Preliminary placement on the Bowen family web :
Not yet ready for general releaseNote :
This adaptation is believed to have been authored by Ken Bowen of The Bowen Depository.
This is adapted from the book "Ancestral Lines' 3rd ed. (1998) by Carl Boyer.
The following presentation is an effort to convince descendants that published theories, as well as those in the files of Richard LeBaron9 Bowen, have been rejected for cause. The complete Bowen files of Richard LeBaron9 Bowen were copied, classified by subject and forwarded to the compiler by his son, Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr., who was born in 1919 and lives at 35 Fessenden Road, Barrington, RI 02806 (1998).
The 1815 armorial tombstone of Jabez6 Bowen (Ephraim5, Thomas4, Richard3, Thomas2, Richard1) at Swan Point in Providence, Rhode Island, states that Jabez was "the fifth in descent from Richard Bowen / who emigrated from Glamorganshire in South Wales / A.D. 1640." A Yale graduate, Jabez was appointed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 1776, became Chief Justice in 1781, served his state as Deputy Governor from 1778 to 1786, and was the first Chancellor of Rhode Island College (later Brown University) in 1785.
This reference on a tombstone to the immigrant ancestor may be unique for this period. Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr. suggested in 1993 that this specific information may have been preserved in Richard1 Bowen's family Bible; it is significant that in the inventory of his estate, taken in 1675, there was listed "Item a Great bible" [Mayflower Descendant, 17 (1915), 250]. This was the only book in the inventory, and the price accorded it, in comparison with the rest of the items, indicated that it was prized, perhaps for its quality or size. However, the present location of this Bible is unknown.
Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr., pointed out in a letter of 19 April 1994 that E.C. Bowen was the first to report in print a Bowen tombstone with arms, a standing stag with an arrow [101], stating that "in generations after [Richard1 Bowen left Wales], this same Richard's posterity in this country find upon the tombstone at Rehoboth a stag pierced with an arrow, with the motto, Qui male eogitat male sibi." He did not say the arms were on Richard's tombstone; undoubtedly the reference was to that of Jabez4 Bowen. Five lines later he stated that Richard "was buried at or near Rehoboth," indicating lack of knowledge about the place. However, there is no motto on either the Jabez4 Bowen stone in Newman Cemetery, Rehoboth, or on the Jabez6 stone at the Swan Point Cemetery in Providence. The motto came from the Bowen arms in the center of the pedigree of E.C. Bowen's work; mottoes were not found in the early published examples of Bowen arms.
Then in 1897 Edward Augustus Bowen [Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Cambridge, which was primarily a genealogy of the Griffith1 Bowen family] misquoted E.C. Bowen on page 6: "It appears also that a Richard Bowen, but of what family is not clearly known, died and was interred in the burial ground attached to Rehoboth, and the Bowen arms, a stag trippant with an arrow stuck in his back, were cut on the tombstone." Dick Bowen made the point that this was known to come from E.C. Bowen because E.A. Bowen's next sentence said the same arms were born by the Bowens of Llwyngwair, a mistake E.C. Bowen had made on page 102.
As Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr., explained in a letter of 10 Dec. 1993, Richard1 Bowen could not have "had an armorial gravestone with a coat of arms carved on it when he was buried in Rehoboth in February 1674/5.... It would be a remarkable occurrence for New England in general, and even for Boston where there were a number of 'stonecutters' in the last quarter of the 17th century it would have been unusual. This would have been a 'formal' stone made by a stonecutter as opposed to the fieldstones used by the earliest settlers. H.M. Forbes, Gravestones of New England (Boston, 1927), on page 22 shows a formal stone of 1653 at Cambridge and states that there are few gravestones in New England as early as this. A crude one in King's Chapel, Boston, of 1658 has seven rough lines but no decoration. One has to go to the 1670s to find formal stones coming into vogue in the Boston area. Newport, R.I., did not get a stonecutter until after 1700 and Rehoboth did not have one until 1716 [Ibid., 91, 99].
"My father actually treated the graves and gravestones of the 17th century Rehoboth (Newman) cemetery rather completely in Early Rehoboth, 4:31-37 with a map of the cemetery. He observed that 'The earliest graves are marked with rough field stones on some of which are chiseled crude initials with dates of burial. Slate gravestones were not used in this cemetery until after 1700.' This implies that many of the fieldstones were not marked with initials or dates, and in a footnote on page 34 he indicates that over the years a great number of these fieldstones (marked and unmarked) were taken up and put into the walls to simplify grass cutting. He also specifically states that the formal type of stone which would be used for a coat of arms was not used here until after 1700.
"He further points out that many of the interments were not in the common burying ground but on the individual farms.... The earliest stone in the yard was that of William Carpenter, the immigrant; a fieldstone with WC/1658. Other Carpenter stones in the 1680s have dates and initials. Philip Walker's stone has PW/1679.... Richard1 Bowen's gravestone was undoubtedly a fieldstone with or without initials and date and may have been in the common ground or on his farm running out of the Ring of the Green."
Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr., noted in a letter of 15 Jan. 1994 that there is no grouping of graves of children and grandchildren of Richard1 Bowen around any unmarked or worn flat tombs. Indeed, much later burials were made near the ancient tombs of Rehoboth, eliminating any significance of the position of graves. The Newman Cemetery, known in the contemporary Rehoboth records from 1669 to 1790 as the "Burying Place," was probably started about 1647 and expanded in 1680, 1738 and 1790. The first burials were made about 250 feet southeast of the first meeting house; the cemetery, which now contains about ten acres, lies south of the Newman Congregation Church and Newman Avenue, and west of Pawtucket Avenue, now in East Providence, R.I. [letter from Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr., dated 3 Jan. 1994, which revised at length his father's presentation in Early Rehoboth, 4:31-37].
In 1754 Dr. Jabez4 Bowen buried his wife Huldah in the old Newman Cemetery and had the Bowen arms cut on the stone. At the time Dr. Jabez was sixty years old. There is no proof to the statement made by Richard LeBaron9 Bowen that the "knowledge of these Arms must have come from his father, Dr. Richard3, who died when Jabez was 41 years of age. Dr. Richard3 was about five years old when his father Thomas2 died, and 26 years old when his grandfather the immigrant Richard died."
In 1933 Richard LeBaron9 Bowen submitted an application, dated 21 Feb. of that year, for registration by the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society of the coat of arms that belonged to Richard1 Bowen. Henry L.P. Beckwith, Jr., Secretary of this committee, kindly furnished a copy of the application, which was rejected and subsequently abandoned.
