Oren Mower, A Vickery Connection

It is only a couple generations back in time where my Mower line merges with the Vickery family, thanks to my grandparents, George Richardson Mower and Harriet Elizabeth Vickery, who were married on 27 October 1928.  But as it turns out, this wasn't the first time these two families celebrated a marriage together - as my grandfather's great-uncle had married my grandmother's great-aunt almost 87 years before.

Martin Mower Family Monument,

Maple Grove Cemetery

Bangor, Maine

Oren Mower was born on 23 April 1817 in New Vineyard, Maine, the second of thirteen children born to Martin and Mary (Underhill) Mower.  He died at the young age of 26 on 3 October 1843.  He was a farmer, but not much is known of his life beyond that.  During his short life, he did not leave much of a paper trail, his life pretty much memorialized only in the dates etched on the Mower family monument in Maple Grove Cemetery, just down the road from the Mower homestead, in Bangor.

We do know that Oren married Lydia B. Vickery on 22 December 1841 in Bangor, united in matrimony by Rev. John Maltby of the Hammond Street Congregational Church.  Lydia Vickery had been born in Thorndike, Maine, on 9 January 1816, the ninth of ten children born to Jonathan and Ruhamah (Gould) Vickery.  The Vickery family later settled in Glenburn, Maine.  Oren and Lydia had one child, Oren Mower Jr., who was born on 22 March 1843.

A death record has not been located for Oren Mower.  He may have died in either Bangor or Glenburn, of what cause, we just don't know.

Lydia remarried on 25 June 1849 in Bangor.  Rev. Maltby joined her in marriage to James Conner, an Irish immigrant.  James was a farmer, owning 42 acres of land in 1870.  James and Lydia had at least one child, Charles, in 1854.  Lydia died in Bangor at the age of 51 on 1 February 1867.  Her gravesite has not been located.

Line of Descent:  1-Richard Mower, 2-Samuel Mower, 3-Samuel Mower, 4-Jonathan Mower, 5-John Mower, 6-Martin Mower
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Sources available upon reques

Samuel Mower, Patriot

Samuel Mower (my fourth great granduncle) was born 17 May 1761, in Charlton, Massachusetts.  He was the fourth of ten children born to Jonathan and Elizabeth (Bemis) Mower.

In Aug 1777, at the age of 16, Samuel enlisted to fight in the "war of the revolution," joining the Company of Capt. Abijah Lamb in Col. Cushing's Regiment, for a period of 4 months.  He marched to Bennington, Vermont, arriving there a few days after the Battle of Bennington (16 Aug 1777).  The Company then marched to Manchester, Vermont, before continuing on to the American camp at Stillwater, New York.  Samuel Mower was at the Battles of Saratoga (19 Sep1777 and 7 Oct 1777) when British General John Burgoyne was captured, and he witnessed the General surrendering his sword.  The Company next marched to Albany, and thereafter Samuel was discharged about mid-December in the vicinity of New York City, having fulfilled his enlistment term.  At the beginning of Apr 1778, Samuel enlisted again as a private for a period of nine months in Capt. Samuel Lamb's Company, Col. Nathaniel Wade's Regiment of the Massachusetts line.  He served his term and was honorably and verbally discharged near Greenwich, Rhode Island, on 1 Jan 1779.  He subsequently re-enlisted for a third term, this time for three months, to serve under Capt. Clark, stationed for much of that time in Rhode Island, where he again was verbally discharged at the end of his enlistment term.  His final enlistment was in Aug 1779, when for a period of two months he enlisted in Capt. Abijah Lamb's Company, Col. Davis' Regiment, marching again to Rhode Island.  His final discharge occurring after 5-6 weeks of service in this Company; Samuel having served a total of 16 months and 6 weeks fighting for the Patriotic cause.

After the war, Samuel moved to Oxford, New Hampshire, where he plied the trades of stone cutter and blacksmith.  Of note, according to the Mower Family History, Samuel furnished some of the granite that was used in the construction of Dartmouth College buildings.  About 1781, he married Deidama Morey of Oxford.  She was the daughter of Ephraim and Abigail (Daniels) Morey, born 20 Jul 1762.  They must have returned to Charlton, Massachusetts, as the births of their first two children are recorded there.  They then moved to Greene, Maine, joining Samuel's older brothers who had already journeyed north.  There he continued to carry out his trade as a blacksmith, reportedly being a fine workman, as well as raise a large family.  Physically, Walter Mower states in the Mower Family History that Samuel was a man of only medium height, thick set and very muscular.

