He was a descendant of David O’Killia, who settled on Cape Cod, Mass.,
as early as 1657. Osborne Howes was born in Boston in 1846 and was
educated in private and public schools of the city. Soon after his
graduation he entered the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company
on the steamers of that line running between Panama, San Francisco and
Hongkong. After three years thus spent on the Pacific coast, he went to
New York City and there began a connection with newspaper work which
continued almost up to the time of his death. Beginning in the office of
the _New York Tribune_, he was afterward employed by the _New York
Times_, serving on that paper during its exposé of the “Tweed ring.” In
1873 he accepted the position of secretary of the Boston board of fire
underwriters, and was always thereafter identified with that body.
Having resumed his residence in Boston, he was appointed from time to
time to various public offices. As representative of the board of
underwriters he was instrumental in having that board take action upon
several important public questions. The resolution committing the
associated board of trade to the principle that all future subways in
Boston should be built under such conditions that they would ultimately
revert to the city, was drawn up, presented and urged by him, and as a
result of its adoption the Boston Associated Board of Trade was the
foremost opponent on this question of excessive corporate demands. As a
member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Howes was chairman of its
committee on the Isthmian canal, and vice-chairman of its committee on
reciprocal trade relations with Canada. In this latter connection he
addressed the boards of trade and chambers of commerce, not only of a
number of the cities of New England, but those of New York,
Philadelphia, Buffalo, Indianapolis and other cities of the West. In
1891, feeling convinced that it was desirable that public action should
be taken toward educating young men to become competent seamen, he
prepared, introduced and succeeded in having the legislature adopt a
bill creating the Nautical Training School, which the commonwealth now
maintains on board the U. S. S. _Enterprise_. From 1875 to 1877,
inclusive, Mr. Howes was a member of the common council of Boston,
representing the South End ward, in which he then resided. In 1886 he
moved his residence to the town of Brookline, and besides serving on
various town committees, became a member of the rapid transit
commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Russell; also a member
of the metropolitan district (Greater Boston) commission, to which he
was appointed by Governor Greenhalge. In 1884 Mr. Howes was a member of
the special committee of fifteen which prepared the new Boston city
charter; he also served as one of the trustees of the public library.
Mr. Howes in 1901, and again in 1902, was nominated as the Democratic
candidate for the state senate in the second Norfolk district, but was
defeated on both occasions. On the first occasion, in his letter of
acceptance, he described the state platform of the Democratic party as
“an attempt to bring back the government machinery of the commonwealth
to something approaching the simplicity of its earlier days.” On the
second he championed “more liberal and advantageous trade relations
between New England and Canada.” In 1904 Mayor Collins appointed him to
an unsalaried position as member of the board of building inspection.
The following year Mr. Howes took a leading part as chairman of the
committee on resolutions in preparing the platform of the Democratic
party in the state contest. Mr. Howes was Japanese consul in Boston at
the time of his death, which sad event took place April 9.
PETER McDONNELL.
Born in Ireland, died aboard the White Star steamer _Oceanic_, in
August, while returning from Ireland. Mr. McDonnell first came to this
country when a young man. For a long time he had represented the
railroads successfully at Castle Garden, the Barge Office and Ellis
Island. He was also interested in the steamship business at the
immigration station and carried on a big banking business at No. 2
Battery Place. When he went to his old home in Ireland in the spring he
was in poor health. He was accompanied by his wife and one of his six
sons. Mr. McDonnell was the secretary and a director of the Columbia Oil
Company of New York, one of the few rivals of the Standard Oil Company,
and a director of the New York Mortgage and Securities Company. He was a
member of the Catholic Club and for many years of the Friendly Sons of
St. Patrick. When President Roosevelt was the guest of the latter
organization in 1905, it will be remembered the birth of Mr. McDonnell’s
grandson, which was announced at the dinner, was one of the features of
the occasion.