Mr. Beckwith wrote, there "is no proof that [Richard1 Bowen's] gravestone was...cut with arms claimed by the descendants of Richard Bowen of Rehoboth, but rather that the first proven usage of the arms was on the stone of his great grandson, Dr. Jabez Bowen. I would further note that to the best of my knowledge the ancestry of Richard Bowen is unknown."
Richard LeBaron9 Bowen had referred to Richard1 Bowen as "of Glamorganshire, South Wales," with arms, "a stag trippant pierced in the back by an arrow, with crest a stag's head erased." As Mr. Bowen put it in his application, "It is a family tradition that this Coat-of-Arms was cut on the tombstone of the immigrant Richard of Rehoboth, buried in the old Newman Cemetery in February 1674-5. There are in this Cemetery two very old horizontal flat stones supported by foundations, but the action of the elements has obliterated all cuttings from the tops so that it is impossible to read anything." However, John Guillim's A Display of Heraldry (1724) contains these Bowen arms on page 156, and may have been copied by Jabez Bowen [letter from Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr., to Michael M. Bowen of 2321 Wembley Park Road, Lake Oswego, OR 97034, 26 Nov. 1993]. On 11 Jan. 1994 Mr. Bowen's son wrote that there are four variations of the Bowen stag arms: (1) stag lodged with olive branch, (2) stag lodged with arrow, (3) stag statant with arrow, and (4) stag trippant with arrow. The latter was illustrated in 1724, in Guillim.
E.A. Bowen continued, "In 1790, Mary Bowen, daughter of Jabez6 wove an elaborate Bowen Coat-of-Arms out of various colored silks and this is still in possession of the family.
"The next appearance of the Bowen Coat-of-Arms is on the tombstone of Deputy Governor Jabez6 Bowen, buried in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, R.I. He was 41 years of age when his greatuncle Jabez4 died, and 73 years of age at the death of his father Ephraim5, who was brought up from the age of nine by his uncle Jabez4.
"On this tombstone it is especially set forth that Jabez6 is the fifth in descent...from Richard Bowen who emigrated from Glamorganshire in South Wales, A.D. 1640.... This is especially significant in view of the fact that we now know there are several different Bowen Coat-of-Arms. This must have been known to him and have been the reason for the special reference to the ancestor." However, this may well be idle speculation.
Richard LeBaron Bowen then concluded erroneously that Jabez4 Bowen was "in an exceptional position" to know of Bowen arms, and that with the exception of Thomas2 Bowen, about whom little is known, all the Bowens mentioned were well educated, four being doctors and one a deputy governor.
However, Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr., has answered the question of what happened concerning any research into the source of the Bowen line in Wales. "My father was born in 1878; in the late 1920s and early 1930s he became interested in his family ancestry and worked his ancestry back to many of the basically 250 settlers who made up the 'fan' [chart].... He had joined the Rhode Island Historical Society and was a good friend of Howard Chapin, director and librarian of the then very small Society, who undoubtedly suggested that he make application for registering the stag with arrow coat of arms for Richard1 in 1933. Probably through Chapin he met George Andrews Moriarty of Bristol who became a close friend. Later he met Harold Bowditch, M.D. of Cambridge and Arthur Adams, an English Professor at Trinity College, Hartford, and sometime Editor of the NEHGS Register. Interestingly, Moriarty, Adams and Bowditch with Dixon Weston were members of the NEHGS Heraldry Committee to whom he had submitted the application.
"In 1936 my father joined the Heraldry Committee, undoubtedly due to 'politics.' He was an excellent and artistic draftsman and the Committee needed someone to help Bowditch and Weston in drawing the arms accepted for publication in the Society's transactions. In the Roll of Arms, 3rd Part published in 1936 my father drew a third (22) of the arms. In 1936 my father met Anthony Wagner, Herald of the College of Arms in London. He paid Wagner considerable money to do English research to try to find the parents of Richard1 Bowen in Wales. All efforts were fruitless. This ended abruptly in 1940 with the advent of World War II and was never renewed.
"Probably much of my father's spare time from 1936 to 1940 was spent on heraldry.... My father could not have been considered a scholar in 1933. He had never written or published any...work and his 1933 application was rather jejune and speculative to say the least. But he learned fast under the guidance of Chapin, Moriarty and Bowditch, and later Adams.
"The English parents of the immigrant had to be known. Once the parents were known, valid proof of the use of the arms in England [or Wales] by the family had to be provided. The only evidence he had for the stag with arrow was the occurrence of a coat of arms on the tombstones (1754 and 1770) of a fourth generation descendant of Richard1 Bowen whose...ancestors could not be found. This is vividly demonstrated by Harold Bowditch's rejection of the application.... One of the first tasks of the Committee was a search of the 17th and 18th century heraldry books to see if the arms had simply been appropriated without right.
"Near the armorial tombs of Jabez4 Bowen at Newman Cemetery is a horizontal armorial tombstone for David4 Carpenter (d. 1763) with Carpenter arms, a greyhound. William Carpenter, to whom these had been granted in England in 1633 died in 1672 without issue and Amos Carpenter failed to prove a relationship and any right of inheritance for immigrant William Carpenter from the other William Carpenter [R.I. Hist. Soc. Col., 23 (1930), 131]. It is not without significance that the Bowen and Carpenter armorial tombstones were erected for fourth generation descendants in the mid-18th century when borrowing English arms was prevalent.
"One has to assume that my father soon realized that in all probability Jabez4 Bowen had simply appropriated a Coat of Arms from some heraldry book where they were shown as Bowen arms. Indeed, a letter he wrote to Harold Bowditch on August 11, 1939 indicates that he was actively searching for the specific English work from which the arms had been copied.
"In Rehoboth my father lived 'next door' (probably a quarter of a mile away) to Henry Goff, the Rehoboth Town Clerk, who had all of the early Rehoboth town records in an old iron safe in a damp cellar with a dirt floor! Starting in 1939 my father borrowed (if you can believe it) various volumes, starting with the first Town Meetings, 1643-1674, and had them photostated in Providence so that he could work with them at his leisure. He gradually became completely absorbed in the History of Rehoboth and lost interest in heraldry.
"I believe you will realize that statements in his 1933 application would not have been written in 1940 or 1950. In fact I am quite sure that in 1940 he would not have bothered to make an application, fully realizing (1) the type of proof necessary to link the arms to the immigrant and (2) the strong probability that the arms were simply copied from some contemporary heraldry book."
There is no known connection to Griffith Bowen, of Boston, whose Welsh line to Bleddyn ap Maenyrch and beyond is well documented [Herman Nickerson, Jr. "Griffith and Margaret (Fleming) Bowen of Wales and Massachusetts," NGSQ, 67 (1979), 163-166, and Nickerson, "Griffith Bowen of Wales and Massachusetts," The Connecticut Nutmegger, 19 (1987), 588-596].
