Priscilla (Knowlton) Howard (1744 - 1813)

Born 20 May 1744 in Ashford, Windham, Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 5 Apr 1813 at age 68 in Ashford, Windham, Connecticut

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Biography

The following sketch comes from one of a set of notebooks written by Marcus Taft Janes in the latter part of the 19th century. He was a greatgrandson of Priscilla Knowlton and David Howard and his writing reflects both his closer proximity to those individuals as well as the tenor of his own times. His notebooks are housed at the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and are on LDS film #22343, and deal primarily with the Hayward/Howard family.

From v. 4, pp 14 & 15:

Priscilla Knowlton, daughter of William and Martha Knowlton of Ashford, Conn. married David Howard, and they settled in Woodstock, on a farm formerly owned by his father, John Hayward, (which was the old family name,) of Ashford, and conveyed to the son David by gift deed in the year 1764, the year of his marriage.

Priscilla (Knowlton) Howard was a woman possessing much of the same brave spirit that characterized her brothers Daniel and Thomas. Few women would, under similar circumstances, have been disposed to encourage a husband to take part in the struggle of the Colonies for independence, dear as that word was becoming to the hardworking, tax-paying Colonists. At the time of the Lexington alarm, which called her brother Thomas from his farm labors, and pleading wife, to the service of his country, she was the mother of six children, all girls, the eldest being less than ten years of age. A seventh daughter was born in the Spring of 1776, but lived only about fourteen months.

With this young family on her hands, Priscilla undertook, in addition to her regular family duties, the general management of the farm during her husband's absence at the war. He, David Howard, though perhaps not quite as brave and resolute as was his wife, was nevertheless a man who thought a great deal of his family, and worked earnestly for their support.

A little to the south of their homestead the public road crossed a brook which discharges the waters of Crystal Pond into the smaller sawmill pond just below this crossing. Whether, in looking into these smooth-running waters, as he was about crossing the bridge on his way to join the army, David Howard chanced to catch a glimpse of his own anxious face reflected from the mirror-like surface, I am unable to say; I only know that tradition, whereby this narrative has been preserved, connects this locality with the incident here described, saying that as he approached the bridge, the growing thought that he might not be permitted to see his home and family again, so worked upon his feelings that he turned about and went back to the house. His wife, it is said, met him at the door and asked the reason of his return. He replied that he feared that he might not live to see them all again, and he wanted to take one more look at them before departing for so hazardous an undertaking. She, it is said, quickly responded by advising him in rather forcible language to "go along, and be careful not to get shot in the back!"

His return evidently signified to her that there might be a little grain of cowardice in his constitution, and at that thought her Knonwlton blood was quickly fired; for that would have been harder for her to bear, even, than the contemplation of his long absence, with its doubtful results. For what was love of family when compared with love of one's country, the independence or dependence of which would surely react upon all the families in this broad land! Such may have been the thought of this brave woman, as she pronounced those cutting words to him, whom she felt bound to love and honor, if not to obey, until death should sever the tie that bound them together.^[1]

Sources

Footnotes

1. ↑ Entered by Nora Sparks.

See also:

• Topsfield Historical Society; Topsfield, Massachusetts; Vital Records of Boxford, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 Image

Prisilla Knoulton

Birth Place Boxford, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

Baptism Date 20 May 1744

Father William Knoulton

• Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934 Ancestry Record 2557 #2008306

Priscilla Howard

Birth Date 1745 Age at Death 68

Self Death Day 27 Month Apr Year1813

Death Place Connecticut

FHL Film Number3143

• Find A Grave: Memorial #79598459

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Nora Sparks for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Nora and others.