Howe, **Edward

The following is an except from the Ancestry.com database "Great Migration Begins" (Source Information: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, vols. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.)

The Great Migration Begins
Sketches
PRESERVED PURITAN

EDWARD HOWE

ORIGIN: Boxted, Essex
MIGRATION: 1633
FIRST RESIDENCE: Watertown
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Watertown church prior to 14 May 1634 implied by freemanship. In 1639 Henry Jackson of Watertown gave Edward Howe of Watertown "one of the Elders of the Church there" a power of attorney to receive all Jackson's debts [Lechford 192].
FREEMAN: 14 May 1634 [MBCR 1:369].
EDUCATION: He signed his will and had ?1 worth of books in his inventory.
OFFICES: Watertown deputy to General Court, 2 September 1635, 8 September 1636, 7 December 1636, 22 May 1639, 8 September 1642, 10 May 1643 [MBCR 1:156, 178, 185, 256, 2:22, 33].
Watertown selectman, 10 October 1636, 10 December 1638, 29 December 1640, 29 November 1641, 21 November 1642 [WaTR 1:2, 5, 6, 7, 8]; fenceviewer, 30 May 1643 [WaTR 1:9].
ESTATE: Granted seventy acres in Great Dividend, 25 July 1636 [WaBOP 5]; granted twenty-four acres in Beaverbrook Plowlands, 28 February 1636/7 [WaBOP 7]; granted twenty-four acres in Remote Meadows, 26 June 1637 [WaBOP 8]; granted nine acres in Town Plot, 9 April 1638 [WaBOP 11].
In addition to the grants listed above, he had several others, as indicated in the Inventory of Grants [WaBOP 70]; he also acquired several other parcels by purchase [WaBOP 115]. His landholdings as shown in the Composite Inventory were among the largest in Watertown [WaBOP 17], and, because his is one of the first entries in that inventory, there is much information about the way in which he purchased his additional land. The preparer of this inventory soon tired of giving so much detail.
In his will, dated 13 June 1644 and proved 25 July 1644, Edward Howe bequeathed to "Nathaniell Treadaway about three acres of upland lying behind his dwelling house and one acre unbroken before the said house with nine acres purchased lately of John Vahan"; to "my wife, Nathaniell Treadaway & Anne Stone the wife of John Stonne of Sudbury the wares ... due to me from Mr. Thom: Mayhew"; to "Mary Knowlse & Elizabeth Knowlse" one sheep each; residue to "my wife" and any remaining at her death to "Anne Stonne"; one third of all the cattle and residue to Nathaniell Treadaway; "my wife, Nathaniell Treadaway & John Stonne executors"; John Sherman, supervisor, 50s. [SPR 1:31].
The inventory of the estate of "Edward How of Watertown deceased" was taken 24 June 1644 and was untotalled but included real estate valued at ?202 50s.: "his dwelling house & barns," ?40; "land at home," ?41; "the weenes," ?50; "ten acres land adjoining the river," ?8; "two acres meadow," ?3; "ten acres," ?8; "three acres of land," ?1 5s.; "seventy acres, a dividend," ?10; "nine acres upland," ?8; "fifteen acres upon the further plain," ?3 15s.; "thirty-six acres beyond the plain," ?4; "fifteen acres in the township," ?7 10s.; "thirty-four acres remote meadow," ?8 10s.; "two hundred acre farm," ?10; and "a piece of marsh by Ephraim Child in Cambridge bounds," ?1 10s. [SPR 2:22-23].
In her will, dated 8 April 1647 and proved 18 December 1660, "Margarett How of Water=Towne Widow" bequeathed to "my sister Mary Rogers widow & her children (in old England at Boxstead in the County of Essex or elsewhere) one-sixth part of my whole estate, of housing, land, chattels, debts, & all moveable goods real & personal, to be divided among them as followeth, vizt to my sister aforesaid if living at my decease two-fifth parts of the aforesaid sixth & her heirs & I will & bequeath the other three-fifths of the aforesaid sixth to her son Jno Rogers, & Eliz: Rogers to be equally divided ... if my sister be not living at my decease, then ... the aforesaid sixth should be divided between John & Elizabeth aforesaid, vizt three-fifths to Jno & two-fifths to Eliz[a]b[e]t[h].... Also I will & bequeath to Jno Stone of Sudbury in New Engl[and]; two sixth parts of my whole estate, as aforesaid, to him & his heirs. Also I will & bequeath to Nathaniel Tredaway & his heirs the other three-sixths of my whole estate as aforesaid. Also my Will is that if my kindred in old England, or their heirs intended by this my will, be not living at my death, then my will is that the sixth part bequeathed to them shall return to Nath. Tredaway & Jno Stone, to be divided three-fifths of it to Nath[aniel] & two-fifth parts to Jno ... mr Brian Pendlton & Nathaniel Tredaway Executors ... & Jno Sherrman, overseer" [MPR 1:256-57].
On 7 October 1646 "Mrs. Margaret Howe & Nath[aniel] Tredaway are granted liberty to draw two butts of wine, which they received for debt, & cannot put off in the butts" [MBCR 2:164; 3:81].
BIRTH: Baptized Boxted, Essex, 1 January 1587/8, son of Edward and Ann (Lumpkin) Howe [TAG 70:177, 179].
DEATH: Watertown 24 June 1644 (from inventory).
MARRIAGE: Boxted, Essex, 16 August 1610 Margaret Wells, baptized there 31 May 1590, daughter of Richard Welles [TAG 70:177]. She married (2) after 8 April 1647 (date of her will) as his second wife George Bunker and died before 18 December 1660 when her will was proved.
CHILD:
i EDWARD, bp. Boxted 20 December 1611; bur. there 24 December 1611 [TAG 70:178].

