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Howard history in Massachusetts
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Darrel Hockley via
Dec 4, 2015, 12:46:31 AM12/4/15
to Gen-medieval, GENMASSA...@rootsweb.com, nydut...@rootsweb.com
It appears that the earliest data on the Net on my branch of the Howard family came from Dr. Leonard R. Howard, UE, MD of Aiea, Hawaii. On 17 July 1999 he posted on the website, "Howards - Lost and Found" (howard-kin.com/qhoward3.htm) that he was looking for the descendants of Edward Howard, born 1628, son of Sir Francis Howard and Jane Monson. He said that this Edward left England about 1641 for New England and "pops up practicing law in Boston in 1642". He has Edward marrying Hannah Hawkins in Boston in 1661 and carries the line to Little Compton, Rhode Island and then to Bristol County, Massachusetts. That is probably how the errors started in following this Howard family's story.
First correction. The Edward Howard who was the fifth son of Sir Francis Howard and Jane Monson was baptised on 28 October 1628 in Saint Margaret's Church, Westminster, London, never did emigrate to New England. His wife was Francis Walpole and in the 1680s he was still living in Surrey County, England. The source for this is "The Genealogist, Vol. 2", London, 1878, page 349.
Now there was an Edward Howard, son of Edward, who was baptised in Saint Margaret's Church, Westminster on 18 April 1616. If this was the Edward Howard who did settle in New England in 1641 he would have been age around 25 years. (It could be a case of Dr. Howard picking the wrong Edward, right church for his/my ancestor.) It is also possible that this Edward did apprentice in England in law and ended up doing old fashion attorney's work (meaning solicitor's jobs such as draughting wills and other legal documents for clients; not barrister's work as the Massachusetts authorities in the 1600s frowned on lawyers appearing in court on behalf of clients) in Boston. I cannot find any evidence of an Edward Howard practicing law in colonial Boston but then on 9 December 1747 a fire in the Boston town-house destroyed many valuable records which might have mentioned Edward. "Peirce's Colonial Lists" of 1881 listing the professional men of Plymouth and Rhode Island Colonies does not include Edward but then Mr. Peirce also does not mention the first lawyer of Boston in his list, namely Thomas Leechford who was in Boston between 1638 and 1641.
Correction Two. The Edward Howard who married Hannah Hawkins on 7 June 1661 in Boston I believe was probably a son of lawyer Edward (born in England before the move to Boston) and not one and the same personage. Hannah was born on 20 November 1640 in Boston, the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Hawkins. Her husband was roughly the same age as her. Hannah is supposed to have died on 27 May 1664 in Suffolk County, MA, but I have not found a record for this. Dr. Howard's and mine ancestor Matthew Howard was born in Boston on 15 March 1661/62, son of Edward and Ester (Esther) Howard. Dr. Howard makes Hannah and Esther as one person which I believe is incorrect. I believe Esther may have been the mother of the younger Edward as well as for Matthew - she could be as old as age 42 and still would have given birth to a child. After Hannah's death her husband Edward Howard is thought to have moved to Fairfield County, Connecticut where he served as that county's clerk and in 1685 married a widow, Mrs. Abigail Dimon (nee Ward) (1640 to 1718). Nothing more is known of him. Source: "History & Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1" by Donald Lines Jacobus (reprinted 1991).
Another possible son of Edward Howard and Esther and brother to Edward and Matthew could be Robert Howard of Lynn, MA. According to Robert's descendants he was born in England around 1639 and arrived in New England when age about one or two, but his parents are unknown. Lynn is some eleven miles from Boston. It is not known whom Robert's wife was, but about 1664 he had a son named Edward which might indicate Robert's father was named Edward. Robert died at Lynn about 1697. This line of Howards are amongst the ancestors of both Presidents Bush.
In "A History of Rehoboth Massachusetts: Its History for 275 Years 1648-1918" by the Rev'd George H. Tilton (1918), on pages 121 and 122 it mentions that Mr. Edward Howard was contracted as Rehoboth's school master on 18 May 1680 for a yearly salary of £20 plus board. The following year the town's selectmen were to do their upmost to renew the contract and so keep Mr. Howard as school master. I believe that this was lawyer Edward Howard and by then his wife was most likely deceased. Rehoboth is some 30 miles from what became the new town of Little Compton, then part of Massachusetts. I believe that Edward and his son Mathew had by 1680 moved from Boston to the Rehoboth district in preparation of Little Compton being open up to settlers. In 1682 Little Compton was incorporated as a municipality. About 1686 (no exact record found) Mathew married Mary Case of Little Compton.