Samuel and Deidama had 11 children, all but the first two born in Greene, Maine:

1. Sally, b. 10 Aug 1782
2. Lewis, b. 2 Jun 1784
3. Ruth, b. 28 Apr 1786
4. Deidama, b. 13 May 1788
5. Samuel, b. 10 Sep 1790
6. Luther, b. 6 Jul 1793
7. William, b. 22 Nov 1795
8. Pamelia, b. 22 Oct 1797
9. Mary, b. 28 Oct 1799
10. Temperance, b. 5 Dec 1803
11. Laura, b. 24 May 1805

In May 1818, Samuel applied to the Secretary of the Department of War of the United States for a military pension for his Revolutionary service.  Sadly, the application indicates that he has reduced circumstances and is in need of the assistance of his country for support.  In certifying his service, his older brothers add that Samuel's circumstances are "low by reason of a son who is now twenty two years old which is a non-compos person which has & now does cause him great expense."  This would be a reference to William, who as a child had a severe epileptic episode that left him in a demented condition that he never recovered from.  The cover of this pension file indicates it was rejected as Wade's Regiment was not a "Continental Establishment."  He did subsequently apply for a pension under the Revolutionary Claim Act of June 7, 1832, for which he was awarded an annual pension of $57.19.

Deidama died in Greene on 23 Mar 1826.  William married Mrs. Hannah (Johnson) Lord, the widow of John Lord of Gardiner, Maine, on 10 Nov 1826.  Samuel died on 21 May 1847 in Greene, Maine, and is buried in Old Valley Cemetery next to his first wife.  Hannah survived him, dying in Oct 1850.

Line of descent:  1-Richard Mower, 2-Samuel Mower, 3-Samuel Mower, 4-Jonathan Mower

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Sources available upon request.

Eugene Adelbert Mower

Eugene Adelbert Mower at age 34

Eugene Adelbert Mower, my great grand-uncle, has been sort of an enigma.  He’s the one child of George and Lizzie (Eastman) Mower that left the hometown of Bangor, Maine, and headed west to find his fortunes.  He surely could have relocated to Minnesota where a few aunts and uncles had migrated to, but he passed that by and resettled in California.  I’m not sure what the pull was, but it may just have been a spirit of adventure.

Eugene was born on 10 Jun 1862, the second of 7 children.  His older brother, Charles Martin Mower, lived only 3 months, so Eugene fulfilled the role of the eldest child.  He grew up on the family farm on the Pushaw Road in Bangor, Maine, the homestead established by his grandfather, Martin.  He attended public schools in Bangor and we find him in the 1880 census working as a driver for a team at the age of 17.   He then attended the Eastern State Normal School in Castine, Maine, where he graduated in 1882.

After graduating, Eugene’s employment bounces around a little bit while he was apparently trying to figure out life.  He taught school for a year, but then returned home to the farm where he labored for a couple years.  It was in 1885 when Eugene felt the pull of the west and moved to San Francisco.  His first job there was working in a wholesale produce commission house, William H. Rouse and Company.  In 1889, he accepted a new position as Superintendent of the California Fruit and Wine Land Company, located in Reedley, California.  After serving in that capacity for a few years, he tried his luck at mining in Tuolumne County. 

Classified Ad - The Herald (Los Angeles), 17 Jan 1895, p. 8.

He then finally settled in Fresno, where on 10 Jan 1899, County Auditor Horace E. Barnum appointed Eugene as his deputy.  He worked as Deputy County Auditor for the remainder of his career life, with a couple leaves for serving as County Expert for a couple years and a short stint as Deputy County Treasurer.   

While living in Fresno, Eugene boarded in the Barnum home.

Horace Barnum passed away in 1914.  His son, Charles Barnum, succeeded him in the position of County Auditor and Eugene continued working in the office as Chief Deputy.  Eugene obviously had developed a close relationship with the Barnum family and on 11 Nov 1915 married his late boss’s widow, Mary E. (Dearing) Barnum.  They had no children.

Eugene died on 10 Sep 1927 at the age of 65.  The cause of death according to his death certificate is arteriosclerosis of coronary arteries.  He is buried in an unmarked grave in Mountain View Cemetery in Fresno, California.  His widow passed away on 15 May 1954 and is buried with her first husband in the same cemetery.

