Eber Dudley Howe (1798 - 1885)

Born 9 Jun 1798 in Clifton Park, Saratoga County, New York

Ancestors

Died 11 Nov 1885 at age 87 in Painesville, Lake, Ohio, United States

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Biography

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 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.

Eber, owned and edited the Cleveland Herald from 1819 to 1821, and is credited for dropping the “a” in Cleaveland. Eber and his family later settled in Painesville In 1822. he 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. In June 1823 he married Sophia Hull of Lancaster, New York. Sophia Hull's father, Warren Hull, was a Revolutionary War hero, and built a home which served as a station in the Underground Railroad.

The Howe family also ran a woolen mill in nearby Howe’s Hollow. The factory served as a facility to hide and employ runaway slaves, and became known as “Nigger’s Hollow” because of this. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, life became more dangerous for the Howe family. Escaped slaves had to be transported by steamer to Canada. Edmund Howe wrote one of his letters from a steamer, the S.S. Baltimore. His journey took him to the Hull home in Lancaster; it’s possible aiding fugitive slaves escape to Canada was one of the purposes of this voyage.

While living in Painesville, Howe's wife, sister, and niece converted to Mormonism. On January 11, 1831, Howe wrote a letter to W. W. Phelps, a newspaper publisher in Canandaigua, New York, asking about the origins of the new religion. Phelps, who had read the Book of Mormon and met Joseph Smith, Jr., responded to Howe by writing that "we have nothing by which we can positively detect it as an imposition", but that "if it is false, it will fall, and if of God, God will sustain it." Phelps was baptized into the Latter Day Saint church a few months later. Howe continued to be interested in the Mormons, and in November 1834 he published Mormonism Unvailed, 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; the newspaper folded later that year. After leaving the newspaper, Howe remained a publisher and a manufacturer of woollen goods.

Sophia Hull Howe passed away in 1866. Howe considered himself to be a skeptic on religious matters. However, after his wife died of stomach cancer in, he became an avid believer in spiritualism.

After Sophia’s death, Eber resided at the home of his daughter, Minerva Howe Rogers until his death in 1885. Of Eber and Sophia’s six children, three passed away in infancy. Two sons, Orville Duane and Edmund Dudley survived into adulthood, as well as the daughter, Minerva Howe Rogers. Minerva Rogers was the oldest of the three surviving children.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eber_D._Howe
• Eber Dudley Howe, Autobiography and Recollections