|
Please take a moment
to help us with
a small donation toward site maintenance. The costs involved in
providing a site of this size are high. We can't do it alone. If you
leave it to someone else this resource will disappear. We need your
support to stay alive!!
|
The Howell family
of Long Island
|
NEWS RELEASE May 2012: Edward Howell
Family
Association Reunion
Almost 375 years ago Edward Howell b. 1584 was a "free man" of
Boston. The Edward Howell Family Association will retrace his
first steps in Lynn, Massachusetts on October 5-7, 2012.
The annual meeting will be at the Holiday Inn
Boston-Peabody in Peabody, Massachusetts. Members will meet at
Friday night dinner. The Saturday morning program is followed by
a bus tour of historic sites, and an evening banquet.
To register contact Henry Gates, 109 River
St., #1 B, Cambridge, MA 02139 hjgates@comcast.net
The third edition of "Descendants of Edward
Howell" will be available. Signups will be taken for a tour in
England of Howell historic connections in 2013. For tour
information contact gmguliani05@gmail.com
|
Edward
Howell
was
baptized
22 July 1584 at Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, England. He
arrived in Boston in 1639 with wife Eleanor was made a freeman at
Boston, March 4, 1639. He was one of the eight "original
undertakers" who settled at Southampton in 1640, Leader of
the group that founded Southampton, LI, NY, and the progenitor of the
Howell family in that locality.
Edward
died
before
Oct. 6, 1655, as court records dated Oct. 6, 1655,
granted Eleanore Howell all his goods. Mar. 1657, the town
allowed her 20 shillings because her house was burned to the ground by
the Indians. Long ago, in early colonial times, Water Mill was
the first and only community on the eastern tip of Long Island that
could boast of a mill driven by water and not by wind. Until it was put
into operation by a wealthy land owner, Edward Howell, four years after
the "Undertakers" came to the
island in 1640, all mills in the colony were wind driven because of the
scarcity of swift flowing streams.
Howell came in 1640 to the tiny settlement, called "Mecox," a name
taken from the Shinnecock Indians for "flat or plain
country." He announced he would build a mill for the
grinding of grain, rye and wheat, into flour. The colonists
expected him to construct a "wind mill" but he had a different
idea. He made his choice of land so that it included a
lively stream which emptied into Mecox Bay. There, as settlers
watched, Howell built his mill upon the creek and built it so
durable that 327 years later, it is still standing in the
serene little town of Water Mill.
Now,
the
acient
mill,
but
a
few miles from the Old South End Burying
Ground where the original miller is buried, is owned by a woman's
organization of the village. Through the summer months it is
put into
service as a tea room and gift shop.
For many generations the mill supplied flour for the townspeople of
Water Mill and adjoining communities. The mill's large grinding stones
and
the deed were
given to Howell
by the town. In return, the miller signed an agreement to
supply such necessities of the town as grinding of grain grown anywhere
in the Water Mill area and delivered to the mill. That Howell lived up
to his agreement faithfully is duty recorded in the town
records. The name Water Mill is the lasting memorial to the
pioneer miller who built
the first grist mill run by water. Two of the grinding stones are
in the park where there is a wind mill and the other two are at the
mill.
The Howell House" - East
Moriches, LI, NY
Information on the
descendants of Jared Woolley was provided by Karen.
Please contact her if you
are researching this line or need additional information.
Thank you also to the
contributions of Barbara Dutton
Gaylord to
extended lines within this file.
Her hard work and
generosity is appreciated by all.
Membership in the
Edward
Howell Family Association is $15 per year, or $100 for Lifetime
Membership.
To join, please make your
check payable to EHFA, and mail to:
Membership
includes
a quarterly newsletter, and an invitation to the annual Edward
Howell Family Association Reunion.
Please indicate that you
learned of the EHFA from the EHFA web site.
Don't
miss The Howell Research Room
Some of the sections: Family Histories,
Vital Records, Life's Paper Trail, Resources, Forum, Guestbook
The Center is the only
site on the Web dedicated to comprehrensive global research and
discussion of the Howell/Howle surnames and their 30+ variant
spellings. It is the home site of three major e-mail discussion
groups. Included on-site is a vital records certificates
project. I believe you'll find the Howell Research Center not
only creatively-presented, but content-loaded and user-friendly.
For information or
information donations please contact Colleen Pustola.