They met when the twenty year old John Henry Parnell, now owner of Collure in Armagh and Clonmore in Carlow, decided, after the death of his father, to go on a long tour in America and Mexico with his cousin, Lord Powerscourt.
Soon after they arrived in America they met in Washington Delia Tudor Stewart, a girl of seventeen, conspicuous in the social and political life of the city.
Parnell returned to Ireland when he inherited Avondale on Charles's death in October 1891, against the wishes of his brother, who had wanted to leave it to his wife Katharine (née Wood).
It is open to public view, the local town Rathdrum, County Wicklow the location of the "Parnell National Memorial Park".
By this time the Irish Parliamentary Party had split over his brother's leadership, and John Howard Parnell stood unsuccessfully for West Wicklow as a Parnellite in 1892.
Carew subsequently stated in a letter to the press that his return was secured without his knowledge or consent, and offered to resign in favour of Parnell or any other candidate nominated by the constituency.
On Carew's death in 1903, John Howard Parnell did not secure the official Irish Parliamentary Party nomination for South Meath.