| SPOUSE | CHILDREN | ||
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Alice "Aylee" Bryan m. Mar 7, 1789 Rowan Co. NC b. 1746/53? Rowan Co. NC d. by 1816 ?Adams Co. Miss. Ter. |
Joshua b. 1792? ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1816 ?Adams Co. MS |
John b. 1803 Davidson Co. TN d. 1854 Davidson Co. TN |
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In December 1772, Joshua Howard was involved with a gang that killed a Frenchman
named Carbonneau and four others, including two Negroes, on the Mississippi River
just south of the Yazoo River and north of Grand Gulf, in what was then part
of British West Florida. This crime managed to get recorded in several colonial
newspapers. The gang consisted of Ennis [sic] Hooper, Charles Holmes,
Joshua Howard, Absalom Hooper,
Richard Holloway, and Reason Young. |
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The Spanish Government from New Orleans captured Joshua Howard, Innes Hooper
and Charles Holmes by the end of Spring 1773 and turned them over to the British
Government of West Florida [Davies, pp. 177-8, 242-243]. |
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The governors of both New Orleans [Spanish] and British West
Florida tried to capture the culprits, but never managed to get the last three men
named. Joshua Howard gave evidence on the crime, and Ennis [sic] Hooper and Charles
Holmes both were hung in May 1774.
1774 Proclamation
[Rivington, New York Gazeteer, Aug 4, 1774]. |
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Joshua Howard was among those who petitioned the British Govt. of West Florida
for land on Nov 6, 1776. He was given a warrant for 200 acres on the "south fork
of Second Creek" in the Natchez District and the receipt for surveying fees was
dated Jan. 22, 1777 [McBee, pp. 555]. |
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In January and October 1779, Second Creek neighbor
Absalom Hooper signed Loyalist petitions to the
governor of British West Florida. On 27 Oct 1780, he was named in a deposition
now held in Seville, Spain. Several others named in depositions in the record
series in late 1780 included Joshua Howard,
Thomas Holmes, and Philip Alston, father of
John McCoy Alston who in 1795 married Hooper's daughter Sinia [Papeles Procedente
de Isla Cuba Records in the Archives of Seville, Spain relating to U.S.
History in the Spanish Provinces of Louisiana, Illinois and Florida Occidental,
microfilm]. |
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Cumberland Settlement Neighbor Frederick Stump
likely marched over land with his family toward the mountains after
the British destroyed is home in Augusta GA and joined the Amos Eaton party that
left the NC mountains in Dec 1779 for the Cumberland Settlement. The Eaton
party arrived at the beginning of 1780, just a week after the leading James Robertson
party of men, horses and dogs. Frederick received one of the Cumberland
Settlement's 1,410
Pioneer
Land Grants. This part of Washington Co. is now Middle Tennessee. |
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Frederick Stump was in his fifties when he came to the
Cumberland Settlement in Washington Co. NC. He was thought to have famously
killed 10 Indians in his native Pennsylvania in Jan 1768, and had been jailed for
killing British soldiers in Georgia. After he escaped, he joined the Amos Eaton
expedition to Cumberland and claimed land on Whites Creek and helped build Eaton's
fort (also called Heaton's Station). He later started a distillery and an inn and
tavern, helped improve local roads, and was granted more land in the Whites Creek
area. Map of
the Cumberland Settlement in 1780. |
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The land that Frederick Stump claimed
bordered that of William White, the eldest son
of John White and a private on the NC
Continental Line, thereby receiving an original land claim in the Cumberland
Settlement in Washington Co. NC, but may never have actually settled on the land.
This may be why
John Holloway was there in 1780.
The claim John Holloway attempted with a James Scott the year before on Long
("Glady") Creek (shown on
Map)
appears to be the same as Whites Creek which ran through the lands claimed by
Frederick Stump,
William White,
Joshua Howard, and Absalom Hooper, before
flowing into the Cumberland River. See
Topographical Map
showing early land claims in the Whites Creek area [Drake, p. 23 and map E7].
