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The Fowler family in the Middle Atlantic States and Ohio

CREATED: Jan. 23, 2000

[an error occurred while processing this directive] The Fowler family from which I descend has been traced back to Burlington County, New Jersey, in the mid-18th century. The family was Quaker, at least in part, and I believe they came down from Rhode Island in the early 1700s. Then one Benjamin Fowler migrated to Frederick County, Maryland. Late in life he moved on to Ohio, as did some of his descendants.

Christine C. Fowler's History of the Fowlers, published in 1950, provides details of a family from Providence, Rhode Island, who went to what was then called West Jersey. This from p. 32-33:

John Fowler, son of Henry Fowler and his wife Rebecca Newell, was born .... at Providence, and died ___, at ____. He married ______, Rose Burton, daughter of William Burton of Mashantank in Providence, before 1703. In 1690 John Fowler of Providence was deeded land in Providence by his brother William Fowler of Flushing. In 1691 John Fowler of New York deeded William Randall, land in Providence which had belonged to his father Henry Fowler in 1687; excepting a tract of land which his father had given bgy deed of gift to his daughter Newell Fowler and a deed of gift to "my brother William Fowler now of Flushing." In 1692-3, John Fowler of Providence purchased on eighth of a right to land on the westside of Panchassett river in Pautuxett; and in 1699, residing in Providence, he sold land in Pautuxett.

John Fowler witnessed a deed in Providence in 1695 and was recorded as a scout there in 1698. Added to in January 1937 (NYB&G) Record page 19--- was still living in Providence in 1699. The date of his moving to New Jersey has not been ascertained; but with wife Rose Fowler and (sons?) Jonathan and Francis Fowler, he was listed as a member of the Baptist Church at Middletown with other "members in the county of Monmouth and placed adjacent in East New Jersey," in 1731-35. (Silwell's Gen. Misc. II, 258)

Despite this Baptist identification some 30 years after their Rhode Island days, the family had ties to the Society of Friends (Quakers) earlier on, as indicated by the record Christine Fowler gives of two of John and Rose's children:

John and Rose (Burton) Fowler had the following 2 children (as shown by the Chesterfield Friends Records, J.J. Col. Documents, vol. XXII:

I. Hannah, b._____ probably at Providence; was of Monmouth Co., N.Y. [sic, i.e., N.J.], "dau. of John and Rose" when she was m. on the 26th of the 3rd mo., 1720, in the Chesterfield N.J. Meeting House to Thomas Scholey, Jr. of Burlington Co., N.J. The witnesses were John Fowler (her father), William Fowler (?), Francis Fowler (?), John Fowler, Jr. (her brother), Jeremiah Fowler (?), Thomas Scholey, Sarah Scholey, William Scholey and Elizabeth Scholey and others. (p. 667)

II> John, Jr., b. at Providence, R.I., d. at New Hanover, Burlington Co., N.J. before Sept. 8, 1731 when Letters of Adm. were granted his widow Elizabeth Fowler (1st Series, N.J. Col. Docs. Vol. XXX, p. 186) Elizabeth (-------) Fowler was m. in Chesterfield ("of Hanover") on the 26th of the 12th mo., 1740, to Joseph Reckless of Chesterfield. Wit.: Benjamin Fowler, Joseph Fowler, Hannah Fowler and Miriam Fowler. (N.J. Col. Doc., Vol. XXII, p. 666)

Then follow details on three children, Elizabeth, Hannah and Joseph. At Joseph's wedding at Chesterfield on the 27th of the 8th mo. (Oct.) 1748, to widow Mirabeh Middlton, witnesses included "Elizabeth Fowler, Benjamin Fowler and others." (N.J. Col. Doc., Vol. XXII, p. 657)

I am hopeful that the Benjamin referred to is related to (perhaps the father of) my Benjamin. Even if so, we don't have in the above citations any indication of his exact relation to the John Fowler family from Providence. Hypothesis: he is a younger son of John, Sr., too young to be a witness at the 1720 wedding.

