My Genealogy Hound

DEXTER TOWER, who is a retired carpenter and builder of Northampton, Mass., was born in the town of Cummington, Hampshire County, Mass., on March 12, 1817, son of John M. and Ruth (Reed) Tower, the former of whom was also a native of Cummington, where he was born about 1777.

His grandfather, Stephen Tower, the descendant of an Englishman who immigrated to America in Colonial days, came from Plymouth, Mass., to Cummington, where he was one of the first settlers. John M. Tower’s wife, Ruth Reed, was a daughter of a Congregational minister. They were married in Cummington in 1808, and as time passed five children were born to them, namely: John M., Jr., born in 1809; Celemna, born in 1812, who became the wife of Hiram Bartlett, and died in 1843, leaving three children; Dexter; Laura, born in 1819, who became the wife of Cephas Thayer, and died in 1890, leaving no children; and Russell, born in 1829, a prosperous farmer of Worthington, Mass. Their mother died in 1830.

Dexter Tower remained with his parents until he was thirteen years of age, and was then bound out to Russell Bartlett for the remainder of his minority to learn the carpenter’s trade, the terms of apprenticeship being that he should receive one hundred dollars when he reached the age of twenty-one years in addition to his board and clothes in the mean time and three months’ schooling. Having attained his majority, he engaged in work as a journeyman carpenter for a year in the town of Chester, from which place he came to Northampton, and bought his present homestead of one hundred acres, with an old house that had for many years been used as a tavern. The consideration was twenty-five hundred dollars, for the larger part of which Mr. Tower was obliged to secure credit. In 1888 he purchased a tract of land in Tonawanda, N.Y., which he divided into twenty-three lots, and kept until 1895, selling them then for about six thousand dollars. Since he purchased his farm he has erected thereon two good houses. The large farm-house now owned and occupied by his son he built in 1877, at a cost of about four thousand dollars; and in 1884 he erected his own residence on two acres taken from the farm, selling at that time the balance to his son. He also has property in Duluth, Minn., and in Wisconsin. In Duluth are four building lots that he purchased in 1889 and ten acres of land, which, though not yet divided, is worth about six thousand dollars. He still owns seventy-five acres of land in Windsor, Berkshire County, Mass. Mr. Tower has done but little carpenter work since 1891, and is enjoying a well-merited rest, having acquired a sufficient competence to supply him with comforts and pleasures in his old age. He is well preserved for a man of his years and the great amount of hard labor he has done.

Mr. Tower’s first wife, Irene P. Pierce, of Windsor, Berkshire County, Mass., a daughter of Isaac Pierce, died in August, 1886, at sixty-one years of age, having borne him two sons and two daughters: Clinton T., Climena, Lizzie, and Perley.

Clinton T. Tower, born in 1855, is successfully engaged in dairy farming. He married for his first wife Miss Ida Bartlett, who died in April, 1888, at twenty-nine years of age, leaving two children: Arthur Clinton, now a youth of fifteen years; and George H., a lad thirteen years old. Clinton Tower was again married on July 31, 1889, to Miss Lucy L. Allen, of Florence, a daughter of Bennett and Cordelia (Warren) Allen, the former of whom was a native of Middletown, Conn., and the latter of Williamsburg, Mass. By this marriage he has two children: Clara A., born June 22, 1890; and Bertrand, born September 22, 1893. He is a member of the Common Council from his ward. Climena Belle Tower, the wife of Fred Sweet, of Wilmington, Vt., has three children. Lizzie Tower married Caleb Hill, of Wakefield, Mass. Perley D. Tower, who is unmarried, is a farmer.

In September, 1888, Mr. Tower was again married, his second wife being Mrs. Evaline Rogers, who was left a widow with three children, namely: Sophia, a widow residing in Buffalo, N.Y.; and twin daughters — Cora and Carrie — both of whom are married. Mrs. Tower has one grandchild and two great-grandchildren, all living in Buffalo, N.Y. Mr. Tower formerly voted the Whig ticket, but since the organization of the Republican party he has been affiliated with the latter. He was reared in the Presbyterian faith. His portrait is herewith presented.