James Scott did receive a land grant but John Holloway never did. |
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By May 1780, Frederick was with his family in the new Cumberland Settlement in
Washington Co. in western NC territory (now TN). Frederick and his son Jacob, along
with about 250 other men over the age of 16, signed the Cumberland Compact created
May 1, 1780. It was finalized on May 13 and established a provisional government
for the isolated area; provided for the election of twelve representatives from
the eight stations or forts; provided for a Sheriff, a Clerk, a Militia that
required service by all men over age 16, and for the adjudication of causes, the
administration of estates, and the awarding of executions.
Image of
page 2 of the original Compact. The signature, in dutch or german, of
"Frederick Stumpf" is tenth down from the top, just below that of
"John Holloday".
His son Jacob Stump, and William Hood signed after him. Hood was killed by Indians
in 1780 or 1781, and by winter of 1780, Jacob Stump was killed while out with his
father near their home along Whites Creek. |
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Washington Co., previously Washington District, was formed by North Carolina in
1777 and extended west to the Mississippi River, mostly containing land inhabited
by five different tribes of Native Americans, but mostly Cherokee. In 1779, the
Cumberland Settlement was created by the granting of land by the NC government.
In 1783 this settlement was mostly contained in the newly formed Davidson Co. and
surrounded by Indian Lands, and Virginia and Kentucky to the North.
Map of
the Cumberland Settlements showing Forts, known as Stations, in present-day counties. |
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On Jan 15, 1781 Freeland's Station, which was located west of Heaton's Station
(but near the opposite bank of the Cumberland River), was heavily attacked
by Indians, who were driven away [Freelands Station Historical Marker, Nashville
TN]. |
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Joshua Howard arrived in the Cumberland Settlement from the Natchez District
by the beginning of 1781. He eventually was assigned Captain of Freeland's
Station on Mar 15, 1783 [Clayton, p. 37]. |
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Joshua Howard owned 200 acres on Second Creek in the Natchez District. His
petition to the British West Florida Government for the land was dated Nov 6, 1776.
The receipt for surveying fees was dated Jan 22, 1777. After the Spaniards took
possession of the territory, Howard left the Natchez District for the Cumberland
Settlement in an area of far western North Carolina that later became Nashville
TN. He returned to Natchez at the end of 1788. |
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On Oct 3, 1786 Joshua was sued in Davidson Co. Witnesses in the suit were Mildred
Alston and Frankey Drumgoole, the wife and daughter of
Philip Alston. The Alston family returned
to the Natchez District "about 1799 or 1800" [McBee, p. 592]. |
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On Dec 31, 1788, "Joucha Hayward" arrived in Natchez from "Cumberland/Tennessee",
not listed among the flatboats and without family. In a letter dated Mar 2, 1790,
from Carlos de Grand-Pré, Natchez,
Mar 2, 1790 to Governor Don Estavan Miro, the amount of tobacco was reported by
growers of Natchez. A "Joshua Houvard" reported producing 5000 pounds of tobacco
[MS Dept of Archives & History, website]. |
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A Charles Howard died leaving a widow Lydia Howard, who conveyed some land
about 1795. They may be Joshua's parents. James Howard and John Howard also
appear in court records [McBee, p. 468]. |
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On Mar 7, 1789 Joshua married Aylee Bryan, the daughter of Joseph Bryan (1720-1805)
in Rowan Co. NC. |
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According to the 1792 Spanish Census for Natchez District, a Joshua Howard was
a head of household in the District of Second & Sandy Creek, as was
"Juan Holladay", both single white males
without blacks or slaves. A different translation has a Tonio Howard with 6 whites
and 5 blacks on 400 arpents (336 acres) of land in the same area, which was east
and south of Natchez. |
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1895 Map
of Natchez from the Ancestral Trackers
website, shows the likely routes of the Second and Sandy Creeks in 1792. |
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The 200 acres on Second Creek that was granted to Sarah Holmes, the widow of
the father-in-law of Absalom Hooper by British
West Florida in 1772 was claimed by her on Feb 24, 1804 and witnessed by
Joshua Howard, and the certificate was issued on Feb 27, 1805 [McBee, Book A,
pp. 504-5, 548]. |
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Map of
the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799. |
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Map
showing Land Holdings in the Second Creek area in 1810 is an enlargement
of part of the Adams Co. 1810 Land Holdings Map found on the website of the
MS Achives and History. In the center of this map can be seen the land owned
by Joshua Howard and other members of the Howard family. Brother John Howard (Jr.)
