Mini Project

Introduction

I knew that the Bowers had run a smallholding at Rowberry Mead, Fulham and had visited Fulham to see the site:

Visit to Rowberry Mead

I did not know if, and if so how, Christopher Bower was related to that side of the family.

Little did I realise when I found a photo of All Saints Church in Fulham, on a visit to Exeter, that I would finish up mounting a Mini Project:

Fulham Old and New

I had asked for Volume III of the book Fulham Old and New by Charles Feret for Christmas.

I knew that the book mentioned the Bower Family at Rowberry Mead:

Bower Family At Rowberry Mead

Dissertation on the Bower Family at Rowberry Mead

In early January, I made a casual Google search for Rowberry Mead and found a detailed description of the Bower Family there:

Dissertation on Bower Family in Fulham

Elizabeth Bower's Will

In the dissertation, there is reference to Elizabeth Bower's will, which provided me with a small but significant amount of new information:

Elizabeth Bower's Will

Letters from Australia

I had received some of this information from Australia some years ago but the extra new information obtained during the Mini-Project helped me see the relevance:

Letters from Australia

Additional Searches

In piecing the new information together , I made further searches:

Additional Parish Records

This includes 2 surprising entries in Dartford, Kent (see Conclusions)

Other Additional Information

Timeline and Gap Analysis

I decided to draw all the information together as a Timeline and Gap Analysis:

Timeline

Gap Analysis

Conclusions

The year started with exciting finds.

We now know more about the Bower Family in Fulham particularly William & Elizabeth's family.

We now know that Christopher Bower's parents, William & Elizabeth Bower, took over running Rowberry Mead from William's father George Bower.

We still do not have any further information on George, who was the first gardener on the scene.

We also don't know the dates of William's christening (giving the name of William's mother) and his age on death in 1812.

What we do have is:
- the surprise of William Bower marrying Elizabeth Gux in Dartford , Kent in 1775, and
- the baptism of their eldest son George in Dartford, Kent in 1776

The Gux Family

- the potential death of William in Fulham in 1812

 

I would have liked to complete the jigsaw by finding George & Caroline Bower in the 1841 Census

Main Snag

There is a fly in the ointment. We need to establish the birth dates of  Elizabeth's 5 children in relation to Elizabeth's birth (c 1745) and marriage (1775).

At the moment, it appears that she had children (perhaps impossibly) late in life:

- Sarah Bower bp ?1773

- George Bower b 1776

- William Gux Bower bp 1786

- Christopher Bower bp 1794

- Mary Bower bp 1797

It does bseem more likely that Sarah Bower was born after 1775.

Colin Bower
5 February 2024