Individual Details

Roger Mowry was in Boston in May, 1631. He and Roger Williams applied together to be admitted freemen but neither remained in Boston to accept. They were subsequently both at Plymouth, then Salem, then Providence by 1652.

Nathaniel Felton of Salem, in a deposition 18 Sep 1700, declared Roger Mowry had sold his land in the woods [farm at Danvers] to Emanuel Downing and had removed from Salem before the year 1644. However, Essex Court papers, Vol. I, p.67 show a warrant was issed to the constable to summon Roger Mowry & John Elderkin [both of whom would later be in Providence] as witnesses in a case, 29th day 10th month, 1644.

The Records of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts
1629-1736
Edited by Richard D. Pierce
Essex Institute; Salem, MA 1974
A Catalogue of the names of those persons that are joined in full Comunyon
First page has no dates but prior to 1636
[p.5 - Roger Maurye removed
[the words in italics were added at some later time in a different hand….]


By 1655, Roger Mowry is found as an innkeeper in Providence.
In early 1656, land was laid out in Providence at his request. 27 Aug 1656, he had a house lot laid out upon the hill against Robert Williams's meadow.
15 Jan 1658, Roger Mowry bought a house and four acres from Robert Colwell which he sold to Thomas Olney Sr. of Providence on 19 Mar 1658/59.
7 Apr 1660, he was granted six acres of land and three acres of meadow in exchange for other lands.
12 Jun 1660 Roger Mowry sold 90 acres, a mile outside of Providence to John Acres of Dorchester.
23 Nov 1660 Henry Neale of Braintree, carpenter, sold Mowry everything he had in Providence including his house, which had been purchased from Daniel Comstock. 3 Feb 1661/62, Mowry sold the right of common that came with this land to William Carperter.
4 May 1661, Anne Smith of Providence, widow of Samuel Comstock & John Smith, sold Roger Mowry four acres in the row of houses in the north part of Providence, next to a parcel already owned by Mowry.

Mary, Roger Mowry's widow, was made executrix of his estate - she refused; the estate was insolvent. She later accepted administration but in 1677, after King Philip's War, the administration papers and bond were missing as found during a review of the town books. Son Jonathan later claimed at a Providence town meeting that he had taken possession of 12 acres of upland that had been his father's right, being the "son and heir apparent".

William Augustus Mowry wrote books on the family. His manuscript collection at the NEHGS library contains dozens if not hundred of original documents from early Rhode Island that mention members of the Mowry family. When he wrote his first book on Nathaniel, he knew that Nathaniel & John had been in Providence but he believed John was a much older man [based on a record found in Massachusetts that was surely a different person entirely]. He did not know where Roger Mowry fit in the picture.
He wrote first:
The Descendants of Nathaniel Mowry of Rhode Island
William A. Mowry
Sidney S. Rider, Publisher, Providence, 1878
Two brothers, John & Nathaniel were among the earliest settlers of Northern Rhode Island. He believed John to have been the John Mowry who came from London in the “Blessing”, 1635, at age 19. [He was not…] He suspected this John as being a brother to Roger, but that was also untrue.
John & Nathaniel Mowry admitted as freemen in Providence 1 May 1672.

The second book was:
The Mowry Family Monument, near Woonsocket RI
Erected by Hon. Arlon Mowry
By William Augustus Mowry
David Clapp & Son, Boston 1898
[First publication to give Roger as parent to Nathaniel & John. Small booklet. Info repeated in the following supplement. It is printed as "A Unique Family Monument" in the NEGH Register, Vol. 52, 1898, p.207-212.]
This monument in the cemetery at Woonsocket, across from the Friends meeting house is a four-sided monument with a base 5 1/2' square and 16 feet high. One side begins with a brief history of Roger, then goes on to list eight generations of Mowrys through Roger's son Nathaniel. It was erected by Hon. Arlon Mowry whose family is the last listed on the monument. It is said there are more than a thousand words engraved on the monument.

The third book was written as a supplement to correct the former errors.
Supplement to The Descendants of Nathaniel Mowry of Rhode Island
William A. Mowry
The Everett Press, Boston, 1900
[By this time, W. A. had discovered that Nathaniel was indeed a son of Roger Mowry]
In the Introduction he states that Mr. John O. Austin of Providence had discovered clear evidence that Nathaniel & John Mowry were indeed sons of Roger Mowry, who came to this country in 1631. He also added many items of information, additional facts, and some deaths, to his first book. He points out an error in the Kingsley ancestry in which Eldad Kingsley married Mehitable, daughter of Roger & Bethiah Mowry - Bethiah was a sister to Mehitable, Mehitable's mother was Mary, nee Johnson. Mary Johnson Mowry remarried to John Kinglsey after Roger's death.
The Kingsley Geneology [sic] available at Ancestry.com mentions the immigrant John who died at Rehoboth, 1679, but does not mention any wives. It states that John's wife Alice (Daniels) was buried 4 Jan 1673, and does not mention the marriage to the widow Mary Mowry. The Great Migration Begins has recorded the marriage of Mary Mowry and John Kingsley as 14 Jan 1673. One suspects still another error in the Kingsley book. The book actually records in error Mehitable's mother as Bethiah in one place and Tabitha in another.

