FEBRUARY 1991
We have had another interesting month doing family history. We drove to Utah for a Saturday at the FHL and found more Amick relatives. I have been tracking the Amick descendants of Joseph Amick (who was the son of John Amick) and I have found some in Kansas and Nebraska. I am working on finding the death dates, which is harder to find than I supposed.
I am spending most of my time on the Mower line in Pennsylvania. Specifically I am tracking the descendants of Mahala Mower, daughter of Henry Mower Sr. I located a "long lost" cousin of ours, his name is Duke Clark. He is a retired Marine Corp Captain. He is definitely interested in genealogy. He sent me a disk with 1710 names on it. Many of whom we are related to. Duke is a 2nd cousin to Henry Mower Sr. and Mary Amick. Any of you who would like to get to know your "new cousin" can drop him a line telling him who you are and how you fit into the Henry Mower Sr. line by writing: Duke Clark, 8250 Minton Court, Millersville, MD 21108.
I may have found a "lost daughter" of Andrew Mower and wife Margaret. We know that Andrew Mower moved from Bucks County, PA into Maryland following the Revolutionary War. He supposedly lived in Frederick Co. Maryland. We have records that in 1793 he bought land in a town near the Virginia border. We also know that his sister, Anna Margaret (Maurer) BRILL, lived with her husband and family just across the same border in Lovettsville, Virginia and attended Church in the Lutheran Church in Lovettsville. The thought struck me that perhaps Andrew attended Church occasionally with his sister in Lovettsville. Since we can find no Church records of Andrew attending in Maryland, maybe he went to Church in Virginia since it was just a few miles away and since his sister went to Church there.
Tedi Jeen found in the New Jerusalem Evangelical Church Parish Record 1784-1836 in Lovettsville, Loudon County, Virginia (FHL # 538120) this statement under christenings:
MAURER, Anna Catharina, born 9 Aug. 1791 of Andreas MAURER and Anna Margaretha. Christened 18 Sep 1791. Sponsors: Fridrich FUNK and Anna Catharina.
We know that Andrew Mower and wife Margaret were living in the area at the time and it may be that this child is ours. We have no record of this child belonging to our Andrew and Margaret and it may be she died in youth. She certainly was dead before his will in 1813 and left no children of her own or they probably would have been mentioned in the will. Here again might I say that we have not proven this, but the evidence leans in that direction.
I now have 6000 names on my Michael Maurer Master File. I also found out that my submission was too late for the new edition of the Ancestral File. The cut-off date was last October. However, we will submit a complete file for the next edition.
Just visited with Robert Mower who just returned from a mission to Nauvoo. He is moving back to Sandy, Utah from California. Robert is the son of Edgar Mower through the William Ezra Mower line. He mentioned he would like to see us as a family do something to the headstone of Henry Mower Sr. which is located in the Springville Cemetery. The stone is a beautiful sandstone, but is weathering badly and hard to read. He would like to see us meet in our family reunions this summer and discuss what can be done. Can such a stone be re-cut? Could or should we erect a new stone? I told him I attended 3 Mower family reunions this summer and wondered if we could plan for a Mower Family Meeting sometime in the summer. Such a meeting could be best pulled off I think if it were seperate from a family reunion and attended by adults only where possible. Without the distraction of many children, perhaps we could accomplish these goals:
1. Where are we in the research? 2. Are we happy with the progress being made, or do we want to change researchers. How can we spend our money most effectively? 3. Do we want to do something about Henry Mower Sr.'s grave site? 4. I think Dr. Green should attend and update us on the Mower Family book he is writing. I'm sure we will all want to make sure each of our family lines is updated and included in the book when it goes to press. We may want to help financially in this publication. I don't know what Dr. Green has in mind. Think about these suggestions.
I am sending the record of Charles GEISSINGER as our "guest ancestor" this month. Census records show that he had lots of children, we just don't know all of their names yet. Mildred Mower is working on the Geissinger line this winter. Mildred, I may have a clue or two for you that I got on my last trip to SLC.
My plans are to come to the FHL in SLC and work for a week that we have Spring Break in March.