By Jared L. Olar
January 2019
Updated November 2019
My wife's late mother had a probable descent from the Mayflower Pilgrim John Howland (c.1599-1673), who hailed from the parish of Fenstanton in Huntingdonshire, England, a village located on an ancient Roman road about midway between Huntingdon and Cambridge. Fenstanton was originally known simply as Staunton or Stanton, but its location in a marshy area caused it to become known as "Fenny Stanton," "Fen Stanton," and finally "Fenstanton." The surname of Howland is topographical, designating a family from one of the English villages or towns known as Holland or Hoyland -- but there is no way to tell which England's Hollands or Hoylands was the place which gave our Howlands their surname. Despite extensive, ongoing genealogical research, the ancestry of John Howland of Plymouth Colony cannot yet be traced beyond his father Henry Howland of Fenstanton. Howland researchers have found that the Howland surname does not appear in Fenstanton prior to Henry Howland in the 1500s and early 1600s, but there are Howland families in the neighboring county of Cambridgeshire, and one of them was very probably the parent stem of our Howlands. Mayflower genealogist Caleb Johnson has conducted extensive and systematic research that has not only corrected many of the errors of previous Howland genealogists, but has also opened promising new avenues of further research. In his 2015 paper, "Henry Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire: Father of Mayflower Passenger John Howland," Johnson says:
". . . it would appear (in my opinion) that the most probable family from which Henry Howland descends was seated at Horningsea, Cambridgeshire, in the 16th century. Branches of the family then headed off to Great and Little Shelford; Ely; and (presumably) Fenstanton, in the later 16th and early 17th centuries. . . . Since the names John, Henry, and George are being utilized in this Howland family of Horningsea -- names not seen in the other Howland families in the region -- it seems reasonable to hypothesize that this is the family group from which Henry Howland of Fenstantion (and Henry Howland of Ely) ultimately descend. Unfortunately, the parish registers in almost all these regions do not commence until the 17th century, making it very difficult to find any conclusive record."
Johnson's paper informs the below account of Henry Howland of Fenstanton. Other sources on which the following account of the Howland lineage is based include Susan E. Roser's Mayflower Increasings (2nd. edition 1996), pages 68-77, as well as various published accounts that have been quoted or summarised online.
1. HENRY HOWLAND, parentage and ancestry unknown, born circa 1565 possibly in Cambridgeshire, England, died May 1635 at Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England, buried 17 May 1635 at Fenstanton. Henry Howland, yeoman, lived in Fenstanton for most of his life, and may even have been born in Fenstanton. However, extensive research has shown no evidence of any Howland family in Fenstanton prior to Henry, suggesting that Henry was born elsewhere and moved to Fenstanton as a young man. Mayflower researcher Caleb Johnson has identifies several Howland families in the nearby parishes of Horningsea, Ely, Great Shelford, and Little Shelford, all in Cambridgeshire, adjacent to Huntingdonshire. Each of those Cambridgeshire Howland families made use of "Henry" as names for their sons, so any one of them is a candidate for Henry's ancestral family.
In the past, Howland genealogists believed that the Mayflower Pilgrim John Howland was identical with a John Howland of London, England, son of John Howland of County Essex, salter of London (baptised 10 Aug. 1541), and Emme Revell, daughter of Nicholas Revell, citizen and grocer of London. This theory was based on an old document found in England by a Howland genealogist in the 1830s. That theory was debunked in 1880, when it was proved that John and Emme Howland's son John died unmarried in London and therefore could not have been the Mayflower Pilgrim. Subsequently, in 1937 research found the name of the real father of John Howland of the Mayflower -- Henry Howland of Fenstanton -- in the apprentice records of the Draper Company of London. (Clarence Almon Torrey, "The Howland Ancestry," in The American Genealogist, vol. 14 (1937-38), pages 214-215) Unhappily, though, careless or unscrupulous amateur genealogists have created a spurious hybrid Howland pedigree by merging the debunked 1830s theory with the 1937 discoveries, falsely identifying Henry Howland of Fenstanton as the son of John Howland and Emme Revell, and then linking John Howland of London to a family of Howlands, allegedly feudal lords of Newport Pond, with the purported lineage reaching back to the 1400s. This fabricated pedigree is widespread on the Internet, but the entire thing is rubbish -- nothing is known of the ancestry of Henry Howland of Fenstanton, nor is there any authentic connection to Newport in County Essex.
