Person:William Howell (44)

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William Howell
 
Facts and Events
Name William Howell
Gender Male
Marriage to Sabina Bostick
Death? 1777 Kent County, Delaware

Notes

From "Slavery and Freedom in Delaware, 1639-1865", by William H. Williams, pg. 104:


Some sense of the master's distribution of clothing can be gained from an agreement by John and Philemon Dickinson to rent out land, along with three male and two female slaves, for seven years to William Howell of Kent County in 1767. The original contract called for Howell to "properly" clothe the five slaves with attire that was to be entirely "new and good". For each of the three men, this meant "a jacket and a pair of ozenbrigs [sic] trousers, two pair of yarn stockings and one pair of strong shoes"; and for each of the two women, "one jacket of milled cloth, one good lincey [course linen] petticoat, two ozenbrigs shirts, two caps, two aprons, two hankerchiefs, two pairs of yarn stockings and one pair of strong shoes." Although all of the clothing requirements except to "properly" dress the five slaves were subsequently deleted from the contract, probably at Howell's request, to the Dickinson brothers those specificsrepresented a slave owner's responsibilities.


From "The Changing Landscape of the St. Jones Neck, Under the Influence of the Dickinson Farnily, 1680-1850", by Rebecca J. Siders & Pamela C. Edwards:


When Samuel Dickinson died in 1760 he divided his land on the St. Jones Neck between his two sons. Philemon received the westernmost lands, known as the Upper Place, and John received the family homestead. As early as 1767, John and Philemon jointly leased their St. Jones Neck properties, an area approaching 2000 acres, to William Howell. Extending northwest from the St. Jones River, both the Homestead and Upper Place farms included extensive acres of woodland, marsh, and cleared land. A peach orchard enhanced the landscape of Upper Place. As an absentee landlord, John Dickinson included arrangements for rent payments, crop shares, and maintenance in his tenant leases. When William Howell signed his seven-year lease with the Dickinson brothers in 1767, he promised to pay ₤200 rent annually and "as often as Need shall require [to] sufficiently repair support sustain maintain and amend the Messuages Tenements and all the Houses Edifices Buildings Barns and Stables on the Premises." Howell also agreed to mend fences, to keep gardens and orchards in good order, to care for livestock, to treat resident slaves with "tenderness and care," and to clear woodland from the "Place called Courtneys, and also the Trees growing on the Point.