John Howe b. 22 Jun 1617 Woodbury, Devon, England d. 28 May 1680 Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA

1617 - 1680 (62 years)

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Name John Howe

Born 22 Jun 1617 Woodbury, Devon, England [1]

Gender Male

Reference Number 7088

Died 28 May 1680 Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA [1]

Siblings 5 Siblings

+	1. John Howe, b. 22 Jun 1617, Woodbury, Devon, England , d. 28 May 1680, Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 62 years) ▻ Mary Unknown, m. Bef 1640
	2. Edward Howe, b. 22 Jun 1617, Woodbury, Devon, England
	3. Isaac Howe, b. 11 Oct 1618, Woodbury, Devon, England
	4. Sarah Howe, b. 20 Apr 1620, Woodbury, Devon, England
	5. William Howe, b. 30 Dec 1621, Woodbury, Devon, England
	6. Elizabeth Howe, b. 29 Sep 1623, Woodbury, Devon, England

Person ID I7088 FelsingFam

Last Modified 16 Feb 2024

Father	John Howe, b. 8 Feb 1576/77
Relationship	natural
Married	Bef 1616 [1]
Family ID	F3184	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Mary Unknown, b. Abt 1620, d. 9 Sep 1698 (Age ~ 78 years)

Married Bef 1640 [1]

Children

	1. John Howe, b. 24 Aug 1640, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 20 Apr 1676, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 35 years) [natural]
	2. Samuel Howe, b. 20 Oct 1642, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 13 Apr 1713, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 70 years) [natural]
	3. Sarah Howe, b. 25 Sep 1644, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 11 Aug 1707, Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 62 years) [natural]
	4. Mary Howe, b. 18 Feb 1646, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 17 Mar 1647/48, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 2 years) [natural]
+	5. Isaac Howe, b. 8 Aug 1648, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 9 Dec 1724, Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 76 years) [natural]
	6. Josiah Howe, b. Abt 1650 [natural]
+	7. Mary Howe, b. 18 Jan 1653/54, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 5 Jun 1684, Stow, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 30 years) [natural]
	8. Thomas Howe, b. 22 Jul 1656, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 16 Feb 1733/34, Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA (Age 77 years) [natural]
	9. Daniel Howe, b. 28 Jan 1661, d. 1661 [natural]
	10. Alexander Howe, b. 29 Dec 1661, Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA , d. 4 Jan 1661/62, Marlborough, Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe (Age 0 years) [natural]
	11. Eleazer Howe, b. 18 Jan 1662/63, Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA [natural]

