JOHN HOWLAND #46 MAYFLOWER PASSENGER 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS

 

JOHN HOWLAND was born in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England around 1591. He was the son of MARGARET and HENRY HOWLAND, and the brother of HENRY and ARTHUR HOWLAND, who emigrated later from England to Marshfield, Massachusetts. Although Henry and Arthur Howland were Quakers, John himself held to the original faith of the Puritans.

 

 

JOHN HOWLAND was a passenger on the Mayflower. In the book “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford, John Howland was said to be the man servant of JOHN CARVER, the first Governor of Plymouth.  In another book “Mayflower and Her Log, Complete” by Azel Ames, it is stated that John Howland was more likely to be a steward or a secretary rather than a servant.

 

 

JOHN HOWLAND became the assistant to Governor Carver and was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact, the first written constitution for North America.

 

 

The first winter in North America proved deadly for the Pilgrims as half their number perished. The Carver family, with whom JOHN HOWLAND lived, survived the winter of 1620-21. However, the following spring Governor Carver died. Katherine Carver died soon after her husband. The Carvers' only children died while they lived in Leiden, Netherlands before they sailed on the Mayflower. It is possible that JOHN HOWLAND inherited their estate. After Governor Carver's death, JOHN HOWLAND became a freeman. In 1624 he was considered the head of what was once the Carver household when he was granted an acre for each member of the household including himself, ELIZABETH TILLEY, DESIRE MINTER, and a boy named WILLIAM LATHAM.

 

Over the next several years, he served at various times as selectman, assistant and deputy governor, surveyor of highways, and as member of the fur committee. In 1626, he was asked to participate in assuming the colony's debt to its investors to enable the colony to pursue its own goals without the pressure to remit profits back to England. The "undertakers" paid the investors £1,800 to relinquish their claims on the land, and £2,400 for other debt. In return the group acquired a monopoly on the colony's fur trade for six years.

 

 

In Plymouth the Howland’s lived on the north side of Leyden Street. They lived for a short time in Duxbury and then moved to Kingston where they had a farm on a piece of land referred to as Rocky Nook. The farm burned down in 1675. By that time, John Howland had died and his wife, Elizabeth moved in with her son, Jabez.

 

JOHN HOWLAND died February 23, 1672 at the age of 80, having outlived all other male Mayflower passengers except John Cooke, son of Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke. John Cooke died in 1695.

 

JOHN HOWLAND is buried in Burial Hill Cemetery in Plymouth, Mass.

 

ELIZABETH TILLEY HOWLAND who was born in August 1607 outlived her husband by 15 years. She died at the age of 80 in December 21, 1687, in the home of her daughter, Lydia Brown, in Swansea, Massachusetts, and is buried in a section of that town which is now in East Providence, RI.

 

JOHN HOWLAND and ELIZABETH TILLEY had 10 children, my family is descended from the third child, Hope.

 

• DESIRE was born about 1624 and died in Barnstable October 13, 1683. She married John Gorham in Plymouth by 1644 and had eleven children. She was buried at Cobb's Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Mass.

 

• JOHN was born in Plymouth on February 24, 1626/7 and died in Barnstable after June 18, 1699. He married Mary Lee in Plymouth on October 26, 1651 and had ten children.

 

• HOPE was born in Plymouth about 1629 and died in Barnstable on January 8, 1683. She married John Chipman about 1647 and had twelve children. She was buried at Lothrop Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Mass.

 

• ELIZABETH was born about 1631 and died in Oyster Bay, New York in October 1683.

Elizabeth married:

Ephraim Hicks on September 13, 1649. He died on December 12, 1649.

John Dickerson in Plymouth on July 10, 1651 and had nine children.

 

• LYDIA was born about 1633 and died in Swansea January, 1710/11. She married James Brown(e) about 1655 and had four children.

 

• HANNAH was born about 1637. She married Jonathan Bosworth in Swansea on July 6, 1661 and had nine children.

 

• JOSEPH was born about 1640 and died in Plymouth in January 1703/04. He married Elizabeth Southworth in Plymouth on December 7, 1664 and had nine children.

 

• JABEZ was born about 1644 and died before February 21, 1711/12. He married Bethiah Thatcher by 1669 and had eleven children.

 

• RUTH was born about 1646 and died before October 1679. She married Thomas Cushman in Plymouth on November 17, 1664 and had three children.

 

• ISAAC was born in Plymouth on November 15, 1649 and died in Middleboro on March 9, 1723/4. He married Elizabeth Vaughn by 1677 and had eight children. He was buried at Cemetery At The Green, Middleboro, Mass.

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

Philbrick, Nathaniel (2006). Mayflower: a story of courage, community, and war. New York: Viking.

