Pilgrim Village Families Sketch: John Howland

Birth:  John Howland was born in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire.

Death: He died in Plymouth on February 1672/3 “above eighty years.”

Ship: Mayflower, 1620

Life in England: John Howland has been identified as the son of Henry and Margaret (_____) Howland of Fenstanton.Two of Henry’s sons, Humphrey and Simon, became merchants in London. Humphrey’s 1646 will listed brothers,Arthur, John and Henry, and sister, Margaret.

Life in New England:  John Howland came to New England aboard the Mayflower in 1620 as servant to John Carver. The Carvers died in 1621 and John was presumably freed from service at that time. He was a freeman of Plymouth in 1633 and served the colony in several important capacities, including assistant governor, deputy and as head of the Kennebec trading post. His wife, Elizabeth Tilley, came over with her parents on the Mayflower  as well, and was left an orphan after the first winter.

Family:  John Howland married Elizabeth Tilley in Plymouth about 1624 and had ten children. She died in Swansea on December 22, 1687.

• Desire was born about 1624. She married John Gorham in Plymouth by 1644 and had eleven children. She died in Barnstable on October 13, 1683.
• John was born in Plymouth on February 24, 1626/7. He married Mary Lee in Plymouth on October 26, 1651, and had ten children. He died in Barnstable after June 18, 1699.
• Hope was born in Plymouth about 1629. She married John Chipman by about 1647 and had twelve children. She died on January 8, 1683, in Barnstable.
• Elizabeth was born about 1631. She married (1) Ephraim Hicks on September 13, 1649, in Plymouth. He died on December 12, 1649. She married (2) John Dickerson in Plymouth on July 10, 1651, and had nine children. She died in October 1683 at Oyster Bay, New York.
• Lydia was born about 1633. She married James Brown about 1655 and had four children. She died after January, 1710/11, in Swansea.
• Hannah was born about 1637. She married Jonathan Bosworth in Swansea on July 6, 1661, and had nine children.
• Joseph was born about 1640. He married Elizabeth Southworth in Plymouth on December 7, 1664, and had nine children. He died in Plymouth in January 1703/4.
• Jabez was born about 1644. He married Bethiah Thatcher by 1669 and had eleven children. He died before February 21, 1711/2.
• Ruth was born about 1646. She married Thomas Cushman in Plymouth on November 17, 1664, and had three children. She died before October 1679.
• Isaac was born in Plymouth on November 15, 1649. He married Elizabeth Vaughn by 1677 and had eight children. He died on March 9, 1723/4, in Middleboro.