William FOWLER

   User ID: P00025667.

  General Notes:

When William died, he "was buried under a Cruciform slab in (in Accordance with his wishes), bearing his initials and the date of his death, near the south door of Winterton Church, where it may still be seen." See source ref. 2 below. He was a Class Leader at Winterton's first chapel and a trustee at Barton on Humber. When the first chapel was replaced with a new one, William's son, Joseph, bought it and converted it into a residence named Chapel House, and later Ivy Dene. See reference 6, below.
Three of William's grandsons became Doctors of Divinity and Canons of the Church of England. Canon Joseph was Vice-Chancellor of Durham University; Thomas was Professor of Logic at Lincoln College and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, and William was a Canon at Liversedge near Dewsbury. See reference 6, below.
William was apprenticed to his father's business and brought up as an architect and master builder, in which profession he won some considerable repute. He was later an engraver of note around England and was patronized by King George III, Sir Walter Scott, Sir Jos. Banks, etc. During excavation at Winterton, Lincolnshire, England, some Roman pavements were discovered. William made engravings of them. Lucille Miers Webster was given color pictures of them by electronic mail from Geoff Garrard, Winterton Historian, in 1999. William's son writes about him that "gems of his after-proficiency in drawing and colouring were seen in his school books, and on the walls of neighbouring cottages." and that William personally superintended all the woodwork done in the workshop by a large staff of apprentices, which later included his own three sons. A number of his rough sketches of architecture details are still at Winterton where his workshop yet exists much as he left it."
See source reference, "William Fowler: Artist and Antiquary" by Peter Rinnall, below.
William made 116 engravings. HIs first print was published in 1798. Books have been published with pictures of many of the engravings, including Roman pavements in various counties and stained glass. "Fowler's representations of both glass and other subjects are noble, not only for their beauty and the skill with which they were executed, but also for their absolute accuracy even to the minutest details." See source reference, "William Fowler: Artist and Antiquary" by Peter Rinnall, below and also, Geoff Garrard, a Winterton Historian, in May, 2000. William, himself, refers to a newly published book of his under the patronage of Sir Jos. Banks (engraving of mosaic pavements and stained glass) and sends to his old schoolmaster, William Teanby, 1 pound of the 12 guineas he received from the Earl of Carlisle for the book. William felt that his schoolmaster was the person who first taught William how to draw and William was grateful, feeling that he owed the 1pound to Wm. Teanby for the teaching. This writing is in William's published correspondence. See reference 5 below.
William's correspondence was privately printed with a limited number of copies in 1907, per "Winterton Notes by Canon J.T. Fowler in Chronologicl Order. circa 0350-1923". See below for reference.
William's parents lived in The Chains which is what The Old Fowler Homestead is called and in the Rusling book was described as "an excellent stone dwelling-house on the main street of Winterton on a lot extending through to another street. On the rear of the lot is another modest stone house, now considerably in decay, in which James and Mary Rusling went to live after they got married, and where they continued to reside while at Winterton. Here in Winterton, Joseph Thomas Fowler lives, when at home, and spends much of his time there." Dr. Fowler helped the author's son, James Wood Rusling, explore Winterton.
Thomas Valentine told of a coat of arms, among other possibilities of coats of arms that could be for the Fowler family. The one Thomas told of is probably the best possibility to be the old Fowler coat of arms which they may have had before the English Civil War and lost because they were royalists and had their manor house and estate taken away. Thomas's brother, William Fowler, the engraver, was once shown the coat of arms and told it had been his families. William told Thomas Valentine. Description of this coat of arms is on page 37 of the Rusling Family book. The book describes the coat of arms as:
"Fowler Arms (Heraldic) in the staircase window, Healy Hall, Frodingham,Lincolnshire.
Crest. Ostrich Head - Or between two wings argent, holding in his beak a Horse Shoe azure.
Quarterly. Azure and Or. In the first quarter a Hawk's Lure and Line, Or.".
The author writes, "On Dr. Fowler's old house, where James and Mary Rusling once lived, is a small slab erected by Dr. Fowler, with the brief inscription: 'here Mr. Wesley first preached in Winterton.' Apparently he stood in the doorway and preached to a street congregation, the ground rising slightly there." This was the occasion about which Mr. Wesley mentioned himself, "Saturday August 8th, 1761, I preached at Winterton to such a congregation as I suppose never met there before. . ."
A window was placed in the Winterton, England, All Saints Church to the memory of several members of the Fowler family including Joseph Fowler's parents, William (the architect and engraver) and Rebecca Fowler. It reads, "This window was designed and given by Joseph Fowler, A.D. 1875, in memory of his great-grandparents Joseph and Mary, his grandparents Joseph and Mary, his parents William and Rebeca, his wife Elizabeth and his son John, all of whom are buried on this churchyard. Domine, refugium factus es nobis, a generatione in generationem. Reference: Lucille Webster took a picture of this window and the inscription on May 31, 2000. There also was a stone cross at Winterton Church erected for William. Reference: Inscriptions were recorded in two exercise books, found in Winterton Church, with all the grave headstone shapes and texts that were copied before they were removed to allow easier access for mowing the grass in the Churchyard. This inscription was from, "Inscriptions copied from gravestones, windows and tablets both inside and around the church of Winterton".
