Genealogy Wylie » John William Fowler (1780-± 1860)

Personal data John William Fowler 

• He was born in the year 1780 in Horry County,South Carolina.
• He died about 1860 in Alabama.
• A child of John Fowler and Elizabeth Rackley
• This information was last updated on August 12, 2006.

Household of John William Fowler

(1) He has/had a relationship with Elizabeth I.

Child(ren):

1. Daughter Fowler  ± 1808-????
2. Daughter Fowler  ± 1812-????
3. Lewis Fowler  1814-????
4. Jesse Fowler  1815-± 1857 
5. Rebecca Fowler  1820-????
6. Penelope Fowler  ± 1821-????

(2) He is married to Elizabeth II.

They got married about 1828.

Child(ren):

1. John T. Fowler  ± 1828-????
2. S. E. Fowler  ± 1835-????

Notes about John William Fowler

III-1-1-1 John like his father married twice and at least one and perhapsboth were Elizabeths. We can feel quite sure that he is the younger of the J Fowler`s in the 1810 Columbus County census. Then his wife was born1784-90 and he had two daughters born 1800-10. In 1813 he was living next to Thomas Cribb, his sisters husband. In 1815 he sold land to his father which he probably held from his wife`s family because there is no record of its acquisition. In 1816 and 1817 he also made sales, but in 1820 he was omited from the census. Still in 1826 he witnessed a slave sale(D-337) and 3 Sept 1829 he sold a last piece of land to David Nealy, and seems to have departed for the West, since the 1830 Pike County census gives a John Fowler and wife who are of exactly these ages. The first two daughters are gone, but this would be expected. Putting the censussest ogether, John and his wife (first) were married by 1805 and had four daughters and four sons in about the order dau 1807, dau 1810, son 1815,son 1818, dau 1821, dau 1824, son 1827, son 1830, there is no 1840 choice in Alabama or Mississippi for John except John W. Fowler of Pike County.If so we we must accept that the ages of John and hia wife were marked in the wrong column by 10 years. Their three older childern fit, and another boy has been added 1830-35. It seems very reasonable. In 1855, John W.Fowler witnessed the application of Thomas Cribb for an 1812 pension.Cribb would have been his brother-in-law. The W (from his uncle William )could have been added when his father came to Pike County rather than a Jr. Another source of evidence comes from the family records of Leron Fowler Waldrip of Louisiana. Her Louisiana family of Fowlers originated in Pike and Henry County`s of Alabama, at such a time that they must be members of the Columbus- Horry migrants. And there is only one ancestor of their Lewis, Jesse and James who could fit as father of these men:John. The childern of Lewis and Jesse were born in either Alabama or Louisiana, but some of James` family were born in Mississippi, which leads us to Leake County in 1850 where we find J.T. Fowler and J. W.Fowler side by side, and the wife and childern of the former are exactly right for James, so that we must have found John W, who says he was born in South Carolina in 1780, a date which fits exactly with the earlier census expectations. His wife Elizabeth of that census is given as born in 1797 in Georgia which is not suitable to be his first wife. We must assume that she was a second wife, and that he married her sometime around 1828, probably shortly after the move to Alabama. Since we accept the tradition of the Union Parish Louisiana family that they are decended from the centenatian John II-1-1, then John III-1-1`s childern must be1f: a dau (b.ca. 1808NC); 2f: a dau (b.ca. 1812NC); 1: Lewis (b.1814NC);
2: Jesse (b. 1815NC); 3f: Rebecca (b. 1820NC m. Samuel Sellers 1835);
4f: Penelope (b.ca. 1821 m. Benjamin Hearh Jun1842); 3: James S. (b.1824Ala); John T. (b. 1828Ala); 5: S.E. (b.1835Ala). The fifth son we find in the census of Union Parish for 1860 after the others have moved on in Louisiana.
The forth son has been traced through the help of his descendant GladysFowler Allred. Although John III-1-1-1 was in Mississippi in 1850, he apparently returned to Pike County when his childern moved on to Louisian, since he witnessed Cribb`s document there in 1855. He may also be the unidentifiable John who sold land to Henry Best in 1845 inColumbus (KK-257) and another piece to David Nealy as late as 1856(M-260). Leron Waldrip recounts a family story about Jesse (see below)which illustrates the hazards to family affections that life on the frontier presented. John probably died in Alabama, shortly before 1860.
The above from a book by Richard G. Fowler (A History Of The FowlerFamily Of Southeastern North Carolina).(WSH)

