Mayflower Passenger65926
Bio in Great Migrations Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 1995

Of the Mayflower66069

Part 2 Pg 190 John Howland was the thirteenth signer of the Mayflower Compact, was 28 years of age when he came to America65330

We Relate66066
Came on the Mayflower as a servant to John Carver. He was the 13th Signer of the Mayflower Compact. While aboard the Mayflower, he fell overboard and was nearly lost.
After the death of Carver, Howland rose rapidly as a leader in the colony. In 1627 he was the head of one of the twelve companies which divided the livestock, and he was one of the eight Plymouth Undertakers who assumed responsibility for the colony's debt to the Adventurers in return for certain monopoly trade privileges. He was on the 1633 freeman list, and by 1633, if not earlier, was an Assistant, being reelected to this position in 1634 and 1635. In 1634 he was in charge of the colony trading outpost on the Kennebec River when Talbot and Hocking were killed. He received a good number of land grants, was elected a deputy for Plymouth, served on numerous special committees, and was an important lay leader of the Plymouth Church. The Reverend John Cotton related how at his own ordination as pastor of the church in 1669 "the aged mr. John Howland was appointed by the chh to Joyne in imposition of hands" Howland died on 24 February 1672/73 in his eightieth year, and John Cotton noted his passing, "He was a good old disciple, and had bin sometime a magistrate here, a plaine-hearted christian" (3 Plymouth Colony: Its History & People 1620-91, Part One Chronological Histories, Chapter 6: King Philip’s War (1675-1676)
The identity of this family is proved by the probate records of John's brother, Humphrey Howland, a draper, who settled in St.Swithin's Parish in London.

Characterized by as a "lusty young man" and manservant to John Carver.  He was nearly swept to his death during a severe storm on the passage.(Mayflower) In Bradford's accounting of the voyage, he mentions the near-death of John Howland when he is swept overboard during a severe storm and barely "caught hold" of the "topsail halyards" being dragged fathoms under water till he was dragged up by that same rope and by means of a boat hook managed to get into the ship again.72274

MA Census 1790-189068695
John Howland, MA, Plymouth County, Plymouth, 1632

Last Will & Testament of John Howland of Plymouth, late deceased, exhibited in Court held att Plymouth 5 Mar 1672 on the oathes of Samuell ffuller and William Crow72218
Will dated 29 May 1672 (note after date presented in court)
To My Eldest son John Howland - lands I already given him, 10 ac granted me by the Court lying on the eastern side of Tauton River; between Teticutt and Taunton bounds
To my son Jabez Howland - my upland and Meadow that I now possess at Satuckett and Paomett & places adjacent
To my son Jabez Howland - my one peece of land that I have lying on the southside of the Mill brooke, in the Towne of Plymouth; northside of a field that is now Gyles Rickards Sr
To my youngest son Isacke Howland all my uplands & meddows lying in the Towne of Middlebery & in a tract of Land Called Majors Purchase near Namassakett Ponds; which I have bought and purchased of William White of Marshfield in the Collonie of New Plymouth
To my son Isacke Howland - one half my 12 ac lot of Meddow that I now have at Winnatucksett River with the Town of Plymouth
To my wife, Elizabeth Howland - use and benefit of my Dwelling house in Rockey nooke in the Township of Plymouth, with the outhousing lands
To my son Joseph Howland - after decease of my loving wife Elizabeth my aforesaid Dwelling house att Rockey nooke
To my Daughter Desire Gorum 20 shillings
To my Daughter Hope Chipman 20 shillings
To my Daughter Elizabeth Dickenson 20 shillings
To my Daughter Lydia Browne 20 shillings
To my Daughter Hannah Bosworth 20 shillings
To my Daughter Ruth Cushman 20 shillings
To my Grandchild Elizabeth Howland, daughter of my son John Howland 20 shillings
Signed in the presence of Samuel ffuller, John Howland, William Crow

John Howland Inventory 3 Mar 1672/1673 Plymouth Colony Wills 3(1):49-54; Mayflower Descendant 2(1900):70-77 #P204 (p.51) A trew Inventory of all the goods Cattles and Chattles and Lands of Mr. John Howland lately deceased taken and aprised by Elder Thomas Cushman, Serjeant Tinkham and William Crow 3 Mar 1672 and exhibited to the Court held att Plymouth 5 Mar 1672/73 on the oath of Mrs. Elizabeth Howland widdow72275

Signed the Mayflower Compact 11 Nov 162050268,71754 Pg 772276 Pg 55 Thirteenth signer72277

John Howland was a manservant for Governor John Carver. During the Mayflower’s voyage, Howland fell overboard during a storm, and was almost lost at sea - but luckily for his millions of descendants living today (including Presidents George Bush and George W. Bush, and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt) he managed to grab ahold of the topsail halyards, giving the crew enough time to rescue him with a boathook.72278

The Pilgrim John Howland Society72279
Jabez Howland House is the only existing house in Plymouth where Pilgrims actually lived... After John’s death at age 80, and the fire that destroyed their Rocky Nook farm, Elizabeth lived here until 1680 when Jabez sold the house. A National Register of Historic Places Site.

