HOWARD, William Alanson, lawyer, born in Hinesburg, Chittenden County, Vermont, 8 April, 1813; died in Washington, D. C., 10 April, 1880. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to the cabinetmaker's trade at Albion, New York He remained there four years, and in 1832 entered an academy at Wyoming, where he studied three years, and in !839 was graduated from Middlebury. In 1840 he became tutor of mathematics in the Michigan university. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Detroit in 1842. He was elected a representative in congress from Michigan for three successive terms, serving from 3 December, 1855, till 3 March, 1861. While in the house of representatives he took a decided stand in opposition to slavery. In 1861 he was appointed postmaster at Detroit, and in 1869 declined an appointment as minister to China. He was a delegate to the National Republican conventions of 1868, 1872, and 1876. In 1869 he was appointed land commissioner of the Grand Rapids and Indiana railway, and in 1872 of the Northern Pacific. He was appointed governor of Dakota territory in 1878, and spent the remainder of his life at Yankton.