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

Dedication - Elizabeth (Bemis) Mower

As I start this journey, I can think of many ancestors that I could dedicate the blog to, but one particular person comes to mind.  It's funny how in the course of researching family history, you sometimes seem to make a stronger connection to certain ancestors than to others, often not for any particular rational reason, and for me it seems to be always be a grandmother (perhaps indicating a need for therapy on my part).  On my maternal side, it's my 3rd-great-grandmother, Ann Maidstone (Hillman) Grant, mother of 23 children according to family lore, of which 16 survived to adulthood).  On my paternal side, Betsey (Gibbs) Vickery, one of my 2nd-great-grandmothers, is my go-to favorite as I have her photograph and she just looks like a sweet, kind, loving person.  So for the Mower line, even though she is a Mower by marriage, I'm going to have to pick my 5th great-grandmother, Elizabeth (Bemis) Mower, as the person I will dedicate this blog to.  The Mowers loved marrying women named Elizabeth, she is one of my 5 grandmother Mowers with that name.

Gravestone of Elizabeth (Bemis) Mower,

Elizabeth Bemis was reportedly born in Spencer, Massachusetts, about 1735, the 7th of 8 children born to Samuel and Sarah (Barnard) Bemis.  She comes from strong colonial stock.  Her father was the second settler of Spencer, purchasing 400 acres of woodland and began the process of clearing timber before moving his family to their new home.  William, their third child, was the first to be born after the move.  Sarah, fearing the Indians that lived in the area and frequently made their presence known, removed herself to Sudbury near the end of her pregnancy and when her baby was two weeks old returned home on horseback covering a distance of 50 miles through wilderness in one day, carrying little William in her arms.

Like many women of this period, not a lot is known of their lives, but we can acknowledge the large contribution they made to their families, let alone birthing numerous children.  Elizabeth married Jonathan Mower, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Sprague) Mower on 10 Jul 1755 in Spencer.  Jonathan and Elizabeth settled in Charlton, Massachusetts.  Together, they had 10 children, all born in Charlton:

1. Elisabeth, b. 7 May 1756, d. 15 Jan 1784 in Charlton.
2. Jonathan, b. 25 Oct 1757
3. John, b. 26 Mar 1759
4. Samuel, b. 17 May 1761
5. Abigail, b. 26 Mar 1763
6. Sarah, b. 14 Feb 1765
7. William, b. 16 Mar 1767
8. Ebenezer, b. 23 May 1769
9. Marshall, b. 1 Sep 1773
10. Jemima, b. 25 Oct 1777

Elizabeth (Bemis) Mower departed this life on 1 Mar 1802 in Charlton, Massachusetts.  She is buried there in a beautiful spot - Northside Cemetery, where her grave is marked with an old slate gravestone on which is inscribed "In Memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Mower, wife of Mr. Jonathan Mower, deceased March 1st, 1802, Aged 67 Years and 2 Months."

After his wife's death, Jonathan moved north to Greene, Maine, where several of his children had already relocated.  It is through this couple that the majority of the Mowers found in Maine are descended.  So for that, we dedicate this blog to the woman who literally gave birth to this branch of the family.
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Sources:

• 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.
• Draper, Thomas Waln-Morgan. The Bemis History and Genealogy: Being An Account In Greater Part Of The Descendants of Joseph Bemis of Watertown, Mass.. San Francisco, California: The Stanley-Taylor Co., Printers, 1900.
• 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.