Individual Details
Richard Mower
(Abt 1595 - 1 Jan 1668/69)
Events
| Birth | Abt 1595 | England |  | ||
| Marriage | Abt 1638 | Alice | |||
| Residence | By 1640 | Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts |  | | |
| Marriage | 6 Nov 1662 | Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts - Elizabeth Wildes | | ||
| Death | 1 Jan 1668/69 | Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts | | ||
| Will | 19 Nov 1688 | Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts | |||
| Bio Note | 2004 | a biographical sketch of Richard Mower was included in Early Lynn Families | | | |
| Bio Note | 2004 | the author of Early Lynn Families discussed Richard Mower's immigration | | |
Families
| Spouse | Alice (1620 - 1661) |
| Child | Samuel Mower (1642 - 1694) |
| Child | Thomas Mower (1648 - ) |
| Child | John Mower (1650 - 1694) |
| Child | Mary Mower (1661 - ) |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Wildes ( - ) |
Notes
Residence
In Alonzo Lewis's The History of Lynn, under the year 1640, he states that "many new inhabitants appear at Lynn about this time. The great tide of immigration ceased in 1641, and after that time not many came over." Lewis then enumerates several individuals. In a paragraph what begins "Other inhabitants were" we find Richard Mower listed.Bio Note
Richard Mower was born probably in England about 1615 and died at Lynn, 1 January 1688/9. He married (1) Alice or (Alce) (---), who died at Lynn 29 May 1661. Richard married (2) at Lynn, 6: 9m: 1662, Elizabeth Wildes, widow of William Wild. On 30 October 1662, Elizabeth made a prenuptial agreement with Richard Mower. He was to have her estate bequeathed to her by her deceased husband, William Wild, to make use of and to improve during their marriage, but she should have power to dispose of it at the time of her death. If Richard Mower should die before her, he engaged himself to leave her 40 pounds in addition to what she brought him. The first documented record of Richard Mower in Lynn is on 30: 10m: 1645, when he was named, with men of Lynn on a Jury of Trials. Richard Mower was a husbandman, or farmer, by occupation. On 30: 10m: 1647, he was named in the will of Richard Woodman of Lynn: The Will of Richard Woodman of the Towne of Lynn deceased as followeth Being spoken to by Nicholas Potter to make his will and being asked John Gillow to whom he would give his goods said that he would give 4 pounds to the Elders of Lynn, 40 shillings apiece and all the rest of his goods he would give to Joseph Redknap, Richard Moore, and to his master John Gillow. Witnesses: John Gillow and Richard Moore. Proved: 30: 10m: 1647 (Probate Records of Essex County, 1:91). On 26: 10: 1648, Richard Mower served on a Jury of Trials and on 25: 10: 1649 he served on a grand jury. In June of 1665, Richard More (aged about 50), testified in a case of a stray ox at the Iron Works. Also testifying were Oliver Purchis, Eliezer and Joshua Rhodes, John Burrill, William Wilson and John Collins. The will of John Gillow, written 20 February 1672, was inventoried, 19 March 1672/3, by John Fuller and Richard Moore, who signed his name (Probate Records of Essex County, 2:354). Thomas Coldam of Lynn wrote his will 10 March 1672 and listed debts due him from Robert Ingalls Sr., Benjamin Chadwill and Richard and John Moore. In the same will, Coldam's land "in Turkey Hill" is described as bounded by Richard More and Joseph Mansfield (ibid., 2:357). In November of 1673 and again in June of 1674, Richard Mower of Lynn served on a Grand Jury.Bio Note
Confusion abounds, however, as there were two Richard "Moores" in colonial Essex County. Richard Moore (or More) of Salem, who had come over on the Mayflower in 1620 and Richard Mower (or More) of Lynn. Both men were approximately the same age. Some researchers have claimed that Richard of Salem lived first at Lynn; others claim that Richard of Lynn first lived at Salem. However, the early court records indicate that Richard of Salem was never "of Lynn," and Richard of Lynn was never "of Salem." The English background of Richard Mower of Lynn is unknown. He probably was not the Richard More who came on the Blessing in 1635, age 20.Endnotes
1. Walter L. Mower, 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), 3.
2. Alonzo Lewis, The History of Lynn: Including Nahant (Boston, Massachusetts: Samuel N. Dickinson, 1844), 110-3; digital image, Google, Google Books (books.google.com : accessed 10 November 2019.
3. Vital Records of Lynn, Massachusetts To The End Of The Year 1849: Volume II - Marriages and Deaths (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1906), 254.
4. Walter L. Mower, 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), 3.
5. James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1998), Vol. III, 230.
6. Walter L. Mower, 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), 3.
7. Vital Records of Lynn, Massachusetts To The End Of The Year 1849: Volume II - Marriages and Deaths (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1906), 538.
8. Marcia Wilson Wiswall Lindberg, Early Lynn Families Including Lynnfield, Nahant, Saugus and Swampscott: A Genealogical Study From the Earliest Settlers Through the Revolutionary War (Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 2004), 544.
9. Marcia Wilson Wiswall Lindberg, Early Lynn Families Including Lynnfield, Nahant, Saugus and Swampscott: A Genealogical Study From the Earliest Settlers Through the Revolutionary War (Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 2004), 544.