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History of Early Pioneer Families of Hood River, Oregon. Compiled by Mrs. D.M. Coon

MRS. ALMA HOWE D.M.C. 1883

Mrs. Alma Howe is a native Oregonian, having been born in Marion County in June 1860. Her father's name was Isaac Lawrence, the mother's was Harriet Millsap Lawrence, she died leaving four children, Alma being the eldest of the three girls. A few years later her father married again and the family moved to East Portland where Mr. Lawrence built the first sawmill erected in that locality. The home of Lawrence was near what is now the junction of Hawthorne and Grand Avenue at that time it was well hidden in a grove of trees, with no hint of a coming city. The public schools of Portland furnished Miss Lawrence with opportunities for an education.
In September 1878 she was married to Samuel T. Howe, later they moved to Hubbard where a daughter, Hester Alice, was born. This daughter received her education at the Portland and Hood River Public Schools and the Normal School at Monmouth. For a time she engaged in teaching, but later became an assistant to her mother at the Cottage Farm.
Mrs. Howe first came to Hood River in 1882 to visit with her sister, Mrs. Parmenter, a year later she moved here and this has since been her home. In 1885 she bought 40 acres of land from her brother-in-law David Parmenter. The dwelling on this place was Hood River's first schoolhouse, bought from Dr. W.L Adams for twenty bushels of wheat. Mr. Parmenter moved this building to his farm, and by dividing it into two rooms, made a very comfortable pioneer cabin. These two rooms are still in use (1916) at The Cottage Farm.
In the year 1868, on account of the stress of hard times at Hood River, Mrs. Howe went to Portland and engaged in nursing. After four years of this strenuous labor, she returned to Hood River to recuperate her health and look after her neglected farm. In the summer of 1894 she erected a substantial building and opened her home to summer boarders and those in search of rest and quiet, the summer of 1895 was a busy hopeful time, but an accident in the fall made her a cripple, bedfast and helpless. The doctors decided that her foot must be amputated, but at her insistence, the operation was postponed until her finances could be arranged so that her daughter could be provided for. In the meantime there was improvement, slowly but surely the injured foot grew better, until at the end of four years, she was able to walk without crutches. During these four years, she was not idle; twenty acres of land was sold, more rooms were added, summer boarders and invalids came to her home and were cared for. As she prospered improvements of all kinds were added. She now has thirty three rooms besides several tents to accommodate the crowds which flock to her home. The eleven acres of land remaining is carefully cultivated and yields good returns.
The Cottage Farm has more than a local reputation, many tourists from other states visit there, for the place is unpretentious, quiet and homelike.
Mrs. Howe is a member of the M.E. Church, being a charter member of the first organization of that denomination in Hood River, she is also an earnest prohibitionist, is chairman of the school board of District No. 3.
She is a friend to those in need, not excepting the Indian, a busy woman, an honest woman and a good citizen.
Hester Howe died in 1922.
Mrs. Alma Howe went to the Methodist Old Folks home at Salem, Oregon in 1931, where she spent eleven years. She died in 1942 and was interred at Idlewilde in Hood River, Oregon.