On page 149 of "Little Compton Families, Vol. 1" by Benjamin Franklin Wilbour (1967) it mentions Mary Case marrying Mathew Howard. However, Mr. Wilbour wrongly makes Mary the daughter of her brother James and his wife Anna! Mary was the daughter of William Case (died ca 1676) and his wife Mary (died ca 1680) of Newport, Rhode Island. After their parents died, perhaps Mary went to live with her brother James and his family at Little Compton, and that is how the mix up occurred in stating their relationship.
Perhaps by 1688 Edward died either in Rehoboth or in Little Compton as on 26 December of that year, Mathew purchased from Benjamin Church, the founder of Little Compton, land at that place for the sum of £24. That would be a rather large sum for a 26 year old to have at that time so perhaps it was money left to Mathew from his father? The source for this item is on page XXVIII (28) under Introductory Memoir in the book "The history of King Philip's War by Benjamin Church (reprinted), Library of New England History, No. II (1865). On 23 November 1694 Matthew Howard of Little Compton sold for £6 New England money to Josiah Closson a piece of land at Little Compton; the source for this item is a family story on Josiah Closson found on the familysearch.org website which in turn comes from the Deeds recorded at Taunton, Bristol Co., Mass.
Roughly between 1688 and 1694 or 1696, Mathew and Mary Howard had four children born at Little Compton, however I cannot find any record of their respective births there:
Esther (named after her paternal grandmother);Mathew Jr. (named after his father);Edward (named after his paternal grandfather); and
William (named after his maternal grandfather).
(On 27 January 1746/47 the town of Little Compton was transferred from the Province of Massachusetts to become part of Rhode Island.)
However, the children appear in the vital records of either Rochester and Dartmouth, both in Massachussetts:
Thomas Hammon(d) of Dartmouth and Easther (Esther) Howard of Rochester were married by Job Almy, Justice, at Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island on 31 January 1719/20.
William Howard married Mary Parker on 14 November 1723 at Rochester, MA
Matthew Howard Jr. and Phebe Burges, both of Darmouth, were married on 17 November 1726
The four children of Edward Howard and his wife Sarah (maiden name unknown) were born at Dartmouth between 1722 and 1732
My ancestor, Zephaniah Howard (1731 to 1813), son of William and Mary, was born on 10 September 1731 at Dartmouth, MA and later resided in Dutchess County, New York where he married Lydia Valeria Wooley (1736 to 1813).
Darrel Hockley
Regina, SK, Canada
First correction. The Edward Howard who was the fifth son of Sir Francis Howard and Jane Monson was baptised on 28 October 1628 in Saint Margaret's Church, Westminster, London, never did emigrate to New England. His wife was Francis Walpole and in the 1680s he was still living in Surrey County, England. The source for this is "The Genealogist, Vol. 2", London, 1878, page 349.
Now there was an Edward Howard, son of Edward, who was baptised in Saint Margaret's Church, Westminster on 18 April 1616. If this was the Edward Howard who did settle in New England in 1641 he would have been age around 25 years. (It could be a case of Dr. Howard picking the wrong Edward, right church for his/my ancestor.) It is also possible that this Edward did apprentice in England in law and ended up doing old fashion attorney's work (meaning solicitor's jobs such as draughting wills and other legal documents for clients; not barrister's work as the Massachusetts authorities in the 1600s frowned on lawyers appearing in court on behalf of clients) in Boston. I cannot find any evidence of an Edward Howard practicing law in colonial Boston but then on 9 December 1747 a fire in the Boston town-house destroyed many valuable records which might have mentioned Edward. "Peirce's Colonial Lists" of 1881 listing the professional men of Plymouth and Rhode Island Colonies does not include Edward but then Mr. Peirce also does not mention the first lawyer of Boston in his list, namely Thomas Leechford who was in Boston between 1638 and 1641.
