"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.

Neighborly Uncle Marshall Mower

One of the Mower clan that I've always had an affinity for is my 4th great granduncle, Marshall Mower.  I think it is because we share the same birthday, September 1st.  And he piqued my interest long before I discovered the story which appears a little later in this post.

Gravestone of Marshall & Charity Mower

Marshall Mower was born 01 Sep 1773 in Charlton, Massachusetts, the 9th of 10 children born to Jonathan and Elizabeth (Bemis) Mower.  Family historian Walter Lindley Mower described him as "a man of commanding presence, tall, erect, of large physique and attractive features, and an excellent bass singer."  On 1 Jul 1790, Marshall married Charity Curtis.  She was the daughter of Rev. Caleb Curtis, the first settled minister in Charlton and his wife, Charity Combs, having been born 04 Sep 1773 in Charlton.  Marshall and Charity Mower raised a large family.

Around 1802 Marshall, along with his wife, their 4 children, and his father, followed his older brothers and moved from Charlton to Greene, Maine, where they settled in the center part of that town, on a grant from his father.  About 11 years later, Marshall and his family again packed and moved by ox team once again, this time to Calais, Vermont, where he lived out the remainder of his life.

Marshall died 19 Jan 1831 at the age of 57.  His wife survived him, dying on 31 Oct 1843 at the age of 70.  They are both interred in Robinson Cemetery in Calais, Vermont.  Patti and I made the trip to visit his grave site back in 2014.  It was an emotional moment to stand at this grave.  He is laid to rest in a beautiful and well maintained little cemetery on a very out of the way back road.

Marshall and Charity (Curtis) Mower had 14 children:

1. Lucy, b. 4 Nov 1790
2. Mary, b. 2 Jun 1792
3. Nancy, b. 5 Jan 1795
4. John, b. 6 Jun 1797, d. in infancy.
5. Sophia, b. 6 Jun 1797, d. in infancy. 
6. Laura, b. 31 Oct 1799, d. 25 Aug 1802.
7. Curtis, b. 26 Oct 1801
8. John Russell, b. 8 Mar 1803
9. Alfred, b. 7 Nov 1804
10. Nelson, b. 14 Oct 1806
11. Cyrus, b. 22 Sep 1809
12. Elizabeth, b. probably 1811, d. 22 Nov. 1813.
13. Eleanor, b. 16 Oct 1813, d. 29 Aug 1816.
14. Cynthia, b. 11 Apr 1815

Now, for the interesting folklore associated with Uncle Marshall.  According to a 1996 article in the Newsletter of the Androscoggin Historical Society, it appears that Marshall was up to the task of being a good neighbor back in 1807.  As told by Mrs. John Burbank Hooper of Greene in 1882, that one set of neighbors to Marshall Mower was the town physician, Dr. Ammi Ruhamah Cutter and his wife, Deborah nee Curtis (and no, I have not determined if she is related to Marshall's wife, Charity Curtis).  Dr. Cutter was a highly regarded member of the town, "beloved and esteemed by all."  I'll add that apparently, Mrs. Deborah Cutter was quite a beauty.  Anyway, unfortunately, the couple had not been able to conceive allegedly due to the impotency of Dr. Cutter.  The couple very much wanted to have a family. So it was agreed that Marshall Mower would assist Mrs. Cutter with conceiving a child by having sexual intercourse with her (Marshall having proved his ability to father numerous children with his wife).  For services rendered, Dr. Cutter would give Marshall a cow.  The deed was done and John Loring Cutter was born on 19 Jun 1807.  Evidently, all were well satisfied with the transaction, as they repeated it, an act resulting in the birth of William Cutter on 24 Sep 1813.  The births of both children are recorded in the vital records of the Town of Greene, both shown as the children of Dr. Ammi Cutter and his wife Deborah.  However, according to Mrs. Hooper, Dr. and Mrs. Cutter have admitted that Marshall Mower is the father of the two children.  Interesting also is that Walter L. Mower in his "History of Greene" has a brief narrative about Dr. Cutter, but makes no mention of the Cutter children.

Now I'm not sure if the repercussions of these "transactions" hastened the move of Marshall Mower and his family out of Greene, but that did take place around the time of William Cutter's birth.

An interesting footnote to this story is that both of the Cutter boys seem to have moved to Bangor, Maine.  I recently located the grave site of William Cutter.  He is interred in Mount Hope Cemetery here in Bangor, Maine, in a lot right across from the Superintendent's office. More research needs to be done on their families.

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

• "Dr. Ammi R. Cutter's Children." Androscoggin History, Newsletter of the Androscoggin Historical Society, 17 (2/1996).
• Robinson Cemetery (Robinson Cemetery Road, Calais, Vermont). Gravestone.
• Mower, Walter L. Mower Family History: A Genealogical Record of the Maine Branch of This Family together with Other Branches of the Family Tree. Portland, Maine: The Southworth Press, 1923.
• 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.
• Systemic History Fund. Vital Records of Charlton, Massachusetts, To the end of the year 1849. Worcester, Massachusetts: Franklin P. Rice, Trustee of the Fund, 1905.
• FamilySearch. "Records of births, deaths, marriages and marriage intentions, 1755-1925 (Greene, Maine)." Database with digital images. FamilySearch. www.familysearch.org