| Notes |
- The below was taken from http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/r/i/d/Steve-Riddle/PDFGENE173.pdf
Descendants of John Howland, put together by Steve Riddle
Notes for JOHN HOWLAND:
John Howland came over on the Mayflower as one of the indentured servants of a wealthy couple named John and Kathrine Carver and they landed in America in December of 1620. John Carver died in the spring of 1621 and his wife Kathrine died in the summer of 1621.
John HOWLAND. Born in 1592 in Fen station, Huntingdonshire, England. John died in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts on 23 Feb 1672; he was 80. Buried in Burial Hill, Plymouth MA. Occupation: yeoman
-Mayflower index #19,049
-there is a Pilgrim John Howland Society, with its membership director being: Robert M. Tatem, 7 Galway Lane,
Cherry Hill, New Jersey 08003 in 1998
-sailed on the Mayflower 8/2/1620, was a Pilgrim and one of the founder of Plymouth, Massachusetts
-he is best remembered for having fallen off the Mayflower during a mighty storm, as recorded by Bradford "In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce and the sea so high, as they could not bear a know of sail, but were forced to hull for divers days together. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull in a mighty storm, a lusty (meaning good spirited) young man called John Howland, coming upon some occasion above the gratings was, with a seele of the ship, thrown into the sea; but it please God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards which hung overboard and ran out at length. Yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and then with boat hook and other means got into the ship again and saved his life. And though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after and became a profitable member both in church and Commonwealth".
-another source relates as the Mayflower plowed westward through high seas in the fall of 1620 on its way to the
New World, John Howland was suddenly swept overboard. Fortunately he grabbed a handy topsail halyard and although he was doused several fathoms deep, was hauled aboard with the aid of a boat hook.
-when the Mayflower reached Cape Cod, John was among the party of 10 who were sent out to select the locations of their new homes. They were driven by a storm into Plymouth Harbor which they choose for the settlement. Prior to landing, the passengers drew up the Compact which became the basis for their government.
John Howland, then twenty-eight, was the 13th signer.
-came on the Mayflower as a servant of John Carver. After the death of Carver, he rose rapidly as a leader in the colony. In 1627 he was the head of one of the twelve companies which divided the livestock, and he was one of the eight Plymouth Undertakers who assumed responsibility for the colony's debt to the London Merchant Adventures (the company that had lent them the money to emigrate to America) in return for certain monopoly trade privileges. He was on the 1633 freeman list, and by 1633, was an Assistant, being re-elected to this position in 1634 and 1635. In 1634 he was in charge of the colony trading outpost on the Kennebec River when Talbot and Hocking were killed. He received a good number of land grants, was elected a Deputy for Plymouth, served on numerous special committees, and was an important lay leader of the Plymouth Church.
-there were 102 passengers on the Mayflower but only 23 left descendants and John Howland has more descendants than any of the others however.
-there is a question to whether John Howland lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts full time- an article in Colonial Homes magazine states "about 1/3 of the settlers in the Plymouth Colony moved to the place they named Duxburrow". The town was incorporated in 1637 at Ducksborrow and became Duxbury in 1834. During their first few years in Duxbury, the Pilgrims settlers stayed only from spring planting through harvest, returning to Plymouth for the winter. Even during the farming season, they attended church services in Plymouth every Sunday, probably getting there by boat across the Duxbury Bay, rather than by the Indian trails that were the only overland routes. In 1632, Duxbury became their permanent home, and they established their own parish under Elder William Brewster, who has been spiritual leader of the Pilgrims ever since they left England for Holland. Among the settlers were Myles Standish, John Alden, his wife Priscilla and John Howland.
-at present day (1997) the General Society of Mayflower Descendants is located in Plymouth, Massachusetts at 4 Winslow Street and is furnished with 17th, 18th, and 19th century antiques.