Fenstanton parish records mention Henry Howland's wife MARGARET, born probably circa 1567, buried 30 July 1629 in Fenstanton. Henry and Margaret married circa 1590 and are known to have had six sons and one daughter. All six of Henry's sons were apprentices in London. No other wife for Henry is known, but earlier researchers confused Henry Howland of Fenstanton with Henry Howlett of Ely, Cambridgeshire, whose wife was naned Ann Aires. (Some have even merged Margaret with Ann, creating a fictional woman named "Ann Margaret Aires.") This misidentification was supported by a bequest in the 1646 will of Humphrey Howland of London, son of Henry Howland of Fenstanton, in which Humphrey gave "all the pewter marked A.H. which was her grandmother's" to his daughter Anne. It was suggested that the initials "A.H." could have been those of Humphrey's mother, perhaps standing for "Ann Howland," an otherwise unknown first wife of Henry Howland, and thus perhaps Ann (Aires) Howlett of Ely. However, Humphrey himself probably marked the pewter "A.H." simply so Anne would know which pewter was her grandmother's. Henry and Ann Howlett of Ely married 26 April 1600 in Ely and then began to have children, while Henry Howland of Fenstanton began having children circa 1590. In addition, while our Henry died in 1635 in Fenstanton, the other Henry was buried 27 May 1621 in Ely. There is in fact no good reason to believe our Henry had ever married a woman named Ann. Henry's wife Margaret was probably the mother of all of Henry's children.
Henry Howland's known children were:
-- ARTHUR HOWLAND, born circa 1591 in Fenstanton, England, buried 30 Oct. 1675 in Marshfield, Massachusetts, married Margaret (NN).
-- GEORGE HOWLAND, born circa 1593 in Fenstanton, England, died 11 Feb. 1644 at St. Dunstan's, London, England.
-- HUMPHREY HOWLAND, born circa 1595 in Fenstanton, England, died July 1646 in London, England, twice married.
2. JOHN HOWLAND, born circa 1598 in Fenstanton, England.
-- HENRY HOWLAND JR., born circa 1600 in Fenstanton, England, died 1 Jan. 1671 in Duxbury, Massachusetts, married Mary (NN).
-- MARGARET HOWLAND, born circa 1602 in Fenstanton, England, died in Marshfield, Massachusetts, married Richard Phillips.
-- SIMON HOWLAND, baptised 19 Aug. 1604 in Fenstanton, England, died 19 Aug. 1664 in London, married Ann Ulster.
2. JOHN HOWLAND, son of Henry and Margaret Howland, born circa 1598 in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England (near Newport in County Essex), died 23 Feb. 1673 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, buried 25 Feb. 1673 on Burial Hill in Plymouth. John Howland was a Mayflower passenger and one of the Signers of the Mayflower Compact. God blessed John and his children with a prolific progeny, such that it is estimated that one in four citizens of the United States today is his descendant. On or about 25 March 1623 by the Julian calendar (4 April 1624 Gregorian), John married in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to his fellow Mayflower passenger ELIZABETH TILLEY, baptised 30 Aug 1607 in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England, died 23 Dec. 1687 in Swansea, Massachusetts, daughter of Mayflower passengers John and Joan (Hurst) Tilley. John and Elizabeth Howland had six daughters and four sons.