 

Bradford, William Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, ed. by Samuel Eliot Morison, The Modern Library, (New York: Random House, 1967

 

Ames, Azel.  “Mayflower and Her Log, Complete”.  2006 (EBook #4107)5

JOHN HOWLAND #45 MAYFLOWER PASSENGER 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS

John Howland born 1671 in Fenstanston, Huntingdon, England is my 9th Great Grandfather.



I am continuing the connection to the Mayflower and my family tree.

This week I will tell the story about John Howland's incident on the Mayflower as told by Nathaniel Philbrick in "Mayflower".

William Bradford, another Mayflower passenger wrote of this incident a decade later (1630) in his "Of Plymouth Plantation".



In the fall of 1620 the Mayflower was at sea in a gale wind. As the ship turned into the wind it was finally peaceful on the ship. At this time, John Howland a young indentured servant apparently grew restless down below. He saw no reason why could not venture out for just a moment. After more than a month as passenger ship, the Mayflower was no longer a sweet ship, and John Howland wanted some air. So he climbed a ladder to one of the hatches and stepped on deck.



John Howland was from the inland town of Fenstanton, England and he quickly discovered that the deck of a tempest-tossed ship was no place for a landsman. The Mayflower lurched suddenly in the towering waves. John Howland staggered to the ship rail and tumbled into the sea.

That should have been the end of him but dangling over the side and trailing behind the ship was the topsail halyard, the rope used to raise and lower the top sail. John Howland was in his mid twenties and strong, and when his hand found the halyard, he gripped the rope with desperation and never let go. Several sailors took up the halyard and hauled John Howland back up onto the deck.



If it wasn't for his quick thinking and fortitude my family wouldn't be here today.



The next blog will tell about his life after landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

JOHN TILLEY #44 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS

In January 2014, Amy Johnson Crow of the Ancestry blog No Story Too Small issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.

 

The premise: write once a week about a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, a research problem — any that focuses on that one ancestor. The next week, write about a different ancestor. In 52 weeks, you’ll have taken a closer look at 52 people in your family tree… and maybe learned a little bit more about them in the process.

This month as we celebrate the first Thanksgiving and the arrival of the Mayflower to Massachusetts in 1620, I will blog about the passengers on the Mayflower that I am related to.  I have already written about ELIZABETH TILLEY HOWLAND in July 2014 in #27 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  This week I’ll give you the little bit I have found about her father JOHN TILLEY.

JOHN TILLEY was baptized on December 19, 1571 at Henlow, County Bedford, England. He was the eldest child of ROBERT TILLEY and his wife ELIZABETH. John had a younger brother, Edward, who also came on the Mayflower with his wife. Both John Tilley, his brother Edward and their wives all perished that first winter in Plymouth. JOHN TILLEY is my 10^th Great Grandfather.



There are few records of John Tilley’s life in England. His name appears in the will of George Clarke of Henlow, dated September 22, 1607 which notes that Thomas Kirke, then residing with Tilley, owed money to him. There is a record of a John Tilley, yeoman, residing at Wooton, Bedfordshire, who made a disposition on April 7, 1613 with his age stated as 40 years, which would probably make him the Mayflower passenger of that name. There is little information about the lives of John Tilley and his wife Joan. John Tilley was documented as a member of the Leiden Separatist congregation as well as his brother Edward. Edward’s ward Henry Samson may also have been a member.



JOHN TILLEY married JOAN (HURST) ROGERS, widow of Thomas Rogers (no relation to the Mayflower passenger of that name) on September 20, 1596 at Henlow in Bedfordshire, England. JOAN HURST was baptized on March 13, 1567/8 at Henlow, England making her a little older than John. Joan came to the marriage with a daughter Joan, born of her marriage to Thomas Rogers, whom she married on June 18, 1593. Her daughter Joan was baptized May 26, 1594, and Thomas Rogers seems to have died shortly afterwards.



Child of JOAN (HURST) and THOMAS ROGERS

• JOAN ROGERS was baptized on May 26, 1594. There is no further record and she may have died young, likely sometime after her mother’s 1596 marriage to John Tilley.

Children of JOHN AND JOAN TILLEY – all baptized in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England.



They had five children baptized in the parish of Henlow between 1597 and 1607. Of their children, only Elizabeth, baptized August 30, 1607, and who accompanied them on the Mayflower, is a survivor of all their children. The fate of the others is unknown.

• Rose Tilley (1) was baptized on October 23, 1597 and may have     died young. No further record.

• John Tilley was baptized on August 26, 1599 and may have died young. No further record.
• Rose Tilley (2) was baptized on February 28, 1601/2 and may have died young. No further record.
• Robert Tilley was baptized on November 25, 1604 and may have died young. No further record.
• Elizabeth Tilley was baptized on August 30, 1607 and died in Swansea, MA on December 22, 1687. She married John Howland in Plymouth Colony about 1624 and had ten children.

JOHN TILLEY and his wife JOAN HURST both died in the winter of 1621 and are buried in Coles Hill Burial Ground, Plymouth, MA.