August 16, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, again focusing on Southworth Allen Howland Jr. and his family line. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who” featuring the family of Southworth Allen Howland Jr., a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley.
To recap: Southworth Allen Howland Jr. (1800-1882) was a successful publisher as well as the proprietor of the largest bookstore and stationer’s shop in Worcester, Massachusetts. He married Esther Allen (1801-1860), who authored her own recipe book entitled The American Economical Housekeeper, and Family Receipt Book. To view full lineage, see Part 1.
Southworth Jr. has a direct line through both his great grandparents Job and Hannah (Jenkins) Howland: Hannah is the daughter of Benjamin and Mehitable (Blish) Jenkins; Benjamin is the son of Joseph and Lydia (Howland) Jenkins; Lydia is the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Southworth) Howland; and Joseph is the son of John and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland.
My last story covered part of a memorial to Southworth Allen Howland Jr. published in the Worcester Daily Spy two days after his death, which occurred on 7 October 1882.
The newspaper article details his Mayflower connections and his career as a publisher. Two of the books he published (brother Henry Jenkins Howland was the printer) are: Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States and Good Advice for Boys and Girls.
Let’s turn now to more details about Southworth Allen Howland Jr. from that Worcester Daily Spy article.
This article reports:
Subsequent to 1852 he [Southworth Jr.] was in the insurance business, beginning by taking the agency here of the Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and afterwards adding other leading companies, in which particularly in the Quincy, he built up a large business. In this business he continued till failing health compelled him to relinquish it a few years ago, and he has since gradually declined. Mr. Howland was a man of active habits and earnest impulses, always taking a lively interest in affairs of the day, and in every good cause, till disabled by the infirmities of age. An active member of the Mechanic Association from the beginning, he served several years as its clerk, and held other positions of responsibility and trust. His wife [Esther Allen Howland] died in 1860, and he leaves three sons, Charles A. [Allen] and Edward P. [Payson] of Quincy, and William [Otis] of Boston, and a daughter, Esther A. [Allen], with whom he resided, and whose untiring care and devotion administered to his wants in his last trying illness. He leaves three brothers, Henry J. and Joseph A. of this city, and Rev. Wm.[William] [Ware] Howland, missionary in Ceylon, and two sisters in Conway [Maria (Howland) Avery and Harriet (Howland) Perry].
Here is a photo of Joseph Avery Howland (1821-1889), half-brother of Southworth Jr. Joseph is the son of Southworth Allen Howland and his second wife, Polly (Ware) Howland. He married Adaline Henshaw.
Southworth’s children inherited their father’s Yankee ingenuity. The most famous and prosperous was his daughter Esther Allen Howland (1828-1904), aka “The Mother of the American Valentine.” She never married but was very much in the business of love, and often employed the craftsmanship of her brother to build her empire of Cupid’s celebrated holiday.
Esther’s obituary reveals her startup in the valentine industry that made her wealthy and a legend for the lovestruck.
This article reports:
Miss Esther Allen Howland, who was the originator of the fancy valentine industry in this country, died at the residence of her brother [Charles A. Howland] last night, aged 75 years. She attended Mount Holyoke College, her parents intending to prepare her for teaching.
Soon after graduating, in 1849, her father, who kept a bookstore in Worcester, added to his stock a few imported valentines. Miss Howland thought it would be no great task to make even prettier ones than those from Europe, and although she was greatly handicapped by the scarcity of material with which to work, she showed that she was capable of fashioning some artistic valentines.
One of her brothers, who was a fine penman, inscribed appropriate verses. For years Miss Howland had a monopoly of the business in this country, and it amounted to often as much as $75,000 a year. [That’s over $2 million a year today!]
Genealogy Tip: If you’re doing research on the Howland family, this is a good source to verify Howland lines: The Howland Heirs; Being the Story of a Family and a Fortune and the Inheritance of a Trust Established for Mrs. Hetty H. R. Green, by William M. Emery.
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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Related Article:
Does the Phelps name cross any Mayflower passenger list? I’ve been told I have a distant cousin that married a cousin of a passenger that arrived in America. My 8th grandfather is William Phelps. He arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630 with his family aboard the Mary and John from Crewkern, Somerset, England.
Hi Donald, I have not had many Phelps names yet, but there may be some. Also try a search on the GenealogyBank blog. I have written on some Phelps in the past, but most were Quakers. Thanks for reaching out.