MAY 1997 NEWSLETTER
I received a letter rather unexpectedly from Donald MOWRY who lives in Indiana. He believes he is a descendant of Hans Philip MAURER who immigrated with our Johann Michael MAURER in 1738. He has identified some of Philip's children and knows some of his history, including where he settled after arriving in America. Here are some of the letters that passed between us and on to Trudy who is taking these clues and researching them.
Donald K. Mowry 426 West State Blvd. Fort Wayne, Indiana 46808
Dear Donald: What a surprise to receive your letter. You are really going to like what I have to tell you. I have a very large database of the Bedford County Mowry family, and I have also traced the origins of Michael MAURER and his cousin Hans Philip MAURER back into Germany. We have located the village of their origins in Germany and we sent a researcher over there last May to research the original records on site which were not available (hadn't been microfilmed) by the L.D.S. Church. The result was she has traced the family back to the 1500's to the earliest known MAURER family members!
The above mentioned association which is an association of about 100 Mower families. We have pooled our resources and for the last 8 years have intensively studied the Mower family. We have spent thousands of hours researching the Bedford County Mower family and have a lot of information on them. We have also hired a researcher who has helped us with the German records of the family. She is the one we flew to Germany last May for 2 weeks to research for us. I will include a copy of her report for you to read.
Summary: Trudy's trip to Germany was very successful for our family for the Maurer research alone. She has added 4 generations to Michael Maurer's pedigree for us by searching the land and tax records of Goggenbach. She has also search all available records for Goggenbach, which are not microfilmed. This trip was valuable because it was the only way of knowing that the Jungholzhausen Maurer family we have identified in other records (which were microfilmed) are our Maurer family. Our Maurer family moved from Jungholzhausen to Goggenbach according to the land records. When the Goggenbach church records burned in 1741 we thought this meant a dead end genealogically speaking. The trip to Europe was the only way to learn the truth and lead us on to new searches. We are still researching the Maurer family now with new clues because of this trip.
Well, Donald--- that is all of the research she has performed for us. I can send you lineages and family group sheets, but it would be easier to send you a file if you have a computer you could import it into a file and see what I have. I would like to receive from you these things if you would send them: 1. A family group sheet from Hans Philip MAURER and family group sheets for all of his children as you have them. 2. A copy of the research documentation you have on him in Lancaster Co., Pa 3. Why you think you have his children identified, and grandchildren (documentation).
Let me tell you why I think you may be right on John MOWRY. As I traced the MAURER family when they left Bucks County, Pa (where Johann Michael MAURER settled), I found they went to Loudoun Co., Va (right next to Washington Co., and Frederick Co., MD. I found my ancestor, Andrew MAURER there, but others that I could not identify--- like Peter MAURER, Adam MAURER, Samuel MAURER, etc. I thought that these must be relatives as they moved with my MAURER branch of the family.
Then the whole family moves up into Bedford Co., Pa and up shows a whole branch of different MAURER families which I can not connect into my line. Undoubtedly they were relatives, but I could not connect them. This line developed into the MOWRY line which still lives there today. Having a gut feeling that these were my line too someway, I researched them and have quit e an extensive genealogy on them. If you can connect them to Hans Philip MAURER, everything makes sense because I know that Hans Philip and my ancestor, Johann Michael were related and came together from Germany in 1738! That ties the families together. Germany families moved together and stuck together in America and that explains a lot to me.
My branch of the family, comes from Johann Michael MAURER through his son, Andrew MAURER, through his son, Michael MOWER, to Henry MOWER Sr., to Henry MOWER Jr., to John Lisbon MOWER, to Win MOWER, to Thomas MOWER (my dad) to me.
Henry MOWER Sr. joined the LDS Church in Bedford Co., Pa in 1836 and moved west. Not all of his family joined the Church. Some stayed in Bedford Co., and some moved into Ohio. A very close relative is Samuel MOWER (MAURER), who bought property when my Andrew MOWER's estate was sold in Bedford, Pa. This Samuel had about 12 children and subsequently moved from the state--- to Ohio I believe. I think I have a lot of that family identified, but in name only.
I will send you a copy of what I can and hope that you can send me some things also. Between the two of us we can probably put a lot of the missing pieces together. I will convert some of my files to text files and send them on the same disk so that you can read some of the research notes we have done. Thanks for writing. Jerry Mower
I then wrote Trudy:
Dear Trudy: Well, you did it again. In your last letter you stated that the MAURER research is closed. I have news for you, every time you write that, the Lord sends more clues.
I received a letter from a Donald K. MOWRY who lives in Indiana. He believes he is a descendant from Hans Philip MAURER who came on the same ship as Johann Michael MAURER in 1738.
He believes the line of MOWRY families who lived in Bedford, Pennsylvania with my people descend from Hans Philip MAURER. I have researched the MOWRY families extensively, but never could connect them by lineage to my people, and now I know why--- especially if they came from Hans Philip.
