James Howe, Sr., was of Roxbury, and made freeman May 17, 1637, and removed to Ipswich before 1648. He was granted June 11, 1650, on motion of Mr. Norton, one of the farms of a hundred acres formerly reserved for Mr. Norton’s friends. He bought, July 3, 1651, about twenty-one acres adjoining to Mr. Winthrop’s and Mr. Symonds’s farms. He was a commoner, 1641; a tithing man, 1671. His wife, Elizabeth Dane, only daughter of John Dane, of Roxbury, died Jan. 21, 1693-4. Both joined the church at Topsfield in 1684. He was eminently an all round man. He was a weaver by trade, but he could butcher a swine or write a will or deed; he could practice in probate or dig a grave; he could make a coffin or build a house; he could cultivate a farm or survey it; he could shoe a horse or an ox or make his own or others’ shoes; he was a ready helper in every department of country life. He died May 17, 1701-2,[4] at the age of one hundred and four years, a man of three centuries. Footnote 4: Caldwell’s _Antiquarian Papers_ quote Sewell: “May 19, 1701, was buried Mr. James How, a good man, aged 104 years. He died, I think, Lord’s day night, just about the time the news of the King’s death was brought from Medera.” King William died Sunday, March 8, 1701-2, O.S.; Sunday, March 8, 1702, J.S.; or March 19, 1702, N.S.] James Howe, Jr., was born in Roxbury, in 1635 or 1636, since he was “about 30” in 1666 and “about 34,” Sept. 28, 1669. He married, April 13, 1658, Elizabeth Jackson, a neighbor, daughter of William and Joanna, of Rowley, and sister to Mary, who married Wm. Foster, of Boxford, and to Deborah, who married Lieut. John Trumble, of Newbury, official men in their respective towns. He had a share in Plum Island, 1664; was a voter, 1679; at about fifty years of age was blind, so he had to be led. His will is dated Nov. 19, 1701. He confirms to his daughter Elizabeth Jackson’s children, what he had given her; mentions his daughter Deborah and grandson James “when 21” and granddaughters Martha How and Sarah How “when 18 or married.” He gave his other two daughters, Mary and Abigail, “for their pains and care that they have taken of me for several years and their labor for my maintenance,” my house, barn, orchard, lands, and movables, and appointed them executrices. He signed his will “James How,” but it was proved, March 11, 1701-2, as the will of James Howe, Jr. He died Feb. 15, 1701. Their children were: James, who died in July, 1664. Elizabeth, born June 1, 1661, married Caleb Jackson, son of Nicholas, a neighbor. Mary, born Feb. 25, 1664, petitioner, p. 73. Deborah, who married Isaac Howe, of Roxbury, son and grandson of Abrahams. John, born April 17, 1671, married Hannah Browne, and had Martha, 1691; Sarah, 1692-3; who married Thomas Wood; James, 1695, ancestor of the Methuen family of Howes. His widow married Ephraim Roberts, of Methuen, and had Patience, 1703, and Mary, 1705.