Joseph Howe was born on December 13, 1804, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

He was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet. He attended the Royal Acadian School before beginning an apprenticeship at his father's printing shop. In 1828, he went into the printing business himself with the purchase of the Novascotian, a Halifax newspaper, soon making it into a popular and influential newspaper. He reported extensively on debates in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and travelled to every part of the province writing about its geography and people. In 1836, he was elected to the assembly as a liberal reformer, beginning a long and eventful public career. He was instrumental in helping Nova Scotia become the first British colony to win responsible government in 1848. In 1854, as the head of a bi-partisan railway commission, he was successful in completing lines from Halifax to Windsor. He served as premier of Nova Scotia from 1860 to 1863 and led the unsuccessful fight against Canadian Confederation from 1866 to 1868. Howe became the 3rd Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia in 1873. During his life, he wrote and published some poems related to his appreciation of Nova Scotia and its history. In 1874, a year after his death, his family published a book of his poetry “Poems and Essays”.

In 1828, he married Catherine Susan Ann McNab (1807–1890). He died on June 1, 1873, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.