-THE PILGRIM STORY- In 1620, a band of Pilgrims left England about the British wine ship, the Mayflower seeking economic opportunity and religious freedom. John Howland was Governor John Carver's servant (in those days, a servant was a person who was bound to a certain master for a definite time, as distinct from a person who worked for day wages.) The voyage was stormy as the 102 passengers crossed the Atlantic Ocean in two months. (John Howland fell overboard but was rescued). They landed in Plymouth on December 21, 1620 and established the first successful colony in the New World. Work was started on the new settlement on Christmas Day, 1620. Snow, sleet and rain hampered their efforts. More than half the group died during the first terrible winter, which was plagued by illness, exposure, cold, hunger and disease. On March 21, 1621, Samoset of the Wampanoag Indians walked into the settlement and surprised the Pilgrims in their own language. He later introduced them to Squant, who taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn and how to catch herring from Plymouth's town brook to use as fertilizer. He showed them how to tap maple trees for sap and where to find eels for food. The Colony began to thrive durning its first summer. The Pilgrims, who had feared for their lives durning the cruel winter, were now seeing the best of the New World. The Pilgrim's first autumn in New England was beautiful and the harvest was plentiful. They were grateful and set aside a day of Thanksgiving for a harvest festival. Governor Bradford asked Squanto to invite the Wampanoags to the feast. Four Pilgrims hunted for waterfowl and returned with ducks and geese for the celebration. On the appointed day, Massachusettsasoit arrived with 90 hungry braves. The Pilgrims were surprised by their numbers, knowing they could never feed them all. Massasoit saw the concern on their faces. With a simple gestured, he dispatched a few of his men into the forest. Soon, they returned with five deer as the Indians contribution to the feast. Goose, venison, lobster, eel pie, cornbread, fresh "sallet herbes", wild plums, berries and red and white wines were served. The Indians enjoyed themselves so much that they stayed for three days.
-John Howland was described by a fellow Pilgrim as a "lusty man" (meaning lively and happy in those days).
-there is a full scale reproduction of the Mayflower in the Plymouth Plantation, Massachusetts
-President of the United States George Herbert Walker Bush is a descendant of John Howland.
-a photograph of the family headstone in Plymouth, MA in this sources file, along with a photograph of Johns' son Jabez original home in Plymouth, where John lived for some time before his death in 1672.
-John Howland was among those who signed the Mayflower Compact on 21 November 1620. He became very active in the political and church live of the colony. He was a member of the Governors Council for several years, helped lay out land and highways, was on many different communities for the town and the church, was an assessor in 1633, and a town Deputy most of the years from 1652 to 1670. He lived in Rocky Nook which is about 3 miles northwest along the coast from Plymouth Rock. When his house there burned, he and his wife took shelter with their son Jabez in Plymouth in a house built in 1667 and which still stands today (it may be the only remaining house which echoed to a first comers steps to the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE FOR Aug. 1947).
-from another source in Adele Gorhams file, John was frequently called to public office. From 1633-1636 he was a member of the Governors council, in 1633 and 1634 was an assessor, in 1636 served on the jury, and in 1666 was selectman of Plymouth. He represented the town as Deputy from 1652-1656 and in 1658, 1661, 1663, 1667, and in 1670. A few years after the founding of their colony the Pilgrims established a trading post on the Kennebec River in Maine, and of which John Howland was placed in charge. While there he was obliged to defend the post from the encroachment of John Hocking who attempted to trade within the limits of the Plymouth Patent and who killed Mose Talbot, one of Howlands men. The event caused considerable excitement at the time. His other public services consisted in laying out the land, settling disputes, constructing highways and serving on various town committees, and these helped make him a man of repute. He was appointed by the church to join in the imposition of hands at the time of the ordination of John Cotton, Jr. His home was at Rocky Nook, Plymouth, but he acquired land in other townships, including one hundred acres on the east side of Taunton River, some upland and meadows in Middlebury, and at Satuckett and Paoment, as well as several grants at Plymouth itself. His will is dated 1672 and was exhibited in court March 5, 1673.
