Nicholas ' Stower' STOWERS & Amy UNKNOWN

ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1629
FIRST RESIDENCE: Charlestown
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admitted to Boston church as member #70, which would be in the winter of 1630-1 [ BChR 13]. The Records of the First Church in Boston, 1630-1868, Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Volumes 39, 40 and 41, Richard D. Pierce, ed. (Boston 1961)On 14 October 1632 "Nicholis Stowers and his wife" were dismissed to the new church at Charlestown [BChR The Records of the First Church in Boston, 1630-1868, Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Volumes 39, 40 and 41, Richard D. Pierce, ed. (Boston 1961)16], and on 2 November 1632 Nicholas and Amy Stowers were among those who founded that church [ ChChR 7]. Records of the First Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1632-1789, James Frothingham Hunnewell, ed. (Boston 1880) (Since Nicholas Stowers apparently married Amy in England, and since there is no record of her admission to Boston church, the Boston church record is defective, either in omitting her admission, or in designating her as a member when her husband was dismissed.)
FREEMAN: 18 May 1631 [ MBCR 1:366]. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854)
EDUCATION: His inventory included a listing of "household stuff" which included "books."
OFFICES: Coroner's jury on body of William Bateman, 18 September 1630 [MBCR 1:78]. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854)Trial jury concerning death of Austen Bratcher, 28 September 1630 [MBCR 1:77]. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854)Charlestown constable, 9 May 1639 [MBCR 1:255]. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854)
On 28 September 1630 "It is ordered, that those of Dorchester who bought certain cattle of the merchants of Dorchester shall pay unto Nich: Stower 9 bushels of meal or of Indian corn, or £9 of beaver, for the keeping of the said cattle, according to an agreement made with him" [MBCR 1:76]. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854)Chosen Charlestown cowherd, December 1633 [ ChTR 9]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown")
ESTATE: Surrendered five acres Mystic Side, 1635 [ChTR 14]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown")Had three haylots in 1635, increased to four [ChTR 19, 20]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown")
On 6 March 1636/7 "Goodman Stowers was granted to have some allowance by the head of the North River, in regard of the badness of his lot" [ChTR 26]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown")On 29 October 1638 "[i]t was ordered that Tho[mas] Squire shall have that haylot which was assigned to Nicholas Stowers, & he to hold that at the head of the North River which he formerly had" [ChTR 40]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown")
Nicholas Stowers had five acres Mystic Side, 1637 [ChTR 27]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown")Had five and three-quarters cow commons, 1637 [ChTR 32]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown")Received Mystic Side allotments of twenty-five, sixty and five acres, 23 April 1638 [ChTR 37]. Charlestown Town Records (see "Sources: Town Records: Charlestown") Had five cow commons in the stinted common, 30 December 1638 [ChTR 42].
In the 1638 Charlestown Book of Possessions "Nicolas Stower" held twelve parcels: one homestead of two acres in South Field "with one dwelling house and other out houses upon it"; three acres and a half arable land in East Field; five milch cow commons; two acres arable in Line Field; five acres woodland in Mystic Field; three acres meadow; one acre and a half meadow in Mystic Field; one half acre of meadow in Mystic Field (bought of Mrs. Ann Higginson); two acres meadow in Mystic Field; one acre meadow "lying on north side of Gibbines feilde or south meade"; twenty-five acres woodland in Mystic Field; and sixty acres land in Rock Field [ ChBOP 12-13]. Charlestown Land Records, 1638-1802, Third Report of the Boston Record Commissioners, 2nd ed. (Boston 1883)

In his will, dated 16 May 1646 but with no probate clause, NICHOLAS STOWER of Charlestown "being sick in body" bequeathed to "my beloved wife AMY STOWER my dwelling house with the barn and all other housing ... with the two acres of ground by it & all my ground arable or other that is within the neck of Charlestowne also a hay lot lying on Mistick Side near north the spring next our SISTER RAND'S, also half of the hay of the other hay lots on Mistick Side, likewise four cow commons on the stinted common without the neck, also three of the acres of planting ground on Mistick Side that is broken up & it is now sown with English corn ... she to have the use of all the aforenamed, likewise she to have use of the cart & plow & its furniture & she to have my two best working oxen, & she to have all the English corn & Indian corn that is on the ground on Mistick Side, only excepted that which my SON RICHARD is to have of the same crop"; "when my wife is deceased, then my will is that my SON JOSEPH STOWER shall have the above specified house, barn & other housing with the two acres of ground ... & all the other ground within the neck with that hay lot on Misticke Side by the north spring, with the four cows commons without the neck on the stinted common ... he shall abide with his mother to do her service while she lives or at least till he be twenty & one year old ... out of his portion there be deducted the legacies after specified unto his two sisters JONE & ABIGALL, two cows to ABIGAIL & one cow to JONE to be paid to them at the decease of my wife"; to "my wife AMY STOWER all my household stuff ... excepted a great Bible to MY DAUGHTER FARR which she is to have at present & the great brass pan which my DAUGHTER FARR is to have after my wife's decease"; "my wife shall have the two best of cows, the best of the three steers ... with the two best working oxen forever"; to "my son RICHARD STOWER my two oxen the next to the best pair, & the two of the three steers, and the two cows commons on the stinted common without the neck & all the arable ground on Mistick Side ... all the hay lots on Mistick Side ... also my looms and their furniture" and part of the harvest; to "my DAUGHTER JONE STOWER one cow" now and "at my wife's decease another good cow out of JOSEPH'S portion"; to "my DAUGHTER ABIGAIL STOWER after my wife's decease two good cows to be paid to her out of JOSEPH'S portion"; to "my DAUGHTER FARRE a great Bible and two weanling steer calves to be hers presently & the great brass pan"; "my beloved wife AMY STOWER" executrix; "my two loved brethren THOMAS LYNE & ROBERT HALE" overseers [ SPR 1:40-41]. Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate Records

The inventory of "Amy Stower, widow of Nicholas Stower, late deceased" taken 1 July 1646, was certainly misnamed, and must have been that of Nicholas. It totalled £165 14s. 6d., including "four acres of upland on the hill £16"; "fifteen acres of upland on Mistick Side £20" [SPR Case #42: Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate Records)
On 16 March 1668 "John Burrage and John Knight joined with Richard and Joseph [Stowers] ... in asking that their brother Samuel Hayward be appointed administrator" [ Source: Pope 438 Charles Henry Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts... (Boston 1900; rpt. Baltimore 1965), apparently citing Middlesex Court Records]. (This would have followed the death of Amy, widow of Nicholas Stowers, and is the only evidence for the existence of a daughter Sarah, who is not named in her father's will.)

BIRTH: By about 1585 based on the age of his eldest child.
DEATH: Charlestown 17 May 1646 [ Source: Wyman 911: Thomas Bellows Wyman, The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, Massachusetts: 1629-1818, 2 volumes (Boston 1879; rpt. in 1 volume Somersworth, New Hampshire, 1982), citing unknown source]. (He was certainly alive on 16 May 1646 when he made his will and dead by 1 July 1646 when his inventory was taken.)
MARRIAGE: By 1630 (and earlier if she is mother of all the children) Amy _____; she died at Charlestown 2 or 27 February 1667/8 [ ChVR 1:57]. Vital Records of Charlestown, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, Volume I, Roger D. Joslyn, ed. (Boston 1984)