John Howe was born in 1792, the seventh child of William Howe and Susanna Shoop. In 1814 John inherited his share of his father’s estate, 146 acres on land on the Juniata, valued at $1552.1 His share was valued at more than two of his brothers, and less than his brother William’s share. John married around 1819 Hannah North, daughter of Joshua and his second wife Mary. By 1840 John and Hannah sold their land in Perry County and moved to Milford Township, Juniata County.2 There they appear in the 1840 census with five children, a daughter 15 to 20, a son 10 to 15, and three children five to ten years old. Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, was already married to Henry Goshen.

John was taxed in Milford Township from 1842 to 1845. In addition to farming, he also worked as a plasterer. Two of his sons followed in his trade, and one of his daughters married Simon Basom, a painter. Mifflintown, the county seat, was close to Milford Township; there must have been a building room.

John and Hannah had six or seven children: Elizabeth, Lydia, John, Jesse, Levi, Caroline and possibly Joanna. 3 John died in 1847. He did not leave a will. The administrator of his estate was Edmund Doty, a prominent local lawyer and a kinsman, the son of Ezra Doty and Rebecca North, Hannah’s half-sister.4

In 1850 Hannah was living in Milford Township with John and Caroline.5 Lydia was already married to Simon Basom by then.6 Elizabeth was married to Henry Goshen, a blacksmith, and living in Mifflintown. Jesse was apprenticed to Henry and living with Elizabeth and Henry. Levi was working as a carpenter and living in a nearby hotel.  Hannah was taxed as a tenant in Milford in 1850 and 1851. In 1860 she was living in Mifflintown with her son John, daughter Caroline, and granddaughter Martha Basom, age 11.7 She was still there in 1870. In 1880 she was living with her son John and his wife Priscilla. Hannah died in 1887, outliving her husband by forty years. John and Hannah are buried at Westminster Cemetery in Mifflintown.8

It is noteworthy that none of the children of John and Hannah were farmers or married to farmers. They lived in town, rather than the countryside, and worked as builders or blacksmiths. This was a generational shift that would not reverse itself.

Children of John and Hannah:9

Elizabeth (Eliza), b. 1821, d. 1887, m. Henry Goshen; he was a blacksmith in Mifflintown.

Lydia, b. 1823, d. 1852, m. ab. 1846 Simon Basom; he was a house painter  in Mifflintown.

John, b. 1826, d. 1904, m. Priscilla McWilliams Leiter; he was a plasterer in Mifflintown.

Jesse, b. 1828, d. 1897, m. Lavinia Fasick; he was a blacksmith in Mifflintown.

Levi, b. ab. 1830, in Mifflintown in 1850, d. after 1880, a plasterer and carpenter; moved west to Illinois.

Caroline, b. ab. 1834, d. before 1880, m. Isaac Dysinger; he was a carpenter; moved to Bureau County, Illinois.

Next generation:

Elizabeth “Eliza” married Henry Goshen. They lived in Mifflintown, where he was a blacksmith. They had children John, O. North, Levi, Elizabeth, Ellen Jane, Mary Catherine “Kate”, Florence and Carrie.10 Florence died at the age of nine days. The others appear in census records with Henry and Eliza from 1860 through 1880. Eliza died in 1887; Henry died in 1894. They are buried at Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery, Mifflintown.11

Lydia Howe was the first wife of Simon Basom. They were married about 1846. Simon was a painter; they lived in Mifflintown and had two daughters: Hannah born about 1847 and Martha born January 25, 1849. Lydia died in 1852 at the age of 29, and was buried with her father John Howe at Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery. Simon served in the Civil War, was discharged early due to tuberculosis. He remarried, died in 1874 and is buried in Union Cemetery, Walker Township.

John also served in the Civil War. He was a plasterer and a builder, who later became a butcher.12 About 1863 he married Priscilla McWilliams, the widow of a Leiter. She had a son William, born about 1857. John and Priscilla lived in Mifflintown. In 1870 they had children Charles and Herman. In 1880 John’s wife Hannah was living with them, as well as Priscilla’s sister Malinda McWilliams. By then John and Priscilla had added a daughter Minnie.13 By 1900 only Herman was living with them. In 1910 John was dead, and Priscilla and her son Herman were living with her daughter Mary Elizabeth Crawford . John died in 1904; Priscilla died in 1911. They are buried at Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery.

Jesse Howe was apprenticed to Joseph Patterson at Selinsgrove in 1844 to learn the blacksmithing trade. After two years he went to work in the smithing shop of John Fertig in Millerstown, Perry County. The men of that shop made and dressed many of the tools used to build the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was completed through Perry and Juniata Counties that year. In 1852 he went to work for Joseph Kerlin in a shop in Mifflintown on the Gallaher farm. Later he went into partnership with Henry Goshen, his brother-in-law. Jesse lived with Henry and Eliza and their children in Mifflintown, where he was a smith. Together Jesse and Henry sold stoves and hardware that they had made. Their partnership lasted until 1859 or so, when Jesse set up his own shop.14

Sometime before 1856 Jesse married Lavinia Fasick. Her father William was a hatter in Mifflintown. They had children John W, Jesse, Rebecca Jane, Ellen. Jesse served during the Civil War with the 101^st regiment, posted to Roanoke Island, Virginia. He died in 1897; Lavinia died in 1910. They are buried at Westminster Cemetery in Mifflintown with their daughter Rebecca.

In 1850 Levi was living in George Littlefield’s hotel in Mifflintown and working as a carpenter. By 1860 he had gone west with Isaac Dysinger, a fellow carpenter. In 1860 Isaac Dysinger and Levi Howe were living on a farm in Indiantown, Bureau County, Illinois. Sometime after that Isaac returned to Pennsylvania, married Levi’s sister Caroline and took her back to Illinois with him. Isaac and Caroline were living in Wyanet, Bureau County in 1870. It is not clear what happened to Levi after that.15

Caroline married Isaac Dysinger about 1860. By the 1870 census they were living in Wyanet, Illinois, where Isaac was a carpenter. They had children Florence, Jennie, Jesse, Thomas, Sadie and Clemie (a son), all born in Illinois. In an 1877 voters list of Wyanet, Isaac appears, as a Democrat and a Methodist, with a wife and six children.16 By 1880 Caroline was dead and Isaac was raising the children by himself.17