According to family tradition, Major Howe, an English gentleman, was a either a brother or first cousin to Lord Howe and General Wayne of Revolutionary War fame. He may have come to America as early as 1737 and returned to England; and finally emigrated to America c1748. On the ship he met Eleanor Dunbar and they were married after they arrived at Boston. By 1749 he was in what is now Hardy Co., WV, where he was the Tree Marker for surveyor George Washington when he surveyed the Lost River Valley. They surveyed land for Joseph Howe, his father-in-law John Dunbar, and others. They settled in the Back Creek Valley in what is now Pulaski Co., VA in 1767. He was ordained an Elder in the New Dublin Presbyterian Church in 1769. His will was signed on 26 Jun 1790 and probated on 7 Sep 1790. 126