1884 saw the publication in Boston, by Rand, Avery, and Company, Franklin Press, of Elisha Chandler Bowen's Memorial of the Bowen Family, which stated that Richard1 Bowen's father was James Bowen, who was living in Pembrokeshire, in Llwyngwair, in 1591. Llyngwair is described in Nicholas' Annals and Antiquities [895] as a "mansion...beautifully situated, enrivoned by noble woods and rising grounds, near the historic Nevern and Newport, and a tidal river." Pembrokeshire is, however, quite far away from Richard1 Bowen's alleged ancestral land of Glamorganshire.
E.C. Bowen further outlined pedigrees from the Vaughan, Dalton, Stradling [for which see TAG, 32:9-12] and Gamage families. Later, it was said that a coat of arms on the tombstone of Richard1 Bowen was further proof of the connection [E.A. Bowen's Bowens of Woodstock, 6]. However, the falsity of the statement that Richard1 Bowen's tombstone can be proven to have had any inscription whatsoever, let alone arms, has been made clear. The Llwyngwair Bowens used a rampant lion, rather than stag with arrow, for their arms. Sir James Bowen, who became seated at Llwyngwair about 1516, was not shown with any descendants named Richard who lived.
Moreover, E.C. Bowen's own words make obvious the reasons for a lack of trust in the statement that Richard1 Bowen of Rehoboth was a son of James Bowen of Llwyngwair. "I have seen a record somewhere, and noted it, that Richard Bowen of Kittle Hill (who emigrated in 1640) had a son George, his eldest son and heir, whom he left in Wales (and this party was probably the sheriff in 1650), and that Hugh and the second George were his descendants." Cottingham identified positively George Bowen of Kettlehill in 1679 as son of Charles, who was son of George of Kittle Hill, sheriff in 1650, who in turn was a son of John Bowen of Pennard.
E.C. Bowen continued, "It will be borne in mind that Richard Bowen, son of James Bowen of Llwyngwair (living 1591), was among the seventeen children (eighth son), and, when he emigrated (1640), was doubtless over fifty years old, and his eldest son, George, in 1650, was probably thirty years old or more, and, when last sheriff (1679), over sixty. These dates all favor the supposition that George Bowen of Kittle Hill (1650) was the eldest son of Richard Bowen the emigrant.
"While there are discrepancies in the various authorities, I have always taken the most reasonable view...." [E.C. Bowen, 99]. E.C. Bowen stated that "Griffith and George Bowen, immigrants to Boston in 1638, were sons of Owen ap James Bowen of Llwyngwair" [100], but Griffith1 Bowen was actually the son of Francis Bowen of Langwith, Gower, Wales. The Gower peninsula is west of Swansea, Wales, in the county of West Glamorgan, but had been part of Caermarthenshire prior to 1536. Langwith is probably the name of a farm. Elisha Chandler Bowen relied upon a chart by one B.I. Bowen, who simply cannot be trusted.
Cottingham, whose work is mentioned below, had George Bowen of Kettlehill, Esq., Sheriff 1679, Admin. gr. 1698, as son of Charles Bowen of Kettlehill, living in 1686, who was son of George Bowen of Kettlehill, Sheriff 1650. This George was in turn the son of John Bowen of Pennard, whose will was proved 1609, and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Daniel of Kitthill and widow of Matthew Hamon. It is apparent that much of E.C. Bowen's work was fabricated, and none of the data in it can be trusted without verification from independent sources. Elisha Chandler Bowen [101] quoted Dwn [sic; reference is to Lewys Dwnn] by saying that he used "a term (an equivalent), which, being translated into English, signifies that Richard, son of James Bowen of Llwyngwair, 'chose the hunter's armor, and left the country with it....'" This is false, for the term published is mort, which means "dead," implying died young.
Mort: Latin root word meaning dead or dying : immortal,mortal,mortality etc.According to The School Gaelic Dictionary Prepared for the use of learners of the Gaelic language by Malcolm MacFarlane Eneas MacKay, Bookseller 43 Murray Place, Stirling. 1912.
Mort is a gaelic word, I have not found it in a Welsh form :
mort nm. g.v. moirt; pl. moirt, murder, murdering, slaying; also murt
mort va. mort and +adh, murder, slay [ Benjamin Bowen]mort : murder, Irish mort, Middle Irish martad, slaughtering; from Latin mort- of mors, mortis, death.
mort : manslaughterA fatally flawed three generations of Welsh ancestry were given by MacKenzie [Colonial Families of U.S., 3:360, which repeated without citation a portion of the work of Elisha C. Bowen], the first being that of Sir James Bowen, whose wife, Mary Hale, was a daughter of Sir John and Margaret Hale. Mary Hale's maternal grandfather was given as Thomas ap Griffith ap Nicholas. James and Mary (Hale) Bowen had a son, Mathias Bowen, who married Mary Phillips, daughter of John Phillips of Pictou Castle. Their alleged son, James Bowen, married Eleanor Griffith, daughter of John Griffith, Esq., of Richley, and granddaughter of William Griffith, Penrhyn Knight. This compiler has found this family in Peter C. Bartrum's Welsh Genealogies, in the newer series relating to the period from 1400 to 1500, in Bartrum's chart Gwynfardd 4(C2); James Bowen's ancestry can be found at great length in the Gwynfardd charts. Mary, second wife of James Bowen, is given as daughter of Thomas, son of John Herl. Sources for descendants of Matthias Bowen are given as P 407; LD.i.162, 166, 170, 171, and Pembs. 54 with reference to Llywn-gwair, Nevern (LD.i.166). Bartrum's work further identifies these references. However, Lewys Dwnn's manuscript visitation [Peniarth MS No. 268 at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth] clearly lists James Bowen's children, with Richard and two others labeled mort, or deceased, with no issue.
In 1913 Almira Larkin White, in her Ancestry of John Barber White, stated that Obadiah2 Bowen, below, was born in Swansea, Wales, 1 Sept. 1627, a fabrication she copied from MacKenzie. Anthony R. Wagner, Portcullis, of the College of Arms, in August 1939, had the Swansea registers searched for the period for Bowens, and found none. There were no baptisms entered before 1631 [Cottingham], and Wagner noted also that there were no baptisms of record from March 1632 to April 1638 [letter Wagner to Richard LeBaron9 Bowen, 22 Aug. 1939]. Anthony Wagner's later correspondence, which continued through the first months of World War II, mentioned the idea that Richard Bowen's father might well have been known as Owen ap "X." He searched wills at Llandaff from 1620 to 1652, saying, "These reveal an interesting but rather disconcerting fact, that even at this date hereditary surnames were anything but the rule in this region." The original manuscript (as well as a photostat copy) of the records of the first Baptist Church at Ilston, Swansea, Wales, kept by John Myles, the pastor, and now in the Brown University library, cannot be expected to shed much light on this question, for the records date only from 1 August 1649, the year this first Baptist church in Wales was formed. The book includes Reverend Myles' records in Swansea, Plymouth Colony, to 1669 [in a letter of 30 June 1994 Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr., pointed out that statements made by Isaac Backus in his History of the Baptists (1796) concerning Obadiah2 Bowen coming to America with Mr. Myles were incorrect; Obadiah was of record in Rehoboth in 1654, long before the arrival of the Reverend Mr. Myles. The only Welshman certain to have come to New England with John Myles was Nicholas Tanner].
Ilston is located on the Gower peninsula about seven miles westsouthwest of central Swansea, Glamorganshire [Gardner, Genealogical Atlas, 59]. Bartholomew's 1972 Gazetteer lists it as 3109 acres in size, with a population of 231. In June 1992 Nicholas Sewall11 Bowen, son of Richard LeBaron10, visited the site of the first Baptist church in Wales, founded in Ilston in 1649 by John Myles, and provided the following account of the ruins. "They can be reached by two roads, the first a modern one leading from Swansea to Port Eynon on the south of the Gower peninsula, and the other a secondary road off the first leading to Ilston, running a little north of the first. Taking the first road to the Gower Inn, one will find just before arriving at the Gower Inn several signs indicating paths to Ilston, a kilometer to the north. Just to the west of the parking lot at the Inn is a wide iron gate, to the left of which is a bronze plaque which reads: "The path beyond this gate leads to the Ilston Memorial erected in 1928. On the ruins of the meeting place of the Baptist church founded by John Myles in 1649. The memorial built from the original stones and the ruins are now scheduled as an ancient monument." To the right of the gate is another plaque, "This gate presented by J.T. Morgan, Esq. Chairman of the Ilston Memorial Committee to Commemorate the Dedication by Alexander Coombe-Tennant, Esq. (WNDON) to the Baptist Union of Wales & Monmouthshire. The land surrounding the memorial was opened by Mrs. J.T. Morgan on Sat., 26 June 1954." At the ruin itself a plaque read, "'Gorau Cof. Cof Grefydd.' To commemorate the foundation in this valley of the first Baptist Church in Wales 1649-60 and to honour the memory of its founder John Myles. This ruin is the site of the pre-Reformation chapel of Trinity Well and is claimed by tradition as a meeting place of the above Cromwellian Church - This memorial has been erected with the permission of Admiral A.W. Heneage Vivian, C.R.M.V.O. and was unveiled by the Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd George, M.P.O.M., 13th, June 1928."
The years 1926-1943 saw publication of Clarence Winthrop Bowen's eight volume The Bowens of Woodstock, which stated, "There was an ancient family of Bowens of Court House, in the parish of Ilston, but I have not been able to connect it with that of the Bowens of Slade; this is a rather singular thing; the peninsula of Gower is a comparatively small locality, and it would be very strange if the two families should be distinct.... The Arms of those of Bowen of Slade are those of Griffith Gwyr, namely, a stag lodged, holding an oak branch in his mouth; while those of Bowen of Court House are a stag, trippant with an arrow stuck in his back..." [illustrated in Matthews' American Armory and Blue Book (London, 1908), 11]. Bartrum's chart Bleddyn ap Maenyrch 30(G,H) shows that Morgan ab Owain ap Gruffudd bought Court-house in 1441 and left a will dated 1467. He had a son Bowen who was flourishing 1490-1515 and had a son Harry, who had a son Thomas, who had a son Harry Bowen, who died in 1582, having married Elen, daughter of Jenkin Franklin. The children of this family of Court-house, Ilston, are dealt with in a source Bartrum listed as GG 1545, The Golden Grove Book, compiled by Hugh Thomas, Deputy Herald, in 1703 [Cottingham, 8], which sheds no light on the ancestry of Richard1 Bowen.
However, before this compiler could have someone look at "The Golden Grove Book," Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr., provided a copy of Lieut. Col. E.R. Cottingham's Pedigree of Bowen of Court House (1927, 36 pages plus charts), which described "The Golden Grove Book" as being by Hugh Thomas, Deputy Herald (1703), and cited many specific mistakes. Cottingham pointed out that the heralds traveled about, often under miserable conditions which led to complaints about the lack of hospitality from those whose pedigrees they recorded, and took down what they were told, rather an aged version of the untrustworthy Virkus. Thomas worked and researched in the British Museum, Somerset House and the Public Record Office over a three year period.
Included were mentions of Richard Bowen with no proof of any connections with Rehoboth, Massachusetts, or the American Colonies. Harleian MSS. No. 4181, fo. 66 (Brit. Mus.) included Jane, only child of Henry ap William, married Thomas Bowen of New Court, and had issue (1) Henry Bowen of Court House, who married Catherine, dau. to Hopkin ap Hoel A.D. 1610, (2) Richard Bowen, (3) a daughter, and (4) a second daughter.
Survey of Lordship of Gower with list of Freeholders, A.D. 1650 (after Richard1 was well settled in Rehoboth) [Cottingham, 9], included "Richard and Thomas Bowen, Owners and Occupiers of 'Lonnon,' 21 acres. Rent 14s.2d." The will of Henry Bowen of Court House, dated 30 March 1582, mentioned no son Richard [Cottingham, 13]. The will of Rowland Bowen of the parish of Bishopston, county Glamorgan, dated 2 Aug. 1623 (proved at Carmarthen 12 Aug. 1623), requests that his brother George be tutor and guardian to his sons, but if George cannot act, then the duty would fall to "my well beloved Cousin Richard Bowen." "Cousin" was not a precise term at that time.
The parish registers of Swansea were extracted by Cottingham, but contain no Richard prior to 1779 ("Richard s. of Richard Bowen"), the registers themselves having begun only in 1631. The earliest Richard Bowen marriage was in 1803. The name was not mentioned in the burial records of the parish before the 1800s. Of Cottingham's two large charts, only the first dealt with Bowens before the late 1700s, and it contained only one Richard, who was Richard ab Owen, Receiver of Gower and Camwyllion, executor to his father, who was Morgan ab Owen, second son of Owen. Morgan ab Owen purchased from Geoffrey de la Mare by Deed Poll dated 1 July 1441, Court House, Mawr House and lands pertaining to Ilston, with lands of Wogan Hill in Pennard (fee to Morgan ab Owen and his heirs forever). Morgan ab Owen's will was proved 12 Feb. 1467/8.
