Editing Elias Howe (section)

==Early life==
Elias Howe Jr. was born on July 9, 1819, to Dr. Elias Howe Sr (1792–1867) and Polly (Bemis) Howe (1791–1871) in [[Spencer, Massachusetts|Spencer]], [[Massachusetts]]. Howe spent his childhood and early adult years in Massachusetts, where he apprenticed in a textile factory in [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]] beginning in 1835. After mill closings due to the [[Panic of 1837]], he moved to [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], to work as a mechanic with [[carding]] machinery, apprenticing along with his cousin [[Nathaniel P. Banks]]. In the beginning of 1838, he apprenticed in the shop of Ari Davis, a master mechanic in Cambridge who specialized in the manufacture and repair of chronometers and other precision instruments.<ref name=nihf>{{Cite web |url=https://www.invent.org/inductees/elias-howe|title=Elias Howe | publisher=National Inventors Hall of Fame |access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> It was in the employ of Davis that Howe seized upon the idea of the sewing machine.

He married Elizabeth Jennings Ames, daughter of Simon Ames and Jane B. Ames, on March 3, 1841, in Cambridge.<ref name=ERA>Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2009. Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations. (CD-ROM)</ref> They had three children: Jane Robinson Howe (1842–1912), Simon Ames Howe (1844–1883), and Julia Maria Howe (1846–1869). He then married Rose Halladay.