Nathaniel Howland

Nathaniel Howland

Nathaniel Howland was "one of the remarkable men of the day," according to Franklyn Howland. The records show that he was one of the foremost men in social, religious, business and political affairs. He severed the town of Dartmouth as selectman as early as 1699, and was subsequently chosen to that office several times. He served on the grande jury in 1702, was chosen moderator of the town meeting in 1721, and appointed tithingman* in 1726. He frequently appeared on committees of different descriptions. He was equally active and respected in the Quaker meeting. He almost never missed monthly meeting. He was approved and gifted minister** of the society, and the town showed its great respect for him and its confidence in his Christian integrity, by electing him minister of the town. His sons were all prominent in town affairs, and were Quakers.

It appears the he and his uncle Samuel owned the sixth lot of Freetown. They divided this lot between them 16 2nd month 1678. Samuel was to have "the part whereon the house stands and the meadows, whatsoever and wheresoever to be equally divided, Sam to have also 32 acres on the Swansea side of the river." In this division Samuel also received 20 acres of land in Swnsey. On December 8, 1691, Nathaniel sold the southerly half of the sixth lot in Freetown to Hanry Brightman, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. for 60 pounds and also half a freeman's share of the meadows at Sippican.

Nathaniel's home and land in Dartmouth, Mass. were on the north side of the road leading from New Bedford to Russell's Mills, Dartmouth, on the west bank of a brook that crosses this road, and a few hundred yards east of Slocum Road. The ruins were still discernible in 1885.

The office of tithingman is referred to in laws of 1682 for the first time. It was called into existence "with reference to the Indians for their better regulating and that they may be brought to live orderly, soberly and Diligently." The court assistances appointed white overseers and Indian tithingmen who looked after the interests of the natives, and together formed a petty court for the trial of Indian cases. The tithingman had placed under his oversight ten families of Indians, and it is said that for this reason he was called tithing or tenth man. The General Court in 1692 required tithingmen to be chosen by the towns, and specified their duties as follows:

"All and every person and persons whatever shall, on the Lord's day, carefully apply themselves to duties of religion and piety publicly and privately, and no tradesman, artificer, laborer, or other person whatever shall upon the land or otherwise do or exercise any labor, business, or work of their ordinary calling, nor engage in any games, sport, play or recreation on the Lord's day, or any part thereof (works of necessity and charity only excepted) upon penalty that every person so offending shall forfeit five shillings.

"No traveller, drover, horse courser, wagoner, butcher, higler, or any of their servants shall travel on that day, or any part thereof except by some adversity they were belated and forced to lodge in the woods, wilderness, or highways the night before, and in such case to travel no further than the next inn, or place of shelter, upon the penalty of twenty shillings.

"No vintner, inn holder, or other person keeping any public house of entertainment shall encourage, or suffer any of the inhabitants of the respective towns where they dwell, or other not being strangers or lodgers in such houses to abide or remain in their houses, yards, orchards, or fields drinking or idly spending their time on Saturday night after the sun is set, or on the Lord's day, or the evening following.

"All and every justice of the peace, constable, and tithingman are required to take care that this act, in all the particulars thereof, be duly observed, as also to restrain all persons from swimming in the water, and unnecessary and unseasonable walking in the streets or fields."

An additional duty prescribed later was to "diligently look after such as sleep or play about the meeting-house in times of public worship of God on the Lord's day."

The badge of office was "A Black staff tipped with Brass, which as he hath opportunity, hee shall take with him when he goeth to discharge any part of his office."

For refusing to serve when elected, there was a fine of four pounds. Service was required but one year in seven.

Prof. Adams of Johns Hopkins University said that in some towns the tithingman's rod had a squirrel's tail at one end for the purpose of awakening women sleeping in church, and a deer's foot at the other to be applied to the heads of the sterner sex.

• * The Friends' ministers received no salary, and the Dartmouth people apparently took advantage of this fact. Each town elected its own minister, and for his support the tax was levied. At a town meeting held on 28 Jun 1723, "Nathaniel Howland was chosen minister for said town, 55 votes for Nathaniel Howland, 12 votes for Samuel Hunt." Samuel Hunt was the Presbyterian minister, and preached at the "precinct Meeting House," which stood just east of Acushnet village, in the same town. The Dartmouth people then could claim that they had no salaried minister, which justified them in not paying the church rates. But this did not satisfy the Plymouth dignitaries, and they continued to forcibly collect the tax. Dartmouth voted squarely the next year not to raise the 100 pound church rates, but promptly raised 700 pounds to pay the expenses of resisting the collecting of them by the Plymouth authorities, the selectmen to be allowed a per diem for the time they were in jail for refusing to comply with the Court Order. Two of them were in the Bristol county jail eighteen months, and were released then by an order from the King of England annulling the act of the General Court. This was the crisis, and the practice was soon ended.

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https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Howland-322Nathaniel Howland (1657 - 1723)

Nathaniel Howland
Born 5 Oct 1657 in Duxbury, Plymouth Colonymap
ANCESTORS ancestors
Son of Zoeth Howland DNA confirmed and Abigail (Unknown) Kirby
Brother of Benjamin Howland, Daniel Howland, Lydia Howland, Mary Zoeth (Howland) Freeman, Sarah Howland, Nicholas Howland, Henry Howland and Abigail (Howland) Booth
Husband of Rose (Allen) Howland — married 1684 [location unknown]
DESCENDANTS descendants
Father of Rebekah (Howland) Russell, John Howland, James Howland, Sarah (Howland) Akin, George Howland, Mary (Howland) Smith and Content Howland
Died 3 Mar 1723 at age 65 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts Baymap
PROBLEMS/QUESTIONSProfile manager: Cheyenne Boggioni private message [send private message]
Profile last modified 1 Aug 2023 | Created 13 Dec 2010
This page has been accessed 2,669 times.
Contents

[hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Birth
1.2 Marriage
1.3 Children
1.4 Life
1.5 Death
1.6 Deed Records
2 DNA
3 Sources
Biography

This profile is part of the Howland Name Study.

