Howker is a rare enough surname and difficult to find but, on trawling through the LDS site and various other genealogical sources, the name seems to be almost unique to Howarth in Yorkshire’s Charlotte Bronte country.

Indeed that is where I find my earliest Howker.

There are one or two Howkers in the Burnley area and it seems that during the late 1700s a few Howkers moved from Howarth to Burnley and the surrounding areas in dribs and drabs. Judging by the Christian names they are all of the same family and origins. JONAS HOWKER was born 1795 in Stanbury, Howarth, Yorkshire. I believe, though it is not yet proven, that he was one of at least five children of WILLIAM HOWKER and ELIZABETH LAWNSFIELD. William was a wool comber and eventually died at Lane Ends, Keighley.

Jonas married SUSANNAH HIGSON in about 1813 in Colne, Susannah was the daughter of JAMES HIGSON and ALICE LUND.
The Higsons were another Yorkshire family, from the Thornton in Craven area.
Jonas was in Colne by 1813 and, by 1861, was a master shoemaker, employing two men and one boy. He lived on 120 Westside Colne Lane, Colne.
His address in 1851 was 119 Colne Lane. There were also two grandsons living with him in 1851 and 1861, one was a Thomas Howker and another was a William Smith. Thomas was clearly illegitimate and the other was the son of one of his daughters marriages. I haven’t yet established which daughter had which son, or indeed, what happened to their mothers. I couldn’t find Susannah at this address in 1861 but strangely enough, I found a Susannah Howker living as a lodger at the farm of George Ramsden in Foulridge (possibly a son in law). I am not 100% sure that this is the same Susannah Howker but with it being such an unusual surname, it is unlikely that it is any other person.
Trying to track these two through the various census returns was a little on the confusing side but I have come to the conclusion that it might not have been the happiest of marriages and Susannah had moved out by 1851 and moved in with one of her married daughters.

Jonas and Susannah had at least three children - WILLIAM HOWKER, born 1825 in Colne, MARY HOWKER and BETTY HOWKER who was born about 1813 also in Colne. I believe ( though again not proven) that William was taken back to Howarth for christening on Christmas Day in 1825. It is likely that his sisters were also christened there.

WILLIAM HOWKER was, in 1851 a fitter journeyman, by 1861 was a gas fitter and by 1878 was a plumber. I have not managed to trace him in the 1881 census so it is presumed that he died somewhere between 1878 and 1881. He married MARY abt. 1851 in Colne and was at that time living at 119 Colne Lane, Colne with Jonas. By 1861 he and Mary had moved to 118 Westside, Colne Lane and next door to his father Jonas. By 1878 they had moved to Brierfield.

There is some clarification needed on the children of William as there are 19 Howkers in Colne by 1881 and many of them have the same names and born in the same years so it is a bit difficult to tell who belongs to who.
However, I am certain of the following children of William Howker’s.

ELIZABETH HOWKER, was born 1856, Colne, Lancs and she married MATTHEW HARTLEY in 1878 in Little Marsden.

EDWIN HOWKER was born in 1859 in Colne and married an ELIZABETH DIGGINS from Exeter. They had a son WILLIAM HOWKER in 1880 and, by the 81 census, they were living in Colne at 102 Greenfield Road with Elizabeth’s brother George as a lodger. Edwin, a cotton spinner and Elizabeth, a cotton winder, married sometime between 1878 and 1880.
By 1901 Edwin and Elizabeth had seven children, William, George, Annie, Harry, Edwin, Emily & Herbert between 1880 & 1900. Whether there were more children later I dont know but by 1901 they had moved to 9 High St, Brierfield and some of their descendants still live in the same general area.