Timothy O. Howe

The Honorable
Timothy O. Howe
30th United States Postmaster General
In office
December 20, 1881  March 25, 1883
PresidentChester A. Arthur
Preceded byThomas Lemuel James
Succeeded byWalter Q. Gresham
United States Senator
from Wisconsin
In office
March 4, 1861  March 3, 1879
Preceded byCharles Durkee
Succeeded byMatthew H. Carpenter
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
In office
January 1, 1851  June 1, 1853
Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 4th Circuit
In office
January 1, 1851  1855
Preceded byAlexander W. Stow
Succeeded byWilliam R. Gorsline
Personal details
Born
Timothy Otis Howe

(1816-02-24)February 24, 1816
Livermore, District of Maine, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 25, 1883(1883-03-25) (aged 67)
Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeWoodlawn Cemetery
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Political party
Spouses
  • Linda Ann Haines
  • (died 1881)
Children
  • Mary (Totten)
  • (b. 1844; died 1913)
  • Frank Howard Howe
  • (b. 1850; died 1897)
RelativesJames Henry Howe (nephew)
EducationMaine Wesleyan Seminary

Timothy Otis Howe (February 24, 1816  March 25, 1883) was an American lawyer, jurist, Republican politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a United States senator for three terms, representing the state of Wisconsin from March 4, 1861, to March 3, 1879. He later served as the 30th U.S. Postmaster General under President Chester A. Arthur, from 1881 until his death in 1883. While he was serving as U.S. senator, President Ulysses S. Grant offered to appoint Howe as Chief Justice of the United States, following the death of Salmon P. Chase, but Howe declined because he believed that it would result in his U.S. Senate seat being claimed by a Democrat.

Earlier in his career, he was a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, at the time that the Wisconsin Supreme Court was simply a panel of the state's circuit court judges.

His nephew, James Henry Howe, became a United States district judge in Wisconsin.