JAMES HOWE

ORIGIN: Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.

MIGRATION: 1635 (based on admission to Roxbury church).

FIRST RESIDENCE: Roxbury.

REMOVES: Ipswich by 1641 [EQC 1:37].

OCCUPATION: Weaver [ILR 2:127, 5:439].

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: "James How" was admitted to Roxbury church as member #144, and "[blank] How the wife of Jam[e]s How" was admitted as member #145, among those admitted in 1635 [RChR 81].

"Old Father How" and "James How Junior" signed a Topsfield church petition of 29 April 1679 [EQC 7:237-38].

FREEMAN: 17 May 1637 (third in a sequence of three Roxbury men) [MBCR 1:373].

OFFICES: Ipswich petit jury, 28 [December] 1641, 29 September 1646, 28 September 1647, 28 September 1658, 26 March 1661, 30 September 1662 [EQC 1:37, 106, 124, 2:111, 266, 434]. Grand jury, 29 September 1663, 24 September 1672 [EQC 3:84, 5:79]. Committee to lay out highways connecting Ipswich, Newbury, Andover and Rowley, 18 May 1653 [MBCR 3:305, 4:1:139].

Ipswich constable, 30 March 1647 [EQC 1:111]. Tithingman, 30 April 1678 [EQC 6:441].

ESTATE: On 16 March 1662[/3?], "Thomas Farnam of Andover …, taylor," sold to "James How Senior of the town of Ipswich, weaver, … six acres of meadow … lying about the middle of Mr. Baker's pond" [ILR 2:127, 5:439].

On 1 June 1688, "James How Senior of Ipswich" deeded to "his son Abraham How of the same town … as part of what portion said James intends said Abraham … certain buildings & lands & meadows … in the bounds of Ipswich aforesaid, viz: said James his now dwelling house in which Abraham dwells, orchard, barn & land about it by estimation containing twenty & five acres …, also about six acres of meadow called Pond Meadow …, also four acres of meadow more or less called Pollipod Meadow" [ILR 5:440-41]. On 10 July 1689, "James How Senior of Ipswich …, weaver," deeded to "Abraham How of the same town abovesaid my natural son … a parcel of outland lying in Ipswich … being in quantity fourscore acres" [ILR 5:439-40].

On 6 December 1699, "James How Senior of Ipswich … in consideration of that parental love & affection which he hath to his son James How as also considering the condition that he is now in that he is maintained by his two daughters' labor, Mary & Abigail, & also for their encouragement, also in consideration of three pounds that the said James How shall pay to his said father How when he shall see cause to call for it," deeded to the "said James his son … certain parcels of upland & meadow ground … in the bounds of Ipswich aforesaid, one parcel being by estimation twenty acres …, also a parcel of meadow called the Further Meadow …, also after the decease of James How Senior three acres of plowland" [ELR 13:246-47].

On 12 January 1699/1700, "James How of Ipswich" executed a deed of gift, which amounted to his will: "whereas the said James hath by deed of gift given & bequeathed unto his son James How years past housing and lands and meadows which he hath before that time & ever since possessed and enjoyed & he having lost said deed not long since said James hath by another deed confirmed the same to his said son which with other moveable estate is the whole portion of said estate that he intends him & therefore only now said James bestows on his son ten shillings money"; "whereas said parent hath given to his son John How of Topsfield real & personal estate which he hath had improvement of the same being the part & portion he intends to give him he thereby & hereby debars him for claiming any further part in his real or personal estate"; "whereas said parent hath given to Mary Abbott the wife of Nehemiah Abbott the part of his estate that he did intend her as her portion of his estate he confirms the same to her that she may be debarred thereby & hereby of claiming any farther part of the real & personal estate that he dyeth seized of"; "whereas said parent hath given to his daughter Rebeccah Bernard at Andover that part of his estate that he did intend her as her portion of his estate he now gives her one cow & hereby & thereby debars her from claiming further part in his estate"; "whereas Abraham How son of said James hath taken care of said parent in his old age as well as of his mother deceased … said James the parent" deeds to "said Abraham … all that said parent's houses, barns, orchards, tillage lands, pasture lands, meadow grounds … in the bounds of Ipswich … that is to say said parents houselot …, also all the plain land & old lot meadow & upland that belongs to said parent not given away by said parent … [and] all the personal estate that he shall die seized & possessed of"; "said parent gives to his grandchild Sarah Preston daughter of Sarah Bridges his great chest & no more having given her mother her portion formerly" [ELR 13:249-50].

BIRTH: By about 1603 (deposed on 27 March 1666 "aged sixty-one years" [EQC 3:312]; deposed on 28 November 1681 "aged about eighty years" [EQC 8:189]), son of Robert Howe [Howe Gen 2:153, citing account book of Abraham Howe, son of the immigrant].

DEATH: Ipswich 17 May 1702 ("May 19^th [1702] Mr. James How, a good man of Ipswich, 104 years old is buried. Died I think on Lords-Day night, just about the time the news of the King's death was brought from Madera" [Sewall 467]).