Line of descent: 1-Richard Mower, 2-Samuel Mower, 3-Samuel Mower, 4-Jonathan Mower, 5-John Mower, 6-Martin Mower, 7-George Mower

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Sources: 

• Ancestry.com. Find-A-Grave. Database with digital images. www.findagrave.com : 2008.
• California. Fresno. Fresno Morning Republican. 11 January 1899.
• California. San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle. 16 November 1915.  
• County of Fresno. Bureau of Vital Statistics. California State Board of Health. Death certificate.
• United States. California. Fresno County. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com : 2017.
• United States. California. Fresno County. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com : 2017.
• United States. Maine. Penobscot County. 1870 U.S. Census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com : 2017.
• United States. Penobscot County. 1880 U.S. Census, population schedule. Digital images. Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com : 2017.
• Vandor, Paul E.. History of Fresno County, California: with Biographical Sketches of the leading men and women of the County who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present. Los Angeles, California: Historic Record Company, 1919. Digital images. Google Books. books.google.com : 2017.
  

Matthew Paige Damon, actor

This will be a short post about one of my favorite actors - Matt Damon.  It would be a tad crazy to give a summary of his life and accomplishments, just about everything you need to know is on Wikipedia.

Miguel Angel Azua Garcia [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Having recently downloaded the We're Related app by Ancestry, I was not surprised that one of the first notable kin that it presented was Jason Bourne, aka Matt Damon.  I had once before connected him in and knew he was related, but had forgotten how.  I revisited the connection as proposed by the app and found it to be accurate.  So yes, Matt Damon is a fellow Mower descendant, coming in as my 7th cousin once removed.  Our common set of ancestors being Samuel and Elizabeth (Sprague) Mower of Malden, Massachusetts.  I descend from their youngest child, Jonathan (the patriarch of the Maine branch); whereas Matt descends from their eldest child, Elizabeth, who married Jonathan Lynde, settling in Athol, Massachusetts for several generations.


Line of descent: 1-Richard Mower, 2-Samuel Mower, 3-Samuel Mower, 4-Elizabeth (Mower) Lynde, 5-Lydia (Lynde) Smith, 6-Luther Smith, 7-Lynds Smith, 8-Altemirah (Smith) Fay, 9-Clarence Farwell Fay, 10-Roberta M. (Fay) Damon, 11-Kent Telfer Damonn
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Sources

• Systematic History Fund. Vital Records of Athol, Massachusetts, To the end of year 1849. Worcester, Massachusetts: Franklin P. Rice, Trustee of the Fund, 1910.
• Rice, Franklin P. Worcester Births, Marriages and Deaths. Worcester, Massachusetts: The Worcester Society of Antiquity, 1894.
•  Telegraph, The, Nashua, New Hampshire, GenealogyBank.com: accessed 13 November 2016) Roberta F Or Fay Damon obituary
• Ancestry.com, Find-A-Grave, database with digital images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 13 November 2016)

Fred Lincoln Mower, candyman

Durkee Mower Inc. Marshmallow Fluff

One of the food staples of my youth is the iconic fluffernutter© - that sandwich containing a layer of peanut butter and a layer of soft gooey Marshmallow Fluff©.  It was the most frequent choice for brown bagging lunch in elementary school.  Being a tad weird, I also had a peculiar taste for a Marshmallow Fluff and grape jelly sandwich as well.  Little did I know back then that there was a family connection to the yummy Fluff.  But a look at the packaging will show it is manufactured by Durkee-Mower, Inc. - a company founded nearly 100 years ago by H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower, friends who had served together in the 101st Supply Company of the Yankee Division during World War I.

Frederick Lincoln Mower (my seventh cousin twice removed - we have to go all the way back to the immigrant ancestor Richard Mower to connect) was born 03 November 1897 in Lynn, Massachusetts, the eldest of two children born to Frank Henry and Hattie Lincoln (Skinner) Mower.  Fred graduated from Swampscott High School and served in World War I. 

After his military service in the war, Fred returned to Lynn, Massachusetts, and along with Allen Durkee, began making hard candies, cooking at night and selling door-to-door during the day.  In 1920, the two officially formed Durkee-Mower, Inc., with H. Allen Durkee assuming the mantle of President and Fred Mower serving as Secretary-Treasurer.  At about the same time they purchased the recipe for their flagship product, Marshmallow Fluff - at a price of $500 - to help diversify their sales.  The concoction had been developed by Archibald Query of Somerville, Massachusetts.  He had had moderate success selling the product, but with war rationing making sugar scarce, Query sold the name and formula to the new company.  So with $1000 they had borrowed and one pound of sugar, the company started the manufacture of Fluff in a rented kitchen over a bowling alley.  Durkee-Mower made their first sale of Marshmallow Fluff (under the name Toot Sweet Marshmallow Fluff) in 1920.  In addition to Fluff, the company also dabbled in instant hot chocolate, but it's Fluff that remained the backbone of the company.

