Half of the Pilgrims died by the end of the first winter. Howland lived with the Carver family The following spring, on an very warm day in April, Governor Carver was planting corn when he came out of a cornfield feeling ill and he soon died. Carver was much loved by the passengers. He was a wealthy man who very hard worked along with all of the pilgrims. Bradford wrote Carver had worked himself to death. After Carver's death, Howland became a freeman. This meant that he could own his own land and could vote in Plymouth affairs. Howland was given an acre for each member of the Carver household including himself and Elizabeth Tilley, Desire Minter, and a boy named William Latham.