Joseph Howland of Plymouth Colony

February 24, 2013 — Joseph Howland, Plymouth, Quadequina Wampanoag

Howland Monument

While my first cousin 12x removed, King Philip, was waging war against the Pilgrims, Joseph Howland, my 9th great grandfather, was guarding Wampanoag prisoners. The fact that I am related to so many people in the colonies is not all that strange because they only had a limited pool of religiously correct folks to marry.  The ones who went Baptist and went to Rhode Island, had even fewer. If my Pilgrim ancestor, Gabriel Wheldon, had not gone AWOL upon arrival in Plymouth and married a Wampanoag princess I would not be related to both sides of this bloody war. The conflict between the welfare of the Pilgrim people and the welfare of the native people is still in gear.  Guess who is winning.

Joseph lived and died in Plymouth, where he was always closely identified with the welfare of the people. He was commissioned a lieutenant of militia in 1679 which position he held many years. He was a large real estate owner, and he and his son Thomas, his grandson, Consider, and his great grandson, Thomas, successively held the land on which Pilgrim Hall, in Plymouth, now stands. Joseph d. 1st mo. n1704.
JOHN HOWLAND: A MAYFLOWER PILGRIMJoseph Howland was the second son of the Pilgrim, born about 1635 to 1640. A pioneer farmer as his father was, he too held various offices, among them that of surveyor, church delegate, selectman which at that time included the office of justice of the peace,and deputy to the General Court. He served on many town committees, once with the Governor, and was foreman of the jury.
Joseph was also a soldier. In 1667 he agreed to serve the town as a standing trooper for a period of five years. He later became lieutenant of the Plymouth Military Company. During King Philip’s War, in 1675, when the Indians reached the outskirts of Plymouth and were burning houses, he and another soldier guarded Indian prisoners.
By 1690 he had become Captain of the Plymouth Company. This was a considerable honor as this company was the oldest in the Colony and its first Captain was Myles Standish. A special law had been passed which permitted its former officers who had resigned to keep their military titles. Military titles in those days of Indian attack were very highly thought of.
Starting out originally with two acres Joseph eventually became a large landowner. He ingerited land not only from his father, but also through his wife from her father. Captain Thomas Southworth. Much of the latter was of considerable value as it was situated in the center of Plymouth, where Pilgrim Hall now stands.
In 1664 Joseph married Elizabeth . Joseph’s mother-in-law. Elizabeth Reynor Southworth was a close relation of the Reverend John Reynor, for many years the Plymouth misister. He, as many of the early Colonial New England clergy was a graduate of Magdalen College Cambridge University. The Reverend John referred to Joseph as “beloved kind man”, and Joseph eventually became trustee of his estate.
As at the present time, there was servant problems in those days. One sued Joseph for unpaid wages. However, Joseph won the suit.
In Joseph’s inventory, a horse, saddle, and pillion are mentioned. He and his wife Elizabeth must have ridden often together from Rocky Nook to Plymouth and beyond.
The Pilgrim John Howland had bought the property at Rocky Nook in 1633. He left this in his will to his wife Elizabeth stating that it was to be hers for the rest of her life, then it was to go to Joseph. In 1675, during King Philip’s War Indians attacked Rocky Nook and burned the main “dwelling house”, Elizabeth eventually went to live with her daughter Lydia Brown, the wife of James Brown, Swansea. Joseph Howland took over and built his house in 1676. When he died in 1736, he left the property to his son James ? who finally sold it in 1735. All told Howlands lived at Rocky Nook for almost one hundred years.From and address at Dedication at Rocky Nook, Kingston, Mass. by McClure M. Howland September 7, 1963.

Joseph Howland (1640 – 1703)

King Philip