Elizabeth Tilley
BAPTISM: 30 August 1607 at Henlow, co. Bedford, England, daughter of John and Joan (Hurst) (Rogers) Tilley.
MARRIAGE: John Howland, about 1625, at Plymouth.
CHILDREN: Desire, John, Hope, Elizabeth, Lydia, Hannah, Joseph, Jabez, Ruth, and Isaac.
DEATH: 21 December 1687 at Swansea.
mtDNA HAPLOGROUP: H1a1
Elizabeth Tilley came on the Mayflower, at the age of about thirteen, with her parents John and Joan (Hurst) Tilley. Her parents, and her aunt and uncle Edward and Agnes Tilley, all died the first winter, leaving her orphaned in the New World. She soon married, about 1624 or 1625, to fellow Mayflower passenger John Howland, who had come as a manservant, or apprentice, to Governor John Carver who died in April 1621.
John Howland
When the Mayflower sailed for Plymouth on Sept. 6, 1620, there were 102 passengers aboard. John Howland (https://bit.ly/3HnZDLQ),
during a severe storm, was washed overboard, but by seizing the topsail halyards was rescued from drowning and was given commendation
later by William Bradford for being an outstanding member of the group.
Arriving in Plymouth, he built his house between that of Stephen Hopkins and the residence of Samuel Fuller, who died in 1633.
In addition to being a deacon of the church, Samuel Fuller was an outstanding surgeon of the period. He was known as a great help and
comfort to the Pilgrims for his ability as a doctor.
Howland's house was built on First Street, also known as Great Street and Broad Street, and changed to Leyden Street in 1823.
It is believed that John Howland witnessed the first execution in the Plymouth Colony. In 1630, after a bitter quarrel, John Billington, known
as one of the "profanest families amongst them" who "shuffled" into the Pilgrim company in some peculiar way, according to Bradford, blew
John Newcomen to pieces. Howland and others decided that Billington was guilty of "willful murder." Billington was sentenced and duly
hanged, drawn and quartered.
John Howland's gravestone, erected by the Hon. John Howland, president of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and a fifth generation
descendant, reads:
Here ended the Pilgrimage of JOHN HOWLAND and ELIZABETH his wife. She was the dau'tr of Gov. Carver. They arrived in the Mayflower
Dec. 1620; they had 4 Sons & 6 dau'trs from whom are descended a numerous posterity. "1672 Feb'y 23d JOHN HOWLAND of Plymouth
deceased, he lived to the age of 80 yr's. He was the last man that was left of those that came over in the Ship called the Mayflower that lived
in Plymouth." (Plymouth Records)
It is recorded above that Mr. Howland married a daughter of Governor Carver, but Bradford, in his History, states that John Howland
married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Tillie.
Mr. Howland was a distinguished man, and devoted to the interests of the colony, both in relation to its civil and religious institutions. He was
deputy and assistant for several years. His early residence was on Summer Street, but afterwards he moved to Rocky Nook, where he died.
John and Elizabeth Howland raised a large family with ten children, all of whom lived to adulthood and married. As a result, they likely have more descendants living today than any other Mayflower passengers. Some of their descendants include Franklin D. Roosevelt; both President Bush's; actors Alec and Stephen Baldwin, Humphrey Bogart, Christopher Lloyd; Mormon church founder Joseph Smith; poet Ralph Waldo Emerson; and Doctor Benjamin Spock.