Pleasant A. Mowrey (c. 1830s–?)
Relationship: 3rd great-granduncle (Mowery line)
The Youngest Who Traveled with His Mother
Pleasant A. Mowrey was born in Tennessee in the 1830s or early 1840s, one of the younger children of Lewis R. Mowery (c. 1801–1850) and Elizabeth "Betsy" Lisbee (c. 1806–1859). He grew up in the Appalachian foothills alongside his older siblings, including Moses Mansfield Mowery, in Knox and Bradley Counties during the years before the family scattered westward.
When Lewis died around 1850, Elizabeth was left a widow with several children still at home. Her older sons had already begun looking toward Texas—Moses settled in Red River County in 1853—but Pleasant remained with his mother in Tennessee through the decade.
In 1859, Pleasant finally made the journey west. The Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas records that he "reached Texas the year of his mother's death," a detail that suggests they traveled together, Elizabeth joining her children in Lamar County only to die soon after arriving. Whether Pleasant escorted his aging mother on that final journey, or whether her death prompted his own departure, remains unclear. What we know is that 1859 marked both an ending and a beginning—the death of the family matriarch and Pleasant's arrival in Texas.
Pleasant established himself in Texas, his presence documented well enough to earn a biographical entry in the 1889 Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas alongside his brother Lewis Daily Mowrey. The spelling of his surname as "Mowrey" (rather than the "Mowery" his brother Moses used) reflects the fluid nature of family names on the frontier, where spelling often depended on who was holding the pen.
Much of Pleasant's Texas life remains to be uncovered—his marriage, children, occupation, and death are not yet documented in our research. But his story represents the broader pattern of the Mowery family: Tennessee roots, westward migration, and new beginnings on the Texas frontier.
Notes:
- Birth year uncertain; likely 1830s–1840s based on arriving with mother in 1859.
- Parents: Lewis R. Mowery (c. 1801–1850) + Elizabeth Lisbee (c. 1806–1859).
- Brother of Moses Mansfield Mowery (1822–1904).
- "Reached Texas the year of his mother's death" (1859) per Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas (1889), p. 622.
- Has biographical entry in Biographical Souvenir alongside L. D. (Lewis Daily) Mowrey.
- Death date and location unknown; further research needed.