David Howe (1750-1825): A Housewright and Revolutionary Soldier of Roxbury, Massachusetts

David Howe is a brick wall ancestor on my mother’s side. Daniel Wait Howe’s 1929 book The Howe Genealogies says that he was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts 20 Aug 1750 and that his mother was named Abigail, but I have not found anything to corroborate this.

I believe it is more likely that he was born in Dorchester and moved to Roxbury as a young man. His parents may have been worsted comber Caleb Howe (1720-1777) and his wife Abigail Stone (1724-?1799) of Dorchester. David did name his firstborn son Caleb, and Caleb was not a very common name, nor does it appear anywhere in his wife’s ancestry. Also, his mother being named Abigail fits with the information in The Howe Genealogies.

Only three of Caleb and Abigail’s children appear in the vital records of Dorchester: Hannah born in 1746, a little over a year after her parents married; James whose birth does not appear, but who died in 1758; and Patience, born in 1762. It seems likely that several unrecorded children besides James were born in the 16-year gap between Hannah and Patience, and that possibly David was one of them.

Map of Roxbury, showing that it was adjacent to both Boston and Dorchester.

I think he was likely the “David Howe of Dorchester” who was warned out of Roxbury in January of 1769, when he would have been about 18. Warning newcomers out of a town was a way to encourage them to leave, and to let them know that if they did stay, they could forget about any public assistance since they did not properly belong to the community.

Whatever his place of origin, David remained in Roxbury, becoming a housewright, a builder of wooden homes. A housewright in this time period might be involved in every step of the process, from cutting the timber to doing the framing, cladding and finish carpentry.

Minuteman statue in Lexington, Mass. Photo by GlennB33 via Wikimedia Commons.

In 1775 David was enrolled as a Minuteman, and he marched to Lexington on the alarm of 19 April, serving 13 days. In December of that year, he enlisted as a private in a Massachusetts regiment of the Continental Army for the term of one year and was honorably discharged after completing his service.

Cover to David’s pension file, found on Fold3.

On 16 May 1780 David married Roxbury native Elizabeth Chamberlain, the daughter of Stephen Chamberlain and Sarah Weld. He was baptized as an adult 10 Jun 1781, on the same day that he and Elizabeth baptized their son Caleb. This couple had eight more children, with the last two, Stephen and Sarah, named for Elizabeth’s parents. They had no daughter Abigail, but this is not too surprising since all of their children except Sarah were boys!

David’s adult baptism, which unfortunately omits his age, in the Second Church of Roxbury, found on Ancestry.com. This parish eventually became West Roxbury.

The family appears in both the 1790 and 1800 Federal Censuses. The 1800 count indicates that their household has three boys under ten (probably sons Thomas, Joshua and Stephen), one male 16 to 25 (this could be either Caleb or their second child, John), one man over 45 (David, who would have been 49), one girl 10-15 (perhaps a relative or hired household help), a woman 26-44 (Elizabeth, who would have been 37), and a woman over 45. This older woman could not have been Elizabeth’s mother, since she died in 1778, but could it be David’s mother?

Presumably the middle sons, Isaac, Joseph and David, who would have been in the 10–15-year-old category, were apprenticed or otherwise working and living with other families in 1800. Isaac became a carpenter, but farming became the primary occupation of most of this family. David Jr. and Thomas were expert ploughmen, winning cash prizes in local competitions in the 1810s and 1820s.

Ploughing contest write-up from the Boston Commercial Gazette of 22 Oct 1818, found on GenealogyBank.com.

Elizabeth died age 41 on 12 Dec 1803, of “bilious fever,” a diagnosis that could refer to any fever accompanied by digestive disturbances. Because her father Stephen Chamberlain had died 11 months earlier, leaving an inheritance, neighbor Michael Whittemore was appointed guardian ad litem in 1804 to protect the interests of David and Elizabeth’s seven children who were still minors.

In 1818 David applied for a military pension based on his Revolutionary War service, signing documents with a mark. The Selectmen of Roxbury signed an affidavit saying that he could no longer earn a living with his labor. He was aged 67 and even if he was not suffering from some debilitating disease, many years of homebuilding had probably taken a toll on his body.

David died in Roxbury of “Old Age” on 19 Dec 1825. I wonder if any houses he built still stand? His daughter Sarah, born in 1802, married Asa Fuller, another brick wall ancestor.