The HOWLETT Family of Boston, Suffolk, MA, Ipswich, Essex, MA and Topsfield, Essex, MA

Send comments and corrections to anneb0704@yahoo.co.uk

 

ENS. THOMAS HOWLETT (1606 - 1677/8) of Boston, Ipswich and Topsfield m. Alice French
|
THOMAS HOWLETT (d. 1667) m. Lydia Peabody
|
SARAH HOWLETT (d. 1700), wife of John Cummings
|
ALICE HOWLETT (m. 1688) m. Isaac Cummings
 


Generation 1

ENS. THOMAS HOWLETT (1606 - 1677/8) of Boston, Ipswich and Topsfield

Parents: Unknown

Thomas Howlett was born about 1606. [Ref] He deposed that he was 52 on 25 Nov 1658 and that he was about 60 in Mar and Jun 1665. [Ref][Ref] He died between 4 Nov 1677, when his will is dated, and 24 Sep 1678, when it was proved. [Ref] He married first Alice French by about 1637. [Ref] She died on 26 Jun 1666. [Ref] He married second Rebecca, the widow of Thomas Smith. [Ref] She died on 1 Nov 1680 in Newbury. [Ref] Samuel Sewall wrote to Stephen Sewall on "Xr 24, 1680" that he "... rote of Mis. Howlet's death." [Ref]

Thomas was admitted to the Boston church in late 1630 as member 51. [Ref][Ref]

Thomas Howlett is on the 4 Mar 1633/4 list of freemen. [Ref][Ref] He was a commoner of Ipswich on "the last day of the last month", 1641. [Ref] He is on a list of commoners assessed at Topsfield in 1664. [Ref] He shared in the common lands there in Mar 1673. [Ref] He was assessed in Topsfield on 18 May 1668 and 27 Jan 1668/9. [Ref]

Thomas Howlett was Deputy to the General Court for Ipswich on 6 May 1635. [Ref] He was Deputy for Topsfield [Ref] in 1665. [Ref] He was on the grand jury at the 24 (7) 1650 court at Ipswich. [Ref][Ref] He was also on the grand jury on 26 Sep 1654, 27 Sep 1659, 25 Sep 1666 and 26 Mar 1667. [Ref] He was on the petit jury on 4 Nov 1645, 29 Sep 1657 and 28 Mar 1665. [Ref] He was arbiter on 28 Sep 1652. [Ref]

Thomas was obviously trained as a surveyor. He was frequently on the committee to determine the bounds between two towns: Salem and Ipswich on 27 Mar 1643, Haverhill and Salisbury on 23 May 1650, Hampton and Salisbury on 14 Oct 1656, Rowley and Newbury on 13 Nov 1656 and Wenham and Ipswich in 1669. [Ref] He was also on committees to lay out land: a committee to lay out 500 acres at Rowley on 18 May 1653, a committee to lay out 600 acres for Maj. Daniel Denison on 12 May 1654 and a committee to lay out land for Gov. John Endicott on 14 May 1656. [Ref] He was appointed to a surveying expedition up the Merrimack on 6 Jun 1639. [Ref] He was on a committee to consider the claim to Jeffrey's Creek on 31 May 1660. [Ref]

On 28 Sep 1672 John Gage deposed at Merrimack that he and his brother Howlet had laid out land for John Gold. [Ref] John Gage and Thomas Howlett's names are next to each other as members of the First Church in Boston in 1632. [Ref]

Thomas Howlett (1599 - 1677) of Ipswich was a soldier in the Pequot War of 1637-8. [Ref] He was referred to as a sergeant on 13 Mar 1638/9. [Ref] He was confirmed as an ensign at Ipswich on 14 May 1645. [Ref]

In his will of 1 Mar 1643, Robert Andrews of Ipswich commended his son John to the guardianship of Thomas Howlett. [Ref]

In his will, Thomas Howlett of Ipswich made bequests to his wife Rebecca, his sons Samuel, John and William, his daughters Sarah Comings and Mary Perley, to Allis Comins and to his son Thomas's wife and children. [Ref]

In his will dated 27 Feb 1657, John Robinson, a wheelwright of Ipswich, left Alice Howlett, wife of Thomas £10. He left Thomas Howlett, Jr. his chest and all of his tools. He left the rest of his estate to Thomas Howlett, Sr., whom he named his executor. [Ref 2;70] The Robinson family of Little Waldenfeld [Waldingfeld?] came to New England with the vicar of Assington. [Ref]

