Background
Jonas Howe was born in Petersham, Massachusetts on 15 July 1786 to Benjamin Howe (1759-1838) and Vashti (Holland) Howe (1761-1838). Howe married Arethusa Negus, daughter of Joel Negus and Betsy Gould, on 1 December 1816 at Petersham, and was a farmer and school teacher in the town. In 1845 he was elected to a one-year term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
He had a second wife, Abigail (Bigelow) Brooks (1797-1883).
Howe died at his home in Petersham on 8 January 1865. Howe was a direct descendant of John Howe (1602-1680) who arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 from Brinklow, Warwickshire, England and settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
Jonas Howe was also a descendant of Edmund Rice, an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony, as follows:
Jonas Howe, son of
Benjamin Howe (1759-1838), son of
Mary Stow (1730-1794), daughter of
Elizabeth Brigham (1700-1757), daughter of
Nathan Brigham (1671-1747), son of
Mary Rice (1646-1695), daughter of
Henry Rice (1617-1711), son of
Edmund Rice, (ca1594-1663).
