Ephraim Bowen

Dr. Ephraim Bowen

Jones and Elmira Bowen?

These photos are circa 1870. They are the first 2 pictures found in the "family section" of photographs of the bible belonging to John Wesley Bowen. I believe them to be pictures of John Wesley Bowen's parents, Jones Bowen and his wife, Elmira Whitman. Jones Bowen(Thomas Jones Bowen, Sr.) is the grandson of Sterling Bowen and the son of Woody Bowen.

Origins of the Bowen Family (and of Sterling and Woody Bowen) before the Revolutionary War

My aunt, Eunice Bowen Branyon, traced the Bowen ancestry back to Sterling Bowen(a Revolutionary War veteran) as part of her qualification for membership in the DAR(Daughters of the American Revolution). Her work triggered an interest of Genealogy in me and I have since spent many hours in the Richmond Library and on the internet researching our ancestry before Sterling. Along with other researchers I have since found online, including Martha Hills, Frances "Cookie" Harper, and especially Deborah Ann Wilson, we now know the following:

Summary (Click on links in text or left column for details)

The Bowen family originated in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. This is a coastal county, and explains why so many of the Bowens won distinction in the English Navy. So much of the ancient history is covered up with legends, and dates are so confused, that it is quite impossible to fix a definite time as to much of this early history. Approximately, the family goes back to about the year 1050. There is a legend to the effect that the head of the family thirteen hundred years ago carried the sword of state before King Arthur at his coronation at Caerleon (Lions' Rock), in Monmouthshire. But no authentic records go back that far. About 1050, just before the Norman Conquest of England, one comes upon something like history in Wales. The various tribes had taken shape, and we know who some of their rulers were.

The first sizable emigration of the Welsh to America came in 1680-1720. Over 30,000 Quakers and other religious immigrants from Wales came to America during this time. Some early Welsh settlers purchased land in the Delaware colony, which they called the Welsh Tract. Many made their way to the New World as indentured servants. As early as 1667 a congregation of Baptists from South Wales had founded Swansea on the Plymouth-Rhode Island border. In 1681 a group of Welsh-Quaker gentlemen obtained a tract of some 40,000 acres in Pennsylvania. By 1720 the Welsh were settled in southeastern Pennsylvania and in Delaware. The middle of the 18th Century saw the Welsh moving toward the Susquehanna frontier and into the Carolinas.

Our line(descendants of Sterling and Woody Bowen) begins with 2 couples William and Amy Bowen, and Robert and Avis Bowen, in Bristol Parish, Virginia(just west of present day Petersburg in Dinwiddie County, VA). The men were surely kin to each other in some way and possibly brothers, although that has not been proven. They were at least producing children at the same time in Bristol Parish during the late 1720's and early 1730's. It has not been determined exactly where these Bowen families were living at this time as no mention of them in earlier records has been found. Most likely they were living in Prince George Co, perhaps near a creek called Bowen's Branch, just upstream from George's Branch on the Namozine Creek.

At present, we have no idea where William and Robert Bowen lived prior to Bristol Parish. They are not found in any immigrant lists of the time. They quite possibly lived in Philadelphia or Delaware previously along with other Bowen immigrants, but no record proving this has been found yet.

The Bristol Parish records included the following Bowen birth records:

Wm. son of William and amy Bowen Born 2d Dcemr 1729 Bapt 10th May 1730 Lucie D of Robert and Avis Bowen born 23th August 1730 David of Wm. & Amy Bowen born 13th Novr 1731 bapt 30th July 1732 Ephraim son of Robt & Avis Bowen born 12th Feby 1731 bapt 30th July 1732 Jesse s of William and Amy Bowyon born 11th March 1734

We have no way of knowing how many children might have been born to William Bowen and his wife, Amy or to Robert Bowen and his wife, Avis before or after the five years or so that their children's births were recorded in the Bristol Parish records. We also have no birth dates or marriage records for either William or Robert. So we can't even begin to guess if these were their first children, their middle children, or their last children. We can't even be sure that William and Robert were close in age since one might have been in his early 20's while the other was quite a bit older, perhaps even producing a second family by a later marriage. But we do know from later records that William Bowen and Amy both were still alive in 1762, so probably there were quite a few more children born to them........

Source: Origins of the Bowen Family (and of Sterling and Woody Bowen) before the Revolutionary War

Bowen Genealogy www.kaliktime.com/Genealogy1Main.asp Origins of the Bowen Family (and of Sterling and Woody Bowen) before the Revolutionary War. My aunt, Eunice Bowen Branyon, traced the Bowen ancestry ... Bowen Genealogy - Keeping Life Simple www.kaliktime.com/Genealogy34SterlingBowen.asp Quick Summary of the pre1800 history ... In notes from Eunice Burts Bowen Branyon, in her book "Family of Woody Bowen". Revolutionary War Pension Application Mrs. Susan Bowen widow of Sterling Bowen in Revolution Files in the SC ... hand, at and before the sealing and delivery of theses presents by the said Sterling ... Bowen Genealogy www.kaliktime.com/Genealogy33EuniceBowenBranyon.asp Genealogy of Sterling Bowen. ... Quick Summary of the pre1800 history · 1050. Starting in Wales and the ... Eunice Bowen Branyon is author of the book "Family of Woody Bowen 1782-1975" and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution(DAR). In order to ... This was a month before Pearl Harbor. They used ... [PDF]Family of Woody Bowen 1782-1975 - Keeping Life Simple www.kaliktime.com/GenealogyOfWoodyBowenFamily.pdf Bowen family relationship follows back through many years. ... for family. #1 Sterling Bowen ..... Lands h. 5 BOWEN Land Grants before the Revolution from Index 1 &: sec #3 1-1; ..... family history and keen“ impressions of life in Mississippi .

Added by Janet Milburn,8 Sept. 2017. The above looks a little messy after I added the three links. I chose not to decided for others which one they might want to see, and I don't know if each has different information.