Freeman, 1800-1850, Monroe County, OH; related to Hunterdon Howells?
According to census records and some researchers, a Freeman Howell was born on February 13, 1831 in Monroe County, Ohio to James and Martha (Stetson?) Howell.
According to census records and some researchers, a Freeman Howell was born ca. 1848/1849 in Monroe County, Ohio to Andrew and Anna (Dennis) Howell.Some claim that this Andrew Howell, born ca. 1818, had the middle name Freeman.Anna Dennis was born in 1823 to Jacob and Elizabeth (Howell) Dennis.
I am pursuing a THEORY that the name "Freeman", which is obviously a surname, might have been given to these males because they had some ancestress surnamed Freeman.My search so far has uncovered a Lucy Freeman, likely born between 1720 and 1745 to Henry and Isabel (MNU) Freeman of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, who married an unspecified Howell, likely sometime between 1740 and 1775 in Hunterdon County (as evidenced by the 1776 Will of her father).
Henry Freeman's Will has been abstracted as follows:
1776, May 27. Freeman, Henry, of Kingwood, Hunterdon Co.; will of. Wife, Isabel Freeman, plantation where I dwell, during her life. Daughter, Abigal Warrik, and her husband, £8. Daughter, Ann Bird, and her husband, £8. Daughter, Elizabeth Alexander, £8. Daughter, Lucy Howell, £8. Daughter, Conzada, some household goods. Grandson, Lot, a horse, when he is 21, and, if he behaves well, he may live with my son, Edward. Son, Edward, my plantation. Executors — son, Edward, and Jonah Parks. Witnesses — Malakiah Bonham, William McClean, Grace Harris. Proved June 20, 1776.
1776, June 18. Inventory, £191.7.5, made by John Taylor and William McClean. Lib. 17, p. 373.
Source: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/new-jersey-historical-society/calendar-of-new-jersey-wills-administrations-etc-volume-5-jwe/page-24-calendar-of-new-jersey-wills-administrations-etc-volume-5-jwe.shtmlhttp://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/new-jersey-historical-society/calendar-of-new-jersey-wills-administrations-etc-volume-5-jwe/page-24-calendar-of-new-jersey-wills-administrations-etc-volume-5-jwe.shtml
Henry Freeman's daughter Lucy had married a Howell. In the area of Kingwood Township (formed in 1749 from Bethlehem Township) there were two Howell families (that I have discovered so far). One was the Hugh Howell (ca. 1659 to 1745), with son Sampson Howell (ca. 1718-1803).The other was Joseph Howell, son of Daniel and Hannah (Lakin) Howell (from across the Delaware River in Solebury Township of Bucks County, Pennsylvania). This Joseph Howell died in Kingwood Township in 1773, leaving a Will that mentioned five married daughters but only one son, a Daniel Howell.
It seems likely to me that Lucy Freeman, daughter of Henry Freeman, married either Daniel Howell, son of Joseph Howell, OR she married some Howell related to Hugh and Sampson Howell.Is it possible that some son of Lucy (Freeman) Howell migrated West (to the area of Monroe County, OH) and that the name Freeman was given to some male descendants?
A Henry Freeman and a Samuel Freeman were both living in Hunterdon County, New Jersey in 1735, when Lewis Morris, Jr., on behalf of the West Jersey Society, owner of a great tract of land, visited the area and required any residents without "legal" evidence of their rights to enter into a lease of the land they were occupying. Both Henry and Samuel each entered into a lease for 100 acres. Also on the list was Hugh Howell.See the following source: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njhunter/Documents/WestJerseySociety.pdfhttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njhunter/Documents/WestJerseySociety.pdf
“The West Jersey Society’s Great Tract in Hunterdon County”
by Henry Race, M.D.
Flemington, NJ
Published in “The Jerseyman”, Vol 3, No. 1, April, 1895
Transcribed verbatim by Rosalyn Bellis, July 2006
In 1757, John Emley as agent for the West Jersey Society, was authorized to lease, receive rents, or sell and make conveyance of their lands in the tract. Emley made a list of tenants in 1757, “to the Westward of Pierce’s Road.” I THINK that this Pierce’s Road is now hiway 579, running from Pittstown to Bloomsbury by way of the old Hickory Tavern. See www.mapquest.com for a zoomable map. This list included Samuel and Abraham Freeman and Sampson Howell (son of the late Hugh Howell).
Does anyone have any information that would shed light on these Freemans and Howells? If so, please share by posting here, or contact me directly at [email protected].