MARY ROE BOWER 1774 - 1848: A LIFE OF SORROW AND JOY

            Two centuries ago on the 24th of July 1774 the Roe family gathered in the Wingerworth Parish Church to view the baptism of their youngest, Mary, into membership in the Anglican Church.  As was the law the event would be recorded in the parish records, naming Joseph and Catherine Roe as her parents.  Joseph, who also farmed, was listed in those records as a joiner; dual occupations were then a normal way of life in much of rural England.  A younger sister and brother would later be born making Mary the seventh of nine children, an average number for the 1700s.

Wingerworth Parish Church

             At the time of Mary's birth England was, especially in the rural areas, experiencing peaceful, though rapid, industrial growth.  The Industrial Revolution was in the process of making Britain the world's wealthiest nation.  The revolution which had begun at the turn of the century in cottage textile production had spread to mining, transportation and other fields.  Unlike the larger industrial cities the farming community of Wingerworth was, thankfully, relatively stable.  Although Enclosure Acts of the past had disrupted tenancy of the land and progress continued to make changes, country people still lived much as their parents had done.

            It is assumed that Mary experienced a normal infancy and young childhood, playing with her brothers and sisters. By age 6  undoubtedly she was required to have learned how to work, completing household and maybe garden chores.  Perhaps she ran errands and cleaned in her father's carpentry shop.  She lived close to both her Bower and Roe grandparents, in fact, never moving outside of an approximately ten mile radius.  That life abruptly changed when tragedy struck the Roe household in the spring of 1780.

            On February 13th her older brother, John, who had died at 10 1/2 was buried, triggering a chain of events that decimated the family.  Two weeks later her two oldest brothers, George age 16 1/2 and Joseph almost 13, died also and were buried on the same day the 3rd of March.  Less than three weeks went by when her youngest brother, Jessey, who would have been 4 in a few months and baby Dorothy, age 1, were buried.  Before medical and hygienic advances small pox epidemics and cases of diphtheria still took many lives.  One of these may have been the cause of their young deaths.

            Two older sisters and one brother, Milicent, Elizabeth and Samuel, along with Mary and their parents survived that disastrous year.  All four of the remaining Roe children grew to adulthood and were married by the time first their mother and then father died in their 70s and were buried in the yard of the Wingerworth church where they had been married and near to the graves of their five children.

             In 1794 twenty year old Mary was married to William Bower.  She and her husband eventually became the parents of eleven children.  Within the first six years of married life five children were born: Christopher, Joseph, Milicent, and twins Leonard and William.  During this time the Bower family continued to live in Mary's home parish of Wingerworth.  Most young people relied upon savings they had made during a period of service to establish a home.  Parents helped their children in doing this if they could; this may have been the case on the part of Joseph and Catherine Roe.  The first nine children were all given family names either from the Bower or Roe family trees.  The second child, Joseph, was named for Mary's older brother who died the year she was 6.  Five other children were named for the aunt and uncles who died so young.

            By the time the children's grandfather, Joseph Roe, died the family had moved to Ashover Parish.  His will written in 1812 names "my daughter Mary Bower of the parish of Ashover."  In it he leaves her 40 pounds to be paid out at the rate of 5 pounds per year for the next eight years.  Her father may have been concerned about the couple's financial stability because her sisters, although receiving the same total amount, were to inherit the amount as a lump sum rather than in installments.

            It may be speculated that Mary's husband, William Bower, and, hence, the rest of that family experienced economic hard times.  Despite the evidence that William inherited the freehold, lands, and premises at the Hursts Farm in Ashover Parish from his father, Leonard Bower, by his death he was classed as an agricultural labor indicating that he hired out to others.  It was at the time William received his inheritance that the family moved to the Ashover area to occupy the farm on which the elder Bower had probably been previously residing.  Christening/baptism records show that sometime between 1807 and 1808 the family returned to Wingerworth.  This may be the point of financial reversal.  Five years later in 1813 Mary  received the first installment on her inheritance.  Presumably this installment improved the family's financial situation sufficiently to allow their return to Ashover.

