Just When Did Caleb Howe Die? June or July 1755?

Over the Christmas-New Year week I decided to update the various profiles for my ancestors recorded in the FamilySearch "one-world" or common family tree. One reason for doing this was to see if others had posted any additional events, documents, or even family members that I might not have known about. It turns out I was able to uncover several distant cousins that were born and died between census enumerations plus find where a few branches of the family disappeared to.

But that's not what this post is about. Instead I'm going to write about the challenges of verifying a date of death from the mid 1700s.

My 6th great-grandfather, Caleb How(e), the second husband of Jemima Sawtell and the father of my 5th great-grandfather, Lt. Caleb Howe of the Queens Rangers, was killed in a raid by Native Americans as probably part of the actions stemming from what became known as the French and Indian War of 1754–1763. I've come across several different dates but most either have him killed on 27 Jun 1755 or 27 Jul 1755. However, which month is it? June or July?

I've written about Jemima in my post "The Fair Captive" when I attempted to trace through the various footnotes and endnotes to locate details about her captivity and subsequent release. In the tale "Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Jemima Howe, taken by the Indians at Hinsdale, New-Hampshire, July 27, 1755." in The American Preceptor published in 1801, a story told by Jemima Howe, Caleb's wife, a number of years after the events she says that the attack happened on 27 Jul 1755.

Caleb Bingham. American Preceptor; Being a New Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools (Boston, Massachusetts: Manning and Loring, 1801), p 176; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/americanprecept09binggoog/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 3 Jan 2021).

However, if the attack took place on July 27, 1755 and Caleb was found alive the next morning before passing away after he was brought to Fort Hinsdale, then he would have died on July 28, 1755. Also, in the Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 published in 1885 it states: "...and July 27 they ambushed Caleb How, Hilkiah Grout and Benjamin Gaffield as they were returning from their labor in the field."

Even a few years later in 1758 a letter concerning Mrs. Jemima How states that she was taken in July 1755.

[John Farmer, Nathaniel Bouton, Isaac Hill]. Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Vol. V (Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1837), pp.254-256, Letter of Col. Ebenezer Hindsdale to Gov. Benning Wentwork-1755; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/collectionsnewh06socigoog/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

However, in the "New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947" database found on FamilySearch we come across this image of a card created on 29 Aug 1905:

"New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947," database, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 20 Feb 2012), entry for Caleb How, died 27 Jun 1755; citing Death Records, FHL film 1,001,086; New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord, New Hampshire.

Here we see that it is recorded that he died on June 27, 1755 at Hinsdale, New Hampshire "Killed by the Indians". But we don't know the source of that information in that "modern" record. Could it be from the grave marker?

The marker found on Find A Grave appears to confirm that detail:

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 January 2021), memorial page for Caleb Howe (3 Dec 1723–28 Jun 1755), Find a Grave Memorial no. 69042959, citing Hooker Cemetery, Hinsdale, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA ; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

In memory of Mr. Caleb How a very Kind Companion who Was killed by the Indians June the 27th 1755 in the 32nd year of his age, his wife Mrs.Jemima How With 7 Children taken Captive at the Same time.

A bit more searching led me to a letter from Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale to Governor Benning Wentworth date 22 Jul 1755 in the Provincial Paper: Documents and Record relating to the Province of New-Hampshire, from 1749 to 1763, Volume VI with a copy found at the Internet Archive. There on page 412 at the tail end of a letter from Col. Hinsdale is mentioned within a postscript by Abigail Hinsdale the following:

"Mr. Hinsdale wrote to his excellency the 28 of June of the mischief that was done upon the other side of the River, one man kill'd, three women, eleven children captivated, the Indians burnt two buildings."

A copy of that letter has been digitally preserved by the New Hampshire Historical Society and can be viewed at their site at "Letter from Colonel Ebenezer Hindsdale to Govenor Benning Wentworth, 1755 July 22".

On 27 Jun 1911 at Vernon, Vermont there was a dedication of a marker on the site of Fort Bridgman where the attack took place:

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 January 2021), memorial page for Caleb Howe (3 Dec 1723–28 Jun 1755), Find a Grave Memorial no. 69042959, citing Hooker Cemetery, Hinsdale, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA ; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

With the information from the dedication and the letter from Colonel Hinsdale/Hindsdale that included the postscript by his wife Abigail it would seem that the date of the attack was 27 Jun 1755. Yet if Caleb passed away at Fort Hinsdale the morning following the attack then the date of his death is actually 28 Jun 1755. So that's the date I'm going with at this time.