Correction Two. The Edward Howard who married Hannah Hawkins on 7 June 1661 in Boston I believe was probably a son of lawyer Edward (born in England before the move to Boston) and not one and the same personage. Hannah was born on 20 November 1640 in Boston, the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Hawkins. Her husband was roughly the same age as her. Hannah is supposed to have died on 27 May 1664 in Suffolk County, MA, but I have not found a record for this. Dr. Howard's and mine ancestor Matthew Howard was born in Boston on 15 March 1661/62, son of Edward and Ester (Esther) Howard. Dr. Howard makes Hannah and Esther as one person which I believe is incorrect. I believe Esther may have been the mother of the younger Edward as well as for Matthew - she could be as old as age 42 and still would have given birth to a child. After Hannah's death her husband Edward Howard is thought to have moved to Fairfield County, Connecticut where he served as that county's clerk and in 1685 married a widow, Mrs. Abigail Dimon (nee Ward) (1640 to 1718). Nothing more is known of him. Source: "History & Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield, Vol. 1" by Donald Lines Jacobus (reprinted 1991).
Another possible son of Edward Howard and Esther and brother to Edward and Matthew could be Robert Howard of Lynn, MA. According to Robert's descendants he was born in England around 1639 and arrived in New England when age about one or two, but his parents are unknown. Lynn is some eleven miles from Boston. It is not known whom Robert's wife was, but about 1664 he had a son named Edward which might indicate Robert's father was named Edward. Robert died at Lynn about 1697. This line of Howards are amongst the ancestors of both Presidents Bush.
In "A History of Rehoboth Massachusetts: Its History for 275 Years 1648-1918" by the Rev'd George H. Tilton (1918), on pages 121 and 122 it mentions that Mr. Edward Howard was contracted as Rehoboth's school master on 18 May 1680 for a yearly salary of £20 plus board. The following year the town's selectmen were to do their upmost to renew the contract and so keep Mr. Howard as school master. I believe that this was lawyer Edward Howard and by then his wife was most likely deceased. Rehoboth is some 30 miles from what became the new town of Little Compton, then part of Massachusetts. I believe that Edward and his son Mathew had by 1680 moved from Boston to the Rehoboth district in preparation of Little Compton being open up to settlers. In 1682 Little Compton was incorporated as a municipality. About 1686 (no exact record found) Mathew married Mary Case of Little Compton.
On page 149 of "Little Compton Families, Vol. 1" by Benjamin Franklin Wilbour (1967) it mentions Mary Case marrying Mathew Howard. However, Mr. Wilbour wrongly makes Mary the daughter of her brother James and his wife Anna! Mary was the daughter of William Case (died ca 1676) and his wife Mary (died ca 1680) of Newport, Rhode Island. After their parents died, perhaps Mary went to live with her brother James and his family at Little Compton, and that is how the mix up occurred in stating their relationship.
Perhaps by 1688 Edward died either in Rehoboth or in Little Compton as on 26 December of that year, Mathew purchased from Benjamin Church, the founder of Little Compton, land at that place for the sum of £24. That would be a rather large sum for a 26 year old to have at that time so perhaps it was money left to Mathew from his father? The source for this item is on page XXVIII (28) under Introductory Memoir in the book "The history of King Philip's War by Benjamin Church (reprinted), Library of New England History, No. II (1865). On 23 November 1694 Matthew Howard of Little Compton sold for £6 New England money to Josiah Closson a piece of land at Little Compton; the source for this item is a family story on Josiah Closson found on the familysearch.org website which in turn comes from the Deeds recorded at Taunton, Bristol Co., Mass.
Roughly between 1688 and 1694 or 1696, Mathew and Mary Howard had four children born at Little Compton, however I cannot find any record of their respective births there:
Esther (named after her paternal grandmother);Mathew Jr. (named after his father);Edward (named after his paternal grandfather); and
William (named after his maternal grandfather).
(On 27 January 1746/47 the town of Little Compton was transferred from the Province of Massachusetts to become part of Rhode Island.)
However, the children appear in the vital records of either Rochester and Dartmouth, both in Massachussetts:
Thomas Hammon(d) of Dartmouth and Easther (Esther) Howard of Rochester were married by Job Almy, Justice, at Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island on 31 January 1719/20.
William Howard married Mary Parker on 14 November 1723 at Rochester, MA
Matthew Howard Jr. and Phebe Burges, both of Darmouth, were married on 17 November 1726
The four children of Edward Howard and his wife Sarah (maiden name unknown) were born at Dartmouth between 1722 and 1732
My ancestor, Zephaniah Howard (1731 to 1813), son of William and Mary, was born on 10 September 1731 at Dartmouth, MA and later resided in Dutchess County, New York where he married Lydia Valeria Wooley (1736 to 1813).
Darrel Hockley
Regina, SK, Canada
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