On Oct. 14, 1893, Henry Howe - author of Historical Collections of Ohio, published in 1847 - died of a stroke in Columbus at age 77. Howe's work was considered the standard history of Ohio in its time.

Howe began visiting all 88 counties on horseback in 1846. He interviewed pioneers, collected data and made sketches of sites.

After the success of his book, he moved his family from Connecticut to Cincinnati, where he operated a publishing house for the next 30 years.

In 1885, Howe began to revise Historical Collections of Ohio. At 70 years of age, he traveled the state again, updating information. Published as two volumes in 1889-91, it was much larger than the original. The state bought 1,200 copies and placed one in every public school. But they were too costly for the average person. When Howe died in debt, his son arranged to sell the plates and copyrights of Historical Collections of Ohio to the state for $20,000 to relieve the debt.

- Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361