Born: November 7, 1758 Killingly, Windham, Connecticut
Died: November 10, 1824 Nelson, Portage, Ohio
Baptized: February 19, 1878
Endowed: February 20, 1878
Son of: John Howlett (Hulet) and Sarah Searles (Sealed to Parents: November 26, 1951 Idaho Falls Temple)
Married: Mary Lewis around 1786/1787 in Lee, Berkshire, Mass. (Sealed: September 1, 1944)
Sylvanus is described in his military record at age twenty as being five feet, ten inches tall and of a dark complexion. Sylvanus served in the Revolutionary War as a trusted scout in General Schuyler’s army, two terms in the Connecticut Militia, and as a soldier in two campaigns, one against Bourgone in 1777 and one against Benedict Arnold in 1780. Sylvanus married Mary Lewis about 1786. Mary was part Indian. Mary and Sylvanus had eight children. Sylvanus and brothers John and Samuel were partners in a blacksmith and wagon-making shop and in a mill on the edge of Lee Township. In 1813, Sylvanus’ brother Samuel died causing an upset in the three-brother partnership. After the death of Samuel in 1813 the partnership broke-up. As a Revolutionary war veteran, Sylvanus received one hundred and sixty acres in Portage County, Ohio. He moved his family there in 1814 and settled in Nelson Township. Connecticut had kept the Northeast corner of Ohio for her Revolutionary solders as the ‘Western Reserves.’ At one time Sylvanus owned 640 acres. He bought land in Ohio in 1814, moved to Nelson, and died there. On November 10, 1824 he died at Nelson and was buried in Abbot Cemetery at Nelson, Portage County, Ohio.
Submitted by Ginger D. Vandenburg, 2010