Further records in New Jersey:

I believe this last reference to be of our Benjamin. He is said to have been born ca. 1735, though this record of marriage intention suggests he was a few years older. He and wife Alice (or "Ales" as it was spelled) moved from New Jersey to Pipe Creek, Frederick Co., MD. They had children John, b. ca. 1754, and James, b. 9 May 1758. The grave of one Alice Fowler is found at Union Bridge, Pipe Creek Friends Cemetery--no date, unfortunately, but this may be Benjamin's wife. In 1815, Benjamin moved to Ohio.

We find the following in Charles Evan Fowler's 1937 manuscript The Fowler Family of Maryland and Ohio, probably from New Jersey and New England. [LDS Film #929442]

James Fowler, [son of Benjamin and Alice (Steward) Fowler], b. 9 May 1758, d. 31 Jan. 1848, m. Mary Ogborn (dau. of Caleb & Elizabeth Ogborn), b. 21 Jan. 1760, d. 27 Sept. 1837, the daughter of Caleb and Elizabeth Ogborn. For details of Mary's Ogborn ancestors, see the Ogborn Family Chronicles web page. James and Mary Fowler moved from near Pipe Creek to Columbiana Co., OH, in 1815. Children:
  1. Sarah, b. 25 Dec. 1785;
  2. James, b. ca. 1790; see below;
  3. Caleb, b. 31 Mar. 1792, Frederick Co., MD, d. 21 July 1861;
  4. Joseph, b. 8 Aug. 1796, Frederick Co., MD, d. 18 Feb. 1886;
  5. Samuel, b. 27 Nov. 1805;
  6. Rebecca, who d. ca. 1860, Amboy, MI;
  7. Lydia, d. ca. 1857;
  8. Elizabeth, who married a Quaker preacher nammed Elliott or Ellis;
  9. Ales, who died in her teens.
We find James Fowler, Sr., in the 1790 and 1800 Census for Frederick Co., MD. In the 1790 census, the household includes 1 male over 16, 2 males under 16, and 5 females. 1800 records 1 male over 45, 3 males 10-16, and 3 males under 10; 1 female over 45, 1 female 10-16, and 2 females under 10.

No James Fowler found in 1810 Maryland index, but the 1820 Ohio census has a James Fowler household in Elk Run Township. This family has 1 male 45 or older, 1 male 16-26, and 1 male 10-16; 1 female 45 or older, 1 frmale 26-45; 1 female 16-26; and 2 females under 10.

James Fowler, Sr., died in Columbiana County, Ohio, on 21 Jan. 1848.

Then we come to James, Jr. He married Nancy Lumm on 16 Sept. 1830 in Columbiana Co., Ohio. This may not have been his first marriage, given the record of a James Fowler of Frederick Co., MD, who married his cousin Letitia, daughter of Henry and Mary Fowler on 29 Aug. 1818 "and went to Ohio." This from notes of Robert Fowler Miller [LDS Film 1001487.] Interestingly, Letitia had a brother named Benjamin.

James and Nancy (Lumm) Fowler are found in Salt Lick Township, Perry Co., Ohio, in the 1850 census. He's a shoemaker, aged 61, and, it says, born in New Jersey (though I think it should read Maryland); she's 45 and born in Virginia. Their children at the time (and the only ones known) were Josiah, laborer, aged 17, b. in Ohio; Amanda Rebecca, 15, b. OH; and Caroline E., 13, b. OH. And two doors away is Joseph Fowler, aged 54, also a shoemaker, no doubt James' brother (Oddly, his state of birth is given as "NY," but I think this is just a slip, the "J" and "Y" of the script of the time being similar. Even then, it should read "Maryland," as Joseph's birth in Frederick County, MD, is documented.

To see details of the ancestry of James Jr's wife Nancy Lumm, visit my Lumm Family home page
For the Ogborn Family, see The Ogborn Family Chronicles website.