Fred married Gladys May Jenkins, and they had one daughter, Joyce.  Among the organizations that Fred was involved with was the Boys Club of Lynn where he diligently worked to raise funds to build a gymnasium.  In recognition, he received an award for outstanding service to youth from Boys Club of America in 1955. Fred was also a Mason, belonging to Wayfarer's Lodge in Lynn.

Fred died on 4 August 1957 in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and is buried in the Swampscott Cemetery in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

Make sure to take a minute to check out the Marshmallow Fluff Whoopie Pie Recipes here.

Line of descent: 1-Richard Mower, 2-John Mower, 3-Richard Mower, 4-John Mower, 5-John Mower, 6-John Mower, 7-Samuel Carter Mower, 8-Frank Henry Mower
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Sources

•  "History of Marshmallow Fluff (https://www.marshmallowfluff.com/history-of-marshmallow-fluff/)
• "F. L. Mower, Swampscott, Dead in N.H.," Boston Herald, Boston, Massachusetts, 6 August 1957; GenealogyBank.com (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 23 October 2016), Newspaper Archives..
• "Swampsoctt's Sweet Past." Swampscott Patch (http://patch.com/massachusetts/swampscott/swampscott-fluff : accessed 23 October 2016.
•  Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. 
• Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Mason Membership Cards, 1733-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. 
• Ancestry.com, Find-A-Grave, database with digital images (www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 October 2016), Fred Lincoln Mower (Memorial #153899028).

Martin Mower Richardson, tenor

If you were to browse through Walter L. Mower's family history, one trait that appears often among the Mower clan is musical ability.  Admittedly it is not an attribute I inherited - I recall my grandmother Mower saying more than once that what I lacked for in ability, I made up for in volume.  But given that several Mowers were musical, imagine what would happen if two descending lines of the family intersected, perhaps we'd end up with a world-renowned opera singer in the family.  Well, that is just what happened.  In 1872,  William Henry Richardson, a grandson of Martin & Mary (Underhill) Mower through their daughter Emily, married Mary Mower, a granddaughter of Martin & Mary (Underhill) Mower through their son, John Edwards Mower.  Yes, indeed, first cousins.  They had three children, the youngest of which was born 21 Feb 1883 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He was appropriately named Martin Mower Richardson.

Martin Mower Richardson

Starting his singing career young, Martin was singing in his school choir in St. Paul at the age of 10, a choir that was under the direction of E. Oberhoffer who went on to be the conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.  In a St. Paul newspaper, specific mention was made of Martin, reporting that "particularly noticeable was that [voice] of Martin Richardson, whose tenor was remarkable for so young a voice."  After high school, he pursued his music education in St. Paul and New York.  He began his career as a vocal teacher at the private Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania during 1910-11, but then moved to Europe to further his own education, studying under the eminent Maestro Vincenzo Lombardi.  During 1912-1914, Martin performed throughout Italy, as well as Paris and London.  On May 31, 1914, he made his operatic debut as Ernesto in "Don Pasquale" at the Royal Opera in Florence, Italy.  He returned to the States during the last half of 1914 having been engaged for the Boston Opera, a venture which failed upon his return. Martin sang in St. Margaret's Episcopal Church and other churches in the New York City area.  He gave numerous concerts and recitals in New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., performing at both famous concert venues and at private balls and social events.  A search of period newspapers on the east coast have countless references to appearances. He also was a popular private vocal instructor.  Martin toured Maine in 1916 (giving one pause to ponder whether any of his Mower cousins attended his concerts).  He then set out during 1917-18, touring the western states.  Martin was a recurrent performer for several seasons at Lake Mohonk Mountain House, an elite summer resort in New York.  While in Washington, D.C., he performed for many American and foreign diplomats.  In 1922, Martin attended a reception at the White House (President Warren Harding being in office). Martin also lived in Cleveland, Ohio, for a time during his later years.

One review which appeared in The Washington Times on 12 December 1919, reports that "his voice is full and vibrant and even, but he is inclined to "spend" it too much, pouring out its full volume overmuch and making his songs of the same dramatic caliber as the arias.  So excellent an organ should be somewhat conserved and would be rendered thereby more artistic.  In soft work Mr. Richardson has a smooth and suave quality of very lovely town, that has a violin timbre in it of appeal and color."

Of personal note, we learn from his passport application that Martin Richardson was 5'9" tall, with black hair, brown eyes and an aquiline nose.  On 19 May 1923, he married Mary Margaret Negley in Manhattan, New York.  The couple had no children.  Martin died in Ohio on 17 March 1950. 