Among the Mayflower passengers, John Howland is best remembered for being swept overboard by a wave during the Mayflower's passage. Gov. William Bradford recounts the incident in his chronicle in these words:
"In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot 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 Ocasion 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 be 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. An 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 began his time in Plymouth Colony as a servant of Gov. John Carver, and in the past Mayflower genealogists who did not have access to Gov. William Bradford's chronicle erroneously believed John was a son-in-law of Gov. Carver. Bradford's passenger list describes John Carver's party as, "Mr. John Carver, Kathrine his wife, Desire Minter; & 2 Man-servants - John Howland and Roger Wilder. William Latham, a boy, & a maid servant. & a child yet was put to hime called, Jasper More. . . . His servant John Howland maried the doughter of John Tillie, Elizabeth and they are both now living; and have .10. children now all living and their eldest doughter has .4. children and ther .2. doughter, one, all living and other of their children mariagable, so 15. are come of them."
When the Mayflower arrived in Cape Cod Harbor, 10 of the colonists' "principal" men were "sente out" in a boat manned by eight sailors to choose a place for landing -- John Howland was one of the 18 men in the landing party. After the death of his master John Carver, Howland became a prominent colonists. In the 1623 Plymouth division of land, John Howland received four acres. In 1627 he was the head of one of the 12 companies which divided the livestock (John Howland, his wife Elizabeth Howland, John Howland Junior and Desire Howland were the first four persons in the fourth company), and John was one of the eight Plymouth "Undertakers" (investors) who assumed responsibility for the colony's debt to the Adventurers in return for trade privileges. He was on the 1633 freeman list, and by 1633 if not earlier, he 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 several land grants, was elected a deputy for Plymouth, served on numerous special committees, and was an important lay leader of the Plymouth church.
In 1639, Plymouth's Old Comers were given a choice of additional land tracts for themselves and their heirs in the area of Yarmouth, Dartmouth and Rehoboth. Part of the land that John Howland chose was in Yarmouth out on Cape Cod, where his son John Jr., and daughters Desire Gorham and Hope Chipman settled. Also in early 1639, John paid 82 pounds for John Jenny's home lot and dwelling at Rocky Nook, now in Kingston, Massachusetts, but then a part of Plymouth, which had been built in 1628. John Howland and his family lived at Rocky Nook for the rest of his life.
John Howland and his brothers Arthur and Henry Jr. are named in the 28 May 1646 will of their brother Humphrey Howland, draper of St. Swithin, London:
"Item I give unto my brother Arthur Howland eight pounds out of the debt owing to me by Mr. Ruck of New England. And to my brother John Howland four pounds out of the same debt. And to my brother Henry Howland four pounds out of the said debt. But in case the said debt shalbe received in my lifetime then said three legacies payable out of the same to be void."
During the 1650s, John Howland got into a dispute with Thomas Bourne and John Dingley regarding the boundaries of a parcel of marsh meadow that Howland owned in Marshfield, Massachusetts. The dispute was resolved by a deed of 4 May 1655 written at Plymouth:
Wheras there was a diference fell out betwixt John howland senir Thomas Bourne and John Dingley about the Range of a pcell of marsh meddow lying in Marshfeild and not
eazye to be knowne; These are therefore to put an end to the aforsaid Diference; It is agreed by and between the said John Howland senir Thomas Bourne and John Dingley senir: that the line
or Range shall begin att the beach next the sea upon a west line sett by a compas to a homacke in the marsh whre there lyes an old Ceader tree there being noe other nor no more trees neare
next to the great Iland but that onely And from the aforsaid homacke and tree to Run upon the aforsaid west line to the Basse creeke To which agreement all the aforsaid pties have freely
assented unto as abovesaid; alsoe that this agreement bee put upon Record both att Marshfeild and the court booke att Plymouth to avoid all further Diference for time to Come about the
prmises; in witnesse wherof wee the said John howland senir: Thomas Bourne and John Dingley have put to our hands this fourth of May 1655 in the prsence of Myles Standish
John howland
Thomas Bourne
John Dingley
The deed was then marked as "A writing apointed to bee Recorded" in 1656. In the next year, on 5 March 1657, John Howland exchanged land in Marshfield for a "farme of land" in the Township of Barnstable that was owned by Christopher Winter -- the land was call "the Govrs farmes" because originally Gov. Bradford had owned it. The farm consisted of "fourscore and ten acres of upland according to the bounds be it more or less and ten acres of meddow . . . lying next unto the land of William Crocker." The exchange was acknowledged by Howland and Winter in Plymouth, and ownership was confirmed by deed to Howland's son John Jr. on 10 Jan. 1668, when his father John Sr. made a gift to him of "upland and meadows at Barnstable being late in possession of John Howland Jr."