In 1931 Jesse Montgomery Seaver of 2002 North Park Avenue, Philadelphia, circulated a typescript Bowen genealogy which simply stated that Thomas ap Harry Bowen of Court House, Wales, left a will dated 4 July 1567, and that Harry Bowen, who died in 1582, was son of Thomas Bowen, only six generations removed from Gwellian, the granddaughter of Tuedor Mawr, King of South Wales who was slain in battle in 993!
Ruth (Mrs. F.H.) Obenauer, of 23717 S.W. Zephyr Hill Court, Dunnellon, Florida 34431, provided on 11 July 1993 a copy of "Bowen Welsh Genealogy" by Dorothy Smith Coleman of Washington, D.C. This work is an undated three page typescript with cover sheet which cites as sources the work by Clark, the ninth volume of Colonial and Revolutionary Lineages of America [p. 178], an otherwise unidentified "The Bowen Genealogy" by B.B. Bowen, and Browning's Americans of Royal Descent. Unfortunately, the spelling in Coleman's work illustrates a total lack of knowledge of Welsh names on the parts of the contributors, and curiously she listed the children of Harry Bowen (d. 1582), who married Ellen, daughter of Jenkin Franklyn of Parc la Broase, as William, John Hen, Jenkin Hen, John and Jenkin, as least in terms of format, and then went to mention Thomas Bowen as the next generation. She confused data on the ancestry of Jenkin Franklyn with the children of Harry Bowen.
According to Coleman, Thomas Bowen (d. 1587) married Jane, daughter of Harry Williams of Bryncoch. Their son Richard1 Bowen was born in Ilston, near Swansea, and married first Anne, and second in 1654 (no name given). Then on the very next page Coleman gives another Bowen line, this time listing Richard1 Bowen as the son of James and Eleanor (Griffith) Bowen of Llwyngwair (spelled Llungwair one line above)!
In 1954 Lester C. Gustin provided the most fanciful tale of the Bowen ancestry in The Ancestry of Herbert E. Gustin and his wife Julia L. Carlisle and Their Descendants (2 volumes). In short, Richard1 Bowen is listed in descent in the fortieth generation from Beli Mawr, who was given as King of Britain in 55 B.C. Gustin stated that Richard's father was Thomas Bowen of Court House [which has been said by locals to have been the place where they held the Flemish Court years ago], who died in 1587, son of Harry Thomas Bowen of Court House, who also died in 1587, son of Theodore Bowen, who was in turn son of Harry Bowen of Court House, whose will was dated 4 July 1467. The dates alone are enough to generate suspicion. No Theodore Bowen is found in Bartrum's charts. John S. Wurts in Magna Charta, part VIII (1959), published this line without the offending dates, allowing eighteen generations of descent from Teudor Mawr [sic, spelled Tewdwr Mawr in Welsh], who was killed in battle in 993, to Richard1 Bowen, who died in 1674/5 [pp. 2630-31, 2926]. Charles H. Browning's Americans of Royal Descent, 6th ed. (Philadelphia, 1905) presents the line with more questionable dates [pp. 462-63].
The Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry, Incorporated, has published a Complete Register of Members with Coats of Arms which this compiler has not seen, listing items to 15 Dec. 1964, with Richard Bowen of Rehoboth listed as registered by members numbered 11, 12, 50, 62 and 67.
Bartrum also treats Bowen of Hanmer in chart Edwin 15(A); Bowen of Llechdwni in chart Einion ap Llywarch 7(B1); Bowen of Llwchmeilir in chart Meilir of Ll. M.; Bowen of Pentre Ieuan Cemais in chart Gwynfardd 4(C1,2); Bowen of Upton in Einion ap Llywarch 7(B2), and Bowen of Welshpool in chart Llowdden 7(C).
Don Charles Nearpass of 9526 50th Place, College Park, MD 20740-4509 (1993) has provided criticism and copies of his sources for the Bowen lineage as follows: George Thomas Clark of Talygarn published a "corrected" Bowen pedigree in his Limbus Patrum MorganiÊ et GlamorganiÊ, which on pages 513-515, lists Owen ab Owen [here perhaps "ab Owen," given in English as "ap Owen," is used as a surname] ap Griffith Glyn-Tawe [ab Owain Gethin, for whom see Bartrum's Welsh Genealogies, 300-1400, chart Bl. ap M. 30] as the father of Morgan ab Owen, who was father of Philip, Richard, Harry Bowen and Isabel (Bartrum omits Owen [said in Colonial and Revolutionary Lineages of America, 9:180, to have married first Alison or Alice, daughter of Worgan ap Howel Melyn] ab Owain ap Gruffudd ab Owain). Richard ab Owen was the father of Harry Bowen of Court-House, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Hopkin David Lleia of Avan, from "Einon ap Collwyn" [from the family of Einion ap Gollwyn], and had sons Thomas and Theodore; from Theodore came the Bowens of Kettle-Hill in Gower. ( Kettle hill is in Gower Swansea Glamorganshire) Theodore, the second son of Harry Bowen of Court-House, married Jennet, daughter of "David ap Evan-ychan" [probably Dafydd ab Ieuan Fychan in Welsh]; they had Harry Thomas Bowen, who died 1578, having married Ellen, daughter of Jenkin Franklen of Park le Brewes. Harry Thomas and Ellen (Franklen) Bowen had sons John, Harry (from which came another branch), Thomas (from which came Bowen of Court-House), Margaret (who married Rowland Dawkins of Cilvrough), Ann (who married Hugh Thomas) and Maud (who married William Grant).
G.T. Clark continued with Thomas, who was given as the third son of Harry Thomas Bowen, and died in 1587, having married Jane, daughter of Harry Williams of Bryncoch, and had sons Harry, and Richard of Ilston, who was supposedly the immigrant. Thomas Bowen's will, dated 30 March 1582, was proved in Canterbury 4 July 1582 [Cottingham, 14]. Clark dealt only with Bowens of Court House, and related nothings of the Bowens of Slade.
Bartrum's chart Bleddyn ap Maenyrch 30(G,H) in Welsh Genealogies AD 1400-1500 provides substantiation of Owain ap Gruffudd who had sons Gruffudd and Morgan. Morgan bought Court-house in 1441 and left a will dated 1467 (Bartrum referenced LPM 513). Morgan had a son Richard who flourished 1490-1515 [The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages, by Ralph A. Griffiths (Cardiff, 1972), vol. 1, 189-90] and Richard had Harry who married Elsbeth ferch William, of generation 13 on the chart Ein. ap G. 15(A). Harry's son Thomas married Margred ferch John Landeg of Cil-fai (possibly of Maenyrch 33[H]). Thomas and Margred had Harry Bowen who died 1582, having married Elen ferch Jenkin Franklin (for whom see Franklin chart at the sixteenth generation). Descendants are referred to "The Golden Grove Book," page 1545 (three volumes plus index), based on the works of David Edwardes and William Lewes, which was begun in 1765 and is paged continuously. This work, mentioned above, is now in the Dyfed County Council in Carmarthen, Wales. Nearpass has pointed out that there is a Golden Grove about fifteen miles from Swansea.
However, the possibility of a connection between Richard1 Bowen and the Bowen's of Slade has not been exhausted. The William Bennet MS, which belongs to the Royal Institute of South Wales in Swansea, and at present (1993) kept in the Library of the University College, Swansea, covers Gower families and was compiled in the early 1600s. It should be consulted.
G.A. Moriarty wrote to Richard LeBaron Bowen on 3 July 1937 with the suggestion that Richard1 Bowen might have gone from Wales to Ilfracombe, in Devon, and emigrated from there with friends. A check of printed registers only led Moriarty to the conclusion that Bowens were not established early in Devon, Somerset or Cornwall. Capt. Richard Bowen of H.M.S. Terpsichore, who was killed during an attack on Santa Cruz, Tenerife, 24 July 1797, mentioned in Gentleman's Magazine, was from Ilfracombe and bore arms indicating descent from the Court House Bowens.
This family has been treated through the third generation, with less discussion of the Welsh ancestry, in this compiler's How to Publish and Market Your Family History, 4th ed., pp. 115-127, where the treatment is given as an example of style.
The possibility of a connection between Richard1 Bowen and the Bowens of Slade in Wales has not been investigated.
The compiler also wishes to express appreciation to Alice Hovey.
1. RICHARD1 BOWEN, born, according to tradition, in Glamorganshire, South Wales, died in Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony, and was buried there 4 Feb. 1674/5 [1:52].
It is said his first wife was named Anne, but there is not a shred of documentation to support this allegation. He is said to have married second, in Hingham, Plymouth Colony (or Weymouth, according to C. Fuller), Nov. 1648, Mrs. Elizabeth (Rey) Marsh, who was buried in Rehoboth in 1675. She was the widow of George Marsh, who died in Hingham 2 July 1647 [R.L. Bowen, 2:13]. She had been born in Hempstead, England, married in 1623, and came to America on the Blessing in 1635 [see Desc. of John Page, 106-107].
{{ # 1609 The Blessing (of Plymouth) departed Plymouth, England, about June 1, 1609, as one of the "Third Supply", and arrived at Virginia on August 11, 1609. See Ship & Passenger Information
March 19, 1610/11 The Blessing of Plymouth was at James Town, Virginia. See Ship Information
# Before 1624/5 From London, arrived at Virginia. See Ship & Passenger Information
# July, 1635 Departed from London to New England. See Ship & Passenger Information }}{{ http://english-america.com/ships/shp-b01.html }}
If Richard Bowen emigrated in 1640 from Great Britain, he may have spent a couple of years in Salem, where his daughter Alice may have married Robert Wheaton.
Clarence C. Fuller's Record of Robert Fuller (1969) quotes the History of Weymouth in describing the "earliest land record of Richard1 Bowen," dated 1642: "Tenn acres Eyght of them upland two of swampe lying in the plaine first given to Thomas White bounded on the East with the land of Martin Phillipes, of Ralph (Allin) on the west, of his owne on the south, a highway on the north.
"Two acres of upland and salt marsh first given to Tho White bounded on the East with the comon, on the west with the land of Ralph Allin, on the north with his owne land, on the south with John Uphams marsh.
"Two acres first giuen to John King bounded on the East west & north with his owne land and of Mr. Newman on the south."
He was soon one of the first settlers at Seekonk, later Rehoboth, with his estate valued at an above average £270.
Richard Bowen was listed as a proprietor of Rehoboth in 1643 and as freeman 4 June 1645. Rehoboth's first Board of Selectmen, chosen 9 Dec. 1644, included Alexander Winchester, Richard Wright, Henry Smith, Edward Smith, Walter Palmer, William Smith, Stephen Paine, Richard Bowen and Robert Martin. At the time the town was called Seacunk, and was not clearly attached to either Massachusetts Bay or Plymouth Colony. However, the Commissioners of the United Colonies in Boston decided that it would be under the jurisdiction of Plymouth; at this time the town was named Rehoboth.
His twelve acre home lot was adjacent to the "Ring of Green" of Rehoboth, which was a common pasture for the town, as well as the location of the first meeting house. This area faces Pleasant Avenue and is just south of Newman Avenue in present East Providence, Rhode Island.
He was of record 20 or 29 Dec. 1645 with Robert Martin and Stephen Paine as the three "layed out yt necke of land called knowne by the name of Wanomoycet," and on 16 March 1645/6 he was appointed with Robert Titus, William Smith, Capt. Richard Wright, Alexander Winchester, Thomas Bliss, Stephen Paine and Thomas Cooper to get the fences in Rehoboth in order by the 23rd of the month. He was elected townsman (selectman) again on 26 May 1647 with Mr. Browne, Mr. Peck, Stephen Paine, Mr. Winchester, William Carpenter and Edward Smith [R.L. Bowen, 1:28, 3:121 and 142].
According to Michael Bowen's correspondence, he was elected in 1651 to serve the town as Deputy to Plymouth Colony's General Court, and as "Father Bowen" he served as the town's first moderator.
On 13 May 1653 "Richard Bowen & James Ridwaye" were chosen "for overseers of the wayes," and a list of "the Subscriptions of the Inhabitants" of Rehoboth empowering Richard Bowen, Stephen Paine, Thomas Cooper and William Sabin to represent them in settling the status of Rehoboth lands lying within the bounds of the new Sowams purchase was drawn up on 28 June 1653 [R.L. Bowen, 1:18 and 126].
In the spring of 1654 it was found necessary to appoint William Carpenter, Richard Bowen and John Allen as arbitrators in a dispute between Richard Titus and Nicholas Ide over a parcel of salt meadow [R.L. Bowen, 2:138]. In 1671 Richard Bowen was recorded as having been assessed 3/7 in taxes, a figure somewhat below the median, and by 28 May 1672 he was recorded as having sold his one-half share in the 1666 North Purchase distribution to Thomas Ormsbee [R.L. Bowen, 1:39 and 41].
Leonard Bliss, in his History of Rehoboth [45], stated that he served as town clerk. Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr. pointed out in a letter of 16 May 1994 that the records [1:108] of the Rehoboth town meetings make it clear that it was Richard1 Bullock who was chosen town clerk on 14 Seventh Month 1654.
His signature on his will was a mark, even though he was literate, probably because he was too sick to write his name [R.L. Bowen, 1:111]. The will was proven 4 June 1675. The inventory totaled £175.15s.8d. His daughter Ruth "Kenericke" inherited one mare, one colt and a pewter platter.
