#103 FOUR BROTHERS--TIMOTHY, ELDEST SON

         

                                                                                                                                                

Anna and Bezaleel How’s four sons--Timothy, Darius, Baxter and Bezaleel, all served in the American Revolution. I have used the book Four Brothers in the American Revolution by Herbert Howe as my source for the How biographies.

                                                                TIMOTHY HOW

                                                        commemorative coins--Wyoming Massacre

Timothy How, born October 6, 1742 in Marlborough, Massachusetts, was the oldest son of  of Anna and Bezaleel. His early years were shaped by the frontier and the family’s frequent relocation. His father died suddenly when he was eight years old, and he was raised by his widowed mother in his grandmother’s home; he left home at age 17 to forge his own path.

His early adult life was shaped by war. Either he enlisted in the British army or served as a teamster in a non-combat role during the Seven Years War. (This was a global war (1754-1763) between rivals Britain and France; the North American conflict is often referred to as the French-Indian Wars.) Timothy participated in the campaigns on Lake Champlain to capture Fort Ticonderoga (1759) and Crown Point. One vivid tale was his visit to Fort Ontario to look for legendary buried treasure—a enduring mystery and a source of continuing family lore.

After the war, Timothy settled in Stillwater, New York. Remembering his mother’s ostracization by puritanical citizens, Timothy rejected the established church and became a Baptist lay-preacher; he felt more at ease in the rougher frontier area. About 1762, he married Elizabeth Andus, a woman of deep faith and personal strength. They had eight children. In 1772, the family trekked to the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River. One reason for the move, especially for Baptists, was to be freed from taxation for  the maintenance of the established New England church.  There they joined a religious community of settlers associated with the Moravian Church, a Protestant denomination actively involved in missionary work among native Americans, establishing settlements and trying to convert them to Christianity. Their missionary work often involved learning native languages.

The Revolutionary War commenced April 19, 1775 and it shattered the tranquility of this frontier region. Tensions divided loyalists and patriots, and the How family—staunch supporters of the American cause—were increasingly at risk. The Wyoming Valley was a strategic frontier settlement; it was rich in farmland, home to hundreds of patriot settlers, but only lightly defended by a local militia of mostly older men and young boys. There were several forts, but few regular Continental soldiers stationed there. The Valley was a vulnerable target, that, if destroyed, would terrorize the region and divert Continental resources. Thus, the British strategy, aiming to destabilize the frontier and suppress rebellion, encouraged loyalist militias and their native American allies to strike these isolated frontier settlements.

There is a side story to this family saga. About a year and a half before the terrible tragedy of 1778, a poor and destitute couple came to the settlement, and the man sought Timothy’s help as they were also Baptists. “In pity to a destitute brother, Timothy took them in his own house, although at great inconvenience, and kept the family through the winter.” The family left and went 60 miles up river. The following spring the man returned saying that his family was starving; the settlers berated the man for leaving his family in hostile Indian territory. The man said he would return to his family if the settlers would give him food and clothing; they did. It was this man who later returned with the British to help murder the inhabitants and destroy the settlement. “His pious wife returned with him."                                                                   

Wyoming Massacre: In July 1778, British forces under Major John Butler, accompanied by 1000 Loyalist Rangers and Seneca warriors, invaded the Wyoming Valley against the 5000 inhabitants, mostly American women and children, gathered at Forty Fort. The colonial forces, poorly equipped and lacking coordination, marched out of the fort to attack but deceived by a British ruse and unprepared for the scale of the ambush, the patriots were overwhelmed. The ensuing battle lasted about 30 minutes, but the massacre of fleeing American soldiers and captured prisoners by Indian forces stretched into the night. Most of the patriot force was killed or captured; very few escaped. (Reports of the brutal treatment of prisoners and scalping incensed the American public and contributed to future retaliatory campaigns against the Iroquois.) Butler claimed that his force took 227 scalps, burned 1,000 houses, and drove off 1,000 cattle plus many sheep and hogs. The few survivors fell back to Forty Fort.

                                                Wyoming Massacre painting by Charles Weimar

                                                            Wyoming Massacre

Timothy was a first lieutenant of one of the militia units; he was one of only nine men of his unit that escaped the slaughter and he returned to the fort. The next day (July 4), the fort was ordered to surrender unconditionally. Timothy and the other surviving officer went out to meet the enemy officers, but when he realized that the terms of surrender would not ensure his safety, he returned to the fort, gathered his men who had escaped the battlefield and they escaped down river in a scow.. The women and children, including Elizabeth and her seven children, were left to the mercies of the Indians.

                                what the original Forty Forty might have looked like in 1778

History usually focuses on the bravery of the fighting men, like Timothy. But this family story centers on the bravery and determination of Elizabeth. The tories and the Indians took quick possession of the fort “so soon after the departure of the scow that the departing men heard the Indians’ whoops of delight and their firing." Timothy was not heard from for two years.

