from Holland, lived for some years at Hingham, married Mary Cowell, of Boston, and, adopting the English translation of his name, was known as Dr. John Cutler. He served as surgeon in King Philip's War. About 1694 he removed to Boston, where he acquired a large practice, to which his eldest son, Dr. John Cutler, Jr., succeeded. John Cutler, third, in his old age played the organ at Trinity Church, of which his son-in-law, Samuel Parker, afterward Bishop Parker, was rector. His wife, Mary Clark, was daughter of Benjamin and Miriam (Kilby) Clark and grand-daughter of Christopher Kilby, Sr., of Boston.
Mrs. Howe's father, a successful banker, a man of sterling integrity and of almost Puritanic strictness of life, was liberal in his plans and provision for the education of his children. There were three sons—Samuel, Henry, and F. Marion—and three daughters—Julia, Louisa, and Annie. Two sons died unmarried. The eldest, Samuel Ward, fourth, died in 1884, survived by the children of his daughter Margaret (Mrs. J. W. Chanler), whose mother, his first wife, was a daughter of William B. Astor. Louisa Ward married, first, Thomas Crawford, the sculptor, and after his death married Luther Terry, an artist. Her home was in Rome, Italy. She was the mother of F. Marion Crawford. Annie Ward married Mr. Adolph Mailliard, and lived in California.
Pursuing her studies at home under able instructors, Julia Ward became well versed in music and several languages, in after years taking up German philosophy and the study of Greek, which she still continues. She was married in April, 1843, to Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, of Boston, world-famous philanthropist and teacher, in his early manhood one of the heroes of the Greek revolution, of which he subsequently wrote an historical sketch. After a year or more spent abroad and the birth of a daughter, Julia Romana, in Rome, Dr. and Mrs. Howe took up their residence in Boston, he to continue his beneficent activities as superintendent of the School for the Blind (1832–76), head of the School for Feeble-minded (1848–75), as member of the State Board of Education, and president of the Board of Charities—to mention only a few of the many lines on which he worked to the end of his days—she in the meantime not to remain idle.
Five children were born to them in Boston. The four now living are: Florence Marion, author and lecturer, wife of David P. Hall, lawyer, of New York and Plainfield, N.J.; Henry Marion, professor of metallurgy in Columbia University, New York City; Laura E., author, wife of Henry Richards, of Gardiner, Me.; and Maud, author, wife of the well-known artist, John Elliott. Samuel, the younger son, died in May, 1863, aged four years. Julia Romana, poet and student, who died in March, 1886, was the wife of Michael Anagnos, a native of Greece, Dr. Howe's successor as director of the School for the Blind at South Boston.
Mrs. Howe has written much both in prose and verse. She has been a contributor to the New York Tribune; the Independent; the Atlantic Monthly, in which the "Battle Hymn," written in Washington after beholding the camp-fires by night, first appeared in print (February, 1862); the North American Review; and other periodicals. Among her books may be named "Passion Flowers," issued anonymously in 1854; "Later Lyrics," 1866; "From the Oak to the Olive," 1867; "Is Polite Society Polite? and Other Essays," 1895; "From Sunset Ridge," 1898; and "Reminiscences," 1899, covering fourscore years of exceptionally rich and varied experiences.
Mrs. Howe's connection with the woman suffrage movement began in 1868. Her first speech in its advocacy before a legislative committee was made in the Green Room of the State House in 1869. She has been officially connected from the start with the New England and other woman suffrage organizations, in which she has taken an active part. For some time she was an associate editor of the Woman's Journal. As lecturer and preacher the greater number of her journeyings have been made since the death of Dr. Howe, in January, 1876. In her lectures she has given interesting recollections with appreciative judgments of Longfellow and Emerson and Whittier, has spoken sympathetically of " Patriotism in Literature," has offered a "Plea for Humor," and has treated a variety of other subjects with characteristic grace and vigor.