Children, by first wife:
i. Alice2, m. Salem, Mass., c. 1640, Robert1 Wheaton, who was from Wales; they moved to Rehoboth.
* ii. Ruth, bur. Rehoboth 31 Oct. 1688 [1:89]; m. there 23 April 1647 George1 Kendrick, who m. (2) 1 April 1691 Jane Ide, who was buried 12 May 1694 [see John G. Erhardt's Rehoboth, vol. 2, and Deane's History of Scituate, 300].
iii. Sarah, killed by Indians, bur. Rehoboth 14 Oct. 1676; m. before 1647 Robert1 Fuller; he was a bricklayer.
iv. Richard, will probated "25 March 1722/3" [Rounds' Abstracts of Bristol Co. Probate Records, 1687-1745, 94]; m. (1) Rehoboth 4 March 1656 [original vital records] Esther Sutton, m. (2) Rehoboth 20 Jan. 1689/90 Martha (Allen) Saben [prenuptial agreement of 20 Dec. 1689 mentioned in probate].
v. William, bur. Rehoboth 10 March 1686/7 [1:57]; while mentioned in deeds, he was apparently incapacitated and was never given any duties by the town.
vi. Obadiah, d. Swansea, Mass., 10 Sept. 1710 [Bristol Co. Probate, 2:290-291], bur. with wife in Bowen Family burial lot, Read Farm in Warren, R.I. [photocopy of typescript by George Bowen Arnold, in the R.I. Hist. Soc., F89.W19A7]; m. c. 1649 Mary Clifton (perhaps a dau. or sister of Thomas Clifton of Rehoboth) or Chilton; lived in Swansea, and never of Gloucester [S. Perley in the Essex Antiquarian, 2 (1898), 35, stated that an Obadiah Bowen was licensed to sell wine in Gloucester in 1638; Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr. noted in a letter of 11 May 1994 that the name was copied incorrectly and the date was wrong as is shown by Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts (1911), 77: "Mr. Obadiah Brewen of Gloucester licensed to draw wine" in Jan. 1644].
2. vii. Thomas, d. c. 1663; m. Elizabeth Nichols.
2. THOMAS2 BOWEN, probably born in Wales before 1638, died in Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony, after he made his will there on 11 April, 1663, and before it was sworn to Governor Thomas Prince at Plymouth the last of February 1663/4. He was described in 1663 as late of New London, Connecticut.
His married about 1659 ELIZABETH3 NICHOLS* [MD, 39 (1989):86; D.L. Jacobus, Families of Old Fairfield, 1:434], who was mentioned in his will and married second, in 1665 or 1666, the Reverend Dr. Samuel2 Fuller of Middleborough, physician and son of the renowned surgeon of Plymouth Colony, Samuel1 Fuller. She died in Plympton, Mass., 11 Nov. 1713, presumably at the home of her stepson Samuel3 Fuller [see VR Plympton, 479]. In 1667 she gave a power of attorney, as the sometime wife of Thomas Bowen, late of Rehoboth, and Samuel Fuller of Plymouth, to their brother-in-law John Prentice of New London, blacksmith, to sell Thomas Bowen's land in New London [MD, 39 (1989):86; Charles Shepard, "Bowen Family Notes," 141]. John2 Nichols of Fairfield had daughters Esther, Elizabeth and Hannah. John Prentice married Esther Nichols. Having lived in Plymouth through King Philip's War, they built afterwards in Middleborough. At Rehoboth town meeting on 3 July 1663, "It was voted & concluded by the towne that a Letter should be sent to Samuell ffuller of Plymouth. Mr. Peck, Goodman Payne, & Leiftenant Hunt were made thereto of to write to him, viz: That if he will come upon triall according to his owne proposition, the towne is willing to accept him, & in case the towne & he doe accord, the towne is willing to accommodate him in the best way they can for his encouragement" [Rehoboth Town Meetings, 1:151; condensed slightly in L. Bliss, History of Rehoboth (Boston, 1836), 53]; perhaps he had attended the Reverend Samuel Newman, who died 5 July 1663, as well as Thomas Bowen, who was also sick.
F.M. Caulkins stated in her History of New London, Connecticut [New London, 1852, pp. 93, 132, 133] that Thomas Bowen became an inhabitant of New London in 1657, was there in May 1662, and moved to Rehoboth, where he died in 1663. He was made a freeman of Connecticut in 1658 [see Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1:315]. On 29 Jan. 1662/3 at a special town meeting in Rehoboth, "It was voted & agreed upon by the town that Thomas Bowen should have one aker of ground upon the Greene freely given to him to set a house & other comodities. Leiftenant Hunt & Ensigne Smith were depueted by the Towne to see whear the most convenient place might be for him & Least prejudicall to the Towne. And in case he should remove from ye towne, or when he shall dye, if his successors be minded to put it away, the Towne is to have the refusall of it, payeing all disbursmts Layd out on it" [Rehoboth Town Meeting, 1:147]. He was a cooper, and the gift of prime land was to entice him to practice his trade in Rehoboth. This land was confirmed to his widow at a town meeting on 6 May 1664 [1:158].
In his will Thomas Bowen named his wife Elizabeth as executrix, and his brother Obadiah2 Bowen and his brother-in-law Robert1 Fuller (no relation to Samuel Fuller) as overseers [MD, 16 (1914):128]. He left a house and seven and one-half acre home lot with a thirty-six acre allotment in New London to his wife, stipulating that his wife bring up his son Richard "in the feare of the Lord and teach him to write and Read." [Except for a few introductory lines the data above on Thomas2 was provided by Richard LeBaron10 Bowen, Jr. in a letter dated 2 June 1994.]
The Thomas Bowen who appeared as a witness 27 Oct. 1642 in Essex County, Massachusetts Bay [see Records and Files of the Quarterly Court of Essex County, 1:47], was fined in Salem in 1647, and was apparently a planter and fisherman in Marblehead, Mass., from 1642 to 1681 or later [Perley's Hist. Salem; Shepard, 140], was a different man. Administration on his estate was granted in 1705, according to Pope's Pioneers. This Thomas also was married to an Elizabeth. He was one of the original forty-four grantees of land in Marblehead and appeared in court over thirty times from 1642 to 1679, eighteen times as a witness in cases involving land disputes, drunkeness, theft, debt, slander and defamation, damage to crops by cattle, the scandelous behavior of two women on the Lord's day, and adultery. He was himself fined or presented to the Governor for excessive drinking in 1645 [1:17], 1648 [1:152] and 1653 [1:324]. In Feb. 1647/8 he was fined for sailing from Gloucester Harbor, five miles northeast of Marblehead, on the Lord's day with hay in his boat [1:134]. In 1665 he was accused of selling liquor to an Indian [3:297].
