Henry was born about 1603 (based on estimated age at marriage), probably in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, the son of Henry and Margaret Howland. His brother, John Howland, whom I also descend from, was a Mayflower passenger. I wrote about John Howland here and here.Henry is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.
On 1 October 1623, Henry was apprenticed to his brother Humphrey, a master cloth maker at The Drapers Company on Thames Street, London. The term of the apprenticeship was seven years but the company records show no completion date for the apprenticeship so perhaps he did not finish. [Torrey]
About 1628, likely in England, Henry married a woman named Mary, whose maiden name is unknown. Some genealogists identify her maiden name as Newland but without providing proof. Wakefield and Sherman found no evidence supporting this claim.
Early Years in Plymouth Colony
Henry likely migrated in 1632. He was on the 1633 list of Plymouth Freeman, listed immediately before those admitted on 1 January 1632/33. [PCR 1:4] He was on the 6 March 1636/7 list of Plymouth Colony freeman. [PCR 1:52] In the 1639 list of Freeman he appears in the Duxbury section where he was living by January 1635/6 when he was named constable there. [Shurtleff] His name is erased from the 1658 list. [PCR 8:174, 198]
Henry was taxed 9 shillings on the 25 March 1633 tax list and 18 shillings on the 27 March 1634 list, indicating how quickly he improved his financial situation.. [PCR 1:11, 28]
Henry was on the 1643 list of Men Able to Bear Arms for Duxbury.
Children of Henry and Mary
In this sketch I assume Mary was Henry’s only wife and mother to all his children, but it is possible she was his second wife and an unknown first wife was mother to Abigail and Zoeth. Henry had eight children, births not recorded so birth years are estimates but all are mentioned in their parents’ wills:
- Abigail born say 1628 probably in England; married Plymouth 13 Dec 1648 John Young [PCR 8:5]; died 7 April 1692 at Eastham on Cape Cod [MD 6:203]
- Zoeth born say 1631 probably in England; married by 1657 Abigail ___ ; lived in Dartmouth, Bristol Co., where a land record states he is eldest son of Henry Howland [BCLR 1:48]; in March 1676 he was tortured and slain by the Indians at what is now Tiverton, Rhode Island, some say while on his way to the Quaker meeting in Newport and others while going to visit his son Daniel who operated a Pocaset Ferry. [Howland, citing records of the Friends Meeting of Newport]
- John born say 1636; died Freetown, Bristol Co., before 8 Aug 1687 [BCPR 1:2]; some genealogists believe he never married, [Howland, Wakefield] but Anderson states he married Mary Walker at Duxbury 29 Jan 1684/5
- Samuel born about 1638; described as “near 70 years old” on 8 July 1707 [Wakefield 75:112]; married, probably by 1673, Mary Sampson daughter of Abraham
- Mary born say 1643; married by 1665 James Cudworth; died at Scituate 1699-1700
- Sarah born about 1645; m. Portsmouth Rhode Island 19 Nov 1672 Robert Dennis [Wakefield 75:216]; died Portsmouth 2 Oct 1712 aged about sixty-seven years [ibid]
- Elizabeth born say 1647; married by about 1669 Jedidiah Allen
- Joseph born say 1649; married Rebecca Hussey at Hampton NH on 4 May 1683
I descend from Abigail as well as Mary. I wrote about Abigail and her husband John Young here.
Work and Community Service
It appears Henry was primarily a farmer. His inventory included a considerable number of farm animals and foodstuffs such as cider and wheat. He paid for a 1640 land purchase with Indian corn. He also briefly held additional occupations including constable and surveyor.
Henry was literate as he signed his will and his inventory included books.
At Plymouth Court held 5 January 1635, Henry Howland was chosen constable for Duxberry. [Howland, citing Plymouth Colony Court Records] I should think Henry’s interest in the Quaker faith must have happened after this time as he would not have wanted to collect taxes from people which included the ministerial tax.
In March 1636/7 Henry Howland was named to a committee to view the hay grounds of “Ducksbury,” from the river beyond Phillip Delanoy’s to the South River. [Howland]
In 1656 and 1668 he was Duxbury surveyor of highways. [PCR 3:100, 4:181] He served on many petit and grand juries from 1636 to 1656. In 1657 he notably refused to serve on a grand jury. [Various Plymouth Court Records]
Land Transactions
Henry was a substantial land owner. His homestead was on the bay side of Duxbury near the property of Love Brewster. [Winsor] A map depicting the early settlement of Duxbury shows Henry and Mary Howland living near what was then called the Duxborough Path.
