Author: James Henry Lee
Daniel Clower was born July 18, 1762 in Berks County, Pennsylvania to George Clower and Elizabeth Morgan Clower according to research done by Lillie May Clower Morris and as stated by his grandson in a letter. George Clower and his family moved to Orange County, North Carolina around 1773, according to the paper “The Clower Family” by Thomas E. Rawlins, which can be found at the Gwinnett County Historical Society. On September 3, 1779, George Clower received a grant of 300 acres from the state of North Carolina on the waters of the Little River in Orange County. Other recorded deeds in North Carolina for this family are: February 2, 1783, George Clower deeded 139 acres to his eldest son William. November 1, 1786, William Clower deeded 269 acres on the Little River to his brother, Daniel. August 30, 1788, Daniel and Nancy Clower deeded 139 acres to James Wilson. September, 19, 1794, Daniel Clower deeded 130 acres to John Brown.

Daniel Clower enlisted for one year in the North Carolina Continental Line in February, 1780, before he was 18 years old. He served as a private in Captain Mills’ Company of Colonel Archibald Lytle’s and Henry Dixon’s North Carolina Regiment. Daniel was in the Siege of Charleston, battles around Wilcox Iron Works, and in the Battle of Lindley’s Mill (also known as the Battle of Cane’s Creek), according to his military records. If this information is accurate, then he actually served in the Revolutionary cause for more than one year. His date of discharge has not been found. One of his grandsons stated that he served 7 years, but no records show this information. His service past his one year obligation could have been with local militia, as local militia fought the British at the Battle of Lindley Mills.

The Siege of Charleston began on March 29, 1780 after the British landed north of Charleston and came over land to attack the city. The battle ended with a victory for the British on May 12, 1780. This was the worst defeat of the revolution for the Americans with the unconditional surrender of Major General Benjamin Lincoln to the British, who captured over 3,000 Patriots and a great quantity of munitions and equipment.

Wilcox Iron Works is located near the Deep River in Chatham County. An iron works, sawmill, and a store were started by John Wilcox in 1768. The iron works produced small munitions for the Patriots through the war years. However, the furnaces were badly damaged during the fighting in the area in 1780 and never repaired.

The Battle of Lindley’s Mill took place on Cane Creek in Orange County, NC on September 13, 1781, after Governor Thomas Burke and other high ranking officials were captured by loyalists in a daylight raid on Hillsborough on September 12, 1781. They were to be transported down the road to Wilmington to be turned over to the British Army. Patriot militiamen tried to rescue them but failed. More than 200 men were killed. The Governor was imprisoned on James Island. This battle effectively closed the war in North Carolina, one month before Lord Cornwallis surrendered the British Army at Yorktown.

Daniel Clower married Nancy Wilson of Orange County, NC on October 27, 1785 according to various Clower family records and records at the Georgia Archives. The “North Carolina Marriage Bonds 1741-1868 Record” includes Daniel Clower and Nancy Wilson obtaining a marriage bond on October 14, 1784. Daniel Clower obtained a land grant of 200 acres in Wilkes County, Georgia on June 27, 1786, but didn’t move to Georgia until 1794. The land grant may have lapsed by that time. The family lived in Morgan County and moved from that location to Jackson County between 1800 and 1801. Daniel Clower is found in the Georgia Property Tax Digest 1793-1892, and is listed in Jackson County in 1801. In 1806, he sold 202 ½ acres in Morgan County (formerly Baldwin County) to Nathaniel Allen. Children of Daniel and Nancy Clower born in North Carolina were: Sarah born in 1787, Betsy born in 1789, Jonathan born January 13, 1791, and John born in 1794. Children born in Georgia were: Nancy, born in 1799, Jane, born in 1802, Daniel Pentecost, born April 28, 1805, Mary, born in 1807, and Selina, born in 1811.

Daniel Clower is found in the 1790 Federal Census, listed as Dan Clower, Orange County, North Carolina. He has not been found in the 1800 or 1810 Federal Census records. In the 1820 Federal Census Daniel Clower is living in Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee with a total of six household members. His son, John Clower and wife, live very close to Daniel Clower and are enumerated in the same Census. Daniel Clower moved back to Georgia about 1821 and lived in Gwinnett County. However, he has not been found in the 1830 Federal Census. Perhaps he lived with someone else. He is found in the 1840 Federal Census in Gwinnett County, GA listed as Daniel Clowers, age 79 and a military veteran.

According to the Biographical Sketch of Daniel Clower entitled “The Zealous Christian” by R.D. Winn, Daniel was a class leader and exhorter in the Methodist Church for forty-six years. He was brought to the Methodist Church by his wife Nancy. Before then he claimed that he was an unrelenting persecutor of religion, especially the babbling Methodists. He thought only weak-minded men and silly women would have anything to do with these people. However, a friend and fellow soldier with him in the Revolutionary War named W. William Pentecost was a Methodist. Therefore, at the request of his wife, Daniel went with her to one of the Methodist meetings. He was angry that she went forward for prayers, and he taunted and spoke angrily toward her on the way home. After reaching home, he was very upset and told Nancy they should try to pray. After that he was a changed man and became a zealous defender of the Methodists. He claimed that day, October 4, 1801 as his spiritual birthday.

Apparently there were many stories about Daniel Clower and his love of the Methodist, from walking on his knees to jumping over benches with excitement. The Biographical Sketch tells of Daniel giving up his farm in Jackson County and moving to Tennessee. When he heard that there was another claim on his farm in Jackson County, he decided to come back to Georgia. He came by Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga and stayed at Coody’s, a Native American who apparently owned an Inn and a lot of property and slaves. Daniel prayed and held church services with Native Americans and with the slaves there after being asked to do so. Other stories about Daniel Clower’s life can be found in several articles written for “Gwinnett Life” in the 1970’s and in the Biographical Sketch.
Daniel and his wife, Nancy, were members of the Bethesda Methodist Church in Gwinnett County until their deaths. Nancy Clower died March 17, 1846, in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Daniel Clower died September 30, 1847, also in Gwinnett County, and he is buried with his wife in the Bethesda Methodist Church Cemetery near Lawrenceville, Georgia. The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) have placed a SAR marker on his gravestone. The gravestone for Nancy Clower includes a list of their children.

Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!

Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.

Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here: Patriot Biography Do's and Don'ts

Send your submission¹, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space

---

¹Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.