-source shows a marriage of 25 March 1623
-source shows a birth date as 1592/1593 and that there is a monument to John Howland erected in 1897 with funds raised by Mrs. Joseph Howland. This replaced a stone erected about 1836 by John and Henry Howland of Providence, RI. The earlier stone was buried in 1897 under the new one. The earlier stone stated that John Howlands wife was a daughter of Governor Carver, but after the discovery in 1856 of Governor William Bradfords manuscript of PLYMOUTH PLANTATION, it was known that he married Elizabeth Tilley, daughter of John Tilley and his wife who were, also, passengers on the Mayflower. John Howland boarded the Mayflower in England in September 1620, arrived in Provicetown Harbor, November 21, 1620 and although called a manservant of Governor Carver, he signed the Mayflower Compact in Plymouth Harbor on December 21, 1620. Within a few years he married Elizabeth Tilley, built a house on the First Street and gradually as land was allotted to each family he acquired 4 acres on Watsons Hill in Plymouth and considerable acreage in Duxbury. On February 2, 1638/1639 he bought from John Jenney the property called Rocky Nook, now in Kingston, and 20 acres of which were owned by our Pilgrim John Howland Society. He served in the General Court of Plymouth as Committeeman in 1637, 1639-165 and a Deputy 1652, 1659, 1661-1668, and 1670.
-source shows a birth year as 1602 (this is in dispute with the Pilgrim John Howland Society as a John Howlett was baptized in 1602 in England on that date).
-source shows John born in 1593 and died in 1673/1674
On 14 August 1623 when John was 31, he married Elizabeth TILLEY, daughter of John TILLEY, and Joan Hurst, in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Born on 30, August 1607 in Henlow, Bedford, England. Elizabeth died in at the home of his daughter, Lydia Browne in Swansea (now in East Providence, RI), Barnstable, MA on 21 December 1687; she was 80.
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Thirteenth signer of the Mayflower Compact. Came to America as an indentured servant of John Carver, possibly a scribe. Was to serve 7 years or until debt paid. Durning a storm, fell overboard and was rescued by Edward Doty. One of the exploring party after landing at Plymouth Rock. Member of the "Undertakers" group of settlers that bought the rights of the colony from the original investors. In 1634 placed in command of the Kennebec Trading Post. In 1641 appointed Deputy of the General Court, Died February 23, 1672, but not buried until May 29, 1672. Join the Pilgrims of South Hampton in 1620, Upon the death of John Carver and his wife, indenture was ended and he became head of the Carver Household. Presided over only witch trial at the colony. The wife of William Holmes a Lt. of John Standish was accused of being a witch by Dinah Sylvester. Was asked what evidence she had, she replied that "she came to me in the shape of a witch", when further questioned was determined that the shape was that of a bear. To discourage such nonsense, Dinah was fine 5 lbs and whipped.
The Descendants of John Howland of the Mayflower for Five Generations
Vol. 1: Through his First Child Desire Howland, and her husband, Captain John Gorham. by Elizabeth Pearson
White, Picton Press (Camden, Maine, 1990)
John Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England, a passenger on the famous ship Mayflower, which sailed from Plymouth, England, in the autumn of 1620, was the indentured servant of Mr. John Carver, a wealthy Londoner, who became the first governor of New Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. On November 11, 1620, as the ship lay at anchor in Cape Cod Bay, John Holand was the thirteenth man to sign the Mayflower Compact, the agreement which laid the foundation for the new town that the able-bodied men on board the Mayflower planned to create when the group landed in what was to become Plymouth, Massachusetts. The son of Henry and Margaret Howland, John Howland was born about 1592 and grew up in Fenstanton, a town nine miles northwest of Cambridge on the old Roman Road. No baptismal record has been found for John Howland but he was said to have been 'above eighty years' when he died in Rocky Nook, Kingston, near Plymouth February 23, 1672. His father, Henry Howland, yeoman, died in Fenstanton May 17, 1635, and his mother, Margaret, was buried there July 31, 1629. Two of his brother, Arthur and Henry migrated to Plymouth Colony within the first twenty years, and left many descendants, making it more difficult to sort out and identify their many descendants. John Howland was called by Governor William Bradford 'a lusty younge man.' He was one of the hired hands amond the Mayflower company, being neither a 'Saint,' as the Pilgrims were called, nor a 'Stranger' engaged for a specific duty, as was the soldier, Captain Myles Standish. During the voyage across the North Atlantic, the Mayflower was buffeted by severe autumn storms during which she was forced to drop her sails and head into the wind, wollowing in the mountainous waves. John Howland ventured on deck and was washed overboard into the boiling sea. In Governor Bradford's words, 'It pleased God that he caught hould of ye halliards which hunge over board, and rane ou at length; yet he was held