Tulare, has created a 
distinct impression by the enthusiastic character of his labors in that field 
and has been gladly welcomed to citizenship in this community. Not long after 
his arrival in Tulare, Father Howard came to be recognized as a young clergyman 
of brilliant powers and of high promise and he has had the enthusiastic support 
not only of the members of his own parish but of many thoughtful citizens 
representative of other communions. Upon his installation as pastor of the 
parish of St. Aloysius, Father Howard found there much ground for improvement, a 
fertile field, indeed, and one susceptible of promising tillage. By creating new 
enthusiasms for the work of the church among his parishioners and by his earnest 
manner of winning the confidence of the whole community, he presently found that 
an entirely new spirit was being created in the parish, together with a sincere 
desire to push forward. This spirit has been cultivated under the earnest 
ministration of the young clergyman, and even now the erection of a new church 
edifice is in building, the plans contemplating an expenditure of around thirty 
thousand dollars, with a view to giving the parish of St. Aloysius an 
establishment in keeping with the fervor and the enterprise of its members and 
their energetic spiritual leader. Though an Englishman by birth, the Rev. Joseph 
B. Howard is enthusiastically American in his impulses and ambitions, and by 
willing adoption a devoted Californian, continually delighted with the selective 
chance which brought him to this favored region. He was born in Liverpool, 
England, son of Joseph B. and Ann (Worsley) Howard, both also natives of 
England, the former of whom was a substantial building contractor. Both are 
deceased, all their lives having been spent in their native land.
        Reared in his home place, Joseph B. Howard was given the advantage of 
excellent schooling in his boyhood and his thoughts early turned to the service 
of the church. Under proper preceptorship his studies were directed in this 
channel and he presently entered upon his classical studies in the University of 
London, from which venerable institution he received his Bachelor of Arts 
degree. For theology and the humanities he then went to Rome and in the great 
Gregorian University in that city completed his theological studies and was 
prepared for holy orders. He then came to the United States, under direction of 
the church, and in 1920, in San Francisco, was ordained to the priesthood and 
assigned to duty as assistant to the pastor of Basil parish, in Los Angeles. 
From that station he presently was transferred to Cathedral parish in Fresno, 
and in this latter place rendered service as assistant to the pastor until 
September, 1924, when he was made pastor of the parish of St. Aloysius in Tulare 
and has since been rendering acceptable and efficient service to the church in 
that promising and expanding field. Father Howard is the spiritual director of 
the local council of the Knights of Columbus in Tulare and is an enthusiastic 
and helpful member of the local Rotary Club, his classification in Rotary having 
been warmly welcomed by the enterprising members of that locally influential and 
progressive organization.
 
Source:  History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen 
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1926., p. 338