Roger Mowry

Citations

1. [S166] John Osborne Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island Families, Volume II: page 346.
2. [S457] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, ROGER MOWRY
   ORIGIN: Unknown
   MIGRATION: 1630
   FIRST RESIDENCE: Salem
   REMOVES: Lynn by 1646, Providence by 1652
   OCCUPATION: Neat herd at Salem, 1636-41 [STR 1:41, 109]; innkeeper at Providence by 1655 [RICR 1:313]. In 1657 the Rhode Island Treasurer was ordered to pay Roger "Moorie" 1s. 6d. out of the treasury "for this day's firing & house room" [PrTR 2:110].
   CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: In list of Salem church members compiled in late 1636 [SChR 5] (annotated "removed").
   FREEMAN: 18 May 1631 (as "Roger Mawry") [MBCR 1:366].
   EDUCATION: He could sign his name [PrTR 1:63], and his wife made her mark [PrTR 3:213].
   OFFICES: Essex petit jury (from Salem), 25 January 1641[/2] [EQC 1:33].
   Providence constable, 1655 [PrTR 2:81]; one of six men chosen to hear cases in Providence 1662 [PrTR 3:37]; in later life frequently a Providence juryman.
   ESTATE: In the Salem land grant of 1636 "Roger Morie" received 40 [or 50] acres "next to Mr. Cole" [STR 1:20; 26]. On 14 August 1637, he requested a "spot of ground by Estye's" [STR 1:54-55]. He was granted three-quarters of an acre of marsh on 25 December 1637, with a household of five [STR 1:103].
   He had fifty acres laid out 20 February 1637 and on 20 July 1638 he was granted a strip of meadow of 2½ acres and 1½ acres of upland [STR 1:71].
   Land was laid out in Providence to Roger Mowry in early 1656 at his request [PrTR 2:92]. On 27 August 1656 he had a house lot laid out to him upon the hill against Robert Williams's meadow [PrTR 2:97]. On 15 January 1658 he bought a house and four acres from Robert Colwell [PrTR 2:16] and sold it to Thomas Olney Sr. of Providence 19 March 1658/9 [PrTR 1:62-63]. On 7 April 1660 was granted six acres of land and three acres of meadow in exchange for land that he had been previously granted [PrTR 2:126]. On 12 June 1660 he sold ninety acres of land a mile outside of Providence to John Acres of Dorchester [PrTR 1:14-6, 3:118]. On 23 November 1660 Henry Neale of Braintree, carpenter, sold Mowry everything he had in Providence, including his house, which had been purchased from Daniel Comstock [PrTR 1:57-8]; on 3 February 1661/2 Mowry sold the right of commonage that came with this land to William Carpenter [PrTR 1:85]. On 4 May 1661 Samuel Comstock's widow, Anne Smith of Providence, sold Mowry four acres in the row of houses in the the north part of Providence, next to a parcel already owned by Mowry [PrTR 1:58-9]. Mowry sold Robert Colwell's right of commonage to William Carpenter of Pautuxett on 22 December 1662 [PrTR 1:70-76]. In the Division on the East Side of the Seven Mile Line, Roger Mowry drew lot #74 on 19 February 1665[/6] [PrTR 3:73].
   On 3 June 1685 Timothy Brookes reveals that "for & in satisfaction of a certain sum of money which the said Roger Mawrey promised unto the said Eldad Kinsley in marriage with his said daughter Mehittabell for part of her portion, [Mowry] did ... give ... unto the said Eldad Kinsley a certain quantity of land containing by estimation twelve acres" [PrTR 14:129].
   Although Roger Mowry had made her his executrix, the widow Mary ultimately refused administration of his insolvent estate [RICR 2:244]. She later accepted administration, but neither will nor inventory survive and were missing as early as 1677 when a review of town books which had survived King Philip's war revealed that the administration papers and bond were missing. She may have been an ineffective administratrix, for son Jonathan claimed before a Providence town meeting that he had taken possession of twelve acres of upland that had been his father's right, being the "son & heir apparent" [PrTR 8:93].
   BIRTH: By about 1610 based on date of freemanship.
   DEATH: Providence 5 January 1666[/7] [ NEHGR 52:207].
   MARRIAGE: By 1637 Mary Johnson, daughter of JOHN JOHNSON. She married (2) Rehoboth 14 January 1673 John Kingsley [ ReVR 220] and was buried at Rehoboth 6 January 1678/9 [ Early Rehoboth 1:32].
   CHILDREN:
         i JONATHAN, bp. Salem 2 April 1637 [SChR 16];
         ii APPIA/BETHIAH, bp. Salem 17 June 1638 [SChR 16]
         iii MARY, bp. Salem 16 January 1639[/40] [SChR 17]
         iv ELIZABETH, bp. Salem 27 March 1642 [SChR 18]
         v NATHANIEL, b. say 1643
         vi MEHITABLE, b. say 1644
         vii JOHN, b. say 1646
   viii JOSEPH, b. sa
         ix BENJAMIN, b. 8 May 1649 [PrTR 2:18]; bp. Salem 20 May 1649 [SChR 22];
         x THOMAS, b. Providence 19 July 1652 [PrTR 2:18]
   xi HANNAH, b. Providence 28 September 1656 [PrTR 2:18]
   ASSOCIATIONS: Hannah Mowry and Elizabeth Mowry were members of the Salem church in the 1640s and may have been connected in some way to Roger Mowry [SChR 11]. Alternatively, their surnames may have been variants of "Moore" or "More."
   COMMENTS: In a warrant to the constable of Lynn, dated 29 December 1646, one of the witnesses was "Roger Morey" [EQC 1:107].
   Mention is made of "where Rogr Morey's old house stood" in 1649 [EQC 1:175], perhaps referring to his remove from Salem to Lynn. A flawed reading of records in the case in which Mrs. Lydia Bankes sued Mowry for debt in June of 1650 resulted in the erroneous conclusion that Lydia was the daughter of John Johnson of Roxbury [EQC 1:193].
   John Clawson, a servant of Roger Williams, is said to have complained of some men, "such as Roger Mowry," according to the deposition of Edward Inman on the occasion of Clawson's violent death [PrTR 15:83-84].
   Roger was administrator of the estate of William Robinson of Providence in October 1657 [PrTR 2:108].
   BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1992 Dean Crawford Smith and Melinde Lutz Sanborn published a comprehensive treatment of Roger Mowry and his son Nathaniel [Angell Anc 414-34].
3. [S2282] A Unique Family Monument.
4. [S115] 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 Registar, Volume III: page 232 - he died 5 January 1668.