happy birthday george mower

On 13 May 1827, George was born to Martin and Mary (Underhill) Mower in Bath, Sagadahoc Co., Maine. This is according to the Mower Family History by Walter L. Mower. Proof of his birth in Bath would be most welcome. Inquiry made to that city resulted in a response that the records for that time period were a casualty of fire.

photo: george mower

My great-great-grandfather

George Mower

son of Martin and Mary (Underhill) Mower

b. 13 May 1827 in Bath, Sagadahoc Co., Maine

m. Elizabeth Eastman on 19 Nov 1856 in Corinth, Penobscot Co., Maine

d. 25 Jan 1880 in Bangor, Penobscot Co., Maine

buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, Pushaw Road, Bangor, Maine

1860 census entry for the mower farm

The Mower farm housed a small household in 1860. My great-great-grandparents, George and Elizabeth (Eastman) Mower had only been married for 3 years. One child had been born to the couple on 17 Nov 1857, a son they named Charles M.; however he had died as an infant on 23 Feb 1858.

1860 U.S. Federal Census for George Mower

SOURCE: 1860 U.S. Census, Penobscot County, Maine, population schedule, Bangor City, Ward 5, page 5, dwelling 29, family 29, George Mower household; digital image at Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/), accessed 1 Nov 2007; citing National Archives microfilm publication M653, roll 576.

[click here to view .pdf image of this census record]

According to this census, the value of the real estate at the time was $1500, with personal estate valued at $700. The census lists the following individuals:

George Mower, a male aged 33, a farmer, born in Maine.

Lizzie Mower, a female aged 27, born in Maine.

Ann Mariah Mower, a female aged 13, born in Maine. She had attended school within the year.

Alanson Annis, a male aged 20, born in Maine, with no occupation listed.

Ann was not a daughter of George and Lizzie, so who was she. It appears that she was a cousin to George. George's uncle, Calvin Mower, and his 2nd wife, Lydia Thompson, of Greene, Maine, had a daughter Ann Mariah born in 1849 (the last of his 11 children). However, Anna M., aged 11, is listed in the Calvin Mower household on the 1860 census for Greene. Possible duplication? The Bangor census is dated 4 Jun 1860, where the Greene one is dated 18 Jun 1860, although both should have listed individuals in the household as of the official census date. More digging will need to be done on this one, but not sure if a definitive answer will be discovered. Ann may have been in Bangor assisting in the house, it is interesting that in every census Lizzie has been in thus far she seems to have a "domestic" or "servant" girl listed.

Alanson, I am presuming to be a hired farm laborer.

My 3rd-great-grandfather, Martin Mower, who had lost his wife, Mary Underhill, in 1857, is absent in the Bangor, Maine, census for 1860. He can be found living in Minnesota on this census, with his 2nd wife - more on that later.

marriage notice: martin mower and polly underhill

There is no record of the marriage in Lewiston, but we do have the following announcement which appeared in the Eastern Argus to help document the marriage of my 3rd-Great-Grandparents. Note that this is the first place I saw my grandmother, whose name is Mary on her gravestone and in the Mower Family History, listed with the nickname of Polly.

MARRIED
In Lewiston, by Danl. Read, Esq. Mr. Martin Mower, of Greene, to Miss Polly Underhill, of the former place.

SOURCE: Mower/Underhill matrimony notice, Eastern Argus, Portland, Maine, 10 Nov 1814, volume XII, issue 582, page 3; digital image from America's Historical Newspapers, accessed through New England Historic Genealogical Society (http://www.newenglandancestors.org).

mower family record

Below is what I believe to be a copy of the Family Record from my 3rd-great-grandparents, Martin and Mary (Underhill) Mower.

Page 1

Marriage

Lewiston, October 20th AD 1814

2nd Stillwater Min, June 10th 1858

Martin Mower, Greene, b. June 1st, 1791, d. Aug 16, 1877

Mary Underhill, Chester NH, b. May 18th 1795, d. March 12th 1857

----

John E. Mower, N. Vineyard, b. Sept 27th 1815, d. June 11th 1879

Oren Mower, N. Vineyard, b. Aprill 23rd 1817, d. October 3d, 1842

Martin Mower, Starks, b. March 20th, 1818, d. June 1891

Emily Mower, Starks, B. Octo. 9th 1820, d. April 27, 1917

Seward P. Mower, Bath, b. Novm. 22d 1822, d. April 17th 1850

Horace Mower, Georgetown, b. March 22th 1825, d. Aug. 29th 1847

George Mower, Bath, b. May 18th 1827, d. May 23d, 1880

Wm. Henry, Belgrade, b. Aprill 30th 1829, d. Aug. 19th 1870

Mary Jane, Starks, b. Dec. 25th, 1830

______

Page 2

Children's Marriages

Oren Mower, Bangor Maine, Dec. 22th 1841

Emily Mower, Bangor Maine, April 13th 1842

John E. Mower, St. Louis, Mo.

Mary J. Mower, Bangor, Maine, April 30th 1849

Seward P. Mower, Bangor, Me.

William H. Mower, Boston, Mass., Augt. 15, 1854

George Mower, Ea. Corinth, Me., Nov. 19th 1856

SOURCE: Family Data, possibly Mower Family Bible, Photocopy in Possession of Family History Center, Bangor, Maine.