Children of Thomas Howlett and Alice French

  1. Thomas Howlett was born say 1637. He died on 23 Dec 1667. He married Lydia Peabody.
  2. Sarah Howlett was born say 1639. She died on 7 Dec 1700 in Dunstable. She married John Cummings.
  3. John Howlett was born about 1643. [Ref] He died in 1675. [Ref] He married Susanna, the daughter of Francis Hudson, by 1670. [Ref] She married second Edmund Perkins. [Ref]
  4. Mary Howlett was born say 1645. [Ref] She married John Perley by about 1665. [Ref] John was the son of Allen Perley and Susanna Bokesen.
  5. Dea. Samuel Howlett was born say 1646. [Ref] Dea. Samuel died on 11 Mar 1720 in Topsfield. [Ref] He married Sarah Clark on 3 Jan 1670/1 [Ref] in Topsfield. [Ref]
    some descendants of Samuel Howlett
  6. William Howlett was born say 1650. [Ref] He married Mary Perkins on 27 Oct 1671 in Topsfield. [Ref] Mary was the daughter of Thomas Perkins and the granddaughter of John Perkins and Judith Gater.
    William's son Thomas married Rebecca, the daughter of Dea. Isaac Cummings. [Ref, p. 8] On 20 May 1715, John Howlett, a son of William's brother Samuel, deeded, at William's request, 70 acres to William's sister Sarah's grandson, Joseph Cummings. [Ref]
    some descendants of William Howlett
  7. Nathaniel Howlett died on 28 Apr 1658 in Ipswich. [Ref]

Generation 2

THOMAS HOWLETT (d. 1667)

Parents: Thomas Howlett and Alice French

Thomas Howlett was born say 1637. He died on 23 Dec 1667. [Ref] He married Lydia Peabody. [Ref]

In hs will, Thomas named his father Peabody and his (own) wife executors. [Ref]

The elder of his two daughters married Thomas Hazen at Boxford on 1 Jan 1682/3. [Ref]

In his will, dated 21 Mar 1667 and proved on 31 Mar 1668, Thomas Howlett, Jr. mentions his wife Elizabeth [!] and his father Pabody. [Ref]

Children of Thomas Howlett and Lydia Peabody:

  1. Mary Howlett died 24 Oct 1727. [Ref] She married Thomas, the son of Edward Hazen and Hannah Grant, on 1 Jan 1682/3. [Ref] They had 11 children. [Ref]
  2. Alice Howlett married Isaac Cummings.
  3. Samuel Howlett was a member of the church in Topsfield on 11 Jun 1684. [Ref]

 

SARAH HOWLETT (d. 1700)

Parents: Thomas Howlett and Alice French

Sarah Howlett was born say 1639. [Ref] She died on 7 Dec 1700 in Dunstable. [Ref][Ref] She married John Cummings. [Ref]

Sarah (John Cummings' wife) was the 26th female member of the church in Topsfield. [Ref]

Generation 3

ALICE HOWLETT (d. by 1696)

Parents: Thomas Howlett [Ref, p. 14] and Lydia Peabody

Alice Howlett of Boxford married Isaac Cummings on 25 Dec 1688 [Ref, p. 14] in Topsfield. [Ref] She died before 23 Nov 1696, when her husband remarried. [Ref]

Alice and her sister Mary, the wife of Thomas Hazen, received 100 acres of land in Ipswich in the "thick woods" from their grandfather Thomas Howlett in his will of 4 Nov 1677. The land was deeded to them by William Howlett, executor, on 4 April 1687. Thomas and Mary Hazen sold their half to Isaac and Alice Cummings on 10 Oct 1693 for £80. [Ref, p. 15]

References

Encyclopedias

Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1995.

Church Records

Dunnell, H. G., comp., "List of Members of the Old Church, Topsfield," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 16, 1862, 213 - 215.

No author, Boston Church Records, New England Historic Genealogical Society, online database, Boston, 2002.

Court Records

Dow, George Francis, Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Essex Institute, 1911.

Family Genealogies

Ballou, Hosea Starr, "Dr. Thomas Starr, Surgeon in the Pequot War and his Family Connection," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 89, 1935, 172 -

Hazen, Henry Allen, "The Hazen Family: Four American generations," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 33, 1879, 229- 236.

Hoingman, Arthur Winifred, "The Wife of Thomas Gilbert of Boston," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 128, 1974, 63-4.

Mooar, George, The Cummings Memorial : A genealogical history of the descendants of Isaac Cummings, an early settler of Topsfield, Massachusetts, New York: B.F. Cummings, 1903.

Plummer, John, "Isaac Cummings of Essex County, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 145, 1991, 239.

Local Histories

A Subscriber, "Early Ipswich Families," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2, 1848, 174-7.

Personal Records

No author, "Letters of Cotton Mather, Samuel Sewall, John Callendar, Adam Winthrop and Others," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 24, 1870, 120.

Public Records

Walters, Henry, "Genealogical Gleanings in England," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 41, 1887, 160-188.

Vital Records

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850: from the New England Historical and Genealogical Society.