People tried to escape the fort. A Mr. Shoemaker, one of the earliest settlers, “had taken to the river, being an expert swimmer and hoped to escape…He was discovered and hailed by the man (the once destitute person already mentioned). This villain invited Shoemaker to come on shore. ‘I dare not,” replied Shoemaker, ‘for you will kill me.' 'I will not,' said the wretch, ‘I am your friend and I will protect you.' By his persuasion, he induced Shoemaker to come on shore. Extending his left hand as if to aid him, the villain with his right hand knocked Shoemaker on the head with a tomahawk and shoved his body back into the river.”

Meanwhile, that villain’s wife found Elizabeth and her children near a few of their necessary items. “Sister How” said the woman, “I’m going to do just as I’ve a mind to, and if you know what is good for yourself, you won’t open your mouth.” The woman picked out desired items from Elizabeth’s bundle, then she put a red mark on Elizabeth and the children’s faces. A red mark meant life and a sparing by the Indians.  Amid all the confusion, Elizabeth hustled her children—ages thirteen to toddler-- out the gate and into the bush. With incredible determination, she led them through the forests, carrying the youngest and coaxing the older ones forward. They travelled all day, surviving on a few berries they found. After three days, they reached safety at an abandoned hut, then crossed the Delaware River and the Pocono Mountains, eventually reaching family in Dutchess County, New York. Elizabeth led her children two hundred miles to safety.

Timothy eventually was able to rejoin him family, but he wasn’t with them, on July 14, 1780, when Elizabeth died a few hours after giving birth to their eighth child, Bezaleel How III. She is buried in a an unmarked grave near Tower Hill, New York.

The children were dependent on public charity and the baby was fostered out. The two oldest twin sons—Timothy and Titus-- enlisted in the New York state militia; these units were designated for the defense of the frontier. Both men served as waiters or personal servants to officers. Both served for about eight months, on duty in the last year of the war.

Following the death of his wife and his return from military service to Tower Hill, forty year old Timothy Sr, found the care of seven children a big responsibility. On April 14, 1782, he married Zipporah (Zeppra) Cash; they had seven children. In 1819, he began to draw a $96 annual veterans' pension. He continued to dream and talk of the hidden French gold at Fort Ontario in Oswego. Timothy, aged 86, died May 2, 1829 in Tomkins, County, New York and is buried there in the East Lansing cemetery.         

Timothy How                                                                                                                                                     b. Oct 6 1742, Marlborough, Massachusetts                                                                                                 m. Elizabeth Andrus (1743-1780) abt 1762 in Stillwater, Saratoga, NY                                                       m. Zipporah Cash (1742-1838) on April 14, 1782                                                                                         d. May 2, 1829 in  Tompkins Co., New York                                                                                             my 2nd cousin, 7x removed (Netterfield-Farnam line)   

    

                                                  

                                                  Wyoming Massacre Monument, Wyoming

Historical Mythmaking; A Warning

This story of Timothy and Elizabeth is a piece of family lore, passed on to their youngest son and later published in 1957 as Four Brothers in the American Revolution by Herbert Howe. It is most likely that Elizabeth did leave with her children and make her way, on foot, to safety 200 miles away. And it is almost certain that Timothy did serve the Patriot cause. What is at question, however, is the legend of the Wyoming massacre. Recent historians have taken a second look at the traditional and emotionally-charged narrative of the massacre and have suggested that much of what has passed down through American historical memory was the result of deliberate mythmaking.

To start, the story of what happened at Wyoming was strongly influenced by reports from partisans and newspapers not present at the battle, reports which differed from eyewitness accounts. Combatants did die in the battle, but the reports of widespread butchery, scalping of women and children, and sadistic torture appear to have been exaggerated or invented in later tellings. And why? Because American political and military leaders in these early years of the Revolution saw an opportunity to rally support by painting the British and their native allies as savages and inhuman; the goal was to unify the colonies and the justify the revolutionary cause by contrasting British "barbarity" with American "virtue". The demonization of natives led to an anti-indigenous narrative aligned with later U.S. policies of displacement and annihilation.    

Over time, these exaggerated accounts became part of American folklore, shaping national identity and reinforcing American resilience against foreign oppression. These distortions influenced literature, art and political discourse for decades.  By the early 20th century, historians finally began to question the accuracy of early accounts, revealing inconsistencies and fabrications, Today, historians recognize the Wyoming Massacre as a complex event, rather than a one-sided atrocity; the focus has shifted toward understanding the broader context of frontier warfare, indigenous resistance and the role of propaganda in shaping historical memory. Historical myths demonstrate how history is often shaped by the needs and biases of those who retell it and who controls the media.   --from William R. Tharp thesis Savage and Bloody Footsteps Through the Valley: The Wyoming Massacre in the American Imagination. 2021.