[3] His father, Dennis Foley, died in 1889 in Dakota Territory, leaving a wife, daughter, and three sons (one posthumous).
He worked for a year in the art department of the Philadelphia North American, a daily morning newspaper.
In 1907, after working at other jobs, he was employed by the Midvale Steel Company of the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia, from which his father had been laid off 21 years earlier.
Howe's resulting publication on this subject was significant in developing the understanding of this important art and science.
For a time he directed the research laboratory at Bayonne, New Jersey, and then served as consulting metallurgist in the New York City offices of Inco until 1957.
He then joined Pencoyd Steel and Forge Corp. as executive metallurgical engineer, finally retiring in 1964, aged 77.