Edward Howard Jr

     Edward Howard Jr was born on 23 December 1724 at Dartmouth, Bristol Co, Massachusetts.^1,2 He was the son of Edward Howard and Sarah (?) Edward Howard Jr married Phoebe Hart, daughter of Richard Hart and Mary Tabor, circa 1751. Edward Howard Jr died on 1 October 1801 at Dutchess Co, New York, at age 76.² His estate was probated on 25 September 1802 at Dutchess Co, New York.³
     Using tax lists of Dutchess County, this writer would have to guess that Edward Howard Jr lived in Beekman from 1753 until 1769 when he moved to Pawling. He was also assessed in Pawling up to 1799 on personal property. He appeared in the 1800 census there.
     Edward Howard Jr served in the Dutchess County Militia, Associated Exempts, in Col. Zephaniah Platt's Regiment, Captain Thomas Lee's Company.
     Edward was taken prisoner by Capt. William Calkins, by order of Colonel Andrew Morehouse, and brought before a Board 14 May 1777. Calkins was paid over £32 by the Board for "Scouring the Woods & apprehending a Number of prisoners brought here by him." The following day, the Board ordered that Edward Howard and about 20 others be jailed on the Fleet prison in Esopus Harbor at Kingston. The Board minutes for 29 May 1777 say "Edward Howard (being one of the people Quakers) appear'd before this Board and having Voluntarily affirmed Allegiance to this State, Ordered he be discharged."⁴ He appeared on the census of 1790 at Pawling, Dutchess Co, New York.⁵ He left a will in 1801; Edward Howard of Pawling left his "beloved wife Phebe the use and improvement of all the household furniture during her lifetime which is the whole of what I think proper to give her considering that my two sons Stephen & Edward on consideration of what I have heretofore given them stand firmly bound & holden to provide for and support her after my death..." After her death, the furniture was to be divided equally between his four "beloved daughters Ruth, Mary, Sarah and Patience except to the amount of a good decent calico gown or something equal in value" to granddaughter Phebe Martin. All the rest of his estate was to be split between his four sons, Thomas, John, Benjamin and William, excepting the he gave sons Stephen and Edward five shillings each, and sons Matthew and Richard, ten shillings each. Edward Howard mentioned that the last four sons mentioned would be about equal to the first four named sons considering what he had already done for them. Thomas and William were made executors. The only date given was 1801.³