My 6th-great-grandmother Nancy Gower was part of the Donelson Flotilla. She was the daughter of Abel Gower Sr. (Yes, I am descended from two of the children of Abel Gower Sr.!) John Haywood wrote about Nancy in The Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee from Its Earliest Settlement Up to the Year 1796: Including the Boundaries of the State (Nashville, Tennessee, W. H. Haywood, 1891; reprint of 1823 edition). On March 8, 1780, the group traveled down the Tennessee River, and when they reached the Suck, a group of Native Americans that had been pursuing them appeared and attacked. Nancy was in her father's boat, and she took the helm and steered the boat as the Native Americans fired at them. Nancy was wounded, but no one realized until her mother noticed blood on her clothes.
Nancy married Andrew Lucas, and their daughter Obedience married Nathan Gatlin. Nathan's son John McNairy Gatlin married Margaret "Peggy" Gower, who was the daughter of William Gower, the granddaughter of Abel Gower Jr., and the great-granddaughter of Abel Gower Sr. Here my Gower lines come together.
Images of the Suck:
http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/ref/collection/tx-wotr/id/1699
http://research.archives.gov/description/524998
LOVE! This is where our shared ancestry is fun. Nancy Gower being our 6th Great Grandmother. Another great job of putting together an interesting historical sketch!
ReplyDelete