Henry Howland

d. 1635

Died 1635

Children include John

Henry Howland lived at Fenstanton, a village in Huntingdonshire. He was probably born about 1565. Where he came from is not known. No Howland appears at Fenstanton before him, and the parish registers there begin only in 1612. The first record of him is the baptism of his son Simon on 19 August 1604, in a copy sent to the bishop. Caleb Johnson, who searched the Cambridgeshire records for the Pilgrim John Howland Society, thought the family most likely came from the Howlands of Horningsea, near Cambridge, but found no proof.

His wife was named Margaret. Seven children are known: Arthur, George, Humphrey, John, Henry, Margaret and Simon. Five of the sons went to London. Humphrey was apprenticed to a draper, James Smith, in November 1613 and became free of the Drapers' Company in December 1620. In 1622 he took his brother Simon as his own apprentice, and in October 1623 his brother Henry. The Company's books call both boys sons of "Henry Howland of Fenny Stanton." George became a London merchant. Three sons settled in Plymouth Colony: John, who came on the Mayflower in 1620, Henry, who was at Plymouth by 1633, and Arthur, who came about 1640. Only the daughter Margaret stayed in the village. She married Richard Phillips, a shoemaker, at Fenstanton in April 1623.

In the manor court of 7 October 1614 Henry was fined five shillings. With John Ashwood he had put "one scabious horse," a horse with mange, into the common field on 7 May, against the orders of the last court. In the same court he and John Martyn were ordered to scour the streams running from the street to the place called the Green, before Martinmas, on pain of six shillings and eightpence.

His wife was buried at Fenstanton on 31 July 1629. The register entry reads "Margarett, wife of Henrie Howland." In 1630 the churchwardens paid him sixpence for "moweinge thistles in the greene" and eightpence more under the heading "Willowes." He was buried at Fenstanton on 17 May 1635.

The link between Fenstanton and Plymouth comes from his son Humphrey. Humphrey's will, made in London on 28 May 1646, left money out of a debt owed him by a Mr. Ruck of New England: "Item I give unto my brother Arthur Howland Eight pounds ... And to my brother John Howland fower pounds out of the said debt. And to my brother Henry Howland fower pounds out of the same debt." Since Henry and Simon were named in the Drapers' books as sons of Henry Howland of Fenstanton, and Arthur, John and Henry were all brothers of Humphrey and all in Plymouth Colony, Clarence Almon Torrey concluded in 1938 that Henry of Fenstanton was the father of the three Plymouth Howlands.

Children

John Howland 1598-1673

Sources

Caleb H. Johnson, "Henry Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire: Father of Mayflower Passenger John Howland", The Howland Quarterly (Pilgrim John Howland Society, 2016), pp. 10-20, p. 10.

Caleb H. Johnson, "Henry Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire: Father of Mayflower Passenger John Howland", The Howland Quarterly (Pilgrim John Howland Society, 2016), pp. 10-20, p. 13.

Caleb H. Johnson, "Henry Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire: Father of Mayflower Passenger John Howland", The Howland Quarterly (Pilgrim John Howland Society, 2016), pp. 10-20, p. 15.

Caleb H. Johnson, "Henry Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire: Father of Mayflower Passenger John Howland", The Howland Quarterly (Pilgrim John Howland Society, 2016), pp. 10-20, p. 17 (Huntingdon Archives HMR7).

Clarence Almon Torrey, "The Howland Ancestry", The American Genealogist, vol. 14 (April 1938), pp. 214-215, archive.org sim_american-genealogist_1938-04_14_4, p. 214.

Clarence Almon Torrey, "The Howland Ancestry", The American Genealogist, vol. 14 (April 1938), pp. 214-215, archive.org sim_american-genealogist_1938-04_14_4, p. 215.

FreeREG transcript of the parish register of St Peter and St Paul, Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire (freereg.org.uk).

Clarence Almon Torrey, "The Howland Ancestry", The American Genealogist, vol. 14 (April 1938), pp. 214-215, archive.org sim_american-genealogist_1938-04_14_4; Caleb H. Johnson, "Henry Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire: Father of Mayflower Passenger John Howland", The Howland Quarterly (Pilgrim John Howland Society, 2016), pp. 10-20, PDF at pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org; will of Humphrey Howland, PCC, PROB 11/197/73, as quoted by Johnson and on WikiTree; FreeREG transcript of the parish register of St Peter and St Paul, Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire (freereg.org.uk).

If Henry Howland is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Henry Howland (d. 1635)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/henry-howland-1635-445b62.