Journalist

William Weaver Howell was a journalist for over 70 years. When he was in his 90's he told of writing as a 15 year old schoolboy on the Isle of Wight in England. Shortly after emigrating to Canada in 1904, he began writing as a reporter for the Wabigoon Star (which later became the Dryden Observer). He also indicates that around this time, he was writing articles for newspapers in the "Old Country" about the life of a settler.

Most of his energies in the early years in Canada were spent on pioneer-related projects. He had to clear land, build a house for his growing family, start a farm. Building a new community also entailed building roads, schools and churches. and he was always very active in his community. During these years, he also served in Europe during World War I and taught school at Oxdrift, Ontario for a few years.

By the 1920's he began writing in earnest. His articles appeared regulary in the Ontario Farmer (writing as 'Minnitaki', in the Port Arthur News Chronicle where he called himself 'Irish Cobbler' and in the Dryden Observer using his own name as a by-line.

A fire in the 1940's destroyed his own files, but over the years his family has collected over 800 of his articles, mainly from Micro-Fiche records maintained by the Dryden Library and the Ontario Archives. We would love to find more of the early articles. A sampling of the articles he did write is included here.