Nehemiah Howe (1693 - 1747)

Born 1693 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 25 May 1747 at about age 54 in Quebec, Canada

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Biography

Nehemiah was born in Sudbury, Mass. about 1693. After his father's death in 1713, Nehemiah took the estate and paid off the other heirs. In 1717, when he was 24 years old, he sold the estate in Sudbury, and moved to Framingham.

He married Margaret Willard about 1715. They had 12 children, born in Sudbury, Framingham, and Grafton.

In 1727, he was a petitioner for the town of Grafton, where he moved. The second town meeting in 1728 was held in his house. He was one of the original church members 28 Dec 1731.He was a Selectman in 1735. He was on the school committee in 1736 and was paid 4 lbs 1 shilling, 8 pence for keeping the school. He was Town Clerk 1736-1738 and Assessor i 1737. He served on the school committee again 1738-1739.

In the spring and early summer of 1739, he bought three full township rights in the new town called Great Meadows (now Westmoreland), New Hampshire. The records of these deeds are kept at Springfield, Mass. The following year, he became one of the early settlers of that town.

The year 1744 brought an Indian War. On the 11th of Oct 1745, he was cutting wood a few rods from the fort where everyone had gone to seek safety, when he was surprised by a band of Indians and taken captive. He was taken to Canada, where he was kept a prisoner in Quebec for a year and a half, when he died of prison fever 25 May 1747, just as he was about to be redeemed. His death was a severe blow to his family, and to the community where he was known. One of his contemporaries wrote of him, "he was greatly beloved by all who knew him."

He kept a journal during his prison life which was of inestimable value, for the many items contained therein recorded of other captives whose fate otherwise would never have been known. It is also a priceless legacy to his descendants, showing as it does, the beautiful Christian character of one who could endure the severest hardships with a grace and dignity rarely to be found.

Research Notes

All of the children of Nehemiah and Margaret, born from 1716 to 1738, appear in the vital birth records of Grafton, Massachusetts. The Howe Genealogies list their births in Sudbury, Framingham, and then Grafton. Grafton was petitioned in 1727 and not established as a town until 1738. Nehemiah was a petitioner in 1727 and one of the early settlers of Grafton. The Grafton birth records, listing all the Howe chidren consecutively, were certainly compiled well after the actual births, and the actual birth places remain in doubt. They apparently all lived in Grafton by 1728. (Howe-3137 22:17, 29 July 2023 (UTC))

Sources

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79870697/nehemiah-howe
• Daniel Wait Howe, Howe Genealogies, the Genealogy of John Howe of Sudbury and Marlborough, Massachusetts", Vol. 1, (Boston: NEHGS, 1929), pp.21-22.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Howe-1448 created through the import of Welder Family Tree.ged on Sep 10, 2011 by Deborah Anne Welder.
• WikiTree profile Howe-1079 created through the import of Ancestors of PBHowe.ged on Jun 6, 2011 by Buck Howe.