McDaniels-Howland Genealogy72280
"In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce and the seas so high, as they could not bear a know of sail, but were forced to hull for divers days together. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull in a mighty storm, a lusty young man called John Howland, coming upon some occasion above the gratings was, with a seele of the ship, thrown into the sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards which hung overboard and ran out at length. Yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and then with boat hook and other means got into the ship again and his life saved. And though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after and became a profitable member both in church and commonwealth."

Mayflower Ancestral Index54482
Number 18438 Howland, John the Pilgrim; Spouse: (also Mayflower descendant) Tilley, Elizabeth

Burial Hill, Plymouth MA72281
Pg 56, No. 376 (Tall and wide, blue slate. Fair condition, save a cleft from the ground upward. When Bradford’s manuscript history of Plymouth Plantation was discovered in England in the year 1855, the statement on this stone that Elizabeth Howland “was the dau tr(sic) of Gov Carver” was shown to be erroneous. She was the daughter of John Tilley, one of the Mayflower Company. The correction should be made, lest the thought “Here lies the body” be exchanged for “Here lies the stone.”
Here ended the Pilgrimage of John Howland and Elizabeth his wife. She was the dau tr of Gov Carver. They arrived in the Mayflower, Dec 1620. They had 4 Sons and 6 dau trs from whom are descended a numerous posterity. “1672 Feb y 23. John Howland of Plymouth deceased he lived to the age of 80 yrs. He was the last man that was left of those that came over in the ship called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth.”
Plymouth Records. (By the side of No. 376 is a wooden slab on which are the words) The grave of John Howland. Died Feb 25, 1672

Gill Genealogies Image 316: Howland, John, came on the Mayflower as a member of Gov Carver’s family64310

John Howland: In his list of passengers on the Mayflower Bradford tells us that John Howland was one of the “manservants” of John Carver (Bradford 441). During a particularly bad storm on the crossing John Howland (characterized by Bradford as “a lusty young man”) went above deck and was swept overboard, but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topside halyards which hung overboard and ran out at length. Yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and then with a boat hook and other means got into the ship again and his life saved. And though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after and became a profitable member both in church & commonwealth (Bradford 59)66067 Pg 1023 (Bradford 59)66963 Pg 5472277

Pg 221 John Howland, the thirteenth Signer of the Mayflower Compact made at Cape Cod 11 Nov (O. S.) 1620. Queen Elizabeth granted the Howlands their Coat Armout in 1584, the family beginning with Bishop Howland, who performed the obsequies for Mary Queen of Scots; on the voyage to America during a mighty storm John Howland was thrown into the sea but grasping the topsail halliards that were thrown out to him by his friends he was safely drawn on board the vessel, he was the last surviving passenger who d: in Plymouth; took part in the “First Encounter’ Great Meadow Creek, Dec 1620; governor’s assistant 1633-35; in command of the Kennebec Trading Post 1634, Deputy to General Court 1641, et seq66111

Pg 42 John Howland, the Pilgrim, thirteenth signer of the Mayflower Compact. Bradford in his journal makes the following reference to him on the Mayflower voyage: In a mighty storm John Howland, a passenger, a stout young man, by a keel of ye ship, was thrown into the sea. But pleased God, he caught hold of ye Topsail Halliards we hung overboard, and run out ye length, yet he kept his hold the several fathoms under water, till he was drawn up by ye rope to ye surface, and by a boat hook and other means got into ye ship; and tho’ some’t ill upon it liv’d many years, and became a useful member both in church and Commonwealth. He took the wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Tilley72282

John Howland’s Will of Plymouth, dtd 29 May 1672(sic-note aft presented to court?), exhibited to the Plymouth Court 5 Mar 1672 by Samuel Fuller & William Crow66066,72274,72218 (Samuel Fuller and William Crow - Relationship?)

Because of the multitude of descendants of John Howland, through all ten of his children, the publication of the first five generations of descent from John Howland will occupy many volumes. Elizabeth Pearson White has prepared the first two volumes in this series: John Howland of the Mayflower: Volume 1, The First Five Generations, Documented Descendants Through his first child Desire Howland and her husband Captain John Gorham (Camden, Maine, 1990) and John Howland of the Mayflower: Volume 2, The First Five Generations, Documented Descendants Through his second child John Howland and his wife Mary Lee (Camden, Maine, 1993), in her first volume White argued that John Howland lived for several years in Maine, and that three of his children were born there. Robert S. Wakefield has gathered the evidence that this could not have been the case (MD 42:15-16)66067 Pg 102466963 (Need to Get these books!)