John Howland made his will at Plymouth on 29 May 1672 and died the following year on 23 Feb. 1673. An inventory of his estate was taken 3 March 1673. In the Plymouth Chronicle, Rev. John Cotton gave this memorial of him: "He was a good old disciple & had bin sometime a magistrate here, a plaine-hearted christian." Similarly, Nathaniel Morton recorded John Howland's death with the testimonial, "The 23 of February 1672 [1673] Mr John Howland senr of the Towne of Plymouth Deceased hee was a Godly man and an ancient professor in the wayes of Christ hee lived untill hee attained above eighty yeares in the world hee was one of the first Comers into this land and proved a usefull Instrument of Good in his place & was the last man that was left of those that Came over in the shipp Called the May Flower that lived in Plymouth hee was with honor Interred att the Towne of Plymouth on the 25 February 1672."
The children of John and Elizabeth Howland were:
-- DESIRE HOWLAND, born circa 1625 probably in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died 13 Oct. 1683 in Barnstable, Massachusetts, married John Gorham.
-- JOHN HOWLAND, born 24 April 1627 probably in Plymouth, Massachusetts, married Mary Lee.
-- HOPE HOWLAND, born 30 Aug. 1629 probably in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died 8 Jan. 1684 in Barnstable, Massachusetts, married John Chipman.
3. ELIZABETH HOWLAND, born circa 1631 possibly in Maine.
-- LYDIA HOWLAND, born circa 1633 possibly in Maine, married James Brown.
-- HANNAH HOWLAND, born circa 1637 possibly in Maine, married Jonathan Bosworth.
-- JOSEPH HOWLAND, born circa 1640 in Rocky Nook (Kingston), Massachusetts, died Jan. 1704 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, married Elizabeth Southworth.
-- JABEZ HOWLAND, born circa 1644 in Rocky Nook (Kingston), Massachusetts, married Bethiah Thacher.
-- RUTH HOWLAND, born circa 1646 in Rocky Nook (Kingston), Massachusetts, married Thomas Cushman.
-- ISAAC HOWLAND, born 15 Nov. 1649 in Rocky Nook (Kingston), Massachusetts, died 9 March 1724 in Middleboro, Massachusetts, married Elizabeth Vaughn.
3. ELIZABETH HOWLAND, daughter of John and Elizabeth Howland, born circa 1631 possibly in Maine, died 26 Jan. 1692 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. Elizabeth was the fourth child and second daughter born to her parents. On 13 Sept. 1649 in Barnstable, Massachusetts, Elizabeth married EPHRAIM HICKS, born circa 1625 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died "a violent death" 12 Dec. 1649 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, son of Robert and Margaret Hicks. The details of Ephraim's death, which happened just three months after his marriage, are unavailable, but it seems to have been accidental. Because her marriage to Ephraim was so brief, she had no children by him. On 10 July 1651 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Elizabeth remarried to JOHN DICKENSON, parentage and ancestry unknown, born in England probably circa 1622, died Oct. 1682 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. John was a widower with one son, his first wife Frances having died in Plymouth circa 1649. Elizabeth and John had five daughters and four sons. Elizabeth was bequeathed 20 shillings in the 29 May 1672 will of her father John Howland, the same bequest that he gave to all of his married daughters.
