General Notes

John FOWLER(1) was born about 1340 in Sherbourne, Oxford, E
ngland. The earliest traces of the sturdy name of Fowler da
te from the time when fierce invaders form the North were c
hanging the map and history of Europe by their sweeping inv
asions of France, and later England. This name is of ancien
t Anglo-Norman orgin, and comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "
Fugal", meaning fowl. However, most of the Fowlers in Ameri
ca are of English descent. It seems that the early bearer
s of our name not only "pursued and captured wild fowl", bu
t also sold them, for in its early form the French suffix
, "ere", following "fowl" meant an agent or dealer. Old Eng
lish and early American records carry frequent mention of t
he name in various forms, such as "Fouler", but "Fowler" i
s the generally accepted form. Long before they accompanie
d William the Conqueror during his conquest of England, th
e early Fowlers seem to have taken part in the successful i
nvasion of France, under the leadership of the Norseman Rol
fe, or Rollo, who conquered that country about the beginnin
g of the Tenth Century, But although they were able to over
come the inhabitants of the country in battle, Rolfe's me
n could not withstand the civilization they found there an
d soon assumed the ways and customs of the land. For centur
ies, Gaul, or France, had felt the influence of Roman civil
izastion, and eventually there existed there a fusion of Fr
ench, Roman Teutonic and Norse races, all speaking the fren
ch tonque. Accross the channel lay England, which was to b
e the home of the Fowlers for many centuries. According t
o science, the British Isles were in prehistoric times a pa
rt of the Continent, but since it lay, in island form, to
o far West to benefit by the early civilizing influences o
f the countries bordering the Mediterranean, it was stil
l a wild country when others had reached civilizastion t
o a high degree. Caesar's main plurpose in conquering Brita
in lay in keeping the wild inhabitants of the country fro
m invading Gaul, but even while Britain was under Roman dom
inance, she experienced numerous invasions from other races
. From the North, in what is now Scotland, came the ravagin
g Picts. From Ireland came the Scots, who later settled i
n Scotland. From across the channel came the Danes and Angl
es, the last of whom perhaps did more than any other race t
o totally subject the Britons prior to the coming of the No
rmans. As duke of Normandy, the man who was to become know
n as William the Conqueror had only a far-fetched claim t
o the English crown. But when he found that Harold had bee
n chosen King of England to succeed King Edward, in January
, 1066, he imediately put in a claim for the crown himself
. During the whole of that spring and summer, ships for hi
s English invasion were being built in the Norman harbors
. William met Harold in battle on October 14 that year, an
d no doubt a number of the Fowlers who went to England abou
t that time took part in the famous conflict. Although Will
iam had 10,000 trained norman fighters with him, it was onl
y after using various stratregic maneuvers that he got th
e English army, with smaller force, to move down from thei
r position on a hill, and thus offer his men a chance to ma
ke a sucessful attack. Finally, finding the weapons of hi
s archers were not laying down the deadly fire he expected
, he ordered his men to shoot their arrows into the air. Th
e bowmen obeyed and a shower of arrows rained upon the Brit
ish, one of them piercing Harold's eye, stretching him life
less on the ground. On Christmas day, 1066, William was cho
sen king by acclamation at Edward's Abbey at Westminister i
n London. The Normans outside mistook the shouts of applaus
e for a tumult against their Duke, and set fire to the hous
es around. The English rushed out to save their property, a
nd William, frightened for the only time lin his life, wa
s left alone wit