Notes for John Howland: John Howland is buried on Burial Hill in Plymouth, Mass. John Howland's (and other Howlands) plot is found by ascending the stairs to the right of the First Church of Plymouth to the top of Burial Hill. At the top, take the path that leads to the left and walk a short distance (20-30 yards) to another fork in the path. That fork forms the pointy end of a triangular grassy plot and within that triangle lie the Howlands. There are also a few to the left of the left path forming the triangle. From this approach you will be looking at the back of most of the stones although a few are readable in this direction including the "memorial stone" (about a 2 foot high rectangular stone) to him and his family.
John Howland Tombstone: " Here ended the pilgrimage of JOHN HOWLAND who died February 23, 1672/3 aged above 80 years. He married Elizabeth daughter of JOHN TILLEY who came with him in the Mayflower Dec 1620. From them are descended numerous posterity." "He was a godly man and an ancient professor in the ways of Christ. He was one of the first comers into this land and was the last man that was left of those that came over in the shipp called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth" source Plymouth Records.
John Howland came on the Mayflower as a servant to John Carver. He is best remembered for having fallen off the Mayflower during a mighty storm, as recorded by Bradford:
"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."
John Howland's wife was Elizabeth Tilley, the daughter of John Tilley and Joan (Hurst) Rogers (all were Mayflower passengers). Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland died on 21 December 1687, in Swansea, Massachusetts.
The ancestry of John Howland is discussed in John Howland of the Mayflower through Desire Howland for Five Generations", Vol. 1, by Elizabeth Pearson White, available from Picton Press of Camden, Maine, or through the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. John Howland is the son of Henry Howland and Margaret (----) of Fenstanton, Huntingdon, England. Henry died on 17 May 1635 in Fenstranton, and Margaret was buried on 31 July 1629. Besides son John, who came on the Mayflower, they also had Humphrey, Arthur, Henry, George, and Margaret. Henry came to Plymouth sometime before 1633, and Arthur came sometime before 1640.
See notes on William Bradbury born c1544
See Supplemental Notes
More About John Howland: Date born 2: Abt. 15991599 Date born 3: 1602, Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, ENG.1600 Burial: Unknown, Burial Hill, Plymouth. Mayflower: Passenger. Occupation: Pilgram.
More About John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley: Marriage 1: Abt. March 25, 1623, Plymouth, MA.1601, 1602, 1603 Marriage 2: Abt. 16251604
Marriage Notes for John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley: The marriage date in "The Anncestral Lines of the Sawyer & Drake Families of Elliottsville Maine", by Fred E. Sawyer is about March 23, 1623.
Children of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley are:
+Hope Howland, b. August 30, 1629, prob. Plymouth, MA1605, d. January 08, 1683/84, Barnstable, MA1606, 1607, 1608.
John Howland (b. Abt. 1592, d. February 23, 1672/73)
Notes for John Howland: