Frank L. Mower Property Insurance

From The Archives

Some time ago my dad gave me a shoe box filled with a variety of documents.  Among them was the insurance policy covering the Frank Lester Mower farm on Pushaw Road.  It's an interesting piece of history, particularly when looking at the values listed.

Policy No. 2541 issued by Providence Washington Insurance Company was obtained through L. C. Tyler & Sons Co., a local independent insurance agent located in Bangor, Maine.  The farm property policy had a three-year term (23 March 1915 - 23 March 1918), provided coverage for a total amount of $2,000. The premium for the term was $36.

The location of the farm owned by my great-grandfather, Frank L. Mower, of which he was the occupant, was "on the westerly side of the road leading from Bangor, Maine to Pushaw Lake known as the Glenburn Road in Bangor, Maine."

The policy is interesting as it breaks down the total coverage amount as follows:

• $400 on the 1 1/2 story, shingled roof, frame building while occupied as a private residence.
• $250 on household furniture and utensils of every description, "useful and ornamental."
• $700 on the barn.
• $100 on wagons, carriages, sleighs, and harnesses.
• $150 on horses, mules, and colts
• Nothing on sheep
• $400 on cows, heifers, oxen, bulls and calves.

It is also interesting to note that a stamp tax of eighteen cents was imposed on the premium.