up. . . and then with a boat hooke and other mens got into ye ship again.' The Carver family, with whom John Lived, survived the terrible sickness of the first winter, during which many Pilgrims died. But the following spring, on an unusually hot day in April, Governor Carver, according to Bradford, came out of his cornfield feeling ill. He passed into a coma and 'never spake more.' His wife, Kathrine, died soon after her husband. Since the Carvers had no children, John Howland is thought to have inherited their estate. It has been said that he immediately 'bought his freedom' but no record has survived. On or about what was then New Year's Day, March 25, 1623 (old style), John Howland married his fellow Mayflower passenger, Elizabeth Tilley. She was only fifteen years old. The early land records of the Colony of New Plymouth contain an account of the Division of Land in 1623 in which John Howland, as head of a household, received four acres 'on the Southside of the brook to the woodward.' As each settler was to receive one acre it is somewhat puzzling why he received four acres. According to Franklyn Howland, in his book, The History of Arthur, Henry and John Howland and Their Descendants, Governor Carver's family consisted of John Carver, himself, his wife, Kathrine, John Howland, a ward named Desire Minter, a man servant named Roger Wilder, a boy, Jasper More, a boy, William Latham, and an unnamed servant maid. When Elizabeth Tilley's parents John and Joan Tilley and her uncle, Edward Tilley, died the first winter, Elizabeth became part of the Carver household. Roger Wilder died the first winter. Governor Carver died a few months later in April of 1621, and his wife died in May 1621. The boy, Jasper More died December 6, 1621, and the servant maid died soon after. That left John Howland as the head of the household containing four people, the other three being Elizabeth Tilley, Desire Minter and the lad, William Latham. Desire Minter was a ward of Governor Carver and was probably about 15 years old when she sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. She was the daughter of her mother's first marriage. Her mother was one of the separatists at Leyden, married first in 1618 and was twice widowed before 1622. John and Elizabeth Howland were very fond of Desire Minter and named their first child after her. In 1626 John Howland became one of the forty-two colonists who assumed Plymouth Colony's debt of L1800 owed to the Merchant Adventurers of London. In order to pay off this mortgage, a monopoly in the Colony's trade was granted to William Bradford, Isaac Allerton and Myles Standish, who chose John Howland as one their partners, or undertakers, in the project. Later they established a trading post far to the northward, on the Kennebec River, at the present site of Augusta, Maine. John was put in charge of the trading post and a brisk trade developed there in beaver, otter and other furs gathered by the Indians. John's family may have spent some time with him in Maine, and some of his children may have been born there. When the Division of Cattle was made June 1, 1627, (new style), only fort-two of the original group of ninety-nine people who reached Plymouth in the Mayflower were still living there. All of the members of each family were listed in the records, including John and Elizabeth Howland, who now had tow children, Desire and John, Jr. Eight more children were born to them in the ensuing years, whom they named Hope, Elizabeth, Lydia, Hannah, Joseph, Jabez, Ruth and Isaac. In 1633 John Howland was made a freeman of Plymouth. During his lifetime he was appointed or elected to many public offices. In 1641, 1645, 1647 and 1648 he represented Plymouth at the General Court. In August 1643 he and his son, John Jr. were listed among the men in Plymouth, aged 16 to 60 who were able to bear arms. In 1641 and 1644, and from 1647 to 1651, John Howland was one of the assessors of Plymouth. In 1650 he was a surveyor of highways. In 1652 and 1659, and from 1661 to 1668, and again in 1670, he was a Deputy to the General Court. In 1655 and 1666 he was a selectman of Plymouth. IN 1639 the Old Comers were given a choice of several additional plantations for themselves and their heirs, around Yarmouth, Dartmouth and Rehoboth. Part of the land which John Howland chose was in Yarmouth, out on Cape Cod, where his son, John Jr. and daughters Desire (Howland) Gorham and Hope (Howland) Chipman, settled. it was also in the early part of 1639 that John paid L82 for John Jenny's land and dwelling house at Rocky Nook,, now in Kingston but then part of Plymouth, which had been built in 1628. And there he lived with his family for the rest of his life. John Howland also owned a tract of land in Marshfield, which he later exchanged for a farm in Barnstable (Cape Cod) and gave to his son, John, Jr. When he died in 1672, the inventory of his estate included his dwelling house in Rocky Nook, meadow at the Jones River, half of a house and meadow in Colchester, a meadow near the Jones River bridge in Duxborrow, a house and land in Middlebury, and land near Nemassakett Pond. Also listed among his possessions were 'one great Bible and Annotations on the five books of Moses,' as well as 'Mr. Tindall's works, Mr Wilson's works and seven more books.'