John Dickenson was one of the founding settlers of Oyster Bay, playing a leading role in the voyage to Oyster Bay. Consequently, he appears frequently in the Oyster Bay records that are cited and quoted in Howland Delano Perrine's 1923 Wright family of Oysterbay, L.I.. Perrine also provides this summary of John Dickenson's life on page 144 of his book:
Captain John Dickarson, or Dickenson, was Master of the vessel bringing the first settlers to Oyster Bay, in 1653, from Sandwich, Mass., probably via Buzzards Bay. Settled in Oyster Bay, and received his allotment of a Home Lot. This lot adjoined the home lot of Peter Wright on the east, fronting to the main street, and extending west to Quahaug Lane. Elizabeth Howland, his wife (b. before 1630, d. 1691, m. July 10, 1651) was the widow of Ephriam Hicks, of Plymouth, whom she married Sept. 13, 1649, and he died Dec. 2, 1649, and a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, and granddaughter of John Tilley, of Plymouth, Mass. Both Howland and Tilley were "Mayflower" passenger. John Dickarson's first wife was a sister of Ephriam Hicks. (The Howland Family, Franklyn Howland, 1885, p. 324; Oyster Bay Town Records, Vol. 1, pp. 240, 511; Queens Co. Register's Office, Liber A of Deeds, p. 112)
Regarding Capt. John Dickenson's role as Master of the vessel bringing Oyster Bay's first settlers to Long Island, Marguerite S. Dickinson's 1968 volume, page 2, quotes Barnstable Families as follows:
In Barnstable families page 340 "Capt. John Dickinson master of the 'Desire' of Barnstable owned by Capt. Samuel Mayo of Block Island in 1653. They were delivering the possessons of Rev. Willam Leverick of Sandwich, together with three brothers Anthony, Peter and Nicholas Wright of Oyster Bay, L.I., when the boat was seized by Capt. Thomas Baxter. The general court of Hartford, Conn. ruled Baxter return the goods or pay Capt. Mayo $150."
The following biographical and genealogical sketch of Capt. John Dickenson's life and family is found in Elizabeth Pearson White's John Howland of the Mayflower, Volume 4: The First Five Generations of Documented Descendants Through His Fourth Child Elizabeth Howland, wife of Ephriam Hicks and Captain John Dickinson (2008), pages 29-35:
John Dickarson/Dickenson/Dickinson "of Barnstable," who was probably born in England around 1622, but whose parentage has not been ascertained. John married first, perhaps in Boston, Mass., a wife named Frances [not Francis Foote], by whom he had one son, John, born 28th 5th mo. 1648, who was not a descendant of John Howland of the MAYFLOWER. John married Elizabeth Howland in Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Mass. on 10 July 1651. Capt. John Dickinson died in Oyster Bay before 12 March 1683, the date his will as proved.
John and Elizabeth Dickinson must have lived in Barnstable, on Cape Cod, during the first few years of their marriage and their first few children must have been born there. In 1651, Capt. John Dickinson bought a plot of land Barnstable which contained eight acres near where the courthouse now stands.
By May 1658, John and his family were living in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. In February 1659 John Dickinson bought land from John Hinksman. John paid for it in part with cloth and liquor, indicating he was a merchant and trader. On 15 February 1660, the town granted John Dickinson a house and lot at the south end of Oyster Bay, with a first share of meadowland. The next year, 1 February 1661, he was granted additional land, 10 rods deep, at the end of his property. Many other grants followed. On 12 January 1665/6, John Dickinson of Oyster bay bought five acres of land from John Finch "of Fairfield on ye Main, formerly an inhabiter" of Oyster Bay.
In 1671 John Dickinson was appointed by the town to obtain a letter from the Rev. William Leverich, who had since moved to Huntington, Long Island, then to Connecticut, and then back to Newton, Long Island. He was asked to discuss the subject of the rights of the Town of Oyster Bay with the Town of Hempstead. The same year John sold his rights in Hog Island, across from the Town of Oyster Bay, to Capt. Richard Morris. John Dickinson and Richard Harcut were chosen as overseers in 1676.
