The name and family of Bowen
Compiled by : The Media Research Bureau,Washington,
D.C.
Transcribed by George C. Shaw II.
The name of Bowen is generally believed to have been of Welsh origin and derived from Ap Owen, meaning Son of Owen. It is found on ancient records in the various forms of Ap Owen, Abowen, Bown, Bowan, Bowin, and Bowen, of which the last is the generally accepted form of the name in America today.
It is said that the family which bears this name is descended from the ancient kings of Dyfed, Wales, through Gwynfarrd Dyfed, who is said to have lived in the early eleventh century and to have been the father of Cuhelin (sometimes Cyhylyn), Prince of Dyfed, who was the father of Gwrwared of Cemmaes, who had a son named Gwylym, who married Ivan, daughter of Sir Leonard Stackpole, and was the father by her of Einion, who was the father of Owen, who had a son named Llewelyn. This last mentioned Llewelyn ap Owen in the fourteenth century to Nest, daughter of Howell Vychan, and had issue by her of Rhys (ancestor of the Owens), Evan, Owen, Philip (ancestors of a family of the name of Lewis), and probably others as well.
Evan ap Owen or Bowen, second son of Llewelyn and Nest, is said to have married Margaret Hubberston but to have had no issue and to have been succeeded by his nephew Gwylym Bowen, the son of his brother Owen. This last mentioned Gwylym (sometimes Gwilym) is said to have had issue by his wife Agnes of Owen, who was the father by his wife Janet of Sire James, Thomas, and Elizabeth, of whom the first was married in the latter part of the sixteenth century to Jane Perott, by whom he had, among others, a son named Owen, and by his second wife Mary Herle he had a son named Matthias, who married Mary Philips and had issue by her of James, who married Eleanor Griffith and had ten sons, among whom were George, Owen, Thomas, John, William, Richard, Morgan, and Robert, of whom the second was the father of, among others, a son named Owen, who married Ellen Lloyd, by whom he had a son named Griffith, who resided in Glamorganshire and was married about 1605 to Mary Ryfel or Rifel, by whom he had at least two sons, Henry and William.
About 1638 the above mentioned Griffith Bowen, son of Owen, is said to have emigrated to America with his second wife Margaret Fleming and his children, Henry, William, Margaret, Mary, and Elizabeth. He settled first at Boston, whence he later removed to Roxbury, Mass., and is believed to have had further issue in New England of Esther, Abigail, Peniel, and Doriah. This emigrant, who is claimed by some authorities to have been the son of Francis, son Philip, son of Griffith ap Owen, instead of the lineage before given, is believed to have returned to Wales in the latter part of his life and to have left his son Henry at Roxbury, whence he removed to Woodstock, Conn., at a slightly later date.
In 1648 one Thomas Bowen was living at Salem, Mass., whence he removed to New London, Conn., and thence to Rehoboth. By his wife Elizabeth he is though to have had Thomas and Richard and possibly others as well.
Obadiah Bowen, probably brother of the emigrant Thomas, was living at Rehoboth prior to the year 1657 and later made his home at Swanzey. His children are believed to have been Obadiah and Isaac.
One Moses Bowen, a Quaker, is said to have emigrated from Wales to Guinnedd Township, Penn., about 1698 with his wife Rebecca Reece. He had, probably among others, a son named John, who married a Scotch-Irish girl named Lily McIlhaney and removed to Augusta County, Va.
Others of the name who emigrated to America at early dates but left few records of themselves and their families were Morris Bowen of Charles City County, Va., in 1638, Samuel and Phillip Bowen of James City County, Va., in 1643, John Bowen of Plymouth Mass., in 1651, and Henry Bowen of Boston, Mass., prior to the year 1657.
The descendants of these and possibly of other branches of the family in America have spread to practically every State of the Union and have aided as much in the growth of the country as their ancestors aided in the founding of the nation. They have been noted for their energy, ambition, industry, piety, integrity, moral and physical strength, perseverance, fortitude, resourcefulness, initiative, courage, and leadership.
Among those of the Bowens who fought as officers in the War of the Revolution were Quartermaster-General Ephraim of Rhode Island, Captain Oliver of Georgia, Captain Prentice of New York, Captain Seth of New Jersey, Captain Thomas Bartholomew of Pennsylvania, and Lieutenants John and Reece of Virginia.
Owen, William, James, Thomas, Henry, Griffith, Richard, Obadiah, Philip, and John are some of the Christian names most highly favored by the family for its male members.
A few of the many members of the family who have distinguished themselves in America in more recent times are:
Francis Bowen of Massachusetts, educator and author, 1811-1890
Henry Chandler Bowen of Connecticut, editor and publisher, 1813-1896
Herbert Wolcott Bowen of New York, diplomatist, 1856-1927.
One of the most ancient and frequently recurrent of the man coats-of-arms of the Bowen family is described as follows:
Arms.Azure, a stag argent, with an arrow stuck in the back and attired or.
Crest.A stag standing vulned in the back with an arrow proper.
(Arms taken from Burkes General Armory, 1884.)
Bibliography
The above data have been compiled chiefly from the following sources:
Bardsley English and Welsh Surnames, 1901.
Burke Landed Gentry, 1900.
Dwnn Visitations of Wales, 1846.
E. C. Bowen Memorial of the Bowen Family, 1884.
D. Bowen The Family of Griffith Bowen, 1893.
Savage Genealogical Dictionary of New England, 1860.
Hughes American Ancestry 1893, 1899.
GreerEarly Virginia Immigrants 1912.
E. A. Bowen ; Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Conn., 1897
Pilcher Campbell, Pilcher and Allied Families, 1911.
Heitman : Officers of the Continental Army, 1914.
