Samuel Fowler (1779-1844)

Dr. Samuel Fowler, a physician with strong interests in science and business, was a leading citizen of northern New Jersey. He came to Hamburg as a new physician at the age of 21, argued strongly for the licensing of doctors and, with others, formed the District Medical Society in 1829. In 1810, he purchased Mine Hill in Franklin together with John O. Ford; in 1816-1817, he bought out Ford’s interest. In 1818 and 1824, he acquired the Sterling Mine from the Ogden family. He had married Rebecca Ogden in 1816 after the early death of his first wife, Ann Thomson.

Samuel Fowler was very instrumental in stimulating the interests of geologists in the deposits. Although he was indefatigible in his efforts to use these ores and learn more about them, and pursued every avenue of opportunity available to him, including the investment of substantial amounts of his own capital, his strong efforts to develop a great commercial zinc industry here were largely unsuccessful. With George Ballou, he succeeded in manufacturing zinc oxide, likely from zincite. He reportedly used it to make paint for his wooden house on the site of the former Beardslee grist mill; this house burned down in 1884 (the house of his son, Colonel Fowler, built in 1850 and still standing, is made of stone).

After representing Sussex County in the New Jersey Senate, Dr. Fowler served as a congressman in Washington from 1833-1837, during the term of Andrew Jackson. He was instrumental is seeing that local zincite was used for the zinc component of the brass in the sets of national standards of weights and measures provided to the states.

Of all the great men who contributed here, Samuel Fowler stands head-and-shoulders above them in importance. He was a great man with great foresight and energy, which he melded with his personal perspicacity to further the advancement of all aspects of these ore deposits. Surely he was the seminal industrialist of Franklin, and was closer to science than those who followed him. We owe him a great debt.

Additional details on Dr. Fowler’s contributions are given by Snell (1881), Shuster (1927), Kettell (1867), and Haight and Tillson (1917). Fowlerite, now known to be a zincian variety of rhodonite, was named for him. A newer, valid, mineral species, samfowlerite, later was named in his honor.

Dr. Fowler’s son, Colonel Samuel Fowler (1818-1865), also attempted to establish commercial zinc mining locally and was marginally successful, in part due to emerging technologies. He did manage, unintentionally we presume, to lay carelessly the groundwork for 40 years of litigation as discussed herein. He died in Trenton, New Jersey, a few days after taking office as a member of the State Assembly.