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| Source: Lamont Healy "Duxbury, Our Pilgrim Story" |
On 27 July 1640 William Renolds acknowledged the sale to Henry Howland of Duxbury of five acres of upland in Duxbury and one acre of marsh meadow lying at the east end thereof, with all rights. The price paid was 12 bushels of Indian corn. [PCR 12:60-61]
On 6 June 1650 Henry Howland granted to Experience Mitchell and his heirs access to a spring on the border of his property. [MD 1:97-8, citing PCLR 2:1:9]
In 1652 Mr. Howland was assigned one share of the original purchase of Dartmouth. He likely didn’t lived there but kept some horses and cattle on the property. Until 1787 Dartmouth was quite large, comprising what is now the city of New Bedford and towns of Dartmouth, Westport, Fairhaven, and Acushnet. [Howland]
He was one of the original proprietors at Bridgewater in 1645 but it does not appear he took up residence. Many of the proprietors stayed where they were and left the Bridgewater land to their heirs.
On 2 April 1659 Henry, with 26 others, bought of Wamsutta and Pattapanum what was then called Assonet and is now Freetown. The price was 20 coats, 2 rugs, 2 iron pots, 2 kettles, 1 little kettle, 8 pairs shoes, 6 pairs stockings, 1 dozen hats, 2 dozen hatchets, and 2 yards broadcloth. [Howland]
At the 1660 division, Henry received the sixth lot of freeman’s land at Taunton River, which was inherited by his son Samuel. In 1664 he bought a large tract of land in Mattapoisett (later Swansea). [Howland]
Henry provided home lots for three of his sons: Samuel settled on Henry’s land at Freetown as early as 1665, Zoeth made a homestead on his parents’ Dartmouth land as early as 1662, and Joseph lived on the old homestead at Duxbury. He would have taken care of his mother after his father’s death.
Religious Beliefs
I have enjoyed researching Henry, particularly because of his Quaker beliefs. I have great respect for my ancestors who had the courage and conviction to go against the grain in their religious practices. I have also long admired qualities that many Quakers possessed: anti-slavery stance, belief in pacifism, willingness to take in refugees, and allowing women to hold church roles.
Henry’s Quaker beliefs got him noticed by the colony’s Separatist leaders. On 22 December 1657 he was called to court for entertaining Quakers at his house. [PCR 3:126] On 2 March 1657/8 he was fined 10s for entertaining a meeting at his house contrary to the order of the court. [PCR 3:129]
At the 1 March 1659 court, Goodwife Howland wife of Henery Howland, Zoeth Howland and his wife, Arthur Howland and his wife of Marshfield and two others were presented for frequently absenting themselves from public worship of God and were fined 10 shillings each. Interesting that Henry himself is not on this list. [Howland]
On 7 June 1659 “Henry Howland of Duxburrow” as a Quaker “or manifest encourager of such” was on a list to lose freemanship and was ordered to appear in August to be convicted and censured. [PCR 3:167] At court on 6 October 1659 Henry Howland was disenfranchised for being an “Abettor and entertainer of Quakers.” [PCR 3:176]
On 1 May 1660 Henry was accused of entertaining another man’s wife in his house after complaint was made to him by the husband, for permitting a Quaker meeting in his house, and for entertaining a foreign Quaker contrary to the order of the court. The first charge he “stiffly denied,” but he was convicted of the other two and fined. [PCR 3:186] He was twice fined on 2 Oct 1660 for entertaining Quaker meetings. [PCR 3:201] I would guess entertaining another man’s wife concerned religious matters that the husband did not support.
Henry’s brother Arthur Howland of Duxbury and Marshfield was also a Quaker and many of the children of both brothers followed the religion as adults.
Henry & Mary’s Deaths and Legacies
Henry Howland of Duxburrow’s will was dated 28 Nov 1670 and proved 8 March 1670/1. He names his wife Mary, sons Zoeth, Joseph, John, and Samuel, and daughters, Sarah, Elizabeth, Mary, and Abigail. His son Joseph received the homestead.
Henry Howland bequeathed “all my housing both dwelling house and barn, with all my lands both upland and meadow…within the township of Duxburrow…unto my son Joseph Howland only during my wife’s life she shall have and enjoy the new room to herself for her own use;” to “my son Joseph Howland four oxen and two heifers and one horse with all the tackling…also a bed with things belonging therunto, as also my fowling piece;” “my son Joseph Howland out of the forementioned houses and lands and cattle shall pay or cause to be paid unto my son Zoeth Howland £20…as also 12d apiece to all his brothers and sisters and their children now surviving;” to “my daughter Sarah two heifers and two steers and one mare now running at Ponaganset, as also one bed and bedding thereunto belonging;” to “my son John one musket’” to “my daughter Elizabeth one cow;” “my old mare now running at Ponagansett unto my son Samuell Howland;” to “my son Joseph Howland two acres of meadowland…at…Gurnett’s Nose Marsh;” to “my daughter Mary 10s;” to “my daughter Abigaill 10s to be paid by my son Joseph who is to sell a barrel of cider and to pay it out of that;” “my two sons John and Samuell each of them a barrel of cider;” to “my loving wife Mary Howland” the residue. The will as witnessed by Samuel Nash and John Sprague. [PCPR 3:26]
Henry died at Duxbury 1 “leventh month” [January] 1670/1 [The Pilgrim Migration and Pembroke Friends] He was likely in his late 60s.
