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Born: January 23, 1884
Plymouth, EnglandDied: April 30, 1930
Atlanta, GA; buried Chattanooga, TNMarried: Sara Blanche Davis
November 1, 1909 - Birmingham, ALChildren:
Frederick John Jr.
Victor George
Sara MargueriteSiblings:
George, William, Alfred, Maud,
Stanley, Blanche and FernleyParents: Sarah and George Howard
Fred was an ornamental plasterer and contractor by trade, and an entrepreneur by nature. Once he became a journeyman plasterer, the rules of the era in England would not allow him to work within a certain number of miles of the master craftsman to whom he had been apprenticed. Work was hard to find, so he and an older brother, George, set sail for Canada in answer to an ad indicating plentiful work in Winnipeg.
Once they arrived, the two young men discovered the work was harvesting wheat, not what either had in mind as a trade! George stayed and found work as a typesetter for the Winnipeg Tribune. A number of his descendants still live in the Winnipeg area and in western Canada.
Fred bought the return half of someone's round trip train ticket, was asleep when the train passed his original destination, and found himself in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he met my grandmother. The first fourteen years of their marriage were spent there, but they moved to High Point, North Carolina, in 1923, where Fred organized the High Point Builders Supply Co. The home he built for his family at 402 E. Fariss St. is still known to some residents as the “Howard House.”
This was followed, in 1925, by a move to Tampa, Florida, as Fred wanted to return to general contracting. When the speculative bubble burst in Florida, in 1926, Fred and Blanche lost everything. But Fred was able to find work as an ornamental plasterer in Atlanta for several years before his death in 1930 (due to a staph infection). Although hidden by today's “drop” ceilings, his work is still in place in a number of buildings in downtown Atlanta, including the State of Georgia Library and, in Chattanooga, the Patten Hotel.
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