Nathaniel was a Friend (Quaker)
Birth

Nathaniel was born on 5 Oct 1657 in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony. He was the son of Zoeth and Abigail Howland.

Marriage

He married Rose Allen in 1684.

Children

Nathaniel Howland and Rose Allen had seven children as follows:

Rebeka Howland.[1]
John Howland.[2] [Proven.] [Confirmed from Howland DNA project at Family TreeDNA.] His yDNA haplogroup is R-A9703 → R-FGC58211.
James Howland.[3] [Proven.] [Confirmed from Howland DNA project at Family TreeDNA.] His yDNA haplogroup is R-A9703 → R-FGC58211.
Sarah Howland.[4]
George Howland.[5]
Mary Howland.[6]
Content Howland.[7]
Life

In 1698/9, he donated 5£ towards the construction of the Dartmouth meeting house.[8]

Death

He died on 3 Mar 1723 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay.

Deed Records

Nathaniel Howland of Dartmouth to John Howland [of Dartmouth], May 22, 1722. Acknowledged June 27, 1723. Recorded September 10, 1723, Bristol County.

To all People to whome these presents shall come Know Ye that I Nathaniel Howland of the Town of Dartmouth in the County of Bristol in the province of the Massachusets Bay in Newengland for and in Consideration of the Love and Good Will I have unto my son John Howland have Given Granted and Confirmed unto my said son John Howland his heirs and assigns forever all that my Lott of Upland scituate lying and being in the Township of Dartmouth where he now Dwelleth with all the addisens ayineing thereunto and I do give unto my said son John Howland all my lott of solt meadow lying in the meadow called the great meadow in sd Township with all the Rights and priviledges thereuto belonging both to the upland and solt meadow and bounded as may farther appear from the Record of the Lands of the township of Dartmouth : the abovesaid Tract of both Upland and solt meadow with all the Rights and priviledges thereunto belonging I do give unto my sd son John Howland his heirs and assigns forever against me my heirs or assigns or any other person from by or under me or my title or procurement In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 22 day of may and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred 22
Nathaniel Howland {S}
Signed Sealed Delivered in ye prescence
Thomas Sherman
Henry Shearman
June ye 27 : 1723
the above named Nathaniel Howland came before me and acknowledged ye above written Instrument to be his act and Deed
Seth Pope Justice of peace
Recd Sepr 10 1723
Recorded by Samuel Howland Regr[9]
(Bristol County, Deed Records, Book 15, p. 110).
DNA

Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA STR and SNP testing. Anonymous Howland and Frank Howland match on 105 out of 111 markers and share one common SNP, R-A9708, as reported by Family Tree DNA. This confirms their direct paternal lines back to their most recent common ancestor, Henry Howland Sr.

The parentage of Nathaniel Howland has been confirmed by SNP testing by Frank Howland and FGC kit #E8PEF which shows that they share two unique SNPs and are therefore all-male lineal descendants of Zoeth Howland.

Two variants, FGC58203 and FGC58211 are the unique SNPs that occurred between the birth of Henry Howland, Jr. and the birth of Nathaniel Howland and belong to two male descendants of Henry Howland, Jr through his son, Zoeth Howland’s line. Two SNPs identify three generations starting with Henry, Jr., Zoeth, Nathaniel. Two SNPs prove that the relationship between Nathaniel Howland's two sons John Howland and James Howland is genetically related. So far no Y-DNA descendants from Henry's other son, Samuel have done 111 STR or SNP testing so it is possible some of these mutations may be common to all descendants of Henry. However, both Arthur and John Howland's male descendants (FTDNA #861275 and Big Y-500 tester) do not have two SNPs in their Y-DNA results.[10] It is confirmed by SNP testing by Frank Howland and FGC kit #E8PEF.

Sources

↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZVV-7H7 : 15 January 2020), Nathaniel Howland in entry for Rebekah Howland, 1685.
↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29G-TZYX : 10 November 2020), Nathaniel Howland in entry for John Howland, 14 Apr 1687; citing Birth, Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007010711.
↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZV2-KJ4 : 15 January 2020), Nathaniel Howland in entry for Jeames Howland, 1689.
↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29G-4PGK : 10 November 2020), Nathaniel Howland in entry for Sarah Howland, 15 Nov 1690; citing Birth, New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009325.
↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZVK-6VN : 15 January 2020), Nathaniel Howland in entry for Gorge Howland, 1693.
↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZZ6-9PL : 15 January 2020), Nathaniel Howland in entry for Mary Howland, 1695.
↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZVN-8HK : 15 January 2020), Nathaniel Howland in entry for Content Howland, 1702.
↑ Monthly meeting records, Men's Minutes 1699 – 1727, Society of Friends, Dartmouth Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends : Dartmouth, N.Y.), p 2.
↑ Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986, images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9ZS-BFTH?cc=2106411&w... : 22 May 2014), Bristol > Deeds, 1723 - 1725, vol 15, p. 110, image 360 of 647; Bristol County courthouse and office, Massachusetts.
↑ Howland DNA Project. Family TreeDNA. Family TreeDNA.com, 2020, https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/howland/about.
See also:

Howland, Franklyn. A Brief Genealogical and Biographical History of Arthur, Henry, and John Howland (The Author, New Bedford, Mass., 1885) Page 77