By far the most distinguished progeny of Matthew and Ann Howard was their son, Cornelius. He did not accompany his parents to the Severn about 1650, but remained in Virginia until 1659.
His first land grant from Lord Baltimore was surveyed January 26, 1662, and was issued in the name of “ Howard’s Heirship ”, consisting of 420 acres on the south side of South River. During the same year he was granted “ Howard’s Chance ”, a tract of 420 acres. On September 7, 1663, he demanded 600 acres of land and entered rights for the transportation of himself, Henry Kettlewell and Mary Clarke in 1659, John Sherwin and Newlaird in 1661, and John Fortune in 1662.[1]
At “Howard’s Heirship ” which was located in what was later known as the Upper Rhodes River Hundred, Cornelius Howard built his dwelling and there he brought his bride, Elizabeth, who has been the discussion of much debate among genealogists. Some claim that she was a Todd, others assert that she was a Sisson. She was described as the aunt of Mary Todd, who was the daughter of Launcelot Todd. This does not prove conclusively that she was of Todd patrimony. Captain John Sisson, dying in 1662, named Cornelius Howard as his brother-in-law and made him the executor of his estate. Evidence is therefore quite strong that he married the sister of Captain Sisson, but it is not conclusive. In 1661 Cornelius Howard de- manded land for the transportation of Elizabeth Hammond from Virginia. Is it possible that this Elizabeth Hammond later became his wife? It is also possible that John Sisson and Cornelius Howard married sisters, and if such be the case they could still be brothers-in-law.
Children of Cornelius and Elizabeth Howard:
- Joseph Howard married thrice, q.v.
- Cornelius Howard married Mary Hammond, q.v.
- Sarah Howard.
- Mary Howard, spinster.
- Elizabeth Howard married thrice — Andrew Norwood, Andrew Wellsley, and Charles Kilbourne.
On December 10, 1661, Cornelius Howard was commissioned as Ensign of the militia under Captain Besson and was placed in command of the Severn.[2] Later he was advanced to the rank of captain. In 1696 he signed as a military officer of Anne Arundel County.[3]
His official position enabled him to receive numerous grants from the Lord Proprietory in recognition of his public services. In 1666 he and Peter Porter, a kinsman by marriage, patented a tract of land containing 500 acres known as “Howard and Porter Range”. In 1668 Captain Cornelius Howard was granted “Howard’s Fancy ” of 333 acres, in 1670 “ The Increase ” with 100 acres, and in 1672 “Howard’s Hill ” with 200 acres. Before his death he was the lord of an estate in excess of 2,000 acres.
For fourteen years, from 1661 to 1675, Captain Howard represented his county at the General Assembly which then met in the old capital at St. Mary’s City.
His military command of the Severn brought him in conflict with many skirmishes with unfriendly Indians. In 1678 he was a member of that group of pioneers from the Western Shore which participated in a punitive expedition against the hostile Nanticoke Indians of the Eastern Shore. For his services he was paid 80 pounds of tobacco.[4]
Captain Cornelius Howard was a man of considerable legal acumen and is credited with the writing of many of the early wills of Anne Arundel County. In 1676 he was made the sole executor and legatee of the estate of William Carpenter of Anne Arundel County.
He died in 1680, leaving a widow and five minor children. His sons were to be of age at 18 years. Elizabeth, his widow, was given by the terms of his will the dwelling plantation “ Howard’s Heirship ” during life, which upon her death was to pass to their eldest son, Joseph. The latter was also bequeathed “Howard’s Hope” on the south side of the Severn and “Howard’s Hardship”.
Cornelius Jr. was granted “Howard’s Hills” and a tract on Hockley Creek. Sarah was devised 250 acres of “Tuckahoe” on the Choptank River, Eastern Shore. Elizabeth was granted personalty.
In 1705 after the destruction of the land office by fire, Peter Porter II, the great-nephew of Cornelius Howard, requested a deed be recorded by which Cornelius Howard, Gent., on November 12, 1679, conveyed to “Peter Porter of Anne Arundel County, orphan, heir and son of Peter Porter, late of Severn River, deceased” a portion of “Howard and Porter's Fancy”.
During the same year “Richard Shipley, heir of Adam Shipley, late of Anne Arundel County, deceased”, produced a deed showing the conveyance
of another portion of “Howard and Porter’s Range” by Cornelius Howard
to Adam Shipley.
__________
[1] Liber 5 folio 466, Land Office Annapolis.
[2] Archives, vol. 3, p. 444.
[3] Archives, vol. 20, p. 541.
[4] Archives, vol. 7.
Anne Arundel gentry: a genealogical history of twenty-two pioneers of Anne Arundel county, Md., and their descendants, by Harry Wright Newman, 261-262. Captain Cornelius Howard was our generation's 9th great-grandfather through Lucy Jane's line:
- Captain Cornelius Howard (1630/43-1680), m Elizabeth
- Captain Cornelius Howard, Jr. (c 1670-1717), m Mary Katherine Hammond (1689-1714)
- Captain John Howard (1698-1765), m Elizabeth Gassaway (1712-?)
- Hannah Howard (1735-?), m Caleb Osborne (1731-1781)
- Elizabeth Abigail Osborne (1757-1856), m Zachariah Wells (1745-1825)
- Dr. Jeremiah Wells (1792-1845), m Elizabeth Culbertson (1792/96-1859)
- David W. Wells (c 1815-1865), m Nancy Jane Elkins (1822-1887)
- Virginia Elizabeth Wells (1857-1917), m Squire Benjamin Bentley (1849-1903)
- Lucy Jane Bentley (1875-1948), m Nelson Hyder (1875-1959)
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