Last Modified 16 Feb 2024

Family ID F2028 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Event Map

Born - 22 Jun 1617 - Woodbury, Devon, England

Died - 28 May 1680 - Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA

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Date:5/13/2019 7:47:58 PM

Notes

Write up by Rachelle Child on familysearch.org tree
According to the book, "Howe Genealogies," originally written by Daniel Wait Howe and edited and re-printed by Gilman Bigelow Howe in 1929, nothing is known about John Howe's life before he surfaces in Sudbury. His wife's first name was Mary, but her last name is unknown. He removed at some point to Marlborough, and he ran a tavern there, in addition to owning a considerable quantity of land. He was in Sudbury as early as 1638 or 1639, and was admitted freeman in 1640. He may have been the first white inhabitant of Marlborough, moving there as early as 1657 or 1658. He lived in Marlborough until his death.
John and Mary had a large family of 11 known children. The first Mary, Daniel, and Alexander died young. The others lived to adulthood:
1. John - 24 August 1640
2. Samuel - 20 October 1642
3. Sarah - 25 September 1644
4. Mary - 18 February 1646
5. Isaac - 8 August 1648
6. Josiah - about 1650
7. Mary - 18 June 1654
8. Thomas - 22 July 1656
9. Daniel - 3 June 1658
10. Alexander - 29 December 1660
11. Eleazer - 18 January 1662
All the children through Daniel were born in Sudbury, and their birth records are attached under Sources below. Alexander and Eleazer were born after the family moved to Marlborough.
John is mentioned repeatedly in the book, "The History of Sudbury, Massachusetts..." (See source below). He is listed on page 26 with the very earliest settlers of Sudbury. He is also listed on page 38 with a small biography, claiming a familial relationship to Sir Charles How of Lancastershire, a claim which appears to be false (see page 1 of the Howe Genealogies). It mentions that John was freeman in 1641, and possibly the first white settler of Marlborough. The author gives his death as 1687, "at which place and about which time his wife died also." This death date appears to be false, both for John and for his wife Mary.
The book, "History of the town of Marlborough, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement in 1657 to 1861; with a brief sketch of the town of Northborough, a genealogy of the families in Marlborough to 1800..." by Charles Hudson (see source below) appears to contain much of the same information as the book regarding the history of Sudbury above. John's "genealogy" information is found on page 380.
John's death is listed in Marlborough Vital Records:
Howe, John Sr., May 28, 1680.
See attached death record under Sources, which has unfortunately been improperly indexed. The original record says John How dyed "28.3.80". Correctly interpreted, this date should be translated to May 28, 1680, because the calendar they used in those days started with March being month 1. Click on the image to see for yourself.
His will was dated a few days before he died, 24 May 1680. Inventory was taken on his estate 5 June 1680. A full transcription of his will can be found on page 4 of the "Howe Genealogies." His son Thomas inherited his dwelling house. In return, Thomas was to care for his mother after his father's death.
There has been quite a bit of confusion about John's birth date. On www.findagrave.com, they have a birth date listed of Nov. 20, 1620 in Hadnall, Shropshire, England. While there is a baptism date for a man named John Howe in England at this time, unfortunately there is no way to prove or disprove if this date belongs to this particular John Howe, and John Howe was a very common name. There is no headstone for John, and so why he even has a file on www.findagrave.com, I am not sure. There are also unfortunately other inaccuracies on his www.findagrave file.
There is also attached below a source for an indexed record which appears on ancestry.com, which lists his death date and his wife's name, along with an age of death of 78, which if you do the math would give him a birth year estimate of 1602. Unfortunately, in the original record, WHICH IS ATTACHED BELOW, there is no age at death, so I can't figure out where the "age 78" came from, which makes it, in my opinion, very suspect. The original death record also does not list his wife's name, so this ancestry.com listing is not an indexing of a single record at all, but an unsourced compilation. In my opinion, John Howe's birth year is still unknown due to a lack of sourced, identifiable data. It is not at all uncommon to not know where many of these original settlers came from in England exactly. Sometimes we get lucky and they are mentioned in a will in England, or they came to America in a group, or they are listed with a group on a ship's passenger list. But quite often we just don't know for sure. Occasionally, these early settlers gave a deposition in court where their age is mentioned, which is true of this John's son, but I checked court records in the book "Ages from Court Records 1636 to 1700 Volume I Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk Counties, Massachusetts" and only someone of the name "John Howe" who was born near 1640 (this John's son) appears.
So, due to the above reasons, an estimated birth year of 1602 is often attached to John. However, that would make him nearly 40 when he married, an estimated 20 years younger than his wife, and 60 years old when his last son was born. This is unlikely. I think it much more likely that he was born around 1615.
direct quote from Hist of Marlborough
"John Howe of Sudbury was one of the petitioners in 1657 for the grant which constituted Marlborough. He was the son of John Howe, supposed to be the John Howe, Esq., who came from Warwickshire in England, and who was a son of John Howe whose brother may have been sir Charles Howe, himself the son of John of Hodinhull. the latter mentioned John of Hodinhull was the first of Hodinhull agrees with the tradition that Charles Howe was of Hodinhull. It is noted that none of the pedigrees of How include a Charles Howe at the right time.
NOTE: The "tradition" that John of Sudbury and Marlborough was the son of a John (or a James) Howe In England has not been proven. The histories of Framingham and Marlborough and the Howe Genealogies all acknowledge this tradition, but also note that all attempts to document it have failed. Extensive research has been performed on both sides of the Atlantic, without result. Mr. Richard Savage of Stratford, Secretary of the Shakespeare Birthplace Association made an investigation of the parishes of Warwickshire, which showed that there were several How's there in the 1580-1588 period, specifically John, Thomas, and Lyman of St. Nicholas Parish. A John How also appeared in records in the same parish for 1608-1609. No records of How's have been found for Hodinhull or Hodnet in Warwickshire or Hodnall in Shropshire. The Warwickshire Baptism Index, available through FindMyPast.com shows a John How , son of John How, baptized in St. Nicholas parish In Warwick on 15 Nov 1624. If he was born that year, becoming a Selectman in Sudbury in 1642 Is questionable. Any attempt to equate John of Marlborough with Warwickshire How's is speculative and conjecture at best.
Note: The history and sources for John Howe's family in Sudbury and Marlborough and beyond are all well documented. But information on his date of birth, birthplace in England, parentage, siblings, and the last name at birth of his wife Mary are all based on less solid information and matching based on name similarities, at best. This information cannot be considered confirmed.

Sources
[S716] The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908 Part II, Dean Crawford Smith, (Name: New England Historic Genealogical Society; Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Date: 2004;).