A special thank you to cousin Vivien Richardson Gorski for bringing Martin Mower Richardson to my attention.

Line of descent A: 1-Richard Mower, 2-Samuel Mower, 3-Samuel Mower, 4-Jonathan Mower, 5-John Mower, 6-Martin Mower, 7-Emily (Mower) Richardson, 8-William Henry Richardson

Line of descent B: 1-Richard Mower, 2-Samuel Mower, 3-Samuel Mower, 4-Jonathan Mower, 5-John Mower, 6-Martin Mower, 7-John Edwards Mower, 8-Mary (Mower) Richardson
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Sources

•  "U.S. Passport Applications 1795-1925 [database online]." Digital image. Ancestry.com, Ancestry. www.ancestry.com : 2007.
• Saerchinger, Cesar, editor. International Who's Who in Music and Musical Gazeteer: A Comtemporary Biographical Dictionary and a Record of the World's Musical Activity. .New York, New York: Current Literature Publishing Company, 1918.
• The Musical Monitor. Oct. 1920, p. 24.  books.google.com.
• "Martin Richardson Pleases in Recital." The Washington Times, Washington, D.C. 12/12/1919, p. 3, col. 4. 
• "Martin Richardson." The Washington Times, Washington, D.C. 02/09/1922, p. 8, col. 5
• "High School Operetta." The St. Paul Daily Globe. 5/17/1902.
• Gorski, Vivien Richardson.  Richardson Family Tree.  Ancestry.com.  Accessed 10/03/2016.

"Aunt" Delinda Ann Jackson

Teaching is a profession that often appears throughout the Mower family.  For one cousin (second cousin three times removed to be exact), Delinda Ann Jackson, education was her life and her passion.

Delinda, the eldest of four children born to Joseph and Betsey Edwards (Mower) Jackson, was born on 16 January 1831 in Greene, Maine.  She never married, and lived to the age of 88, dying of apoplexy on 15 November 1919 in Lewiston, Maine.  She was in very good health for the majority of her life, suffering three shocks in the fall of 1919, after which her health failed rapidly.  Delinda is buried in the Jackson family plot in Old Valley Cemetery in Greene, Maine.

Delinda began her teaching career at the age of 16, tackling a class of 12 pupils at the school in the so-called Berry district of Greene.  She recollects that she "was small of her age and must have been child-like in appearance."  In this era, each school district hired its own teachers, often taking family connections into account.  It was commonplace for young women to gain these positions for the summer term, whereas men were typically hired for the winter term as discipline would be more challenging -boys, who had been working in the fields during the summer, would attend the winter term.  This worked well for Delinda as she would teach summers and continue her own education in the winter, attending Lewiston High School and Kent's Hill Seminary.

Once started, she decided that she "preferred teaching to house work and stuck to the profession."  Her second teaching term was at the Lane school in Greene where she managed a larger class size, 30 students.  She also taught various terms in neighboring towns - Lewiston, Auburn, Livermore, Readfield.  However it was at the Jackson School in Lewiston (a school named after her father's family) where she spent over 40 years.  Well loved by her students, she was affectionately known as "Aunt."  In total, Delinda taught over 100 terms during her career, remaining interested and involved with education in the community until the end of her life.  She retired in 1895, thereafter assuming the position of Postmaster of Greene Corner until 1900.

Aside from her career, Delinda was very active and led a busy social life.  Religion played an important role in Delinda's life.  She was  a member of the United Baptist Church in Greene and was also very passionately involved in the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union.  She was also a member of the Androscoggin Grange #8.

Line of descent: 1-Richard Mower, 2-Samuel Mower, 3-Samuel Mower, 4-Jonathan Mower, 5-John Mower, 6-John Mower, 7-Betsey Edwards Mower
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Sources

• "Maine Death Records 1617-1922 [database online]." Digital image. Ancestry.com, Ancestry. www.ancestry.com : 2016.
• Mower, Walter Lindley, compiler. Sesquicentennial History of the the Town of Greene, Androscoggin County, Maine 1775 to 1900. 1938. Reprint, Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, n.d.
• "Jackson School Grad.: Class of three Receives Diplomas 'Aunt' Delinda Jackson a Guest." The Lewiston Daily Sun, Lewiston, Maine. 6/28/1918.
• "Veteran Teacher Dies in Lewiston." The Lewiston Daily Sun, Lewiston, Maine. 11/17/1919.
• Old Valley Cemetery (Route 202, Greene, Maine). Gravestone.