William and Rebecca's daughter, Rebecca's memorial stone is imbedded into the side of the Church in Winterton, England, the side which faces Market Street (Hill). It reads in part, "In Memory of Rebecca Fowler who died July 8th, 1814, Aged 21 Years. The rest of the stone was unreadable in May, 2000. Reference: A picture taken of this memorial stone on May 31, 2000, by Lucille Webster on the outside of All Saints Church, Winterton, England.
William and Rebecca's stone reads, "In memory of Rebecca Fowler, who died August 29th, 1820, and of her husband William Fowler who died Sept 22nd, 1832 aged 71 years. 'These tender and indulgent parents were only survived by the eldest and youngest of their five children.' " Reference: Inscriptions were recorded in two exercise books, found in Winterton Church, with all the grave headstone shapes and texts that were copied before they were removed to allow easier access for mowing the grass in the Churchyard. This inscription was from, "Inscriptions copied from gravestones, windows and tablets both inside and around the church of Winterton".
A local historian in Winterton, Evelyn Harvey-Dew, who also was the first person to live in The Chains after the Fowlers studied its history.
She writes:
1760 /1954
"The Fowlers came to "The Chains" in 1760 when Joseph Fowler came over & bought "The Chains" He came from Brough(Bruff) across the River Humber. The first mention of these Fowlers in Winterton. He and his wife lived at "The Chains" and produced WILLIAM in 1761The famous Fowler Architect Engraver & Historian.
"The Fowlers lived at "The Chains" from 1760 to 1954 as near as makes no never mind 200 yrs.
Me and my husband bought "The Chains" in 1956 and me and my family have lived there ever since-
"In 1827 when William was an old man he made alterations to "The Chains" making the large room overlooking the lawn into his "Study"-and adding upper rooms. He died in 1832
"His drawings and plans were used to build The Winterton Church of England School down West Street in 1841 for 200 children Yes it still stands there today and is now used for a Community Village Hall.
" 'The Chains' is very old. The Deeds showed that it was sold as a dwelling , first recorded in 1644. Elizabeth Fowler in her Book 1900 called "TWIXT TRENT AND ANCHOLME" mentioned about Blaze Ferris ,Yoeman of Wineringham who once lived at "The Chains" and she questioned in retrospect if he had problems getting his "TINDER BOX" to work. as she no doubt had." Evelyn (see reference 7 below)
References for William and Rebecca and their family: (1) See "The Rusling Family" book for more. Author: James F. Rusling, published 1907. Available in 1999 from Higginson Book Co., Salem, Mass. Also, see (2) "William Fowler: Artist and Antiquary" by Peter Rinnall. An article dated Oct. 1928 and found in the Museum and Art Gallery Scunthorpe, England, by Lucille Webster in June, 2000. Ref. no. 13.76.40. The name of this Gallery has been changed to North Lincolnshire Museum. References for the article are listed in the article and included: Fowler, Joseph. Obituary notice of W.F. in the "Wesleyan Methodist Magazine,' April, 1834. W.F. is Joseph's son William Fowler, about whom much was written. (3) "Winterton Notes by Canon J.T. Fowler in Chronologicl Order. circa 0350-1923" from Written Notes, transferred to type by Geoff Garrard of "The Winterton Way" (a paper about the town of Winterton, England) from a photo-copied Manuscript supplied by Mr. E. Tate of Winterton. This is on a CD of Winterton History, CD No. 2, at Text, Winnote. The CD was made by Geoff for Lucille Miers Webster in May, 2000. (4 ) "Fowler Family" as outlined and given to Lucille Webster by a Winterton Historian, Evelyn Harvey-Dew, at Evelyn's home in Winterton, England, June, 2000. (5) Copies from Nov. 24, 1804 from the published book of "The Correspondence of William Fowler of Winterton, In the County of Lincoln, edited by his grandson, Joseph Thomas Fowler, M.A., D.C.L., F.S.A., Honorary Canon of Durham, No. 12 of 50 copies privately printed in 1907. A copy of part of this correspondence was made for Lucille Webster May 31, 2000, by Evelyn Harvey-Dew, an historian of Winterton, Lincolnshire, England, where William Fowler had lived. In May, 200, a copy of the correspondence was in the North Lincolnshire Museum archives, Scunthorpe, England. (6) "Two Centuries of Methodism in Winterton 1761 to 1961" by Edward G. Tate. Lucille copied this data June 2, 2000, at the North Lincolnshire Museum, Scunthorpe, England. (7) Electronic mail (E-mail) correspondence to Lucille Miers Webster from Winterton, Lincolnshire, England, Historian, Evelyn Harvey-Dew, February 7, 2002.
The Ruslings of Hull, England, actually originate in Lincolnshire, England, as do the Fowlers per Lynda Hotchkiss, Genealogist at Lincolnshire Archives, St. Rumbold Street, Lincoln LN2 5AB incorporating Lincoln Diocesan Record Office.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Architect & Engraver.

• Baptism, 13 Mar 1761.

William married Rebecca HILL on 23 May 1790. (Rebecca HILL was born about 1757, died on 29 Aug 1820 and was buried in Aug 1820-Sep 1820 in Winterton, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom.)