The Americana, 1932.
Burke General Armory, 1884.
Search Ancestry.com "B" Surnames Database
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"During the summer of 1690, a band of Welsh Baptists (mostly Seventh-Day worshippers) from Swansea, Mass. came to the Cohansey Settlement. Among these were Timothy Brooks, Sr. Timothy Brooks,Jr.,the Bowens, Barretts and Swinneys. The Bowens and the Brooks moved farther inland to the section of Roadstown. Here,on the road leading to the Bridge, (Bridgeton) they bought farms and named their settlement, "Bowentown." The Barretts located on a run which is called to this day, "Barrett Run."
From : Timothy Brooks of Massachusetts and his descendants By Robert Peacock Brooks
Limited Edition 1927 THE BIBLIO COMPANY Publishers Pompton Lakes, N.J.
References and Stories
Richard BOWEN
* b: ABT 1585 Swansea,Glamorgan,Wales
* d: FEB 1674/1675
His Partners:
Ann (BOWEN)
* b: ABT 1585
*
His parents
James BOWEN
* b: ABT 1550 Llwyngwair,Pembroke,Wales
* d: ABT 1629 Camarthan,,Wales
Ellenor GRIFFITH
* b: ABT 1550
from :David Bedell, University of Bridgeport
The most recent source for this family is in a place you wouldn't find except by luck: an appendix to Carl Boyer, _How to Publish and Market Your Family History_, 2d ed., 1985. The appendix is an example of how to lay out a family history, and it just happens to be that of the Bowen family. It includes Richard Bowen, his children and grandchildren, and a Bowen bibliography. Boyer also published data in a book _Ancestral Lines_ (1975) and then _Ancestral Lines Revised_.
Clarence Almon Torrey, _New England Marriages Prior to 1700_ (Baltimore, 1985):
BOWEN, Richard (-1674/5) & 1/wf Ann [?BORN]; Eng or Wales, child
b 1627, b 1622; Rehoboth
BOWEN, Richard (-1675) & 2/wf Elizabeth MARSH (-1675+, 1675?), widow of George; Weymouth, Nov 1648; Hingham
From Mackenzie, _Colonial Families of the United States_ v3 (Baltimore, 1920), p60:
SIR JAMES BOWEN, of Wales, m. Mary HALE, dau. of John HALE, Esq., who m. Margaret, dau. of Thomas ap Griffith ap Nicholas. He had ason:
MATHIAS BOWEN, of Wales, m. Mary PHILLIPS, dau. of John PHILLIPS, Esq., of Pictou Castle. He had a son:
JAMES BOWEN, of Wales, m. Eleanor GRIFFITH, dau. of John GRIFFITH,
Esq., of Richley, son of Sir William GRIFFITH, Penrhyn Knight. He had a son:
RICHARD BOWEN, b. in Wales; came with his wife, Anne, and children to New England, in 1638; lived a short time in Salem and Boston, Mass., but was of Rehoboth, in 1643, where he d.; buried 4th Feb. 1675; will probated 4th June, 1675; m. (secondly) Elizabeth (surname unknown [Marsh?]), d. 1675, who is mentioned in his will together with the names of his children.
ISSUE
I. Alice, b. in Wales; m. in Salem, Mass., 1636, Robert WHEATON, b.
1606, d. 1696. [President Taft was their descendant (_Boston
Transcript_ genealogical column May or Jun 1909, 280 "Wheaton").
II. Thomas, b. in Wales; m. in Essex Co., Mass., Elizabeth (surnameunknown). He made his will in Rehoboth, 11th Apr. 1663; his
widow m. (secondly) before 1669, Samuel FULLER, of Plymouth.
III. William, d. in Rehoboth, 10th Mar. 1687; came from Wales with hisparents.
IV. Richard, b. in Wales. [Mackenzie continues with his issue]
V. Sarah, b. in Wales; buried 14th Oct. 1676; m. Fuller (probablyRobert), d. 10th May, 1706, who was a freeman in Rehoboth, in
1658.
VI. Obadiah, b. in Swansea, Wales, 1st Sept. 1627; m. about 1649,Mary CHILTON [should be CLIFTON?]. He was one of the first
settlers of the new town of Swansea, Mass., named by him in honor
of his birthplace.
VII. Ruth, b. in Wales; m. _____ LEVERICH [should be George KENDRICK?].
The Mayflower Descendant published the wills of Richard Bowen (17:247-251) and of Obadiah and Thomas Bowen (18:204-211). Other sources give Richard's first wife as Ann(a). He apparently came from Swansea, Wales, which is where son Obadiah was born.
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995
From: "Dahrl E. Moore"
According to Gary Boyd Roberts and a couple of articles I found, the parents of Richard Bowen are not verified, and it is not necessarily true his father was James Bowen, as many other articles stated.
From Mackenzie, v4, p161:
William Bowen was a lineal descendant of Richard Bowen of Glamorganshire, Wales, who settled in Massachusetts, 1634; the tradition is that Evan, gd. son of Owen, Lord and owner of the estate of "Pentre Even" in Wales, assumed the name of Bowen by contracting the _ap_ and _ah_ to Owen and it thus became Bowen; the ancestors of Owen or Bowen have been traced to Belimauer or Belimamer, an ancient King of Britain, whose reign antedated the Roman invasion 100 years B.C.
A depiction of the Bowen arms can be found in Virkus, The Compendium of American Genealogy, v5, p127:
Azure, a stag argent, vulned in the back with an arrow ( ppr.) attired or.
Motto: Qui male cogitat male sibi.
http://www.dsdata.com.au/cgi-bin/ind_scr.cgi?625
[ Bowen coat of arms ] [ Bowen family web ]
