Don Mowrer, my father, was the youngest of William and Sadie (Christy) Mowrer's eight children.  His father, William Mowrer, was one of the nine children of Benjamin and Magdalena (Matty) Mowrer.  Ben Mowrer was the son of Jonas Mowrer by his second wife Barbara (Fetterman).  Jonas Mowrer came to Ohio from Union County, PA (present day Snyder County) with his parents, Christian and Elisabeth (Erni) Mowrer/Maurer, in the 1820s.  He settled in Chester Twp. in Wayne County, where many of his descendants can be found today.

My name MOWRER is one of the many Americanized variations of the German name MAURER.  My Pennsylvania German Mowrer ancestors have appeared on various census, tax, and property lists as Maurer, Mourer, Mowrer, Mowry, and Mowrey.  The name MOWRY, however, is actually an English surname that is also fairly common in the United States.  For more on the variations and origins of this name, see the essay by Dr. George Moore at the website:

The Mohr Moore Maurer Melting Pot
http://www.buffnet.net/~mohr/contents.html
 

The following is excerpted from Hanks and Hodges A Dictionary of Surnames
(see List of Sources page for full reference):

Present status of research on the ancestors of 
my grandfather William A. Mowrer

Links

Other web pages with 
Mowrer/Maurer information

Obituaries

Listing of Mowrer obituaries from 
Wayne County, Ohio, 1890-1959

Census

Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana 
Mowrer census data

Jonas Mowrer Will

1867 will of my 2nd great grandfather

The primary researcher on the ancestry and descendants of my 3rd great-grandfather Christian Maurer/Mowrer is my fourth cousin Michael S. Mowrer, a descendant of Christian's son Johannes.  Michael Mowrer is an American living in Heidelberg, Germany who has been conducting Maurer research for over twenty years.  His studies have led him to believe that Christian Maurer bore the name of his father, who arrived at the Port of Philadelphia on the ship Polly from Rotterdam in 1765.  Christian Maurer is listed as a passenger on this ship on page 471 of Engle's Names of Foreigners Who Took The Oath of Allegiance and in Pennsylvania German Pioneers by Strassburger and Hinke (see List of Sources).  This Christian Maurer, Sr. apparently died in 1779 in Berks Co., PA (see ADMINS - 1779), leaving a widow, Margaretha, and four minor children: Catharine, Mary, Elisabeth, and Christian.  To learn more about Michael Mowrer's research, browse his posting history at genealogy.com. 

The earliest records of my 3rd great-grandfather Christian Mowrer appear in the late 18th/early 19th century records of Northumberland Co., PA.  In a land deed dated 26 April, 1796 (recorded  9 February, 1798), George Miller and his wife Margaret of Windsor twp., Berks Co., PA, sell 145 acres of land located in Augusta twp., Northumberland Co., to George Shira and Christian Mowra, both of Shamokin twp., Northumberland Co.  (Christian Mowrer's oldest son Johannes was born in Augusta twp. on 20 January, 1799).  Augusta and Shamokin townships are located east of the Susquehanna River and are still part of present day Northumberland Co. 

Christian Mowrer (Mourer) appears as a farmer owning 130 acres in the 1802 Beaver twp., Northumberland Co. (present day Snyder Co.) tax list.  He also appears in the 1807 and 1810 lists owning 10 acres.   Lontz's Early Assessment Records for Union County, Pennsylvania lists Christian Mowrer as a Beaver twp. stiller in 1806, a distillery operator in 1814, and as an Adamsburg grist and saw mill operator in 1817.  A Frederick Briner (Breiner) is also listed as a carpenter in Beaver twp. during this time period--possibly the same Briner family with whom the Mowrers had close family ties in subsequent years.  The 1886 History of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys names Christian Mowrer as a Beaver township distiller in 1814 and as a grist and saw-mill operator in 1817. 

"Christian Mourer" also appears in the 1906 History of Beaver Springs, Penn'a as a contributor to the building of a school house in 1809, the purchase of a stove in 1812, and the erection of a cemetery fence in 1823 for the Christ Reformed Church at Beaver Dam.  This same publication explains that in 1806, Adam Reager laid out Reagerstown near the area called Beaver Dam.  The name was later changed to Adamsburg, and finally to Beaver Springs.  Christian Mowrer's daughter Catharine married an Adam Rager, probably the son of this Snyder County pioneer. 

The locations of properties occupied by our Mowrer ancestor in Snyder Co. have not been identified.  In 1805, "Christian Mourer" sold two 131 acres of land in Beaver twp. to George Kreek.  The deed states that this land was originally warranted to Yost Kern (1788) and Adam Reger (1793) and sold to Christian Mourer in 1800.  The 1805 sale of this property probably coincided with our ancestor's move from farming to the distilling/milling business.  An 1821 Beaver twp. land survey conducted for Jacob Lournes shows "Christian Mowerer" as an adjacent land owner, "in sight of Peter Bens." 

