THE HOWISON FAMILY IN AMERICA

Research has failed to disclose but one branch of the Howisons to settle in America.  Others of the same pronunciation in the United States and Canada spell the name differently and trace their ancestry to a different source.  The tablet in Arlington Mansion contains the name "Howeson," as a former owner of that property but no kinship to the Howisons has been established.  However, in early records, when spelling of surnames was a matter of choice, we find our own name "Hewson," "Howson," "Housen," and "Howieson".....

The name, Howison, has stood through the generations in America, as in Scotland, for Honor, Justice, Piety, and Good Citizenship. The pursuit of Agriculture, the occupation of their Scottish forbears, gave to the American pioneers a wealth of health, resulting in the physical prowess and mental and moral stamina that have characterized their descendents.

They who first bore the name in America imparted to the generations following, a legacy far more valuable than gold, and more lasting than anything earthly.  Every individual who bears the name, or in whose veins runs Howison blood, is grateful for so rich a heritage.

There is little record of the first John, but by the fruits of his son, Stephen, we know both men.  When we have reviewed the lives of the twelve offspring, down to the last child, Robert, little is left for the imagination regarding the high type of progenitors, who planted the name on the American soil.

There is something also, in geographic location.  Other sections might have produced specialized types of craftsmen, financiers, or statesmen, but the adopted home of the original families, Maryland and Virginia, brought forth men of honesty, thrift, and integrity.  God fearing men, who proved their metal, and succeeded in every profession and calling.

Well may a Howison be proud of his ancestry, when pride is so justified.  And many a daughter evidences a like sense by perpetuating the name in her offspring.  Thus we continually find prefixing a strange surname among the third or fourth generation, the name "Stephen," "Allen," or "Alexander," and more often, simply "Howison".

The tribe in America doffs its hat in greeting to its bretheren of the Scottish Clan, and waves a salutation, bidding them of the land of Braehead to observe the American escutchion, with its Fleur de lis of purity, and its open extended hand; behold the shield still untarnished, supported by men with upright, courageous hearts; and inscribed beneath will be found a name yet undefiled; HOWISON.     

JOHN HOWISON, G1, Scottish to American

The name John was a favorite among the Braehead Howisons, appearing three times as proprietor of the estate, and much more often among their offspring.  It is significant that the Parish Register of Cramond, Scotland records among the eight children of Alexander Howison of Braehead, (the eighth mentioned by Burke as lord of that estate), John Howison, born August 16, 1682. Oral tradition and connecting circumstances inform us that he was our American ancestor.  The dates of his birth and voyage to America correspond with what we know of our ancestor; his agricultural occupation in America was what he had learned on the Scotland estate, and later developments in his life prove him to be the type of man who would overcome precedents and emigrate to a new country.  The three eldest brothers of this John Howison had died, and the fourth, William, inherited Braehead upon the death of their father, in 1703. This left the two younger brothers, John 21, and Robert, a few years older, unmarried and without lands or home. As Boswell wrote in Tour to the Hebrides "He was .... at present in that kind of wandering state that many a Highland younger brother is." .....It was natural they should hear the call of America.

A written record of their coming has not been found, but has been handed down by one generation to another.  The two young men took passage from Scotland on an American bound ship, agreeing to pay their steerage after reaching the new country, and immediately after landing in Maryland C1703, diligently set about the task.  But in a short time Robert died, leaving John to pay for both.  For two years he labored on a farm in Maryland until the total sum was fully settled.

We are spared the details of his grief and loneliness after Robert's death, and the natural longing for the old home, but such a beginning had taught him thrift, and he soon acquired property and other resources.  Upon his sailing for America some years before, he had bidden a last farewell to the homeland, but not to the Scottish lassie, Ann Wood, whose hand he had pressed at the parting.  In due time she too made the voyage across the Atlantic, and upon her arrival in America, John Howison and Ann Wood were united as man and wife.

Thus is established direct lineal descent of the American family from the Braehead Howison's of Scotland.

John and Ann Wood Howison, G1, settled in Charles County, Maryland, and lived there at least until after the marriage of their son in 1758.  The remains of one or both of them repose in the Howison Homestead Cemetery in Prince William County, Virginia.  We have record of only one child; Stephen Howison I.

STEPHEN HOWISON I, G2, FIRSTBORN AMERICAN         

Stephen Howison I, G2, son of John and Ann Wood Howison, was born in Charles County, Maryland, January 31, 1736.  Reared in a home where Scottish industry and Scottish thrift prevailed, Stephen became a young man of character and promise.  At the age of 22 he was united in marriage to Mary Brooke, of St. Mary's County, Maryland, a member of one of the first families of that state.  The Brookes had been prominent in Hampshire, England, for hundreds of years, and their coming to Maryland in 1650, was with pomp and ceremony.  Now the family had been foremost in the affairs of Maryland for more than a century, and Stephen Howison doubtless knew the family into which he married to be an intellectual and wealthy people: the aristocrats of the country.  A pedigree of the Brooke family is found in Berry's Hampshire Genealogies pp 339 and many other records and writings.

In the coming together of Stephen Howison and Mary Brooke, the worthy offspring of two illustrious families were united.  Each had an ancient and honorable lineage.  It seems fitting that these two people should be brought together for the founding of a great family.