-a photograph of the family headstone in Plymouth, MA in this sources file, along with a photograph of Johns' son
Jabez original home in Plymouth, where John lived for some time before his death in 1672.
-John Howland was among those who signed the Mayflower Compact on 21 November 1620. He became very active in the political and church live of the colony. He was a member of the Governors Council for several years, helped lay out land and highways, was on many different communities for the town and the church, was an assessor in 1633, and a town Deputy most of the years from 1652 to 1670. He lived in Rocky Nook which is about 3 miles northwest along the coast from Plymouth Rock. When his house there burned, he and his wife took shelter with their son Jabez in Plymouth in a house built in 1667 and which still stands today (it may be the only remaining house which echoed to a first comers steps to the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE FOR Aug. 1947).
-from another source in Adele Gorhams file, John was frequently called to public office. From 1633-1636 he was a member of the Governors council, in 1633 and 1634 was an assessor, in 1636 served on the jury, and in 1666 was selectman of Plymouth. He represented the town as Deputy from 1652-1656 and in 1658, 1661, 1663, 1667, and in 1670. A few years after the founding of their colony the Pilgrims established a trading post on the Kennebec River in Maine, and of which John Howland was placed in charge. While there he was obliged to defend the post from the encroachment of John Hocking who attempted to trade within the limits of the Plymouth Patent and who killed Mose Talbot, one of Howlands men. The event caused considerable excitement at the time. His other public services consisted in laying out the land, settling disputes, constructing highways and serving on various town committees, and these helped make him a man of repute. He was appointed by the church to join in the imposition of hands at the time of the ordination of John Cotton, Jr. His home was at Rocky Nook, Plymouth, but he acquired land in other townships, including one hundred acres on the east side of Taunton River, some upland and meadows in Middlebury, and at Satuckett and Paoment, as well as several grants at Plymouth itself. His will is dated 1672 and was exhibited in court March 5, 1673.
-source shows a marriage of 25 March 1623
-source shows a birth date as 1592/1593 and that there is a monument to John Howland erected in 1897 with funds raised by Mrs. Joseph Howland. This replaced a stone erected about 1836 by John and Henry Howland of Providence, RI. The earlier stone was buried in 1897 under the new one. The earlier stone stated that John Howlands wife was a daughter of Governor.
More About JOHN HOWLAND:
Burial: February 25, 1673, Burial Hill, Plymouth Massachusetts
Christening: January 16, 1603, Baptized at Cambridgeshire, Ely, England
Fact1: 13th Signer of the "Mayflower Compact"
Fact2: December 21, 1620, Ship arrived at Cape Cod with 101 Passengers
Fact3: Was an indentured servant of of wealthy Londoner, John & Kathrine Carver.
Fact4: Yeoman
Fact5: Bet. 1652 - 1670, Deputy
Fact6: Captain of the Mayflower was Christopher Jones.
Fact7: One of the founders of Plymouth, Massachusetts
Fact8: August 05, 1620, Was on the Mayflower that left South Hampton, England
Immigration: December 11, 1620, Plymouth, Massachusetts on the "Mayflower"
Probate: March 05, 1673, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Will: May 29, 1672, Plymouth, Massachusetts
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1592 - 1673 (81 years)