The Surname List has basic information for an individual.

• Persons Name .. provides a link to their Family Group page.
• Born .. Year of birth.
• Died .. Date links to Cemetery information, if available.
• Anc. Chart .. icon links to an Ancestor Chart containing the individual.
• Notes .. Usually displays spouse or other information to help identify person.

The Family Group pages have information on an individual and their immediate family, with links to other family group pages.

The Ancestor Charts provide a chart to help tie everyone together. Graphics help make it a little clearer.
  The little tree   next to a name is a link to their Ancestor Chart.

The Cemetery pages have photos of headstones and information about the cemetery.
A persons name followed by a cross    , is a link to their tombstone.

FYI pages have information that is relevent and/or helps clarify information on this web site.

I approached this genealogy page from two perspectives. First from Henry Howland and his descendants and the second from myself and my ancestors. This actually produces two completely different groups of people, with the direct line from Henry Howland to myself being the common denominator of all individuals.

The objective of this Web Site is simply, the opportunity to share information with others, and the hope that others will continue to help with contributions and information.

Some people have been deliberately omitted to protect them. Some have even had their name changed where I needed a link. With identity theft and other problems associated with putting too much information on a public forum, such as the Internet, many people had to be minimized or omitted. If a person was born over 100 years ago, I usually put all information available on their page.

The large amount of information, as well as new information, makes this web site impossible to complete. As time allows this site will continue to grow, as information always needs to be added, updated or corrected. Please be patient.

Contributions of your family line will gladly be accepted. Your genealogical information must tie into the information on this website. Your contact information will be placed on this Web Site, to give you credit for your contribution if you wish.

I have been working on Howland Genealogy since 1997 and have found many helpful people, each with little pieces of information that has made this web site possible. While most is public information, the volumes of data make it impossible for one person to gather without help. I have tried to give everyone credit for their contributions, and would like to thank everyone who has contributed. If you have information to contribute or there is information you feel is incorrect, please contact

Frank Howland - Gave me a GED disk in 1995 that had family information. It sat on my desk for 2 years before I even looked at it, not sure I want to thank him.
Cleora Howland (nee: Lary) - Provided most of the old Howland and Lary photos on this web site. There were also notes and information on the back of many of the photos.
Gladys Dripps (nee: Howland) - Who saved many newspaper articles, family photos and a hand writen journal on family history, started in 1934 when she married George Dripps.
Brian Freeman - Provided much of the Oxley family information, which helped tie up a lot of loose ends in the Iowa connection of the Howland's and Oxley's.
Shirley Mallory - Provided information for the Fleming family, from family bible in her possession.
Sally Shreeve - Filled in some of the many holes, in the Cooper line. She was a great help, the well documented information I have on the Cooper branch of the family would not be available with out her help.

Accuracy:
I have tried to provide accurate information. Always do your own documentation. One of my early mistakes was not keeping good documentation of my sources, which has come back to haunt me at times. If there is not a source cited for information in these pages, don't take it a correct. Two sources is better than one.

It is always best to work from original records; information after the fact has no primary proof. Keep in mind the difference between primary and secondary sources and the importance of building a preponderance of evidence. Accept nothing in my web site without further checking and documentation. With the information from this web site, you might find another piece of the puzzle which could lead you to further discoveries.

Frank Howland gave me his database, which was my starting point. There was little documentation. I also made the same mistake in my first few years of doing genealogy. So... some of the information has no primary proof, please proceed accordingly.

Books and Periodicals:
These tend to be referenced well and provide accurate information. Remember original documents (from the time period) are the most accurate and not subject to presumption or interpretation.

On Line Research:
There are many Websites with links that will help you in your research, just type "genealogy" and "Your Surname" in any of the search engines. You will be overwhelmed with information. Just be careful of your sources, misinformation is as common as good information.
Web Sites found to be helpful and/or intersting