John Edward Mower (September 18, 1815 – June 11, 1879) was a member of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature in the 1850s. On March 1, 1856, the second territorialGovernorWillis A. Gorman(D) honored him by giving the newly createdMower County his name.[1]
John was born inNew Vineyard, Maine, in 1815. His family made the move west and settled inSt. Louis, Missouri, where he met and married Gratia A. Remick. He and his brother, Martin, moved theirfamilies to the area aroundSt. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, and established themselves in thelumber business in 1843. In 1845 John floated his family downriver on a raft made from thelumber that he would use to build the second frame building inStillwater, Minnesota, their new home. The Mower brothers built a house in the style ofGreek Revival inArcola in 1847 and it is now on theNational Register of Historic Places. He died on June 11, 1879, and is buried inFairview Cemetery inStillwater, Minnesota.
John Edward Mower was elected to the fifth and sixth Minnesota Territorial Councils and in 1875 he was elected to theMinnesota House of Representatives.