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HOWLAND, JOHN

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Died at the age of 80
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John Howland and his wife Elizabeth TILLEY arrived in North America on the Mayflower.
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Source: www_americanrevolution_org/how3_html
Pilgrim John Howland Society


John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley Biographies


John Howland

As there is no record of his residence in Leyden, he is credited to theLondon group of Pilgrims for the reason that John Carver was in England for some considerable time before the sailing of the Mayflower and undoubtedly obtained the services of Howland in that city prior to the departure from England. The Howland ancestry is probably of Essex origin.The will of Humphrey Howland, citizen and draper of St. Swithin's, London, in 1646, mentions his brothers, John and Arthur, which are known Christian names of this family in New England, at the date of the will. There was a John Howland taxed at Canfield Parva, Essex, 1623, and the name also occurs earlier at Newport Pagnall in the same county. In London a John Howland was living in the parish of St. Marys, Whitechapel, in1596, and in 1600 another John belonged to the parish of St. Botolph, Billingsgate. Jeffrey Howland was taxed in 1625 in the parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate. These parishes are all close to or part of the Pilgrim quarter of London.

An original letter from a genealogist in England, in 1879, mentions "the extraordinary fact that I find the surname of Howland in no other county in England than Essex, and originally in no other locality in that county except at Newport and Wicken and their immediate vicinity. Wherever at later periods I have found Howlands in other counties, as Hertfordshire, Surrey, Berks, etc., I have invariably traced them back to Newport and Wicken. It is clear that several families of the name were living there contemporaneously and equally so that they were all in some way connected . . . at the period of the birth of John Howland of the Mayflower, there were living then no less than five John Howlands . . . " In two of these lines, the Howland name terminated in heiresses, one of whom, Elizabeth by name, bequeathed the Streatham Estates to her husband, the Duke of Bedford, who then acquired the additional title of Baron Howland.

John Howland of the Mayflower was born in 1592, the son of Henry Howland, of Fen Stanton, Huntingdonshire (near Newport, County Essex). He hadat least four brothers, Arthur, George, Henry and Humphrey. His brothers Arthur and Henry came to America about 1623/4 and later joined the Society of Friends. Early records reveal that Arthur, whose home was in Marshfield, was fined many times for "pmitting of a Quaker's meeting in his house." When he refused to pay the fines, he was sent to jail. Henrywas fined for entertaining Quakers, at the Court of March, 1658.

In mid-Atlantic, during a violent storm, John Howland was almost drowned when a mountainous wave swept him overboard. Grasping a halyard whichwas trailing astern of the Mayflower, although at first he was severalfathoms under water, he finally managed to haul himself to the surface. He was then rescued, by means of a boathook along with the rope, etc.

By November 11, 1620, he had sufficiently recuperated from his oceanic adventure to be the thirteenth signer of the Mayflower Compact. And a few days later, December 6, he was one of the ten chosen to make the third exploration along the shore. On this occasion, they were attacked by the Indians at Eastham, Cape Cod. In Bradford's History, we learn that the mast of the shallop broke during a sudden squall, and the sail was lost overboard. "The weather was very cold, and it froze so hard...the spray of the sea lighting on their coats, they were as if they had been glazed."

John Howland was one of Governor Carver's household. Both Governor Carver and his wife were among the fifty Pilgrims who died during the firstfew months of the struggle for survival at Plymouth. It is believed that John Howland inherited John Carver's estate, as the Carvers had no children of their own.

About 1623 John Howland married Elizabeth Tilley. She had come on the Mayflower with her parents, who, like the Carvers, were victims of "the sickness" during the first winter.

In 1626, John Howland was one of those (including Bradford, Brewster, Standish, etc.) who assumed the Colony's debt to The Merchant Adventurers, ú1800. At least as early as 1633-35, he was an Assistant or member of the Governor's Council, and from 1641 to 1670 was frequently a deputyor representative to the General Court. In 1634, he commanded the Pilgrim's Trading Post at Kennebec (Maine.)

