Philip Delano / De Lannoy 1603 to 1681/2 of Leiden, Holland, and Plymouth & Duxbury, Mass., and His Wives Hester Dewsbury and Mary Pontus

Philip Delano was baptized as “Philip De Lannoy” at the Walloon Church (also called the Green Gate Church), Leiden, Holland, on 7 December (or 6 November) 1603, the son of Jean and Mary (Mahieu) de Lannoy. [TAG 52:91-92, 53:172-3] His parents were French-speaking Protestant Walloons who fled to England and then Holland during the Reformation. Wallonia, along with Flanders and Brussels, are the three regions of Belgium. Philip is my probable 11th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family, but I have more research to do.

Remains of the Vouwekerk Church 

Philip was not your typical New England Colonist—he was French by ancestry and Dutch by birth. His name became Anglicized over time. 

Philip’s uncle and aunt were Francis and Hester (Mahieu) Cooke; Francis was a Mayflower passenger and perhaps served as Philip’s guardian as his he was just 3 or 4 when his father died. [Bangs] I descend from Francis Cooke through his daughter Hester who married Richard Wright. 

In 1621 Philip was 18 years old when he came to Plymouth on the Fortune. He is called a husbandman and fisherman in records. 

Edward Winslow wrote of Philip: “There is also one Philip Delanoy, born of French parents, came to us from Leyden to New Plymouth, who coming to age of discerning demanded also communion with us; and proving himself to be come of such parents as were in full communion with the French churches, was hereupon admitted by the church of Plymouth; and after, upon his removal of habitation to Duxburrow, where Mr. Ralph Partridge is pastor of the church, and upon letters of recommendation from the church at Duxburrow, being six miles distant from Plymouth; and so, I dare say, if his occasions lead him, may from church to church throughout New England.”

As passengers of the Fortune, “Philipe de la Noye” and Moses Simonson were granted two acres of land. Philip sold his acre to Stephen Deane in 1627 for £4. [PCR 12:7] Philip was admitted freeman at Plymouth 1 January 1632/3. [PCR 1:5]

Philip was granted 40 acres in Duxbury on 2 October 1637. [PCR 1:67]  He moved to Duxbury by 1639 when he is in that section of Plymouth Colony lists of freemen. [PCR 5:274] His neighbor was Edward Bumpas/Bumpus/Bompasse, also believed to be a Walloon. I descend from Edward as well, but my line of descent has one generation that needs work. Philip’s land bordered the sea and Stoney/Mill Brook at what is now St. George Street and site of playing fields. [Healy] 

He had some education as he signed his deeds. Philip served the Colony in a variety of ways: grand juries, petit juries, arbiter, and surveyor. [Anderson] He volunteered to serve in the Pequot War on 7 June 1637. [PCR 1:61]

Philip married, first, Hester Dewsbury on 19 December 1634 at Plymouth. [PCR 1:32]

Philip had at least nine children, although their births are not recorded, and whether their mother is Hester or Mary is not always certain. Philip, Thomas, John, Samuel, Jane, and Rebecca are named in the settlement of his estate. Mary and Jonathan are known from other records. He may well have had additional children, likely daughters, depending on how one interprets the memorandum that served as a will.

Hester and Philip likely had these five children [Anderson]:

1. Mary born say 1636; m Plymouth 29 Nov 1655 Jonathan Dunham; she died soon after marriage
2. Philip born say 1637; m say 1670 Elizabeth Sampson daughter of Samuel and —?— (Nash) Sampson.
3. Thomas born say 1639; m by 1667 Rebecca Alden daughter of John Alden
4. John born say 1644; m about 1679 Mary Weston daughter of Edmond of Duxbury.
5. Jonathan born about 1648; m Dartmouth 28 Feb 1677/8 Mercy Warren, daughter of Nathaniel Warren

Hester died sometime between 1648 and 1653.

Philip married, second, Mary Pontus by 17 January 1654 at Plymouth. [MD 5:92] She was born Leiden about 1622, the daughter of William and Wybra (Hanson) Pontus. She had married, first, James Glass on 31 October 1645 who died at sea in September 1652. I also descend from James and Mary’s daughter Hannah.

Mary and Philip likely had these three children [Anderson]:

6. Jane born say 1655; living 1682

7. Samuel born say 1659; m by 1679 Elizabeth daughter of Alexander Standish. 

8. Rebecca b say 1661; m 28 Dec 1686 John Churchill

Philip’s probable daughter, probably by wife Hester:

9. Esther who is my ancestor. There is adequate circumstantial evidence that she was Philip’s daughter. Unfortunately she is not mentioned by name in settlement of her father’s estate in 1682. An Esther/Hester married Samuel Samson/Sampson. Some published genealogists have her marrying, second, John Soule, son of George of the Mayflower, but Anderson wrote this is not the case. There is an Esther, wife of John Soule buried in Duxbury whose age at death calculates to a 1640 birth. I wrote about Samuel Samson here.

I descend from Esther and her first husband Samuel Samson and also from John Soule and his first wife Rebecca Simmons/Simonson, the daughter of Moses with whom Philip Delano was deeded the land at Duxbury. All of the inter-connections make my head spin! 