            Apprenticeships were common for youth with specific periods of service outlined in a formal agreement.  Older laborers were also hired for defined periods of time with farm service based on the annual hiring fairs.  Of the children at least Milicent, Leonard, and William were employed under agreements of services.  Existing records show they were originally hired at 16 years of age and served for a period of about one year.  None appeared to have received schooling because as was commonly done each signed his or her name with an X.  Both Leonard and William were hired in 1816 the same year the youngest sibling, Emmanuel, was baptized.  They were evidently living in the hamlet of Prass, Ashover.  Christopher, the eldest, had married and left home two years earlier and Joseph would do the same three years later.

           By 1824 disaster struck at Mary's family once again.  George became mentally ill.  Although classed as " an idiot not dangerous," for the next several years the churchwardens attempted to have him chained or committed to the insane asylum at Nottingham.  They were unsuccessful in the attempt, perhaps due to the loving concern of his mother.  He was eventually confined to the parish poorhouse at a cost to the parish of 5 shillings per week.  Because the illness did not appear until age 21 it is possible that he may have become schizophrenic or have been involved in an accident.  Jessey passed away the year after George became ill at only 19 years old.

                         The twins, Leonard and William, then grown young men had become no less of a problem but in situations less apt to elicit sympathy.  In 1827 they were sentenced to two years in jail in the House of Corrections at Derby along with Melicent's future husband for assault.  It would seem, according to vestry minutes compiled by the churchwarden that at least William had behaved wickedly for some time.  Leonard died shortly after his release but William later married and became, hopefully for his mother's sake, a respectable citizen.  Inconclusive evidence implicates their father also in less than desirable activity.

            The Bowers lived in several neighborhoods and residences during their years in the parish of Ashover.  William was recorded as having worked as a collier in Spancor, and as laborer in Prass.  In 1826 the parish vestry minutes indicate they paid rent as occupiers of property in Milltown.  Many other farmers and craft families of the time stayed in the same locality all their lives but paid rent/leases on farms or houses.  Yearly negotiable tenancies were common in the Midlands for rented farms and small properties.  The 1841 census lists William Bower, agricultural laborer age 79, Mary Bower age 69, and Emmanuel Bower, agricultural laborer age 25 living in Alton, Ashover.  Emmanuel married five years later following the previous example of Samuel and John.

All Saints Parish Church in Ashover

               By 1848 a 74 year old Mary was still living in Alton but had become a widow, William having died the year before. Feeling her years, it is easy to imagine that she would have treasured the care of her only daughter; Milicent, however, had been married in 1846 at the spinsterish age of 48 only tragically to die three months later.  Mary was not to be defeated, though.  Recorded in the local newspaper was proof that despite her old age and trying circumstances she did not lose the courage and fortitude that had stood her in good stead during many trials.  Seeing two women engaged in fighting the old lady attempted to put a stop to the altercation.  After suffering fractured ribs and a punctured lung while trying to separate the two she died on September the 27th and was buried by William.

            The majority of records of Mary Roe Bower's life point to much heartache and sorrow.  Missing are the written proof of the joys she must have experienced during a long and fruitful life.  Like young girls everywhere she must have delighted in friendships, and fallen in love.  Like mothers throughout the centuries she must have rejoiced in her babies and grandbabies.  The affirmation of these human joys can only be found in her posterity, those who study the documentation of her life, read between the lines and learn to love her.

Note: Mary's grandson by her eldest son, Christopher, emigrated to the USA as did the great grandson of her second son, Joseph.  Both lived for some time in Utah and Wyoming and presumably knew each other.   Others of her posterity still live and prosper in the Midlands of England not far from where she lived.
Originally published in Derbyshire Family History Society Newsletter

Compiled from the following sources:             
            Ashover and Wingerworth Parish records              
            The Oxford Guide to Family History  

         Research notes of Sylvia Wright

            The World Book Encyclopedia

Electronic Sources:
            Picture of Nottingham Asylum opposite p160 of Blackner’s History of Nottingham.
            Photograph of Ashover Parish Church
For more information:
           Amber Churches 
           Ashover