The John Howland Signatures

We may never know whether both the John Howland signatures, shown to the right were written by the Mayflower Pilgrim. The top one which was on the 1623 indenture probably was signed when Howland was about 30, while the other (bottom) which is taken from John Howland of the Mayflower by Elizabeth Pearson White, seems to have been signed when he was elderly.

Frank W. Duff, chairmen of the Augusts County (VA.) Genealogical Society and a graduate student at James Madison University, is of the opinion that only a real handwriting expert could determine if they were written by the same person, and even then you can’t be sure.

But it does appear to be certain that the indenture was written with iron gal ink which the Pilgrims knew how to make. And it was penned on parchment, a supply of which they probably brought with them until their domestic cattle herd was established.

Stretching a wet pelt as it dries is essential for the production of parchment. Pieces of calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin are soaked for several days in limewater, then washed, stretched on a frame, shaved and dried.

The skin is moistened and stretched twice more until the pelt is equally opaque and white.

Old household manuals tell us that ink making is one of the domestic duties of women. Did Elizabeth Tilley Howland make the ink that John used to sign the 1623 indenture? If she did, she might have used this 17th century English formula of tannin, vitriol, gum Arabic and water:

Take halfe a pint of water, a pint wanting a quarter of wine, and as much vinegar, which being mixed together make a quart and a quarter of a pint more; then take six ounces of gauls beaten into small pouder into a pot by itselfe, and poure halfe the water, wine and vinegar into it; take likewise foure ounces of vitriall, and beat it into pouder, and put it also into a pot by it selfe, whereinto put a quarter of the wine, water and vinegar that remainith, and to the other quarter put foure ounces of gum Arabic beaten into a pouder; that done cover the three pots close, and let them stand for three or four daies together, stirring them every day three of foure times; on the firste day set the pots with gaules on the fire, and when it begins to seethe stir it about until it be thouroughly warme, then straine it through a cloath into another pot, and mix it with the other two pots, stirring them well together, and being covered, let them stand three daies, til thou meanest to use it; on the fourth day, when it is settled, poure it out, and it will be good inke.

If there remaine any dregs behind, poure some raine water that hath stand long in a tub or vessel into it, for the older the water is the better it is, and keepe that until you make more inke, so it is better than clean water.

Since not many members of the Howland Society make their own ink, it might be helpful to explain some of the terms used.

Tannin describes a group of chemicals capable of tanning hides to make leather. Tree galls contain a high concentration of tannin. Galls are caused by parasites (flies, wasps, etc.) that inject their eggs into the twigs of young oak trees. The hatched larva feed upon the tree, secreting an irritant that causes the tree to create a gall around the larva.

Tannin also can be extracted from chestnut and oak woods and barks and from our native sumac bush.

Natural vitriol is iron sulfate that trickles out of rocks. The liquid, collected in large pans, would evaporate leaving crystallized salts. Sometimes the liquid was kept in barrels.

The vitriol crystals would collect on a rope hung into the barrel. Gum Arabic is a water-soluble vegetable gum from the acacia tree. It modifies the viscosity and binds the ink to the medium.

This article appeared in the March 2000 issue of The Howland Quarterly.