Historical Significance of the James Howe House
The James Howe House represents the importance and vibrancy of Montclair’s black community, both historically and in the present. One of the oldest structures in Montclair, dating to the Revolutionary era, this house helps tell the story of freedom and slavery, the development of a black community, and also the founding of Montclair as a town.
James Howe worked as an enslaved man for Major Nathanial Crane in the early 1800s. After over a decade of servitude, Crane manumitted Howe, ending his enslavement. In his 1831 Testament and Last Will, Crane left Howe the house, $400, and approximately six acres of land. Howe used the home and the property to support his family and there is evidence to suggest that a small black community developed around the James Howe House.
See below for images/info of the will, maps, and census data.
Maps and census data reveal that the Howe family owned this property into the early-twentieth century, first James then Henry. The 1840 and 1850 census forms show that Howe lived with a woman named Susan Howe and two other free black people, presumably his wife and two children. The 1850 census indicates that another free black family, Francis and Mary Oliver, lived next door with three children. A small black neighborhood had begun to grow in the area.
Crane, who owned the property before bequeathing it to Howe, enjoyed status as a member of the Crane family that developed Montclair, previously named Cranetown. Israel Crane, a first cousin once removed from Nathaniel, established a general store and led the construction of the Newark Pompton Turnpike that connected Montclair to both urban and agricultural New Jersey. Later, this turnpike became Bloomfield Avenue. The Crane family, and many other wealthy families in New Jersey, utilized enslaved labor to run their businesses and families.
Slavery’s hold in New Jersey was so strong that the state delayed ratification of the thirteenth amendment until 1866, almost a year after congress passed the amendment in 1865 and New Jersey was arguably the slowest Union state to do so. Enslaved people worked in New Jersey long after the Emancipation Proclamation and even after the Civil War ended.
The James Howe House creates an opportunity to study and discuss the history of Montclair’s vibrant black community, and lift up the truth of racial injustice in the nineteenth century and today. In many ways, the James Howe House raises more questions than it answers and only research into the social history of Montclair will answer these questions. This work is difficult and necessary because, until recently, archivists and historians have not prioritized documenting and preserving the history of black people in the United States, including Montclair. Preserving the James Howe House keeps Howe’s story alive, and allows it to inform the work for racial justice that is immediate and ongoing.
_________________
Reference/Citation for Scholars: “Historical Significance of the James Howe House.” Friends of the Howe House, 28 Jan. 2023, https://www.friendsofthehowehouse.org/history.
The Will
Nathaniel Crane wrote his Last Testament and Will in 1831, after he manumitted James Howe in 1817. Crane had no direct descendants and left his property and wealth to a variety of relatives, institutions, and to James Howe. The portions of the Will relating to Howe stated:
“Second. …and to James How a colored man late a slave whom I manumitted I bequeath the sum of four hundred dollars which legacies are to be paid out of my estate as soon after my decease as may be.
Third. I likewise devise to the above named James How to his heirs and assigns my lot of land lying North West of and adjoining Josiah W Cranes homestead containing about six acres.”
Later in the Will, Crane writes:
“Seventh. My lot of Salt Meadow at the old ferry I dispose of as follows… to my nephew Eleazar Crane and to his heirs and assigns I devise that part below the run about one half acre more or less and the residue I give to James How aforementioned…”
The Maps
1857 Map of West Bloomfield. The James Howe property is located adjacent to the Old Road.
1865 Montclair Farm Map. Courtesy the Montclair History Center, Map 07-024. The property is labeled “Henry Howe” on this map.
These maps show the James Howe property and house located on the Old Road, since renamed Claremont Avenue. The map from 1857 labels the property James Howe, while the 1865 map shows that Henry Howe had taken ownership of the property. The Howe family would have been able to look out their front door at the Newark and Pompton Turnpike, a critical facet in the development of early Montclair, then called Cranetown. We now know the Newark and Pompton Turnpike as Bloomfield Avenue. These maps indicate that the property stayed in the Howe family for multiple generations.
The Census
These detailed sections of the 1840 and 1850 census provide information about the James Howe family and the neighbors. James Howe’s name appears at the bottom of the 1840 detail. The 1840 census counts four “Free Persons of Color” living at the property owned by James Howe, two adults and two children. The 1850 census shares a bit more information. This detail lists James Howe as a laborer who suffers from blindness. He lives with Susan Howe. He is 64 years old and Susan is 63. The two children appear to have moved out by 1850. Above James and Susan Howe, the 1850 census lists another free black family, Francis and Mary Oliver, living next door with three children. The census forms indicate the emergence of a black neighborhood in Montclair, evidence backed up by the narrative in Edwin Goodell’s book, Montclair, The Evolution of a Suburban Town.