Donald K. MOWRY stated in his letter to me that Hans Philip MAURER came to America in 1738 and settled in Lancaster Co., Pa. He said he had 7 sons: Mathias, Honsteter, Christian, John, Daniel and Abraham. The other son went to Maryland in the 1780's and his name was Nicholas and in 1790 Nicholas went to Franklin Co., Pa where he lived until after 1820.
Supposedly Honsteter MOWRER went to live in Maryland and had 5 sons and died in 1801. He believes that John MOWRY was one of those 5 sons who came to Bedford, Pa. I am not so sure of that, but I am interested in his claim that Hans Philip MAURER settled in Lancaster county, Pa.
Mathias MOWER went into the service and was never known what happened to him. Abraham fell off a roof and died at age 19. Christian went to Pittsburgh and married Margaret KLINGENSMITH and settled in Allegheny Co., Pa. John and Daniel stayed in Lancaster the southern part. Prior to 1800 Daniel moved to Chester Co., where he died in 1805 and John remained in Lancaster Co. until he died in 1810.
I would like you to check out the German records of Lancaster Co. and see if you can find Hans Philip MAURER and verify this man's information. I would like to trace Hans Philip if we can since we know his German origins and that he is our blood. I have written him for more information and will pass it on to you when I get it. I will send $800 to further research. This would be wonderful to tie this part of the family together. See Trudy, the Lord is not done with us yet on this MAURER line. Jerry and Tedi Jeen
Then I received more information from Donald and sent Trudy this letter:
Dear Trudy: I got a letter from Donald Mowry of Indiana with more documentation of Hans Philip MAURER. In his material he states his source of the children of Hans Philip as being a diary written in Jan. 1810 by Philip MOWRY, a grandson of Hans Philip MAURER which diary is in the Lancaster County Pennsylvania Historical Society. He also mentions a book written which has information about the MOWRY family: A History of the Mowry Family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1740-1940, Curry Thompson Co., Pittsburgh, Pa 1941.
He enclosed a sheet (I assume from another book he has) which is titled at the top of the sheet: The Mowrys Come to Western Pennsylvania. This sheet has the following clip: "We need a little of the history of western Pennsylvania here to understand why Christian Mowry came to be in Pittsburgh in 1769. It seems obvious to me, judging from family names, that Christian's father was Philip MOURE, or Hans Philip MAUERER, named in the passenger list of the ship, CHARMING NANCY, which landed in Philadelphia on November 9, 1738. He is believed to migrated from Newcastle, Delaware to the southern part of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The name Mowry is believed to have been derived from the German word Mauerer...."
Trudy, this is a great clue for us. If Hans Philip MAURER came to America with Johann Michael MAURER in 1738 and if Hans Philip settled for a little while near Newcastle, Delaware, then Johann Michael may have also settled there for a little while. We should check the German congregations of the Newcastle, Delaware area to see if Hans Philip or Johann Michael's marriage is listed there. We know that Johann Michael shows up in Bucks, Co., Pa in the mid-1740's, but he very well could have stayed a while with Hans Philip in Delaware and there met his wife, Anna Elisabetha KOLB. This should be checked out. I hired a lady about 4 years ago to check all the Michael MAURER references for Philadelphia, across the river, and she came up with no listings in those records for a Michael MAURER, but we did not check Delaware. I think this is a great clue.
We also should check to see if we can find references on the MAURER family in the book mentioned above or in the Delaware records in general. Donald Mowry states that Hans Philip died about 1757. There the family lived in Hempfield Township, six miles from Lancaster. Hope these things help. Jerry and TJ
We are now on the Internet with a Web Site thanks to Nathan Mower who has been building the site. The monthly newsletter is now on the site. Those of you with internet access, please e-mail me as we would like to eliminate sending you a newsletter through snail mail if you can access it for free on the net. All of the previous newsletters are on the site from 1990-1997. Family histories are on the site-- the history of Henry Mower Sr., Mary Amick, Henry Mower Jr., Susan Strong, Charles Geissinger, Winston Mower and others. If you want an ancestor's history on the site, send me the history typed up on a disk and the file saved as a text file. Nathan and I reserve the right to edit all material as to correctness--- that simply means if you send us a history showing the Mower line coming from the New Jersey Moor line, then we know you have not seen the research evidence which proves the Maurer line into Goggenbach, Germany. We will not put on old histories that are historically inaccurate. We are not saying that our histories are completely accurate either, but we need to disseminate as much of the correct lineage as we can. I would like many histories to get on the site, so please send us some histories. Our correct pedigree from Henry Mower Sr. on back is also on the site. Remember this is always subject to research and updating. We are still learning a lot about the family. A lot of my research files on Bedford, Pa are already on the site.
E-mail me for the address of the Web Site on the net. Thanks folks!