Bio – Reuben Fowler (1753-1832)

By – Don Taylor

It is important to check the dates and check the facts you
find in other peoples work.  My fifth great
grandfather, Reuben Fowler, is a perfect example of that.  I first learned of Reuben when looking at
other people’s family trees. According to all six of them on Ancestry.Com
family trees, he was born 9/9/1753 and died 2/2/1832.  Then I started looking at the sources that
were described. Only one had any kind of source, a Find-a-Grave source, the
rest all cited other people’s family trees. A quick look at the Find-a-Grave
source showed the death date to be inconsistent with the actual marker. 

In memory of REUBEN FOWLER who departed this life Feb. 1, 1832, aged 78 years 4 months & 28 days. Thanks to Find a Grave

The marker clearly shows he died on February
1, 1832[1]. It
is only a day different, but still…  Then
I took a look at the birth date.  It just
didn’t seem right. The calculator at Timeanddate.com would
let me know for certain.  Sure enough,
the date for his birth that everyone else had was inconsistent with his marker.
He should have been born on September 4th (or possibly the 3rd,
depending on how you calculate the date). It is only five days off, but I strive
for accuracy.  I’m also interested in how
and where the other trees found the locations for his birth and death.  I understand that the marker is not
contemporary; but, I feel that whoever erected the marker was closer to the
event than I am and most likely knew a lot about Reuben’s life. So, I’m going
to use the dates on his marker as my preferred dates until I can find a
credible source to overrule them.

Reuben Fowler was born on 4 September 1753, probably Winchester
County, New York. His parents were Reuben and Jane Valentine Fowler.

He had at least one older sibling, a sister, who was about
11 years older than he.  When he was only
nine years old his mother Jane Valentine Fowler died.

In 1773 he married Martha Drake. They would go on to have at
least seven children that I know of. 

In 1777, his father Reuben Fowler (1720-1777) passed away.

He died on 1 Feb 1832 and is buried in the Old Van
Cortlandtville Cemetery in Westchester County, New York[2].

List of Greats