John Fowler is without doubt the veteran of Moore`s Creek Bridge, as the Bagley tree claims. We are fortunate that the pursuit of his pension (Federal #S16809) was so difficult since it has done more to flesh out his picture than is possible with most antecedents. He tells us that he served six months as a minuteman shortly after the outbreak of hostilities. At age 87 he is hazy about dates, but his enlistment must have been in September 1775, for after some time in scouting activities out of Wilmington NC, he was at the Feb. 27, 1776 battle at Moore`s Creek, and his enlistment ran shortly afterwards. A few months elapsing, he enlisted in the 1st. Regiment of NC Line for a year and marched to the defense of Charleston SC. Most of his time was spent there, and on his return he allowed about a year to elapse before volunteering again around the spring of 1778 for Sampson C0. militia. Stationed at Holly Shelter on the Northeast River, they were overrun by a superior force of British regulars, and ordered to disband and disperse to thier homes by their captain. It was the end of his term, and he went home content with his contribution.
It is at this point in October 1779 that we find the first land record in his name.
It is a very significant one. In it he deeds land in the Cane Creek area originally patented by his father whom he names as Daniel to Richard Fowler whom all the contextual evidence points to as a brother. The land is described as contiguous to Daniel Fowler`s line, but whether this is the father or brother is not clear. It is noteworthy that he is described in the instrument as a "Planter," a term also applied to his father in earlier deeds. There was evidently need to distinguish him from one or more John Fowlers. This transaction was John`s last in Sampson Co. because he states further in his pension application that he resided for about 20 years in the Lancaster District of South Carolina. The 20 years apparently refer to his total stay in South Carolina, because in 1790 he was living just across the state line in Prince George Parish SC next to a Peter Fowler, evidently a younger brother. John patented a considerable tract of land on Michael Swamp in (now) Horry Co. leaving much of it in Peter`s hands, he bought 100 acres on Camp Creek
Nov. 29, 1797 and sold them Sep. 16, 1802. The John Fowler who was censured in the Lancaster District in 1800 but neither in 1790 nor 1810 was certainly this man. John returned to Columbus Co. NC by 1802 if we can belive his last daughter Amelia Ann who said in 1850 she was born there. But the earliest land record after the return deals with purchasing a piece of land on Beaverdam Swamp from John Jr. his son, in 1815. Peter still resided just over the line in Horry Co. beside Richard, who had down from Sampson Co. NC in about 1793. Peter cannot be John`s son, and therefore must be a younger brother. John was holding nearly 1000 acres of land along Beaverdam Swamp when decided in 1837 to "join his children in Alabama" and sold out through the agency of John Messer. In 1776 John married Elizabeth, whom Richard Wright of Tabor City NC has shown to have been the daughter of Joshua Rackley. She died about 1825 (1815 according to Lyda Whittington who claims John as a DAR ancestor), and John must have remarried a second Elizabeth to account for the census data in 1830 in Columbus Co. NC and in 1840 in Pike Co. Ala. In 1850 she was surviving and gave her birth date as 1784. John`s age is recorded as 99 in the veterans special census of 1841, but it disagrees with all other dates and ranges that can be inferred for him, and suggests that the printer made a mistake, perhaps reading a 3 with a nearly closed upper loop as a 9. He died in Pike Co. Ala. in 1845. His children by his first wife were
1: John (. 1780), 1f: Sarah (b. 1782), 2f: Mary Ann (b. 1784), 3f: Lucretia (b.ca.1787), 4f: Elizabeth (b. June 12 1790), Richard (b. Jan. 17 1792)
5f: Charlotte (b. 1796), 6f: Caroline? (b.1799), and last 7f: Amelia Ann (b.1802).
