Relationship: Great-great-grandmother (Gleeson/Mowrey line)
Wisconsin Native, Arizona Pioneer Wife, Mother of Patricia
Anne Barbara Gleeson was born on August 17, 1903 in Mondovi, Buffalo County, Wisconsin, the sixth of seven children born to James Joseph Gleeson (1863–1946) and Maria Ann Fitzgerald (1865–1916). She grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in the dairy country of western Wisconsin.
Anne's childhood was marked by both the warmth of a large family and the shadow of early loss. The 1905 and 1910 censuses show her living with her parents and siblings in Mondovi. Her siblings included James Joseph "John" (1895), Jane Agnes (1897), John Frank (1898), Joseph Patrick (1900), Margaret Mary (1901), and Harold Francis (1903)—Harold being born the same year as Anne, possibly making them twins.
In 1916, when Anne was just thirteen years old, her mother Maria Ann died. The following year brought another blow: her younger brother Joseph Patrick died on March 6, 1917, at only seventeen years old. These losses came as America entered World War I, a time of upheaval for families across the nation.
By 1920, Anne was still living in Mondovi with her widowed father at age seventeen. But within a year or so, she made the dramatic move west to Arizona.
A marriage record exists for "Anna Gleason" to Paul B. Hannah in Maricopa County, Arizona on June 1, 1921. Whether this is Anne Barbara Gleeson remains uncertain—the name spelling differs ("Gleason" vs. "Gleeson"), and further research is needed to confirm or rule out a first marriage before Raymond Mowrey.
Anne made her way to Williams, Arizona, where she became a grade school teacher—a "popular member of last year's grade school faculty," as the local paper would later note.
In May 1928, Anne secretly married Raymond Robert Mowrey (1899–1973), a colorful Arizona character who had prospected for gold in his youth and later ran the Sultana Bar in Williams. The couple kept their marriage secret while Anne finished the school year. The Williams News reported in September 1928 that "the young couple have so carefully guarded [the secret] since last May when they slipped away and were quietly married."
The couple settled in Williams, Coconino County, a railroad town on Route 66 near the Grand Canyon. On February 5, 1929, their daughter Patricia Anne Mowrey was born—the future wife of Howard R. Birch and grandmother of Matt Parrett.
The 1930 and 1940 censuses show Anne and Raymond established in Williams, where they raised Patricia. Anne was active in the local Catholic community—a 1943 newspaper clipping mentions her involvement with the St. Therese Club. The family lived through the Depression and war years in the small Arizona town, Raymond tending bar and Anne keeping the household.
In 1934, the Williams News noted that "Mrs. Raymond Mowrey and daughter Patricia" departed for a visit—likely back to Wisconsin to see her Gleeson relatives.
Anne's father James Joseph Gleeson died in January 1946 in Waite Park, Minnesota. By the late 1940s, Anne and Raymond had moved to Phoenix, where city directories show them at 1042 N 16th Street in 1948.
Raymond died in June 1973 in Phoenix, after over forty years of marriage. Anne outlived him by thirteen years.
Anne Barbara Gleeson Mowrey died in January 1986 in Tucson, Arizona, at age 82. She is buried in Phoenix, Maricopa County.
Notes:
Last updated: 2026-02-04