TOWN RECORDS - Kittery, York, Maine:
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19 November 1668 - John Gowen was born,
to William and Elizabeth Gowen.
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John married on 1 October 1691
Mercy HAMMOND
{born - 1674 at Kittery, York, Maine
daughter of Joseph HAMMOND
and Catherine FROST}.
John and Mercy were 1st cousins.

John and Mercy were the parents of;
Dorcas, William, George, John, Mercy,
Joseph, Jane, Lemuel, William.

GOWEN FAMILY GENEALOGY:
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John was a planter, sea captain, land surveyor, Selectman of Kittery, also a substantial farmer; he became a large landowner in the town of Kittery.
He and his brother, Nicholas, inherited the home place property from their father, also land from Tristram Harris. John lived on this home place of his father and accumulated considerable property. The farms of John
and Nicholas were at what is now Gould's Corner in Eliot, {then Kittery}.

1677: September 11 - The estate of Tristram Harris was administered. Tristram Harris was an Englishman who lived alone near the Gowen farm. He occupied a grant of land of forty acres on Mast Cove Way, also owned fifty acres of land near the York line. During the Indian up-rising of 1675 he joined Captain Charles Frost's Company as a Scout. He had expressed special affection for the two oldest children of William Gowen, {Nicholas and John}. Tristram stated to several persons that if he should lose his life in the conflict he wished his property to be given to them. These were his nearest neighbor's children for whom he expressed great attachment and a desire that if he were killed or died they should have the results of his industry and frugality, because of mutual love. He was killed by the Indians in 1676 leaving no heirs in this country. Eventually, Nicholas and John received the property in accordance with Tristram's wishes. On the forty acres adjoining the Gowen farm stood Tristram's house, the best lumber of which was used to build the home of Nicholas Gowen. John Gowen and his family occupied the older William Gowen home. In the final division of the Gowen - Harris property, Nicholas had the Harris house and the two barns of his father; John had his father's house and was allowed a sum of money to build a new barn. The brothers used the same well. The fifty acres of Harris land by the York line {granted to him June 24, 1673} was divided equally between the two brothers.
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YORK COUNTY COURT:
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In 1693 Mercy Hammond Gowen was indicted for fornication. At the same time James Warren was also indicted.
John Gowen was indicted by the court because when a woman was accused, her husband was held responsible. John failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his 'contempt of authority'.
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TOWN RECORDS - Kittery, York, Maine:
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13 August 1692 - Dorcas Gowen was born
on Sabbath day to John and Mercy Gowen.
Dorcas died in 1732; she was unmarried.
In April 1721 the York County Court ordered that an officer be directed to bring Dorcas Gowen to court on charges of fornication 'for a bastard child born of her body'. She appeared and made oath that John Treworgie was the father of said child. Court ordered that she receive four strips on her naked back at ye post and pay fees of the Court.
John Tregworgie was convicted of being the father of the bastard child begotten on ye body of Dorcas Gowen and ordered to pay 2 shillings and 6 pence per week for the maintenance of said child.