Abel Gower, of Henrico County

Abel Gower was a Justice of the Peace for Henrico county 1677-1685 and High Sheriff in 1681. In 1679 he was listed with "7 tithables" for taxation.

Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119326287/abel_abell_-gower

Abell (Abel) Gower of Henrico Co., VA arrived in Virginia from London in 1672 and married Jane Hatcher, widow of both William Branch and William Baugh, Jr., in 1677. He remained in Virginia until his death. Abel Gower's English ancestry is from a family of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, several of whom were educated at Oxford.

The only child of Abel (aka Abell) and Jane (Hatcher) Gower was:

Tabitha Gower, b. Abt. 1678 Henrico Co., VA, d. Abt. 1701 Henrico Co., VA, m. Robert Grigg about 1700 (Marriage license granted to Robert Grigg on 20 Oct 1700 to marry Tabitha, orphan of Abel Gower) (Tabitha died without issue and she was not mentioned in her mother's will as she predeceased her).

Abell Gower's Henrico Co., VA will, dated 25 Aug 1688 Henrico County, probated 01 Jun 1689, mentions his "loving wife Jane", and his daughter, Tabitha Gower. In particular, he gave his plantation he lived on to his wife, Jane, for her life, with reversion to his daughter, Tabitha, and if she should die without issue, to Priscilla and Obedience Branch. The inventory shows a comfortable estate and included one silver tankard, two silver porringers, six small silver salt cellars, twelve silver spoons, a gold ring, a Bible in quorto and two or three old books. See attached abstract of Abell Gower's will. (Ref: Henrico Co., Bk. "5", pp61-62)

Sources:

• 1)"Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5" by John Frederick Dorman, 4th Ed., Vol. 1, 2007, pp367, 930
• 2) "Some Farrar's Island Descendants" by Alvahn Holmes, 1979, p139.
• 3) "Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography" by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, pp245-246
• 4) "Colonial Wills of Henrico County, Virginia" Part I, 1654-1737, by Benjamin B. Weisiger III, 1976. p24.
• 5) "The Farrar's Island Family and Its English Ancestry" by Alvahn Holmes, 1972, p146.

Bio by Gresham Farrar.

Disambiguation

To make things confusing, there were two Abel (aka Abell) Gowers living in Virginia at this time. One, Abel Gower, Sr., lived for a time in Brunswick Co., VA and moved southward to North Carolina with his family. A descendant of this Brunswick Co., VA Abel Gower, Sr., Gen James Robertson, was ultimately instrumentally involved in the founding of Nashville, TN (see Find A Grave Memorial # 8010613). Abel Gower, Sr. is frequently confused genealogically with the Abel (aka Abell) Gower of Henrico, Co., VA who married Jane (Hatcher) Branch Baugh. NOTE: Abel Gower, Sr. and his son, Abel Gower, Jr., were killed by Indians on the Cumberland River near Clover Bottom while in the fields harvesting crops. They had arrived in the area with the Donelson flotilla on 24 Apr 1780 and were listed in the North Carolina Preemption Act of 1784; whose heirs or divisees were entitled to 640 acres without any price to be paid to the public. [Ref: "1770-1790 censuses of Davidson County, North Carolina." The inhabitants of record between the years 1770-1790 in the Cumberland Settlements were first in Washington County, North Carolina, known after April 14, 1783 as Davidson County, North Carolina (now the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee).]

Notes

Abel had but one daughter, Tabitha. The abstracter of this will appears to have assumed that Priscilla and Obedience were his daughters. They were not. They were the granddaughters of Jane Gower thruough her son, John Branch

• Branchiana: being a partial account of the Branch family in Virginia by James Branch Cabell.  Published 1907 by Printed by Whittet & Shepperson in Richmond, Va . Written in English.  Page 32
• http://hatcherfamilyassn.com/getperson.php?personID=I39958&tree=WmT...
• https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/238370/I1/abel-gower/individual