A member of the Methodist Church for many years, Howe was also a long-time contributor to The Union Signal, Christian Advocate, and other religious publications.

Her father was a lover of poets, and often, on his return from rafting lumber to Pittsburgh, brought to his home the best literature of ancient and modern times.

[3] The family belonged to Methodist Episcopal Church from the days of John Wesley, whom they esteemed as a true spiritual descendant of the apostles, and were co-laborers with him.

[3] Not content with the education she received in her younger days, she became a lifelong and continual student, graduating in 1882 from the first class of the CLSC, "The Pioneers".

[2][3] Her interpretation of nature, if not deep, was always true, and her "verses", as she persisted in modestly calling them, showed genuine poetic feeling.

After some years past, the cares of a family and the varied experiences connected with the large business enterprises in which her husband was engaged, had developed and matured the graces of Christian motherhood and womanhood.

[4] He served in the Civil War, shared with Chaplain Charles Caldwell McCabe the experiences of prison life, and left a record for distinguished military service[2] Their home was in Franklin, Pennsylvania.