MowryJournal.com   Life's Passions

This is my Great Great Grandfather.

From Past and Present, Nodaway County Missouri, Volume I, 1910, B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, IN, pages 560 & 561:

William Henry and Irena Norman Mowry

Among the honored veterans of the Civil war, in which he bravely defended the stars and stripes, and one of the successful farmers of Hughes township, Nodaway county, is William H. Mowry, in whose life record there is much that is commendable, for he has been found true to duty in every relation, whether of a public or private character, and while energy and unabating industry have been salient features of his career, he is equally well known for his uprightness and the honorable methods he has always followed and for his loyalty to any public trust reposed in him.

Mr. Mowry was born in Washington county, Maryland, September 28, 1842. He is the son of Abraham and Mary (Burkett) Mowry, both natives of Washington county, Maryland, where Mrs. Mowry died, after which Mr. Mowry in the fall of 1865, moved to Mercer county, Illinois, and lived there until 1879, when he came to Nodaway county, Missouri, and here spent his last days, dying at the home of his son, William H., of this review, when about seventy-nine years of age. He and his wife were the parents of four children, of whom William H. was the fourth in order of birth. He grew up on the home place and received his education in the neighboring schools, and in the fall of 1865 came to Illinois and in 1879 to Nodaway county, Missouri, locating on the farm where he now lives and where he has since resided, his place being one of the best improved in Hughes township. He bought eighty acres upon his arrival here, which has since been the scene of his endeavors, making him a very comfortable living all the while.

Mr. Mowry, in 1862, enlisted in Company G, Seventeenth Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry, in which he served very faithfully for two years and nine months, participating in some of the great battles of the war, under Phil Sheridan. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Chancellorsville, but was paroled ten days later.

Mr. Mowry was married in Mercer county, Illinois, January 10, 1867, to Irena Norman, who was born in Mercer County, Illinois, September 10, 1848. She is the daughter of Wesley and Mary (Jones) Norman; her father was a native of Indiana and her mother of Virginia. They came from Indiana to Mercer county, Illinois, where they lived until 1881, in which year they came to Nodaway county, Missouri and settled in Hughes township, where they spend the remainder of their lives, Mr. Norman dying at the age of eighty years and his wife at the age of eighty-five. They were the parents of four children, of whom Mrs. Mowry was the oldest.

To Mr. and Mrs. William H. Mowry seven children have been born, namely: John, Oscar (ed note: my Great Grandfather), Stella (wife of John L. Kime, of Polk township), Everett, Mable M. (wife of M. M. Wiles, of Hughes township), Frank and Thomas B.

Lieutenant William Henry Mowry. This photo, preserved as a tintype, is probably the oldest photograph in our family’s collection.