"The 26th of February 1672 Mr. John Howland senior of the Towne of Plymouth Deceased: hee was a Godly man and an ancient Professor in the wayes of Christ hee lived untill he attained above eighty yeares in the world, hee was one of the first Comers into this land and proved a usefullInstrument of Good in his place & was the last man that was left of those that Came over in the shipp Called the May Flower, that lived in Plymouth hee was with honor Intered att the Towne of Plymouth on the 25 of February 1672." (Plymouth Colony Vital Records.)


Elizabeth Tilley

The Mayflower brought Edward Tilley with his wife Ann and John Tilley with his wife Joan and daughter Elizabeth. The brothers lived in Henlow,Bedfordshire. Henlow Parish Records show a John Tilley, bapt. 19 Dec. 1571, married 20 Sept. 1596 to Joan (Hurst) Rogers. Elizabeth was baptized there 30 August 1607. (In her will written December 17, 1686 Elizabeth Howland says she is seventy-nine years of age which places her birthdate about 1607.) While she was the youngest of 5 children she was theonly child to accompany them. She was the only member of her family tosurvive the first winter. It is believed that Elizabeth then lived in the Carver household. John Carver died in the spring of 1621 and his wife Katherine died that summer.

There is no record of the date of marriage between John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. We know that with the Division of Cattle in 1627 they were married with two children, Desire and John. If Desire was born in 1624 or 1625 it would seem John and Elizabeth were married in March 1623 when Elizabeth was almost 16.

After John's death Elizabeth lived in Plymouth, with her son Jabez. When that house was sold in 1680 she lived with her daughter Lydia (married to James Brown), in Swansea (now a section in East Providence, Rhode Island.) She died there on December 21, 1687. In 1949 Our Society erected a monument to her memory in the Brown lot, at Little Neck Cemetery, Riverside, East Providence, RI.

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Source: World Connect / Ancestry database 20550
Contact: Unknown (charles-bradbury@@charles-bradbury_com

John Howland is buried on Burial Hill in Plymouth, Mass. John Howland's
(and other Howlands) plot is found by ascending the stairs to the right
of the First Church of Plymouth to the top of Burial Hill. At the top,
take the path that leads to the left and walk a short distance (20-30
yards) to another fork in the path. That fork forms the pointy end of a
triangular grassy plot and within that triangle lie the Howlands. There
are also a few to the left of the left path forming the triangle. From
this approach you will be looking at the back of most of the stones
although a few are readable in this direction including the "memorial
stone" (about a 2 foot high rectangular stone) to him and his family.

John Howland Tombstone: " Here ended the pilgrimage of JOHN HOWLAND who
died February 23, 1672/3 aged above 80 years. He married Elizabeth
daughter of JOHN TILLEY who came with him in the Mayflower Dec 1620. From
them are descended numerous posterity." "He was a godly man and an
ancient professor in the ways of Christ. He was one of the first comers
into this land and was the last man that was left of those that came over
in the shipp called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth" source Plymouth
Records.

John Howland came on the Mayflower as a servant to John Carver. 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 seas 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 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 pleased 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 his life saved. And though he was something ill with it,
yet he lived many years after and became a profitable member both in
church and commonwealth."

The ancestry of John Howland is discussed in John Howland of the
Mayflower through Desire Howland for Five Generations", Vol. 1, by
Elizabeth Pearson White, available from Picton Press of Camden, Maine, or
through the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. John Howland is
the son of Henry Howland and Margaret (----) of Fenstanton, Huntingdon,
England. Henry died on 17 May 1635 in Fenstranton, and Margaret was
buried on 31 July 1629. Besides son John, who came on the Mayflower, they
also had Humphrey, Arthur, Henry, George, and Margaret. Henry came to
Plymouth sometime before 1633, and Arthur came sometime before 1640.

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See Notes about John HOWLAND's wife for more notes.
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