Capt. John Dickinson died about eight years before his wife, Elizabeth. In his WILL dated 26 January 1680, proved 12 March 1683, John gave his son, Joseph Dickinson, the land and meadow previously settled on him. He gave five shillings each to two of his daughters, Elizabeth and Mercy, who had already received their portions, indicating that they were both married, but he did not mention their married names. His widow, Elizabeth, was given the right to divide the rest of the estate among his six youngest children, named as Lydia, Mehetable, Samuel, Hannah, James and Jabez, making special provision for Jabez, who was incapable of caring for himself. Overseers were John Underhill, Sr., John Feakes, Sr., and his own son, Joseph Dickinson. The witnesses were Thomas Townsend and Thomas Weekes.
After John's death, Elizabeth deeded land in Oyster Bay to John Underhill in 1684 and to her son Samuel on 10 Nov. 1688. Elizabeth made her will on 10 Sept. 1691. The will reads as follows (quoted from George William Cocks' History and Genealogy of the Cock, Cocks, Cox Family, page 391, corrected with the reinsertion of a line naming daughters Mercy and Lydia that Cocks inadvertently skipped -- see Elizabeth Pearson White's John Howland of the Mayflower, Volume 4: The First Five Generations of Documented Descendants Through His Fourth Child Elizabeth Howland, wife of Ephriam Hicks and Captain John Dickinson (2008), pages 32-33):
In the name of God, amen. I, Elizabeth Dickinson widow, of Oyster Bay, in Queens Co. on Long Island, and in the Colony of New York, being somewhat weakly and sick, but in perfect memory and understanding, praised be God, I now make my last will and testament, as followeth:
Imp. I bequeath my body to the earth, and my soul to God that gave it.
Imp. I give to my son Jebus, my house and lot, with the orchard and meadow adjoining it, meaning all that I now possess adjoining to my house and home lot, in Oyster Bay aforesaid, with half a share of meadow, on the west neck, at the South of Oyster Bay aforesaid during his natural life; I also give to him, the said Jebus one bed and a bolster, a pillow and coverlet, and blanket, with one sheet; and at my son Jebus his decease, all this that I have given him I do give to my eldest son Joseph, him and heirs forever.
Imp. I give to my son Samuel, five shares of land at the plains, more than that which I have already given him, and this to be his full portion.
Imp. I give to my son James, two-thirds, or two rights of three, of my land in the Old Purchase of Oyster Bay, on the west side of Nicholas Wright's land in the Old Purchase, going to Lusum, as the Records of Oyster Bay showeth it is bounded and laid out, with half a share of meadow on the west neck, at Oyster Bay South, five acres of land at the Plains; and my right of commonage belonging to my home lot, I give to my three sons Samuel, Jebus and James, equally between them. Also give to my son James, one bed, a bolster, a pillow, a coverlet, a blanket and one sheet.
Imp. I give to my daughters Mercy and Lydia one chest each.
Imp. I give to my dau. Hannah, my bed, I lie on, with the bolsters, a pair of sheets, with the curtains and valons belonging to it, with one chest and two pillow covers.
Imp. I give all my cart and plough gear and tacklings. with the cart and plough and that which belongs to it to my son James.
Imp. I give to my grandson Robert [Richard?] Harcut two sheep. All the residue of my estate, I give to my youngest daughters, Mehetable Cheshire and Hannah, both of household goods and with all that I am possessed of, after my debts are paid and other charges necessary are paid out of it. Lastly I do make my son Joseph my full and whole executor, to dispose of my estate according to this my last will and testament above written. And also I do make John Townsend at the Mill, with my son Joseph, to be overseers of this my last will, which I declare to be my last will and testament, as witness my hand and seal, this 10th Sept. 1691.
