Editing Joseph Howe (section)

==Early life==
The Howe family was of [[Puritans|Puritan]] stock from [[Massachusetts]]. Having remained loyal to the crown during the [[American Revolution]], the family of [[John Howe (loyalist)|John Howe]] joined the flood of [[United Empire Loyalist]]s out of the United States after the American revolutionaries succeeded in their claims of independence. John Howe arrived at Halifax in 1779 and set up a printing shop, where he published the first issue of the ''Halifax Journal'' in December 1780. In 1801, Howe was rewarded for his loyalty by appointment as the [[King's Printer]] and in 1803 he became deputy postmaster for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.

In 1798, John Howe in married Mary Edes; their son Joseph was born at Halifax on December 13, 1804. Joseph was John's eighth child and Mary's second. John's first wife, Martha Minn, died from complications following childbirth.<ref>Punch, Terrance M. and Marble, Allan E. (1976), p. 318-20.</ref>

Like many lads of that time, Joseph Howe attended the [[Royal Acadian School]] before beginning an apprenticeship, which he served at his father's printing shop starting at the age of 23. He married Catherine Ann Susan McNab on February 2, 1828.
[[Image:Joe Howe1.JPG|thumb|left|275px|Billboard once displayed on the former ''Chronicle-Herald'' building in downtown Halifax. Howe once edited the ''Chronicle''.]]
That same year he went into the printing business himself with the purchase of the ''Nova Scotian'', a Halifax newspaper. Howe acted as its editor until 1841, turning the paper into the most influential in the province. Not only did he personally report the legislative assembly debates in its columns, he also published provincial literature and his own travel writings, using the paper as a means for educating the people of Nova Scotia, and himself.  "His name ranks as perhaps the greatest in Canadian journalism."<ref>{{cite book|last=Hopkins|first=J. Castell|title=An historical sketch of Canadian literature and journalism |year=1898 |publisher=Lincott |location=Toronto |isbn=0665080484 |page=223 |url=https://archive.org/stream/cihm_08048#page/n33/mode/1up}}</ref>