Henry Mower

Here's a little more information about the ancestors of Verna Mauer Leverett. I think it's important to know these people so I'm learning as much as I can about them. Verna was my paternal grandmother whom I never met.

Henry Mower was born in 1835 in Germany. He immigrated to the US in 1852, at the age of 17. In 1858 he married Margaret Mower though I haven't found where. She also immigrated in 1852 (though I may have those dates wrong, it seems to me I found they'd immigrated in different years) - but, since she was born in 1838, she would have only been 14 at the time, so it seems she would have come with family. But I haven't found a family name; I don't know what family she was from.

In 1865 they lived in Schaghticoke, New York, a small town just east of Albany. He was a laborer, possibly in a textile mill there. The town only had 3 or 4 thousand people and was in fact getting smaller because throughout that era people were moving west, which is what they did. Henry and Margaret would have four children, three of them there in Schaghticoke, Calvin, Mary and Charles, then, later, Lizzie.

In the 1870 census they were in Princeton, Iowa, just north of Davenport on the Mississippi. Henry listed himself as a farmer. At this point Charles was 4 but like his siblings, Calvin (10) and Mary (8), was listed as being born in New York. Somehow they would then find their way out to York Township, just south of Minden, Iowa.

Back in Schaghticoke, there are four Mowers buried. Starting in Iowa, the state and they themselves called them the Mauers, but back in New York, there seem to be Mowers but not Mauers. In Schaghticoke we have Catherine E.(1855), Helen A. (1876), Joseph K. (1885), and Sophia (1837). Sophia is the most curious because she could be the generation above Henry, namely Henry's mother or aunt. But a mother seems to appear later in Iowa so I'm guessing aunt and extended family, if they are even related. Mowers/Mauers were very common and Germans were flooding into the country at the time. But speaking of Schagticoke, I'm still looking for the explanation for how they got there in the first place. Did they have family? Did they meet and marry there? It was a small town. But they were clearly not interested in staying; he wanted to be a farmer.

I'm not sure how long they were in Princeton, Iowa but they were in York Township, out by Minden, in 1900. Many others found their way out to Minden as well. It will be a puzzle to figure out who got there first. By 1900 Calvin was 40, was married and had four children; they all ended up in York Township. Mary, second oldest, would marry Henry Leaders who I believe was in Minden; she was 32 in 1900 but my guess is they had already been in York Township/Minden for a while. Lizzie married a Simon but I have no details. As for Charles, third child, father of Verna, he would marry Catherine Singelmann and move to Council Bluffs but I have no details on that yet either.

At some point Henry's mother, Anna Margaret Mauer (1837), arrived. It's curious that she had the same birth year as Sophia who was buried back in Schaghticoke - perhaps they were twins? or just not related? But she seems to have died and was the first of the Mauers to be buried in Silver Creek Cemetery, with Henry Leaders filing all the paperwork. It brings up some questions, but it's interesting that she reported her father to be Yahn; that was her maiden name. There is no sign of the Mauer she married, or evidence that Henry had brothers or sisters, perhaps the people buried back in New York. If those were his brothers or sisters, Anna then would have chosen to come out to Minden rather than stay in Schaghticoke with them. But she did and was therefore the main matriarch of the clan. She did not appear in the Schaghticoke census or the Princeton Iowa one; my guess is she came over later. Perhaps I can find this out as well.

I believe Charles had a hardware business in Council Bluffs but I would still like to find out how he met Catherine Singelmann; Verna was to report that she was born "near Minden" which I take to mean York Township. All that is in the 1900s and I haven't gotten that far yet.