His children by his second wife were 3: Leonard (b.ca.1825) and 4: Jesse (b.1828). The census data on John presents a few very minor problems. In the Lancaster SC 1800 listing there is an extra female, aged 10-16 who is unlikely to be a child since four births in six years except for twins is excessive, and hence this is probably a maid. In 1800 Columbus Co. we find known occupants for every slot except another 10-16 female, again probably a maid. In 1820 Columbus Co. a female over 45 is living with John so we cannot suppose with Lyda Whittington that his wife Elizabeth had died before 1815. It is more reasonable to belive that the interpretation of this census and the 1830 one in which he is living with a much younger women is that he married in about 1824 a young widow with two grown children (a boy b.ca. 1819 and a girl b.ca. 1822),
and that they had then the two sons listed by Lyda Whittington. Leanard and Jesse are censured as born between 1825 and 1830. John`s second wife was probably the Elizabeth Fowler (b.1784) who was living along in Pike Co. Ala. in 1850. In 1840 they were heading a family in which a young couple with two infants was present. Since no Fowler of suitable age is residing in the vicinity of Elizabeth in 1850, we must accept that these young people were her son and wife from her first marriage. In the special veteran`s census of 1841
"the veteran" is listed as " living with John Fowler." Viewing the Pattern of reporting of other cases, however, he could have been referring to himself, and not his son John, although the latter was living near him under the name of John W. Fowler. Her maiden name may have been Soles, since in March 1842 John Sr. made a remarkable provision for Lenard and Jesse, who were still minors by placing a large property in Pike Co. Ala. (the land now lies in Bullock Co. Ala.) in trust for them with Timothy Soles, at the same time indicating by his omission that the other two children listed in the census were not his.
In 1850 Leonard and Jesse are not in Alabama. Jesse had enlisted in the Mexican War and died at Vera Cruz. Leonard has been reported to have moved to Arkansas but the census does not bear this out, and he is not the Leonard Fowler in the 1850 census of Yuba, California.
John wrote a letter from Alabama with many family hints to his son-in-law Stephen Wright on Aug. 25, 1843 which remains a cherished possession of his Columbus Co. descendants. It ran as follows:
Alabama Pike County August 25th day 1843
Dear son after my love to you and family these lines will inform you that I am as well as could be expected of my age. I can inform you that on the 23d of this instant I rec`d a letter from you stating that you and your family was all well and also stating that the letter I sent you that you went to Messer with the letter and the order both, and he would not pay the money without the order had bin witnessed two witnesses and now I send you an order with two witnesses assigned to it and my mark as you asked. This is all I can do and if he pays youth money keep twenty dollars out of it and rite to me when convenient and if he pays the money over(extra) to you send it to me in a letter and when you rite dirret your letter to Thomas Cribb and you stated to Cribb that you want to no(know) where Joseph Blackburne lives you derect to him Alabama Coffee County Jenary(General) Post Office. Thomas Cribb wishes you to state about (tell to) all his children in that part of the world for him as said by Henry Cartret that Jonathan Goor(Gore) was dead; and he wishes to hear from them all I can say to you that all of the connections is well at this time hoping lines may find you and family the same so nothing more at present but still remain your father and well wisher till death John (X) Fowler

the land that I sold to
John Robins was sold
before I put Messer in
possession of my business

According to Pension payments made in Mobile, he was still living on Sept 11, 1845. Fowlers and Spiveys are buried in the Good Hope church yard in Pike County.

The above from a book by Richard G. Fowler ( A History Of The Fowler Family Of Southeastern North Carolina ). (WSH)

Father: Daniel Fowler b: ABT. 1714 in Chowan District, N.C.
Mother: Mary Jane Rollins b: 1725

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Timeline John William Fowler

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