October 2010 - Howes that?

mardler
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Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

Happy new month, everybody. It's been a testing time for me this month and I have found myself on a series of trains and planes with too much time on my hands, but not enough continuous internet time to do some serious work on the website (indeed I am just about to get on another plane, to England). Consequently, we have entered a goodly amount of data instead, and thanks to more sterling work from my cousin, Ian, and two large trees submitted by members Patrick and John, our database now stands far North of 30,000 people. Of course, because of our 100-year rule the actual visible number is quite a bit lower.

That was not the only test. During an upgrade to our core family history software, the numbering for all of our individuals was changed, and consequently many of the certificates stored in our online media files are no longer pointed at the right person.

Nor even were those the only tests. We had an additional volunteer start work during the month, who began enthusiastically and then had to stop as quickly as she had started because of a sudden family crisis. We wish her luck and hope things calm down soon.

Inventiveness
Remember a few months ago when we mentioned that the inventor of the E-Z-Bake Oven and the Spirograph, Ronald Howes, had died? Well, the “tradition” of inventiveness among our clan continues. We had two new websites come to our attention in the past few weeks:
  • Andrew and Michael Howes are two young British entrepreneurs who realized a need to put together potentially hard-working students wanting to work to pay their fees with employers who might appreciate their labours. Their website is here: http://www.usefulstudents.com/
  • Stephen Howes is another Brit and the inventor of GridSure, a secure credit/debit card authentication system so much safer than the traditional PIN method, that . . . . . well, watch him yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgFOEhjdU6g and you'll find his company here: http://www.gridsure.com
If you get a moment too, do take a look at our growing list of Howes/Howse/Hows/House businesses listed here: http://www.howesfamilies.com/histories/feature5.php and patronize them if you can!

Gazetteer?
One registered British Howes member on the site was recently travelling in Western Canada, and came upon Howse Pass, named after Joseph Howse of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, who worked for the Hudson's Bay Company almost 200 years ago. He sent me some pictures and a biography for Joseph, which I will put online soon. It got me thinking, though.

How many places in the world are there called Hows, Howse, Howes or House something or other? I'm aware that there is a Howes Cave in upper New York state, for example. Are there Howes Roads or Streets? How did they get their name? Can we get photographs? Please send in whatever you can find and we will publish it.
==========================
Halloween tonight. Not the best night for flying around with all those witches about! A very happy Thanksgiving to all of our North American members and don't forget it's time to do your Christmas shopping wherever you are!
All the best
Paul
stephenhowes
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Joined: November 1st, 2010, 10:48 am

Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by stephenhowes »

There is a place called Howes in Dumfries Scotland
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... ngdom&z=15

There are also a number of locations in the Lake District, England which include the word HOW or HOWS including the very pretty Tarn Hows which was once owned by Beatrix Potter and is now managed by the National Trust
http://www.lake-district-attractions.co ... -hows.html
mardler
Site Admin
Posts: 306
Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

Thank you, Stephen. Let's use this forum to start a list.

I have a GoogleAlert set up which tracks the incidence of Howes, Howse and Hows on the web every day - I would look for House too but it would get too much "noise"! Just from today's Alert, I learned that:
- there is a Howes Street in Vancouver, BC - a car crash happened at the intersection with Ewen Avenue yesterday
- there is a Howes Street in Fort Collins, CO, where apparently there is a cycle lane where cyclists run the risk of opening car doors
- there is yet another Howes Street in Charlestown, Guyana, where someone went on the rampage with a cutlass yesterday

I love the web. All of human life passes by!
Paul
mardler
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Posts: 306
Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

And just as I was writing the above, Leigh from Swansea in South Wales sent me a note about Sweynes Howes in Rhossili on the Gower peninsula. In this case, the "Howes" is the plural form of Howe because there are two of them, ancient burial mounds. Howe appears to derive from an old Norse word "haugr" meaning hill, which makes sense given what we appear to have learned about the distribution of the three main surname variations.

Apparently, Sweyne comes from a similar root to the Welsh word "swyn", meaning a charm.

Can others help with more Howes occurrences and perhaps with derivation?

I'd certainly like to know for whom all of these Howes Streets were named!
Paul
mardler
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Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

There is a Howes Road, just NorthWest of Kingston, Ontario in Canada, just East of Odessa
mardler
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Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

And there is a small town called Howes in Western South Dakota, between Lake Oahe and the State Line.
mardler
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Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

There is a Howes Road on the Western outskirts of Aberdeen, Scotland
mardler
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Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

There's a Howes Street, in downtown Boston, MA in the Dorchester area not far from the expressway.
mardler
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Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

Checking through some old mail I find that Stephen Howes told me of a Howes Place in Cambridge, England
mardler
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Posts: 306
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Re: October 2010 - Howes that?

Post by mardler »

There is a Harry Howes Road in Sanford, Maine. Does anyone know how it got its name?
Paul
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