In a 1641 deposition “Phillip De Lanoe of Duxbury planter” stated that he was “aged about thirty-six years” and at that time he owned a boat which he used in catching mackerel. [Hale] On 3 March 1676/7 “Philip Delano Senr” gave his age as “74 years or there about.” [MD 14:61, citing PCLR 6:93]

On 17 Jan 1653/4 Phillip Delano of Duxburrow and Mary his wife sold to John Churchill and Benajah Pratt (my 8th great grandfather) the house and land near Plymouth “sometimes the house and land of William Pontus and James Glasse both deceased.” Mary had inherited this land from her father William Pontus.  On the same day they sold a parcel of about 1.5 acres of meadow to John Churchill with the same notation of past ownership. [MD 5:92-93, citing PCLR 2:1:93]

On 3 Dec 1659 Phillip Delano Sr with the consent of Mary his wife sold one half his purchase lands at Coaksett [current day Westport] or Cushena or both to William Earle. [MD 11:249, citing PCLR 2:2:41] On 13 Dec 1660 “Phillip Delanoy of Duxburrow…with the consent of my wife” sold to Nicholas Byram of Weymouth “my whole right of lands in the town of Bridgewater…viz: a full and complete purchase of uplands, meadows and swamps that is or shall be laid out or divided or remain in common.” [PCLR 3:25]  On 5 June 1667 Philip Delano of Duxbury, husbandman, sold to John Russell Sr of Dartmouth, yeoman, one half share of the lands at Dartmouth “granted unto the said Phillip Delano…as a purchaser or old comer.” [PCLR 3:83] 

Philip was an original proprietor of Bridgewater in 1645 but he did not live there. [Winsor]

On 11 April 1674 Philip Delano Sr of Duxbury, planter, in consideration of “love and natural affection” granted “unto my true and natural son John Delano my lot of five and twenty acres at Namassakett lying upon Teticutt River in Middleborough with three acres of upland lying in Duxburrow.” [PCLR 3:330] On the same day Philip Delano Sr of Duxbury, planter, granted to “Thomas Delano his true and natural son the one-half of his hundred acre lot at Namassakett in the town of Middleborough, the lot to be divided betwixt his brother and him, Phillip Delano and him.” Also one-half the meadow land in Middleborough, one-half of five acres of meadow land at the beach lying on the Southside of Plymouth and three acres of meadow lying at the Mill River.” [PCLR 3:331]

Philip died between 22 August 1681 [document serving as a will] and 4 March 1681/2 [date of inventory] at Duxbury. He was about 78 years old. 

On 5 July 1682 a comparison was made between two memoranda purporting to reflect the intent of Philip Delano for the disposal of his estate, one dated 22 August 1681, the other “now drawn” 5 July 1682.The merged intent was agreed to mean: “his three eldest [sons] and each of [them] know their proportions, and John hath twenty five acres more at Namassakett” to Samuel a horse, cow, two steers, chain and cart; to Jane one cow and heifer; to Rebeckah a yearling heifer; his wife a cow and free use of one third of the orchard and land during her life; to his three sons Phillip, Thomas and Samuel a yoke of old oxen to improve “and when their service is done, to revert wholly to Phillip and Thomas,” Thomas executor; saw and wedges to Samuel; 5s each to the “Seven eldest children, of which seven, two, viz: Phillip and Thomas, have received their proportions;” at wife’s death all moveables to his four youngest children. [MD 11:250-1, citing PCPR 4:2:120]

On 7 July 1682 administration on the estate of “Phillip Delano of Duxburrow” was granted to Samuel Delano. [PCR 6:91] Inventory of the estate of “Phillip Delano of Duxburrow”had already been taken on 4 March 1681/2 and totaled £50 13s. No real estate included as he had already sold and gifted his holdings. [MD 11:249, citing PCPR 4:2:120]

Mary Delano died 3 February 1690 at Plymouth. She was about 68 years old. 

Sources:

Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Strangers and Pilgrims, Travellers and Sojourners, Leiden and the Foundations of Plymouth Plantation, GSMD, 2009

Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony, Its History and People, 1986

Lamont “Monty” Healy, Duxbury Clipper, “The Delano Family,” August 1, 2012

Justin Winsor, History of the Town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, with Genealogical Registers, 1849

George English, The Mayflower Descendant, “Ancestry and History of Philip Delano, born Philippe de Lannoy: Further Findings about the de Lannoy and Mahieu Families,” 69:5 (2021)

Muriel Curtis Cushing & George B. DeLano, Duxbury: Our Pilgrim Story, “The Delano Family,” Duxbury Rural & Historical Society, 2020

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Edward Winslow Hypocrisie Unmasked, 1646

Edward Everett Hale, Editor, Note-book Kept by Thomas Lechford Esq, Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638 to July 29, 1641, 1885

Henry Howland ca 1603-1671 of Fenstanton, England and Duxbury, Mass.

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:

1. 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]
2. 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]
3. 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
4. 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 
5. Mary born say 1643; married by 1665 James Cudworth; died at Scituate 1699-1700
6. 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]
7. Elizabeth born say 1647; married by about 1669 Jedidiah Allen 
8. 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. 

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]