A portrait of Clara Livona McCreery Howe taken at age 11. She was born on September 19, 1850 in Brookfield, Wisconsin. In 1856, she and her family moved from Wisconsin to West Union, Iowa. Clara married Fletcher Bowman Howe on December 31, 1868. They had two sons, George Christina and Mark Watson. In 1873, the Howes' moved to a homestead near Esbon, Jewell County, Kansas, where they spent most of their lives farming.