Born: September 5, 1851, Millerton, New York.
Died: May 19, 1939, Ballston Spa, New York, of pneumonia.
Buried: Ballston Spa, New York.
Howard was the son of minister Henry Laurence Grose, and husband of Caroline Bristol.
He attended the University of Chicago, Illinois, and the University of Rochester, New York (AB 1876, AM 1880).
He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1883, and served at the First Baptist Church, Poughkeepsie, New York (1883–87) and the First Baptist Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1888–90).
He also served as president of the University of South Dakota (1890–92), taught history at the University of Chicago (1892–96), was assistant editor of The Watchman in Boston, Massachusetts (1896–1900), and editorial secretary for the American Baptist Home Mission Society (1904–10), and edited the Missions journal for 23 years.
He lived his later years in Mount Vernon, New York.