John Howland

[Riley S]

When I recently asked about Mayflower passenger John Howland of Fenstanton , Huntingtonshire being related to a noble family , I had the right name but the wrong person . John Howland (1649 - 1686) of Streatham , Surrey had a daughter , Elizabeth , who married the 2nd Duke of Bedford . It is interesting that Mayflower John's wife was named Elizabeth too . Can someone tell me if the counties of Surrey and Huntingtonshire are near each other ? Could someone tell me some more about John Howland who was the Duke of Bedford's father - in -law ? Could these two possibly be related ? Thanks !

[taf]

On Tuesday, October 12, 2021 at 1:19:29 PM UTC-7, Riley S wrote:

> It is interesting that Mayflower John's wife was named Elizabeth too.

Happenstance. John was one of the the most common male names in England, and Elizabeth one of the most common female names, so you are bound to have numerous Johns who were married to Elizabeths, for every non-rare surname.

> Can someone tell me if the counties of Surrey and Huntingtonshire are near each other?

'Near' is a relative term. They are 'near' compared to the distance between Yorkshire and Cornwall, but Surrey is south of the river from London, while Hunts is four counties away, north-north-east of London and near Cambridge. That said, the gentry classes often interacted, via London, with people from across the kingdom and this resulted in marriages and land purchases, and the consequent residences of relatives, in distant counties.

> Could someone tell me some more about John Howland who was the Duke of Bedford's
> father - in -law ?

There is a little about him in the VCH Surrey description of Streatham:
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol4/pp92-102

> Could these two possibly be related ? Thanks !

Could they be related? sure, anything is possible, but the name is a generic topographical name (basically, 'land of mounds or hillocks'), so there is no reason to think every family of this name arose from the same location.

taf