According to William Howland in The Howlands in America, all the Howlands in America can trace their ancestral lineage to the three sons of Henry and Margaret (Aires) Howland of Fen Stanton, Huntingdonshire, England: John Howland, who came to this country in the Mayflower in 1620, and his two brothers, Arthur and Henry Howland, who arrived probably about 1623-24. Our ancestor is Arthur Howland. He married (place and date unknown) Margaret (-----) Reed, a widow whose parentage we do not know. Arthur was buried in Marshfield, MA 30 October 1675, and Margaret was buried in Marshfield, 22 June 1683.

Arthur Howland, the oldest of the three brothers, we believe came to Plymouth with his brother, Henry, where he was a planter, yeoman, freeman, and Quaker. He was of Marshfield, MA by 1643, having been granted fifty acres of land and some meadow there at North River in 1640. He bought an additional three hundred acres of land for 21 pounds sterling, 13 pounds in money and the balance in corn and cattle and spent the rest of his life in Marshfield.

Arthur accepted the doctrines of the Society of Friends and was fined many times for "Pmiting of a Quaker's meeting in his house." He refused to pay the fines and was committed to jail. He and his wife were fined ten shillings for absenting themselves from "publicke worship" in 1658, but "in respect with his age and low condition" of health, he was acquitted.

Arthur's wife had, by her first marriage, a daughter, Lydia Reed, who married John Walker of Marshfield. Their son, John Walker, Jr. was mentioned in Arthur's will.

Arthur and his wife Margaret (-----) Reed Howland had five children:

• Arthur, Jr., m. Elizabeth Prence, daughter of Governor Thomas Prence of Plymouth.
• Deborah, m. 1 Jan. 1648, John Smith, Jr. of Plymouth.
• Mary, m. (1) 6 June 1653, Timothy Williamson; m. (2) 22 Jan. 1679, Robert Sanford.
• Martha, m. (1) 15 Jan. 1659, John Damon of Scituate; m. (2) Peter Bacon.
• Elizabeth, m. John Low.

It is said that Governor Prence was, "a zealot in his own belief and intolerant of all those whose views did not accord with his." He had a strong prejudice against the Baptists and the Quakers and his office as Governor made him a powerful man. Arthur Howland, Jr. had, in 1660, been fined 5 pounds for making a proposal to Elizabeth Prence without the consent of her father, and, seven years later, been fined and put under bond of 50 pounds, "to refrain and desist...in having unrighteously endeavored to obtain the affections of Mistress Elizabeth Prence." That the marriage between these two young people, after seven difficult years of courtship, took place in 1667 is amazing.

Arthur, Jr., and his wife Elizabeth (Prence) Howland had six children:

• Mary, b. 22 Feb. 1668.
• Ebenezer, b. ca. 1671.
• Prince, b. ca. 1672; m. Deborah Barker.
• Thomas, b. 26 Sept. 1672.
• Arthur.
• Abraham.

Prince and his wife Deborah (Barker) Howland had at least one child:

• Alice, b. 12 Nov. 1709; m. Hezekiah Keen.

Here it is interesting to note that Prince Howland's widow, Deborah, married Benjamin Keen, older brother of Hezekiah, who later became the husband of her daughter, Alice. This made her not only Hezekiah's mother-in-law, but also his sister-in-law. This does not seem odd when one realizes that Benjamin was 20 years older than Hezekiah, Benjamin being the first born of the eleven children of Josiah and Lydia (Baker) Keen, and Hezekiah being the last born.