Howe was born to Samuel William Howe and Mabel Dudley in
Clifton Park,
Saratoga County,
New York. In 1804, the family moved to
Ovid, New York and in 1811 relocated to
Upper Canada, living a few miles west of
Niagara Falls. During the
War of 1812, Howe joined the
U.S. Army in
Batavia, New York. After the war, Howe became involved in the newspaper business, working at the
Buffalo Gazette in
Buffalo, New York, the
Erie Gazette in
Erie, Pennsylvania, and the
Cleveland Herald in
Cleveland, Ohio. In 1822, he moved to
Painesville, Ohio and began publishing the
Painesville Telegraph. Under Howe's editorship, the
Telegraph had a strongly
abolitionist editorial perspective. Howe's home was used as a station on the
Underground Railroad, assisting fugitive slaves. The Eber Howe house and property, known as The House at Liberty Hollow, are maintained as a park. In June 1823, he married Sophia Hull of Clarence, Ohio. which he described as "a history of the Mormon imposition, from its rise to the present time, with many other peculiarities of the sect." In January 1835, Howe sold the
Painesville Telegraph to his younger brother for $600 (~$ in ). After leaving the newspaper, Howe remained a publisher and a manufacturer of woollen goods. Howe considered himself a
skeptic on religious matters. However, after his wife died of
stomach cancer in 1866, he became an avid believer in
spiritualism. ==See also==