Founding families · Howes Family Wiki

Direct Howes line with a proposed Sears cousin line

Howes and Sears in Yarmouth

Thomas Howes of Yarmouth was an original English grantee of Yarmouth in 1639, alongside Anthony Thacher and John Crow, in an area long inhabited by Indigenous people. His will names Mary and their three sons. Richard Sears of Yarmouth was another early settler and father of Paul Sears. The two Sears branches run through Paul and Deborah Willard’s sons John and Samuel. Linking Samuel’s branch to the later retailer relies in part on a reconstruction from a New York will and deed.

Compare the two branches on the Sears tree

Your descent through the Sears family

Direct descent from George · collateral kinship to Simon

Willards of Scituate, Maryland and Concord

Deborah Willard, the woman who married Paul Sears, was baptized at Scituate in 1645 as a daughter of George Willard. A Maryland Provincial Court deed identifies George as a Patuxent planter and records his sale of a cow and calf. George and his older paternal half brother, Major Simon Willard, are named in their father Richard’s English will. Simon helped establish English Concord at Musketaquid.

Simon’s son Samuel Willard of Harvard is a blood relative through Richard of Horsmonden. Samuel graduated from Harvard and led the college from 1701 to 1707 as its vice president. The reported connection to Harvard’s first president Henry Dunster through George’s wife still needs evidence.

Your line from George Willard

The other branch to Harvard

Two lines of descent · some links rely on compiled pedigrees

Edward Bangs, twice in your tree

The Plymouth land division places Edward Bangs among the 1623 arrivals on the Anne. His probate identifies daughters Sarah Bangs and Rebecca Bangs. The Dennis Historical Society identifies Sarah, wife of Thomas Howes Jr., as Jonathan’s mother. George Ernest Bowman’s reconstruction puts Rebecca on the other branch as the mother of Elizabeth Sparrow. Their descendant lines join at Allison, through his father William and his mother Lydia.

Through Sarah Bangs and Captain William · 11 generations

Through Rebecca Bangs and Lydia · 13 generations

Lines of descent supported by probate and compiled pedigrees

Southworth, Collier and Freeman

Alice Carpenter Southworth Bradford arrived on the Anne in 1623. Her will names her son Constant Southworth, from her marriage to Edward Southworth, separately from her sons by Mayflower passenger William Bradford. Constant married Elizabeth Collier, daughter of Plymouth Colony official William Collier. Their daughter Mercy Southworth married Deacon Samuel Freeman, and their son Captain Samuel Freeman was the father of Priscilla Freeman.

This branch makes Alice a direct ancestor and William Bradford your ancestor Constant’s stepfather. Descendants of Alice’s children with Bradford can share Alice with you as a blood ancestor.

Your line from Alice through Constant

Your line from William Collier through Elizabeth

Direct Sparrow descent · Mayflower ties through marriage

The Sparrow house and the Mayflower marriages

Richard Sparrow and Pandora Sparrow settled in Plymouth with their son Captain Jonathan Sparrow. Richard received a Plymouth house lot in 1636 and his former home is now a museum. You descend from Jonathan and his first wife Rebecca Bangs. Jonathan’s later wife Hannah Prence Mayo, granddaughter of William Brewster, was Elizabeth Sparrow’s stepmother.

There are two more Mayflower marriages in these branches. Elizabeth Collier’s sister Sarah Collier married Love Brewster, who crossed in 1620 with his father William. Mercy Southworth’s sister Mary Southworth married David Alden, son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. Charlie and descendants of David and Mary can share the Southworths and Colliers as ancestors.

Governor Thomas Prence, who came on the Fortune in 1621, married two of your direct ancestors: Apphia Quick of the Freeman branch and Mary Howes of Yarmouth. Direct descent from a 1620 passenger remains open.

Your line from Richard and Pandora Sparrow

Moody Howes, on the separate Jeremiah branch, has documented Brewster, Howland and Tilley ancestry in the Mayflower Society’s Patriots Project. See Moody’s pedigree and sources.

Probate evidence and a compiled line of descent

The Mayo family and Boston’s Second Church

Reverend John Mayo served as the first minister of Boston’s Second Church, the Old North Meeting House. The Mayo genealogy identifies Elizabeth Mayo, wife of Joseph Howes, as his daughter. Joseph appears in the 1676 settlement of Mayo’s estate. This route reaches Charlie through the paternal side of Allison’s mother, Lydia.

Your line from John Mayo

Promising lead · Hampton, now New Hampshire

The Wing and Bachiler trail

The Chapman pedigree takes Lydia Chapman back to John Chapman, whose parents were Ralph Chapman and Elizabeth Wing. The Wing register calls Elizabeth a daughter of Ananias Wing. This is a route to investigate John Wing, Deborah Bachiler, and Deborah’s father Stephen Bachiler, who led the 1638 English settlement of Winnacunnet. The next step is to verify Ananias’s parents and check the Chapman and Wing links against the original records.

The starting branch through Lydia Chapman

Research still open

From colonial families to the founding of the United States

The families above appear in the 1600s. The Declaration and Constitution belong to the founding generation of the United States in the late 1700s. The National Archives lists the Declaration signers and Convention delegates. A shared surname such as Howes or Hewes does not establish a relationship to North Carolina signer Joseph Hewes. No signer connection has been established in the lines reviewed here.

Next records to check are Jonathan Howes’s reported probate for the David link, the original Chapman and Wing registers, and probate that identifies the parents of Deborah Bassett and Hannah Paddock. Additional maternal lines and other colonies remain open.