George Flower

George Flower (1786-1862) was the son of Richard Flower of Hertford and the nephew of Benjamin Flower, radical editor of the Cambridge Intelligencer. He married his cousin, Jane Dawson, daughter of Jane and John Dawson of Lancaster. The marriage of these two cousins in 1809 was obviously not to the liking of the Revd John Claytons and wife, Benjamin Flower's eldest sister. Unfortunately, within a few years the marriage failed, whether due to differences between George and Jane or to interference by the Claytons and Dawsons is unclear.  The couple separated in 1815 but did not divorce until 1836.   Not long after his separation, George Flower, convinced that he should emigrate, left on an exploratory trip to America in April 1816, equipped with letters of introduction to such leading Americans as Thomas Jefferson, at whose home at Monticello, Virginia, he stayed for several weeks. George Flower returned to England in early autumn 1817, and shortly thereafter sailed again to America, determined now upon settling in Illinois, the same community to which his father would emigrate in April 1818.  On his journey, George Flower met Eliza Julia Andrews, daughter of Rev. Mordecai and Elizabeth Rutt Andrews (Mordecai attended J. C. Ryland’s academy in Northampton in 1760; his wife attended Mrs. Trinder’s academy in Northampton from 1769 to 1771, the female counterpart to Ryland’s academy). Eliza Andrews and Flower soon married, even though he was still legally married to Jane Dawson. His marriage angered Morris Birkbeck, co-founder of Albion, who refused to speak to Flower after his arrival there in 1818. The English settlement eventually split into two groups: Birkbeck’s at Wanborough, and George and Richard Flower’s at Albion. See Salter, “George Flower” and “Quarrelling”; Walker and Burkhardt 1-26; Whelan, “John Ryland at School” 108-09, 116; “The Rev. John Collet Ryland’s Scholars” 23, 25. For more on Eliza Julia Andrews Flower, click here.