ASSOCIATIONS: Edward Howe was elder brother of Mary (Howe) Treadway, whose son and daughter, Nathaniel Treadway and Anne (Treadway) Stone, were early New England settlers [TAG 70:171-80].
Boxted was the parish where Rev. GEORGE PHILLIPS was minister just before his departure for New England, and Edward Howe is his only parishioner known to have come with him. In 1645 the widow of George Phillips and the widow of Edward Howe became entangled in a dispute over a judgment against the estate of Phillips [MBCR 2:102, 3:27].
COMMENTS: There were two other men by the name of Edward Howe associated with early New England who should not be confused with the Watertown man. An Edward Howe arrived at Lynn in 1635 and died in 1639. He was also a deputy to the General Court, and was of about the same status as the Watertown Edward Howe. Another Edward Howe appears frequently in the Winthrop Papers, but he apparently never left London, and maintained his interest in New England from that vantage point.
In 1854 Edward Howe was mistaken for his own clothing. An abstract of the inventory of his estate published in that year takes the word "Parill" (meaning "apparel," and constituting the first item in the inventory) to be the surname of the decedent [NEHGR 8:56].
On 4 March 1633/4 "Edward Howe is fined 20s. for selling strong water, contrary to an order of Court" [MBCR 1:112]. On 7 April 1635 JOHN HAYNES and ROBERT FEAKE were appointed to "audit the accounts betwixt Edward Howe & Will[ia]m Knopp" [MBCR 1:143].
At a General Court on 10 December 1641 there was debate on whether "the right of the present possession of Watertowne mill, which Mr. Howe doth sue for, be due to him or no? The vote was, that it is Mr. Dudley's, & not Mr. How's" [MBCR 1:344]. Winthrop reported on this dispute at length, coming down firmly on Dudley's side, and calling Howe a ruling elder in the Watertown church [WJ 1:60-61; see also SLR 1:24, 53, 73].
On 6 May 1646 in "answer to the petition of Mr. Richard Dummer about a difference between him & Mrs. Howe, John Stone, & Nathaniell Tredaway" the parties agreed to arbitration [MBCR 3:70].
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1995 Dean Crawford Smith and Melinde Lutz Sanborn published an article which delineated the English origin and the New England connections of Edward Howe [TAG 70:171-80].
In 1996 Smith and Sanborn expanded on their account of the Howe and Treadway families [Kempton Anc 336-42, 450-61]. They now believe that it is more likely that Anne, wife of John Stone of Sudbury, was daughter of Barnaby and Mary (Wells) Rogers (and therefore niece of Edward Howe's wife) than that she was a sister of Nathaniel Treadway [Kempton Anc 451; TAG 71:86].