Fonds F2767 - Howard Jewell fonds

Howard Walter Jewell, 1892-?, was born in Market Harboro, England and received a diploma from the South Kensington School of Arts in London. He emigrated to Canada in 1912 and apprenticed in the banking industry. In 1915 he began studies in Presbyterian theology at Manitoba College and served as a supply minister for several rural congregations. He later served as pastor of a non-denominational congregation in Merton, South Dakota until 1926. He then pursued a career in business on the west coast of the USA. He married, and had six children, Grace (Holzinger), Ivy, Jim, Hazel, Ione, and Dolly, who all settled in the Los Angeles area. He later married Adeline Pitman, of Spokane, Washington, but the marriage failed in 1943.

By 1939 he was minister of an evangelical church in Cloverdale, B.C. In 1940 he moved to Calgary, Alberta, where he founded a radio ministry, The Church in the Wildwood, whose program “Herald of the Kingdom” was broadcast on radio station CJCJ. It was also heard in Victoria, B.C., Grande Prairie, Alberta, and Weyburn, Saskatchewan. The church was conducted in a series of walk-up office buildings in Calgary, which also served as Jewell’s living quarters. Jewell was ordained as a minister by the Grace Assemblies of America, and later by the Fundamental Ministerial Association. He was accused of bigamy and embezzlement, and was unsuccessful in his attempt to attain Canadian citizenship. In October 1947 his radio broadcasts ceased, and he disappeared, leaving behind his personal papers. Possibly he returned to England to visit his parents, knowing he was unlikely to be re-admitted to Canada.