Elizabeth Dickinson
Witnesses: John Newman, Thomas Cheshir
After their mother's death, the younger children of Elizabeth prepared a covenant dated 26 Sept. 1692 whereby they agreed on the distribution of their parents' estate among themselves. The preamble of the covenant is as follows:
Articles of Covenants & Agreemts had made & Concluded on by & between Joseph Dickinson Samuel Dickinson, Thomas Cheshire & Mehetabel his Wife, Hannah Dickinson Job Wright for & in ye behalf of James Dickinson being his Guardian & Joseph Dickinson for & in ye behalf of Jebus Dickinson ye twenty Sixth Day of Septembr in ye year 1692 as ffolloweth: - Imprmis Whereas John Dickinson Late of Oysterbay on Long Island in the Collony of New Yorke Deceased, did by his Last Will & Testamt Leave ye ordering & Disposing of all his Estate aftr his Decease to his Wife Elizabeth Dickinson and Shee ye Sd Elizabeth now Deceased did by her Last will & Testamt order & dispose of ye Sd estate accordingly Now ye parties above mentioned have all Unanimously agreed . . . . (Oyster Bay Town Records, 1653-1878, Vol. 1, by John Cox, page 560)
That Elizabeth did not name her daughter Elizabeth in her will, and that Elizabeth and her sisters Mercy and Lydia were not parties to the 1692 covenant of their younger siblings, some erroneously take to mean that the three daughters had certainly already died before Sept. 1691. In fact Elizabeth and Mercy had simply already received their portions, as their father's will stated, and their mother's will and their siblings' covenant specifically addressed the portions of the estate pertaining to the younger siblings. Mercy outlived her husband, who died in 1723; and as for Lydia, she is said to have married, as his third wife, Ephraim Carpenter, a man much older than she. Elizabeth's absence from her mother's will could mean that she had died before 10 Sept. 1691, but it could also mean that Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, had become estranged from her mother for some reason. If, as is probable, Elizabeth was Caleb Wright's wife Elizabeth, then she outlived her first husband and remarried in 1697, surviving at least until 1719.
The children of John and Elizabeth Dickenson were:
-- ELIZABETH DICKENSON, born 11 Oct. 1652 in Plymouth or Barnstable, Massachusetts.
-- JOSEPH DICKENSON, born 24 Dec. 1654 in Plymouth or Barnstable, Massachusetts, married Rose Townsend.
-- MERCY DICKENSON, born 23 April 1657 in Plymouth or Barnstable, Massachusetts, married Benjamin Harcourt.
-- JABEZ DICKENSON, born 23 Feb. 1660 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, never married.
-- LYDIA DICKENSON, born 5 Oct 1662 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, said to have married Ephraim Carpenter.
-- SAMUEL DICKENSON, born 26 March 1665 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, married Lydia (NN).
-- MEHITABEL DICKENSON, born April 1667 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, married Thomas Cheshire.
-- HANNAH DICKENSON, born 6 March 1672 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, married Isaac Gibbs.
-- JAMES DICKENSON, born 27 July 1675 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, married probably Hannah (NN).
Howland Genealogy Resources:
Henry Howland Find-A-Grave Memorial, with spurious ancestry, parentage, siblings, and wife. Henry Howland Find-A-Grave Memorial, with spurious ancestry, parentage, siblings, and wife. Margaret Howland Find-A-Grave Memorial, with spurious Christian name and maiden name. We Relate: Henry Howland, with spurious parentage and mistaken identity of Henry Howland of Fenstanton as Henry Howlett of Ely. We Relate: Margaret Howland, a garbled fusion of Henry Howland's wife Margaret with Henry Howlett's wife Ann Ayres. Mayflower History: John Howland John Howland Find-A-Grave Memorial We Relate: John Howland Fenstanton: Official Website Fenstanton: A Brief History Parishes: Fen Stanton GEN-UK-I: Fen Stanton