While Thomas Bowen of Marblehead (which town had been set off from Salem) gave his age seven times in depositions, he was not consistent. His birth might have been from 1621 to 1628. In Nov. 1671 his daughter Ruth appeared in court on a charge of fornication. In June 1674 John Legg called Thomas "pitiful, beggarly, rouge and rascal" in court. In Jan. 1677/8 John Bowen, possibly a son of Thomas, was convicted as a horse thief. Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr., has suggested he might have been a nephew of Richard1 Bowen of Rehoboth, because of the name Thomas, and because both had daughters named Ruth, not a common name. A Richard Boone or Bown (Bowen?) of Marblehead was identified as from England [Records and Files of Quarterly Court Essex Co., 244; the details of the preceding two paragraphs were provided by Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr. on 13 June 1994].
Children, the first mentioned in his will, with vital information provided by Richard LeBaron Bowen, Jr. on 2 June 1994:
3. i. Richard3, probably b. New London, Conn., Aug. 1660 [Rehoboth VR, 1:2; gs]; m. Rehoboth 9 Jan. 1683 Mercy3 Titus.
ii. Abijah, b. Dec. 1663 [orig. Rehoboth VR, 1:2; gs; Arnold's VR Rehoboth, 546, has Abigail]; d. Middleborough 21 May 1746 in 83rd year; m. there by Major William Bradford in Dec. 1683 [Merrick's Middleborough VR, 1:1] Abiel2 Wood, who b. c. 1659, d. there 10 Oct. 1719 in 61st year, son of Henry1 and Abigail (Jenn[e]y) Wood [J.S. Wood, Wood Family Index, 8; Thomas Weston's History of the Town of Middleboro (Boston, 1906), 61].
Children, hers by second marriage, surnamed Fuller:
iii. Elizabeth, m. Middleborough 24 May 1694 Samuel Eaton.
iv. John, d. Middleborough 10 March 1709/10; m. Mercy Nelson.
v. Experience, m. 12 April 1693 James Wood.
vi. Hannah, m. Eleazer Lewis.
vii. Mercy, d. Eastham 25 Sept. 1735; m. Daniel Cole.
viii. Isaac, m. Plympton 1 Sept. 1709 Mary Pratt; a physician.
3. Dr. RICHARD3 BOWEN, born in Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony, in August 1660 [original Rehoboth vital records, 1:2; gs], lived in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, which town was earlier under the jurisdiction of Plymouth Colony and the Dominion of New England, and died there 12 Feb. 1736/7, in his 77th year [Arnold, Rehoboth VR, 800; gs; Trim, Gravestone Records, 186].
He married in Rehoboth, 9 Jan. 1683 [1:48], MERCY3 TITUS*.
When his grandfather Bowen died he was fourteen, and had lived for ten years in Plymouth. He was a medical doctor, having been raised by his stepfather, Dr. Samuel Fuller, who had been born about 1633.
His will may be found in Mayflower Descendants, 16:128.
Children, births recorded in Rehoboth [original vital records, 1:57], listed as "The children of Richard Bowen the son of Thomas Bowen born of his wife Mercy":
* i. Elizabeth4, b. 11 Nov. 1684; m. (1) Rehoboth 10 Dec. 1706 Enoch4 Hunt, m. (2) there 2 Dec. 1711 James4 Brown of Swansea.
ii. Abijah, b. 10 April 1687; m. Rehoboth [1:176] 2 June 1708 Potter Hunt.
iii. Thomas, b. 20 August 1689; m. Rehoboth [1:177] 8 August 1720 Sarah4 Hunt (of Ephraim3, Peter2, Enoch1); trained by his father as a physician.
iv. Damaries, b. 26 April 1692; will proved 11 Mar. 1744 [Bristol Co. Probate, 10:487-488]; m. Rehoboth [1:157] 18 June 1713 Stephen4 Hunt.
v. Jabez, b. 19 Oct. 1695 [orig. 1:57verso]; m. Rehoboth [2:134] 30 Jan. 1717/8 Huldah Hunt; mentioned in the introduction above as the Dr. Jabez4 Bowen who claimed the Bowen coat-of-arms, was trained by his father as a physician.
vi. Ebenezer, b. 23 August 1699; d. before 28 May 1743 m. Rehoboth [2:138] by Rev. John Greenwood 17 June 1724 to Anne Newman.
vii. Urania ["Varinia Bowin" in original record], b. 23 Sept. 1707; m. Rehoboth [2:148] by Rev. John Greenwood 4 March 1736/7 to John Bush.
Comments concerning Boyer
Posted by: Barbarann Ayars Date: January 15, 2001 at 20:14:00
Barbarann Ayars email address was updated on 8-28-2004 :
To contact Barbarann, cut and paste the following address: Thebestdigger@aol.comIn Reply to: Re: Bowens of America by Winifred Bowen of 5247
While Charles Boyer's Ancestral Lines certainly demonstrates a stringent mind re correct data pertaining to the development of pedigrees in genealogy, and while his is one wonderful source of information on Bowen, about which there is much incorrect information put forth, he does nevertheless seem to discount the Mss of Golden Grove and Dale Castle, containing the Pedigrees of Griffith and Richard Bowen, confirmed by Nicholas' Annals of Wales, and he seems to base his rejection of this work on some geographical improbability. Like anything else purported to be correct, however old, all material must by definition be looked at with suspicion, and he does that most well, to his credit. Indeed, I have a better developed scepticism having read Boyer. However, there is a link presented on this Mss, declaring that:James Bowen and Eleanor dau of John Griffith have Owen and Richard Bowen, brothers. Owen is their second son, and Richard is their 8th. And that Griffith is the son of Owen. Ergo, Richard is the uncle of Griffith. Mr. Boyer may be correct in questioning, even discounting this Mss. I can only present the material for whatever you think it is worth.
Links to on-site pages
[ Our purpose : The Preamble ] [ Contents ][ Identifying persons named ] [ Locating places named ]
[ Extraction believed to have been done by Ken Bowen from the book "Ancestral Lines" by Carl Boyer. ]
[ Maps of Wales ] [ Wales : Counties and Shires ]
[ Bowens of Wales ] [ Bowen Sheriff's of Pembrokeshire, Wales : About Pembrokeshire ]
[ The Last Will and Testament of Richard Bowin, Sr. of Rehoboth Mass. June 4, 1675 ]
[ The Inventory of the Estate of Richard Bowen Sr. of Rehoboth Mass. June 4, 1675 ]
Search Ancestry.com "B" Surnames Database
Ancestry.com's - Free 14-Day Trial
