Eber Dudley Howe (June 9, 1798 – November 10, 1885) was the founder and editor of the ''Painesville Telegraph'', a newspaper that published in

Painesville, Ohio Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 census. Painesville is the home of Lake Erie College, Morley Libra ...

, starting in 1822. Howe was the author of one of the first books that was critical of the spiritual claims of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...

, founder of the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

. His 1834 book ''

Mormonism Unvailed ''Mormonism Unvailed'' is a book published in 1834 by Eber D. Howe. The title page proclaims the book to be a contemporary exposé of Mormonism, and makes the claim that the historical portion of the Book of Mormon text was based upon a manusc ...

'' was based largely on

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a stateme ...

s collected by Latter Day Saint dissenter Doctor Philastus Hurlbut and on the letters of dissenter

Ezra Booth Ezra Booth (February 14, 1792 – January 12, 1873) was an early member in the Latter Day Saint movement who became an outspoken critic of Joseph Smith and the Church of Christ. He was "the first apostate to write publicly against the new Church ...

, which in 1831 had been published in the ''Ohio Star''.

Life

Howe was born to Samuel William Howe and Mabel Dudley in Clifton Park,

Saratoga County Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...

, New York. In 1804 the family moved to

Ovid, New York Ovid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Seneca County, New York, Seneca County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 2,919 at the 2020 census. The town is named after the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovi ...

and 1811 relocated to

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

, living a few miles west of

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

Howe joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

in Batavia, New York. After the war, Howe became involved in the newspaper business, working at the ''Buffalo Gazette'' in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, the ''Erie Gazette'' in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

, and the ''Cleveland Herald'' in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1822, he moved to

and began publishing the ''Painesville Telegraph''. Under Howe's editorship, the ''Telegraph'' had a strongly

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

editorial perspective. Howe's home was used as a station on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

, 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. While living in Painesville, Howe's wife, sister, and niece converted to

Mormonism Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of ...

. On January 11, 1831, Howe wrote a letter to W. W. Phelps, a newspaper publisher in

Canandaigua, New York Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora) is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex ...

, asking about the origins of the new religion. Phelps, who had read the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

and met

, 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 ''

'', 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. After leaving the newspaper, Howe remained a publisher and a manufacturer of woollen goods. Howe considered himself to be a

skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the ...

on religious matters. However, after his wife died of stomach cancer in 1866, he became an avid believer in

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...

References

External links

Saints Without Halos: Eber D. Howe (1798–1885)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Eber D. 1798 births 1884 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors Activists from New York (state) Activists from Ohio American abolitionists American newspaper founders American spiritualists People from Clifton Park, New York Critics of Mormonism History of the Latter Day Saint movement Journalists from Ohio Mormonism-related controversies People from Ovid, New York People from Painesville, Ohio

Life

See also

References

External links