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U.S. NEWSFriday 27 November 2015
Meet John Howland, a lucky Pilgrim who populated America
MARK PRATT Howland and his wife, fel- as former vice presidential hinged on that one guy some liberties in telling
Associated Press low Mayflower passenger candidate Sarah Palin; grabbing a rope in the and illustrating the story.
BOSTON (AP) — John Elizabeth Tilley, had 10 poets Ralph Waldo Emer- ocean and holding on For example, Howland
Howland may not be as children and more than son and Henry Wadsworth tight totally caught my was actually a young
famous as William Brad- imagination,” Lynch said man on the Mayflower
ford, John Carver and This undated image released by Candlewick Press shows the in a phone interview from trip, not a boy as the book
Myles Standish, notable cover of the children’s book “The Boy Who Fell Off the May- his Dublin home. “Many of title suggests.
passengers on the May- flower, or John Howland’s Good Fortune” by Irish illustrator P.J. these people have made But that’s OK with the ex-
flower that landed in Mas- Lynch. Howland fell overboard into the Atlantic Ocean, was America what it is.” perts — and Howland’s
sachusetts in 1620. hauled back aboard, and made it through the first brutal winter There are so many How- very large extended fam-
Yet Howland probably in the New World. He married fellow passenger Elizabeth Tilley, land descendants that ily.
had a greater impact on lived with her into their 80s, and had 10 children and 88 grand- they have their own club “He did a great job on
the history of the United children. More Americans can trace their roots to Howland than — The Pilgrim John How- it,” said Richard Pickering,
States than any of them. to any other of the first pilgrims. land Society — with about deputy executive director
Hundreds of thousands of 1,200 members. of Plimoth Plantation, the
Americans are unaware (Candlewick Press via AP) Gail Adams, a Howland living history museum in
that they owe their very descendant and editor of Plymouth, Massachusetts,
existence to Howland as 80 grandchildren. Now, Longfellow; actors Alec the society’s publication, that preserves the story
they celebrate Thanksgiv- an estimated 2 million Baldwin, Humphrey Bog- “The Howland Quarterly,” of the Pilgrims. “There is
ing, a holiday that com- Americans can trace their art, and Christopher Lloyd; was thrilled when she first very little documentation
memorates a feast shared roots to him. Mormon church founder found out about her lin- about Howland’s early
between Native Ameri- Howland’s descendants Joseph Smith; and child eage two decades ago. years, but Lynch imagines
cans and the Pilgrims of include three presidents care guru Dr. Benjamin “To think, if he hadn’t them beautifully.”
the Mayflower. — Franklin Roosevelt, Spock. made it, I wouldn’t even “He’s right on,” Adams
Howland boarded the George H.W. Bush and “The idea that the exis- be here,” she said from said.
ship as a servant of Carv- George W. Bush — as well tence of all these people her home in Virginia. The book even describes
er, the first governor of the Lynch developed an in- the beginnings of a ro-
New Plymouth Colony, terest in the story of the mance between How-
but he almost never made Pilgrims and Howland land and Tilley, which isn’t
it to the New World. He fell when he read Nathaniel so farfetched, Adams
overboard in the middle Philbrick’s book, “May- said.
of the Atlantic during a flower.” It was mostly new Tilley was left an orphan
gale but grabbed a trail- to him because he hadn’t after the first winter in
ing rope and was hauled gone to school in the U.S., Plymouth yet chose to
back aboard by sailors us- where the story of the Pil- stay even though she had
ing boat hooks. His remark- grims is taught to every family in England and her
able story is the subject of child. best friend returned.
a new children’s book, He acknowledges his “My theory — no proof —
“The Boy Who Fell Off the book — written in the first is that when handsome
Mayflower, or John How- person from Howland’s John fell overboard and
land’s Good Fortune,” by point of view — isn’t a had to be nursed back to
Irish illustrator and author 100 percent accurate ac- health, she was smitten,”
P.J. Lynch. count, and he has taken Adams said.q