MARRIAGE: Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 27 June 1628 Elizabeth Dane [Howe Gen 2:154], daughter of JOHN DANE {1636, Roxbury} (in his will of 7 September 1658, John Dane included bequests to "my daughter Elizabeth How" [SPR 1:317]). She died at Ipswich on 21 January 1693/4.

CHILDREN:

i Child HOWE, bur. Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 14 May 1629, unbaptized [Howe Gen 2:154].

ii ELIZABETH HOWE, bp. Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 13 March 1630[/1?] [Howe Gen 2:154]; no further record.

iii JAMES HOWE, bp. Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, 33 March 1633[/4?] [Howe Gen 2:154] (deposed on 25 June 1664 "aged about thirty years" [EQC 3:161]; deposed on 18 June 1666 "aged about thirty years" [EQC 3:326]; deposed on 28 September 1669 "aged about thirty-four years" [EQC 4:177]; deposed on 25 November 1682 "aged about forty-eight years" [EQC 8:405]); m. Ipswich 13 April 1658 Elizabeth Jackson. In the Salem witchcraft hysteria of 1692, Elizabeth (Jackson) Howe was accused, convicted and executed on 19 July 1692 [Witchhunting 307-10; Devil's Snare 183-84, 226-27, 229-30; Salem Witch Trials 145-47, 149-50, 178, 184-96, 197, 201-2].

iv JOHN HOWE, b. say 1637; m. (1) by 1665 Mary (Cooper) Dorman (eldest known child b. Topsfield 12 August 1665 [EQC 9:236]), daughter of Peter Cooper and widow of John Dorman (the inventory of the estate of John Dorman, taken 12 February 1661[/2?], includes the following statement: "Thomas Dorman of the town of Topsfeild hath and doth freely express himself that for a quiet and loving agreement between Peter Couper and him in difference about that estate that the said Peter Couper did expect that his daughter should have been estated in, he would give unto the said Mary Dorman" [EPR 1:367-68; EQC 2:369; Dudley Wildes Anc 164]; in his will of 3 January 1667[/8?], "Petter Couper" included bequests to "my daughter Mary How" [EPR 2:120-21]; she d. Topsfield 2 March 1676/7); m. (2) by 1678 Sarah Towne, daughter of Edmund Towne [Amos Towne Anc 6-8, and the sources cited there]; m. (3) soon after 25 December 1706 Sarah (_____) Dennis, widow of Thomas Dennis (on 25 December 1706, "Capt. John How of Topsfield" and "Mrs. Sarah Dennis, relict widow of Mr. Thomas Dennis late of Topsfield … deceased" entered into a prenuptial agreement [ELR 20:94-95; Amos Towne Anc 8].

v MARY HOWE, b. say 1639; m. Ipswich 14 December 1659 Nehemiah Abbott.

vi SARAH HOWE, b. say 1646 (deposed on 14 June 1664 "aged about twenty years" [EQC 3:161]); m. Ipswich 5 December 1666 John Bridges.

vii ABRAHAM HOWE, b. about 1650 (deposed on 28 September 1669 "aged about twenty years" [EQC 4:177]; deposed on 28 November 1681 "aged about thirty years" [EQC 8:189]); m. Ipswich 26 March 1678 Sarah Peabody.

viii REBECCA HOWE, b. say 1652; m. Andover 1 May 1671 Stephen Barnard.

ASSOCIATIONS: James Howe was brother of ABRAHAM HOWE {1636, Roxbury} [Howe Gen 2:1-5]. On 28 November 1681, "James How, Sr., aged about eighty years, and Abraham How, aged about thirty years, testified that their cousins, Goodman Seres and his wife came to their house to visit them about four years ago and Hester Seers, formerly the wife of Henery Mason, told them that her first husband had given her cousin John How his feather bed, but she could not spare it yet" [EQC 8:1-3, 189-90]. The first deponent is the subject of this sketch, and the second deponent is his son. Hester (Howe) (Mason) Sears is a daughter of the immigrant Abraham Howe [Howe Gen 2:5].

COMMENTS: Normally when a parent makes a deed to a child late in life, the transfer of land from the older to the younger generation is made in return for maintenance of the parent in his or her old age. James Howe turned the tables on this practice, however, when in 1699 he executed a deed which relieved his ailing son James, then sixty-five years old, of further obligations with regard to three parcels of land [ELR 13:246-47]. The younger James died on 15 February 1701/2, slightly more than two years after the date of this deed, and three months before the death of his father [EIHC 54:37].

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1918 M.V.R. Perley compiled an account of "James Howe of Ipswich and Some of His Descendants" [EIHC 54:33-37]. A comprehensive genealogy of this family and of three other Howe families, compiled by Daniel Wait Howe and revised and edited by Gilman Bigelow Howe, was published in 1929 [Howe Genealogies, Volume 2, This Volume Contains Genealogies of Abraham of Roxbury, James of Ipswich, Abraham of Marlborough and Edward of Lynn, Massachusetts (Boston 1929)].