Soon after their marriage Stephen and Mary Brooke Howison moved across the Potomac River into Prince William County, Virginia, settling near Dumfries.  Here they homesteaded a large tract of land, cleared off the timber, and built the log dwelling where they spent the remainder of their lives.  This tract is referred to as the "Old Homestead."  Mary died there October 11, 1808, and Stephen followed in his eightieth year, February 1, 1815.  Their remains lie in the homestead cemetery.  On the tombstone of Stephen is found the inscription:

"With Faith in God, the Friend of Man he stood,          

and sought their earthly and eternal good."

On the stone at Mary's head is inscribed:

"A partner faithful, and a parent kind,

 She lived benevolent and died resigned."

Twelve children were born into the family, nine sons and three daughters.  In them the Irish determination and English culture of the mother were commingled with the Scottish stamina and frugality of their father.  The sons married cultured and energetic wives and became men of affairs, while the daughters of the family became the wives of men of like standards.

The lives and deeds of this family and their descendents constitutes the Howison history found on the succeeding pages.

THE OLD HOMESTEAD

The Howison Homestead, often referred to in this record, is a part of the Wood Grant.  The tract consisted of nearly 500 acres of land in the southern part of Prince William County, Virginia, near Woodbridge, and not far from Occoquan and Dunfries on the Alexandria-Fredericksburg highway, a stone's throw from Mt. Vernon.

It is significant that Stephen Howison and George Washington were in many respect contemporaries in  life.  Born in counties separated only by the Potomac River, the one in Maryland, the other in Virginia.  George was four years old at Stephen's birth, but Stephen married a few months first and survived a few years the longer.

At the time Washington and his bride were taking up residence at Mt. Vernon, Stephen Howison and his newly wedded Mary Brooke were crossing the Potomac from Maryland to the Virginia side, clearing the homesteaded land and hewing logs for the structure that cradled the second generation of Howisons in America.  Washington founded and built the Pohick Church about half way between the two estates and was vestryman there for twenty-two years, and though no definite record confirms the fact, doubtless these gentlemen met often in worship there.

The homestead sheltered Stephen and Mary's twelve children, who received liberal educations and carried into the world strong bodies and noble characters.  At the death of the parents the estate was apportioned to some of their children.  Mary Ann Potts built a home to the East that still stands.  Sarah Trone and James took each a part and built dwellings.  But the tract on which the original buildings stand was inherited by Stephen's eighth child, Stephen III, who reared his eighteen children and two step children in the same log structure.  To Stephen III we are indebted for his descriptive poem, "Home of my Childhood," copied herein, that describes the premises, then a century old, and tells of his boyhood and old age at the homestead.  Though simple in style and a work of little literary import, the poem is historical and brings every Howison heart in tune with the old man's meditations and sentiment.  For there he was born and there he lived out his 87 years.

Lucretia Barnes, Stephen III's 17th child, now (1928) 85 years old, inherited the property from her father, and still lives there.  Years ago she erected a modern dwelling near by, but the log house, built by her grandfather in all its original crude ruggedness, and perfect preservation, still honors the site.  During the century and three quarters of its existence, the old homestead has known but three owners, a record in longevity rarely equaled.

A visit there today discloses the same log building erected by Stephen I about 1758 and portrayed by Stephen III in his poem nearly a century later, with its "Stair case so easily ascended." constructed without saw or hammer, and its "sliding plank window", still sliding and looking to the West.  The same blacksmithed hinges support the same batten doors that shut out wild beasts in that primitive forest.  And though the hickory and cherry trees mentioned, have also "Fallen and gone to decay," and the "spreading oak" at the spring is supplanted by a sturdy locust, the water there continues "Sweeter than nectar".  A lone representative of the "Trees of Red Pears" remains, "The marks of antiquity still to display." "The graves of the dead," among whom the poet himself has been sleeping these 66 (1928) years, is a most interesting shrine.  Inscribed headstones mark resting places of the two Stephens and their wives, and many other of the connection.  But there are no markers for the graves of "Some of my ancestors older than they."  Stephen's poem is the only record we have of the burial place of those ancestors, who cannot be other than the original John Howison and his wife, Ann Wood, who brought the name from Scotland. 

A perspective of the ancient premises today (1928) is much the same as in past ages, only grown more ancient.  The yard and garden retain their former shape and appearance.  Great clumps of lilacs and roses crowd the front yard, hollyhocks bloom profusely, large grapevines entwine themselves among the trees and bear luscious fruit, while the whole face of the earth round-about is carpeted with strawberries growing wild.  A fragrant breath of hospitality and welcome pervades the surroundings.

On September 15, 1990, the Howison Homestead Park in Woodbridge, Virginia, was dedicated.   The park is a 27 plus acre site that was part of the 500 acres deeded to Stephen Howison I in 1780.  The Howison family maintained ownership in the property until the 1930's.

The on-site cemetery dates back to the 1700's and will be preserved and protected as the final resting place of the Howison family members.  See  http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2478

Howison Homestead park features three adult size soccer fields, a children's playground, two picnic shelters, and a pedestrian trail.

To one fond of genealogy and antiques in family history the old homestead affords food for retrospection, reminiscence and reverie to the last degree.