He was also a Freemason, elected senior grand deacon of Charlestown's Burning Star Lodge.
In 1857, Howk became the judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Floyd County.
From 1866 to 1870, he represented Floyd and Clark counties in the Indiana Senate.
[1][2][3] Howk was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court in 1876 to succeed Justice Alexander Downey.
Howk was a Christian but did not identify with any particular denomination; his mother was a Methodist but his second wife and their children were Presbyterians.
Dr. John Simonson Howk, became a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Jeffersonville.