Job Howe was born in South Carolina in about 1709 and later resided along the Cape Fear in New Hanover County, North Carolina. A planter, he served a local justice of the peace from 1733 to 1736. Howe owned many enslaved people. In 1739 one of his enslaved people, a man named Quaw, ran away. Later in 1744 Howe submitted a petition to the court asking for compensation for his enslaved person, Josey, who had been killed while running away. Howe died in New Hanover in about 1748.