tried to claim 165 acres next to D. Ferguson and R. Sessions on May 29, 1804, the
same day that Joshua Howard tried to claim the 200 acres of land had been surveyed
for him in 1777. The latter tract would be the land that John Holloway was "improving"
and where he was killed [MDAH, "Adams Co. Land Holdings 1810"]. |
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Unrecorded Land Claims
dated Mar 29, 1804 by Joshua and John Howard, indicating the approximate location
of their lands on Second Creek, and where
"John Holloway" was killed in 1781 while
working there [McBee, Unrecorded Land Claims nos. 1470-1, p. 555]. |
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In Mar 1804, James Howard (?brother) claimed "166 acres waters of Sandy Creek"
and 148 acres in Adams Co. on Wells Creek. Both claims were rejected in 1807, but
the first described Howard as a "settler in Miss. Terr. at and before 27 Oct. 1795"
[McBee, pp. 518, 555]. |
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Joshua Howard had become "Conservator of the Peace for the Southern District,
Mississippi Territory" by Oct 27, 1798 when two men swore to the truth of
statements made re: suit involving
Elizabeth Still Lee lending a slave girl Peg
to her son-in-law Alexander Freeland in the Summer of 1796. She had made her
deposition before Cato West, Howard's
counterpart in the Northern District [Ragland p.6]. |
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On Jan 3, 1801, James Sewart and his wife purchased land "before Joshua Howard,
J. P." [Justice of the Peace]. He remained Justice of the Peace for
Adams Co. [Miss. Terr.] as late as Mar 12, 1804 [McBee, pp. 394, 401]. |
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In the 1816 Adams Co. MS Census,
page 23
(line 39), there was a single male household "Joshua Howard" with
no slaves. On line 33 of page 24, "Catharine Howard" had a household with 2 other adult females, 1 adult male, and 4 children, and no slaves. There is another Joshua Howard in the same census, on page 8, line 14 in a family of four with 8 slaves [MDAH, Adams Co. Census]. |
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Sources: Adams Co. Mississippi Genealogy & History Network, "1792 Census for Natchez District (under Spanish Government control)", 2009, 1792 Census. Cumberland Compact, original document signed May 13, 1780, Washington County NC, website. Clayton, Prof. W.W., History of Davidson County Tennessee, reprod. 1971 by Charles Elder, Bookseller, Nashville TN, p. 37. Davies, K. G., ed., Documents of the American Revolution, 1770-1783, vol. VI “Transcripts 1773”, Irish University Press, Dublin, 1974, pp. 177-8, 242-243. Drake, Doug, Jack Masters and Bill Puryear, Founding of the Cumberland Settlements, The First Atlas, 1779-1804, Warioto Press, 2009, pp. 23, map E7. Imbert, J. Leopold, map maker, Carte des Possessions Angloises... 1777, reprinted by the Museum of the American Revolution from map image at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library. McBee, May Wilson, comp., "Land Claims", in Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Book F, p.21. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, pp. 394, 450, 468, 518, 541, 555, 592, Book A, pp. 27, 504-5, 548, Book B, p. 34. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), website, "Adams Co. Land Holdings 1810", image of manuscript at MDAH. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, rootsweb, Americans Arriving in Spanish-Held Natchez 1788-1790. MDAH, Adams Co. MS 1816 Census, Territorial Census 1801-1816 website, microfilm. "Natchez District 1792 Spanish Census Index", in USGenWeb, Early Southwest Miss. Territory, Census Index. North Carolina Land Grants, vol. 2, at Morganton NC Library, p. 6, #1476, transcribed by Lisabeth M. Holloway Oct 9, 1987. Ragland, M.L., comp., "Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA", Greenwood MS, May 1990, pp. 6, 15-16. Summerville, James, Southern Epic, Gloucester Point VA, Hallmark, 1996. USGenWeb Archives, contr. by Houston Tracy Jr., "Deposition of William Wall, 20 Dec 1780", microfilm folio 458-9. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, pp. 101, 144-5, 151, Will Books 3 and 4, Wilkes County, North Carolina, 1811-1848, The Genealogical Society of "Original" Wilkes County), Will Book 3, "Estate of Joshua Howard", Oct 1814, page 89, 120. |
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