JOSEPH FOWLER, was b. in Dalbury Lees, in Derbyshire, before 1610; under the will of his father he inherited the lands which the latter bought of his (John's) brother, Henry Fowler of Barthomley, Co. Chester. Mr. Fowler was in London in 1645, as he proved his father's will there in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. He and his brother Richard came to New England about 1650, and are said to have first located in Rhode Island. There may be some probability in this statement as most of the early settlers of Newton, Flushing, Hempstead and Oyster Bay were from that Colony. He was in Maspeth Kill, now Newtown (Riker's Newtown, p.38), in 1655; taxed £1 in 1656 for 20 acres at Middlebury; Dec, 12, 1657, he signed the remonstrance to the Governor of New York, protesting against the injustice to the Quakers. In the Town Records of Newtown, Book I, p.452, is a deed from Joseph Fowler of Maspeth Kills to Robert Jackson of Hempstead for 40 acres at Middlebury, which the said Fowler purchased from his brother-in-law Richard Betts; said deed is dated April 10, 1660. Aug. 10, 1654, ordered on petition of Thomas Wandell to stay execution until Joseph Fowler appear to defend himself (Dutch His. Mss., Albany, Vol. 5, p. 322); Nov. 25, 1654, authorizing the inhabitants of Maspeth to notify Joseph Fowler to quit that place, he being a public disturber, and in case he refuse to have him arrested (Dutch His. Mss., Albany, Vol.5, p.444); June 4, 1655, attachment issued against the person and property of Joseph Fowler of Maspeth, at the suit of Thomas Wan-dell (Dutch His. Mss., Vol. VI, p. 51); Oct. 8, 1655 affidavit of Joseph Safford and Thomas Read of Maspeth Kill that they have been informed by Joseph Fowler, Goodman Betts and his son William, that people from Graves-end had been to Westchester where they learned the unfriendly feeling of the Indians towards the Dutch (Dutch His. Mss., Vol. VI, p.91); Jan. 2, 1657, testimony of Joseph Fowler and Hannah Bradish in the petition of John George Baldwin for a divorce from his wife on the grounds of adultery (Dutch His. Mss., Vol.8, p.417).
    Joseph Fowler, m. Sarah, daughter of Richard Betts, Sr., of Hempstead, Co. Middlesex, Eng., and sister of Richard Betts, one of the original patentees of Newtown, and a Magistrate, 1656-57.