Christian Mowrer, his wife, and children moved to Wayne Co., OH in the 1820s.  The location of Christian Mowrer's residence there is unknown, as is the location of his wife Elisabeth's grave.  Mowrer family histories identify 1844 as the year of Elisabeth's death and the Salem Lutheran Cemetery at Madisonburg as her place of burial.  Church records for Salem Lutheran were lost in a fire and there is no evidence of her grave at the cemetery (although other Mowrers, including her son Jonas, are buried there).  Neither the 1830 nor the 1840 census show Christian Mowrer as having any adult females in his household, and no females of Elisabeth's age are listed with Christian's sons.  It seems possible that Elisabeth  Mowrer actually died in Pennsylvania prior to the family's migration to Ohio.  Christian Mowrer's burial site is also unknown and is assumed to be somewhere in Wabash Co., IN, where he moved with some of his children in the 1840s.  Jesse, Samuel, and Catharine (Rager) Mowrer all appear in the 1850 census in Chester Twp., Wabash Co., IN.

Michael Mowrer has suggested that the Mowrers might have initially lived on land owned by the Briner family.  Three of Christian's children married Briners and there were several Mowrer-Briner family reunions in the early 1900s.  Christian Mowrer, Jesse Mowrer, and Frederick Briner are all mentioned in the administration of the estate of Frederick Wise, March 30, 1835, (see List of Sources).  I am currently collecting documents and oral history pertaining to the Mowrers and Briners in the hopes of uncovering additional information about the early history of my Mowrer family in Wayne County. 

Christian Mowrer and his sons appear in the 1830 Wayne Co. census in Wayne Twp. and in the 1840 census in Chester Twp., but I have found no evidence of Christian Mowrer owning land in Wayne County.  Frederick Briner bought the SE quarter of Section 18, Wayne Township, in 1835 from John Starner.  This land was originally patented to Thomas Armstrong in 1814 and subsequently assigned to Starner in 1818.  John Starner, Frederick Briner, Christian Mowrer, and Jesse Mowrer all appear as Wayne Twp. neighbors in the 1830 census, so it might be assumed that they were living on or near Starner's land before Briner made his 1835 purchase.  The location of this land, north of Smithville Western Rd. along Clear Creek Valley Rd., roughly corresponds with the "one mile northeast of Mechanicsburg" place of settlement mentioned in Aaron Mowrer's family history (see List of Sources).  Census and personal property tax records confirm the presence of the Mowrers in Wayne Twp. from 1830 to at least 1832.

Jesse Mowrer sold 16 acres in the east half of the SE quarter of section 24, Chester Twp. to John Uhler in 1837.  This appears to be the first record of land ownership by a member of the Christian Mowrer family in Wayne County.  The land was previously owned by Jesse's brother-in-law Frederick Wise (husband of Rebecca Mowrer), who bought it from Andrew Frederick in 1830.  Wise died in 1833 and Christian Mowrer paid taxes on the land as the administrator of the estate for the years 1833-1836.  Jesse is also listed as an administrator of the Frederick Wise estate and apparently acquired the land shortly before selling it to Uhler.  Due to the short period of time it was in his possession, it seems doubtful that Jesse or any other Mowrers actually ever lived on this property.

Jesse and William Mowrer bought 72 acres in the west half of the SE quarter of section 12, Chester Twp. from John Feazel in 1837.  This land is located along Crater Rd. and adjacent to properties later owned by my 2nd great-grandfather Jonas and my great-grandfather Ben Mowrer.  Christian, Jesse, Samuel, and Jonas Mowrer--along with Jesse Briner, husband of Anna Mowrer--all appear together in Chester Twp. in the 1840 census, probably living on or near this land.  Jesse Mowrer sold the property to Stewart McCoy in 1847, prior to the Mowrers' migration to Indiana.  Jonas Mowrer, who stayed behind, bought land in Chester Twp. from Neal McCoy in 1857.  His house on Crater Rd. still stands along the Killbuck Creek, just northeast of Overton.

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The Mohr Moore Maurer Melting Pot
http://www.buffnet.net/~mohr/contents.html

Origins of these surnames and links to other researchers

GenForums at genealogy.com:

Maurer
Mower
Mowery
Mowrer
Mowry
 

RootsWeb Message Boards:

Maurer
Mower
Mowery
Mowrer
Mowrey
Mowry

RootsWeb WorldConnect Project trees with links to Mowrers in my database

Coburn
Descendants of my 3rd great-grandfather Christian Maurer (Mowrer)

Withman
Descendants of my 3rd great-grandfather Christian Maurer (Mowrer)

Diener and Dorweis Ancestors and Relatives
Descendants of my 2nd great-grandfather Jonas Mowrer