Ancestry of
Experience Howland

(1668–c1752)

Experience Howland

View famous kin of Experience Howland

• • 1st Generation
  • Ahnentafel No:
  • 1 
  • Father:
  • John Howland Jr. 
  • Mother:
  • Mary Lee   
  • Birth Date:
  • 28 Jul 1668 
  • Birth Location:
  • Barnstable, Barnstable Co., Massachusetts 
  • Christening Date:
  •  
  • Christening Location:
  •  
  • Death Date:
  • from 16 Oct 1734 to 31 Dec 1752 
  • Death Location:
  • prob. Halifax, Plymouth, Massachusetts 
  • Burial Date:
  •  
  • Burial Location:
  •  
  • Notes: 

  • GSMD Gen. No. 094148

    While no direct marriage record has been found to show that Experience Howland, daughter of John and Mary (Lee) Howland, was the same woman as the wife of James Bearse, circumstantial evidence does support that she was probably his wife and the mother of his children.

    Some publications have made the claim that Experience Howland was a male and not a female. However, the 1736 transcription of the Barnstable vital records shows that Experience was recorded as a female.

    As quoted from Erin Gillett, Research Asst., General Society of Mayflower Descendants, in a reply to a Lineage Match request by Doug Rogers dated 30 APR 2020:

    &dlquo;The Mayflower Society did recently discover evidence that proves that Experience Howland (granddaughter of Mayflower passenger John Howland) married James Bierce. We are currently accepting applications that go through this couple. Currently we have approved applications going through these 4 different children of Experience Howland and James Bierce: 1) James, 2) Priscilla, 3) Rebecca, and 4) Shubael.&drquo;

• Marriages for Experience Howland

  ---

  • Spouse:
  • James Bearse
  • Marriage Date:
  • ABT 1683

• Sources for Experience Howland

  • ¹ Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1881, Case No. 1761, Probate file for spouse James Bearce.
  • ² The American Genealogist, 2008, Vol. 83, pp. 122-126.
  • ³ The American Genealogist, 2016, Vol. 88, pp. 31-36.
  • ⁴ Bierce, Thurber H. and Lisle Cottrell, Ancestors in the United States of Byron H. Bierce and His Wife Mary Ida Cottrell of Cortland County, New York, n. p.: n. p. (1962), 2-7.
  • ⁵ White, Elizabeth Pearson, John Howland of the Mayflower, Vol. 2, Camden, Maine: Picton Press (1993, 4th printing 2008), 21-22.