Reuben Tower Captain ^48,49

  General Notes:

===========================

Dorcas Dorothy Edson Davis writes:

" Reuben Tower followed the Western Frontier from New York State to Ohio. My mother told me that he was an Indian trader and when speaking of him, she proudly included the statement, "He was a trader whom the Indians liked and trusted." This is a legacy of which I, too, am proud. He had red hair and a red beard. The Indians called him "Fire in the Brush." He was still a young man when he took unto himself a wife and moved to Illinois. Her name was Dorothy Day. I was named for two of my great grandmothers. They were Dorothy Tower and Dorcas Bacon. My maternal grandmother was Mary Lucina Towar, nee Bacon. Her mother was Dorcas Bacon, nee Stebbins. The maiden name of Dorothy Tower was Day. My own grandmother, Mary Lucina Towar named me shortly before she died. To return to my great grandfather, let me say that he, Reuben Tower, under the Homestead Act of 1820, took a section of land in Illinois, somewhere in the vicinity of Galena, Freeport and Rockford. I have heard those towns, cities now, mentioned many times. After the war of 1812 there was a post war depression. Congress, among other things, tried to encourage western growth in this manner.
(Since my grandfather, Francis Reuben, was, according to Mother born on this land, and he was the youngest son, the Homestead Act she was speaking of must have been of 1820. The next Homestead Act occurred in 1862, at which time Francis Reuben was seventeen or eighteen years old. "

===============================

Quote from <<i>The History of Stephenson County, Illinois - page 710</i><br />>

"Frank's father, Reuben Tower, was born in Massachusetts in 1796; came to Stephenson, Co., in 1844 with his family, and took up a claim of 160 acres on Sec. 2: his children were Marcus, now in Warren; Amasa, in Richland, Wis.: Cornelia, deceased; Angeline, deceased; Catherine, now Mrs. Brewster; Mary, deceased: Frank R., Sarah N. and Dorothea D......Capt. Reuben Tower, died April 3, 1880, at home; during his eventful life he had lived in Vermont in 1815, in Norwalk, Ohio, 1818, in La Porte, Ind., 1824, McHenry Co., Ill., in 1843 and, among other things, ground twenty bushels of buckwheat in a coffee mill; in 1867, he joined the Baptist Church of Lena and was a stanch Republican."

=================================
Notes from Hoskins' - Decendants of John Tower
He is buried at Grigsby Cemetery, Erin Township, Stevenson County, Illinois
The cemetery where Reuben Tower, his wife Dorothy, and their children are buried is presently known as Green wood Cemetery. It was previously known as Grigsby Cemetery and Schemerhorns Burial Grounds. It is located on Cedarville Road, about one and one-half miles eat of Lean, Stevenson County, Illinois.

Reuben Tower purchased 81.83 acres of land, located in Stephenson County, Illinois, at the land office in Dixon, Illinois on April 1, 1845.
^11,49

  Noted events in his life were:

• Alt Place of Birth, 28 Oct 1796, New York, New York. ⁴⁸ Family records show that Reuben Tower was born in New York. However, these notes must be in error. More research needs to be done but other sources agree on Massachusetts.

• Alt Date of Death, 1 Apr 1880, Erin Township, Stephenson County, Illinois. ⁵¹

Reuben married Dorothy Day, daughter of Ezra Day and Living, on 1 Jan 1824 in Huron County, Ohio.⁴⁸ (Dorothy Day was born on 31 May 1799 in Dorset, Bennington County, Vermont,^51,53 died on 12 Dec 1859 in Stephenson County, Illinois ⁵¹ and was buried in Stephenson County, Illinois.)

  Marriage Notes:

Married by John Dounce, Justice of The Peace. Their marriage is recorded in Huron County, Ohio Record of Marriages, Volume 01, Page 56 ⁵¹