Henry Howland of Duxburrow’s inventory was taken 14 January 1670/71 by Constant Southworth, Samuel Nash and John Soule. It was presented at court on 8 March 1670 by his son Joseph Howland. The estate was valued at over £141 and did not include real estate. It contained 29 farm animals (horses, cows, oxen, pigs, and a mule) and farm equipment; furniture and other household items; wearing apparel; silk and buttons to make him a new coat; handmade cloth; 20 pounds of feathers; books; two guns; 10 barrels of cider; bushels of malt, wheat, peas, Indian corn; beef, pork and bacon; a canoe. [PCPR 3:27]
That Henry owned silk that was to be made into clothing for him hints that his illness was likely fairly brief, probably prompting him to write his will in November, and also that he was a man of means. I am always struck by how intertwined these early families were—all of the men who took Henry’s inventory are my direct ancestors.
In her will, dated 8 May 1674 and proved first 26 April 1674 and second 8 April 1675, Mary Howland “sometimes the wife of Hennery Howland now deceased” bequeathed to “my daughter Abigaill Young” £1; to “my son Zoeth Howland” £1; to “my son John Howland my horse at Ponagansett;” to “my daughter Mary Cudworth” £1; to “my son Samuel Howland” £1; to “my daughter Sarah Denis” £1; to “my daughter Elizabeth Allin” £1; and to “my son Joseph Howland” the residue. Mary signed the will with her mark. [PCPR 3:2:10] Note that some researchers misread the will and state that Mary left John a bequest of a house at Ponagansett, but Wakefield believes it reads horse.
Note that Ponagansett mentioned in both Henry and Mary’s wills refers to the early Native American name of Dartmouth.
“Mary Howland who had bin the wife of Hennery” died at Duxbury 16 6m [June] 1674. [Pembroke Friends]
The family homestead in Duxbury was sold out of the family to Samuel Sprague in 1708. One notable "exception" to the sale was "so much of the upland of the house lot as contains the graves of Henry Howland and Joseph Howland ye grandfather and father of ye grantor with others related to him.” The location of these graves is not currently known. Sprague purchased adjoining parcels of land and his property became known as Sprague’s Neck which started at Sprague’s Wharf. Henry’s land is currently the site of the Duxbury Yacht Club clubhouse and a golf course. [Healy]
Sources:
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995
Robert Charles Anderson, The Pilgrim Migration, 2004
Eugene Stratton, History of Plymouth Colony Its History and People, 1986
Will: MD 19:32
Justin Winsor, History of the Town of Duxbury, Massachusetts with Genealogical Registers, 1849
Lamont “Monty” Healy, Duxbury Clipper, “Duxbury’s Early Settlers: The Henry Howland Grant,” July 21, 2010
Franklyn Howland, A Brief Genealogical and Biographical History of Arthur, Henry, and John Howland and their Descendants, 1880
Clarence A Torrey, The American Genealogist, “The Howland Ancestry,” 14:214 (1937)
Robert S. Wakefield and Robert M. Sherman, National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ), “Henry Howland of Duxbury, Massachusetts, 1633, His Children and Grandchildren,” 75:2:105-116 (June 1987)
Franklin Howland, A Brief Genealogical and Biographical History of Arthur, Henry, and John Howland and Their Descendants of the United States and Canada, 1885
Gary Boyd Roberts, The American Genealogist, “American Presidential Ancestry,” 55:51 (Jan 1979)
Clarence Almon Torrey, The American Genealogist, “The Howland Ancestry,” 14:214-15 (April 1938)
Pembroke Friends Monthly Meeting 1676-1776, LDS Microfilm No. LH 2173-74, RI Historical Society Library in Providence [includes some vital records of Duxbury, Scituate and Freetown members]
William T. Davis, Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, Part II, 1899
Nathaniel Shurtleff and David Pulsifier, editors, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, 1:4, 11, 28, 36, 74, 87, 155; 2:84, 140, 155, 160, 162; 3:32, 48, 100, 129, 167, 176, 186, 201, 224; 4:181; 8:184, 188, 189; 12:60, 1855-1861
Records of the Town of Plymouth, 3 vols, 1:4 (1889)
George Ernest Bowman, Mayflower Descendant, “Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories,” 19:32-33 (Jan 1917) [Henry’s probate]
Plymouth Colony Probate Records 3:2:10 [Mary’s probate]
