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Sunday, July 12, 2020

Nicholas Brower and Mary A. Green, Widow of Levi Green

If this post was on Wikipedia it would be called a stub. It's been sitting in the draft file for nearly a year now and it appears that I'm not going to have the time to explore the issue further, so perhaps I should just get what little I know out there to see if anyone else might be able to contribute.

The question here is who is the Nicholas Brower who married Mary A., the widow of Levi Green sometime between 29 April 1841 and 2 December 1841. The two abstracts that follow explain this choice of dates.

The following deed is found in Oneida County Land Records Vol. 103, p. 482:
Nicholas Brower and Mary A. Brower (late Mary A. Green) widow of Levi Green late of Rome, Oneida County, deceased in consideration of the sum of five hundred forty nine dollars and sixteen cents paid by John Stryker, Surrogate of the County of Oneida...being the sum in gross set off to the said Mary A. Brower (late Mary A. Green) for her right and claim of Dower in the real estate of said Levi Green, deceased, lately sold by the order of said Surrogate... Dated 2 December 1841. Recorded 5 January 1842. Signed by Nicholas Brower and Mary A. Brower, witnesses: Wm. C. Pease, Jm. P. Barney, late of Michigan, Kalamazoo County (this last name is not entirely clear).

The issue of the estate of Levi Green was taken up in the Surrogate's Court of Oneida County on 29 April 1841 (Oneida Co. Administrations 1:116). Administrators of his estate were Alva Whedon and James Merrill. Calvert Comstock was special guardian of the minor children of Levi Green, named as DeWitt Clinton Green, Henry Green and Sam Green. Mary A. Green is mentioned as administratrix. An accounting of the payments made by the administrators is found at 1:118. This entry is dated 7 December 1841.

What little I have been able to learn about Levi Green comes from History of Oneida County, New York; With Illustrations..., by Samuel W. Durant (1878), pages 174, 207, 465 and 627. He apparently was in Oneida County by 1814 when he owned a building that was store at Nisbett Corners in Lee Center later owned by Charles Stokes. On 3 August 1816, in Oneida County, Charlie Wylie and Lucretia his wife, Parker Hallick and Levi Green, all of Rome sold a parcel of land to Treadwell Soper, land in Lynchville in the Town of Rome Oneida Co. Deeds 30:79). On 20 May 1836, Levi Green and Mary his wife, of Rome, sold a parcel in Rome to John B. Bradt and Seth Roberts (Oneida Co. Deeds 76:69-70).

From the above we know that Levi Green was an adult by 1814; he had property in Lee Center in 1814; lived in Rome in 1816 and 1836; and was married to Mary prior to 20 May 1836. He died prior to 29 April 1841, and he had three children, all minors in 1841, namely DeWitt Clinton Green, Henry Green and Sam Green. Thus far I have been unable to identify with any degree of certainty, any of the three in later records. I come across the names in searches, but can't conclude that the search findings correspond to any of the three named children. Curiously, I have also been unable to identify Levi Green as a head of household on any of the U. S. census records from 1820, 1830 or 1840, when he should be found in Oneida County. Perhaps he, and his family, lived in a household headed by another, perhaps one of Levi's parents or even one of Mary's parents. Mary's maiden name is not known. We would like to lean what it was.

I find even less regarding Nicholas Brower. In fact other than the deed noted above, I find no mention or record of a Nicholas Brower in Oneida County. He and Mary may have lived elsewhere (outside of  Oneida County) when the deed was written. The deed itself does not say where they lived. It only states that Levi Green was "late of Rome."

We would like to identify this Nicholas Brower, and learn the family name of Mary, the widow of Levi Green, and wife of Nicholas Brower prior to 2 December 1841. Should anyone have any knowledge of the couple, or any potential leads, please share them using the Comments for this post. Thank you.

BGB 691

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