My 8x great grandfather John Howard was another of the founding fathers of Bridgewater and West Bridgewater. In 1903 a man named Heman Howard, another of John Howard's descendants, wrote a family history and began with this:
JOHN HOWARD, with his brother George, came from England, and
settled in Duxbury. He was among those who were able to bear arms there
in 1643. He was about fifteen years old when he came to Duxbury. He
lived in the family of Capt. Miles Standish, who came from Shorely,
Lancashire, England. He soon removed to Bridgewater, and was one of the
original settlers and proprietors of that town. Judge Mitchell, in his
history of Bridgewater, says that John Howard, the first Howard to
settle in Bridgewater, was a man of much influence in the new
plantation.
In 1645 his name appears as one of the
fifty-four original proprietors of the grant of land afterward known as
Bridgewater. In 1656 he was one of the two surveyors of highways for his
town. In 1657 he had taken the Freeman's oath. He was one of the
fourteen men whose allotment of land was in the easterly part of the
grant. He was one of the first military officers, and was appointed
Ensign, Sept. 27, 1664. In May, 1676, during King Philip's War, Ensign
John Howard, with twenty others, fought with some Indians and took
seventeen of them alive with much plunder, and all returned without
serious injury. June 5, 1678, he was a deputy to the General Court of
Massachusetts; also on the same date was appointed a selectman of his
town. In 1683 he, with Thomas Hayward, was a representative to the
General Court. Oct. 2, 1689, he was promoted, and received his
commission as a lieutenant. Mr. Howard was a carpenter by trade. He
spelled his name Haward, and so did his descendants until after 1700. He
m. Martha, a dau. of Thomas Hayward, one of the original proprietors of
Bridgewater, who came on the ship Hercules, in 1635, from Sandwich,
County of Kent, England, with five children and three brothers.
Mr.
Howard lived in a house which he built near the first meeting house. It
stood directly north of the house where B. B. Howard now lives, on the
corner of Howard and River streets. The accompanying picture shows the
spot of ground as it now appears; the well curb seen in the picture is
over the well that was used with Mr. Howard's house. This was the first
public house in Bridgewater, as Mr. Howard was licensed to keep an
ordinary or tavern, in 1670, at this place. It would probably be
difficult to find, in the history of all the taverns that have existed
in Massachusetts, another of which it can be said, as Judge Mitchell
says of this original Howard House, that " He (John Howard), was
licensed to keep an ordinary or tavern, as early as 1670, and it is
remarkable that a public house has been kept there by his descendants
ever since, till within a few years." This house was owned and managed
by John Howard and his direct descendants for a period of 151 years.
John Howard opened the tavern in 1670, and kept it 30 years, until his
death in 1700. His oldest son, John, then became proprietor, conducting
it 26 years, until 1726. His son, Maj. Edward, was proprietor from that
date to 1771, for 45 years. His son, Col. Edward, owned and conducted
the house for 38 years, from 1771 to 1809, when he d. Then his widow and
son, Capt. Benjamin Beal Howard, kept the house open 12 years, until
1821. The house was taken down in 1838. A list of the distinguished
guests of this tavern, could we know their names, would make exceeding
interesting reading. Without doubt, one of the early distinguished
visitors was Mary (Chilton) Winslow, (the first lady who came on shore
from the Mayflower), who was grandmother of the wife of the second
proprietor, John Howard. An occasional guest was John Reed, D. D., who
was a member of congress during Washington's administration. Oakes
Angier, a young lawyer, Hon. William Baylies and Judge Howard, were
other prominent and frequent visitors. Lieut. Howard d. in 1700. His
property was appraised in October, the next year. It consisted of about
450 acres of land, and his estate was valued at about 840 pounds.
Following is a copy of the division of his estate and of that of his
widow, who d. before 1703 pp2-3
The Howard Genealogy: Descendants of John Howard of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, from 1643 to 1903 Standard printing Company, Brockton, Ma 1903
To be continued.
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