The fourth book was
The Descendants of John Mowry of Rhode Island
By William A. Mowry
Preston & Rounds Co., Providence, 1909

By this time, Mowry knew that Roger was the father of John & Nathaniel.
Roger Mowry married Mary, the eldest daughter of John Johnson, late of Roxbury.
He died in Providence 5 Jan 1666.
Widow Mary married 16 Mar 1674, John Kingsley. Mary died Jan 1679.

The First Church at Salem has baptisma for Jonathan, Bethia [baptized as Appia], Mary, Elizabeth, and Benjamin. Benjamin was also said to have been born in Providence - Roger testified on 6 Aug 1658 to the birthdates of Benjamin, Thomas and Hannah in Providence . Benjamin's birth date given as only 12 days prior to his baptism in Salem - it's unlikely the family would have traveled back to Salem that soon after his birth.
Children:
1 Roger, d. young [no child named Roger was baptized in Salem]
2 Jonathan, b. 1637. Married 8 Jul 1859 Mary Foster, widow of Richard & dau of Robert & Mary (Warren) Bartlett. Married 2nd to Hannah ???
Baptized Salem, 1636. 2. 2. son of Roger & Mary
3 Bethia, b. 1638, married 30 Sep 1662, George Palmer
Appia, baptized Salem 1638. 17. 4. dau of Roger & Mary
4 Mary, b. 1640 Baptized Salem, 1639. 16.11. dau of Roger & Mary
5 Elizabeth, b. 1643 Eliza. Baptized Salem 1642. 27. 1. dau of Roger & Mary
6 Nathaniel, b. 1644, married 1666 to Joanna Inman, dau of Edward. Died 24 Mar 1718; Joanna died the same year
7 John b. 1645, married Mary ???? Died 7 Jul 1690
8 Mehitable, b. ca 1646. married (1) 1662 Eldad Kinglsey of Rehoboth, son of John Kingsley. Married (2) Timothy Brooks
9 Joseph, b. 1647 married Mary Wilbur. Died 27 May 1716
10 Benjamin, b. 8 May 1649, m. Martha Potter, widow of Ichabod, dau of Thomas & Martha Hazard Baptized Salem 1649. 20. 3. but said to have been born in Providence as were Thomas and Hannah
11 Thomas b. Jul 19, 1652, married 1673 Susanna Newell, dau of Abraham & Susanna (Rand) Newell. Died 27 Dec 1717
12 Hannah, b. Sept 23, 1656, married 3 Dec 1674, Benjamin Sherman, son of Philip & Sarah (Odding) Sherman. She d. 1718.

Earliest record of Roger: 18 May 1631, desired to be a freeman in Boston - Roger Mowry & Roger Williams
Roger Mowry was in Salem from 1636 to 1649.
Admitted freeman in Providence in 1655. Had build a house by1653. Probably had moved there 1649.

Died in 1666, about 60 years of age
5 Sep 1671, widow Mary sold to Stephen Paine of Rehoboth, the dwelling, outhouses, three house lots & communing.

The Early Records of the Town of Providence
Vol. III:206-7 7 Mar 1671 Deed of sale. Stephen Paine of Rehoboth sold to Samuel Whipple three house lots, with a dwelling house, and all of the out housing standing upon the lots, which Stephen Paine purchased from Mary Mowry, executor of the estate of her deceased husband Roger Mowry. One lot originally belonged to Daniel Comstock, one to John Smith, and one to Richard Prey, all of Providence. Also one right of commoning, one 25 acre right of commoning both reaching westward as the seven mile line. [Rec. 21 Sep 1671]
Vol VIII: 68 27 Jan 1678 Samuel Comstock requested the town lay out land which remains due to him of his father's right which he bought from John Smith. Samuel Whipple objected. The council suspended an answer until 10 Feb. On that date they decided against Samuel Comstock.

Birth	Abt 1610
Marriage	Abt 1637	Mary Johnson
Death	5 Jan 1667	Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island

Spouse	Mary Johnson ( - 1679)
Child	Jonathan Mowry (1637 - )
Child	Bethiah/Appia Mowry (1638 - )
Child	Mary Mowry (1639 - )
Child	Elizabeth Mowry (1642 - )
Child	Nathaniel Mowry (1643 - 1718)
Child	Mehitable Mowry (1644 - )
Child	John Mowry (1646 - 1690)
Child	Joseph Mowry (1647 - 1716)
Child	Benjamin Mowry (1659 - )
Child	Thomas Mowry (1652 - 1717)
Child	Hannah Mowry (1656 - 1718)