Joshua Bowen

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Joshua Bowen
Born 14 Apr 1740 in Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
ANCESTORS ancestors
Son of John Bowen and Mehitable (May) Bowen
Brother of Mehitable Bowen, John Bowen, Penuel Bowen and Samuel Bowen
Husband of Abigail (Smith) Bowen — married 26 Mar 1782 in Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusettsmap
DESCENDANTS descendants
Father of Mehitable May (Bowen) Higley, Abigail Bowen, Henry Bowen, Mary Bowen, John Bowen, Eunice (Bowen) Washburn, Susanna Bowen and Elizabeth Bowen
Died about 1805 at about age 64 in Becket, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United Statesmap [uncertain]
PROBLEMS/QUESTIONSProfile manager: Jim Bowen Find Relationship private message [send private message]
Bowen-9354 created 3 Feb 2021 | Last modified 7 Mar 2021
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Contents

[hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Family Membership I
1.2 Birth
1.3 Marriage
1.4 War Record
1.5 Residence
1.6 Death
1.7 Family Membership II
1.7.1 First Suggestion
1.7.2 Additional Evidence
1.7.3 Final Proof
2 Sources
Biography

Family Membership I

Early genealogies of the Roxbury Bowens do not list Joshua Bowen as a son of of John and Mehitable (May) Bowen. They list only three children: Mehitable, John and Penuel. There appear to be no directly searchable sources with verifiable citations listing Joshua as a member of this family. However proof of his position in the family does exist in original documents which will be detailed in the section Family Membership II, below. In the meantime this biography assumes he is the fourth child of John and Mehitable.

Birth

In fact there appears to be no contemporary record of any sort of Joshua's birth. However, in a footnote on page 113 of his book The Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut [1] (reproduced here), E. A. Bowen notes having been sent by Philip Carter Washburn, a great grandson of Joshua, a family pedigree listing Joshua as the son of John and Mehitable and giving a birth date of April 14, 1740, just over 2 years after the birth of Penuel. As many other names and dates, all proving correct, are given for other family members in this pedigree it would appear that this birth date of his great grandfather is likely also correct.

An interesting sidelight is that this P. C. Washburn was so keen a family genealogist wishing to demonstrate his descent from John Bowen and thus from Griffith Bowen that he named his only son Griffith Bowen Washburn. [2]

Marriage

Joshua married Abigail Smith on March 26, 1782 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. [3] Various sources disagree on whether the marriage took place in Bridgewater or Roxbury and whether the month was March or May. However, what appears to be the original source appears in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (viewable online) [4] confirming both Bridgewater and March.

War Record

During the Revolution Joshua served as a seaman aboard the privateer Angelica which on its last voyage embarked from Boston on May 26, 1778. On May 31 the British naval vessel Andromeda captured and blew up the Anjelica and transported her crew to England where they were interned in Forton prison. On July 2, 1779 Joshua was included in a prisoner exchange and ultimately returned to New York.
(This information is believed accurate but lacks citation. It is included here out of interest rather than of any genealogical significance.)

Residence

Given the lack of any records for Joshua during his early years, his residence in Roxbury can not be absolutely established for those years. However, given that, as will be shown below, he was the son of John and Mehitable, it is of high probability that he was born and raised in Roxbury. The earliest definite record of his residence there comes from Roxbury tax records of 1768 [5] that establish he was assessed poll tax in Roxbury in that year. In 1770 Joshua is listed as a member of the First Church of Roxbury, [6] as in 1784 is "Abigail Boven (sic) wife of Joshua". [7] Additionally Joshua's 1782 record of marriage in Bridgewater to Abigail lists him as "Joshua Bowen of Roxbury". [8] The 1790 US census lists him as head of a house in Roxbury, [9] but by the 1800 census he and his family have moved to Becket, Massachusetts. [10]

Death

Like his birth, Joshua's death has not been listed in any records that have been found. What is known is that, although in the 1800 US census he is recorded as the head of a household of 11 in Becket, Massachusetts, [11] he does not appear In the 1810 census. Instead his wife Abigail is recorded as head of a Becket household of 9. [12] We can only assume the likelihood that Joshua died at some point in the intervening years.

Family Membership II

Was Joshua the son of John and Mehitable?
First Suggestion

As was discussed above in the Birth section the first suggestion that Joshua, for whom no birth records exist, was the son of John and Mehitable came with the submission of a family pedigree from a great-grandson of Joshua's which shows him as the fourth child of the couple. While a family pedigree is not proof, it did provide the starting impetus to investigate whether this might, indeed, be the case.

Additional Evidence

While not giving the desired proof of his parentage, other facts from Joshua's life lend credence to the theory that he was the son of John and Mehitable.

Joshua was a member of the First Church of Roxbury, and church records indicate that all members listed during the 18th Century were descended from Henry Bowen son of Griffith through two of his sons, John (Joshua's putative grandfather) and Isaac.[13]
Roxbury tax records of 1768, mentioned above in the Residence section, show not only that Joshua lived in Roxbury but also indicate he probably lived in the house of his putative father John. The record lists Esq John, Joshua, and John Jr. together, with only the senior John be taxed for a house, suggesting the two younger men lived with their father (and mother).[14]
Joshua was the administrator of his putative father's estate.[15]
According to the family genealogy referred to in the Birth section, Joshua's first child was a daughter named Mehitable May Bowen, all but proving absolutely that Joshua's mother was Mehitable May.[16]The family pedigree is further verified in that it states that this daughter married "_____ Higley" and they lived in Ohio. FindAGrave records the death of Mehitable May Bowen Higley of Roxbury in 1839 in Windham, Ohio [17]
Final Proof

While the above, particularly the administration of John's probate, lend strong credence to the assertion that Joshua was John's son, they still do not offer proof. The proof is finally delivered from a document found in John's probate papers and from the deed of a land sale.

The probate: Found among the various paper's of John's probate records is a handwritten note, dated and signed, stating, "Mr. Joshua Bowen the bearer hereof has my free consent for the term of six months longer time for the Settlement of his Father's Estate."[18]
The deed: Shortly after his father's death Joshua sold two pieces of land that he had received from his father. Within the deed for the sale is found the words, "...the former of these two pieces being deeded to my late honored father John Bowen late of sd Roxbury, dec'd by..."[19]
From these two statements finally comes unquestionable first-hand evidence that Joshua Bowen is indeed the son of Esq John Bowen of Roxbury and his wife Mehitable.

Sources

↑ Bowen, Edward Augustus. The Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1897. Page 113. (footnote) https://archive.org/stream/lineagebowenswo00bowegoog#page/n132/
↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4F4-QML : accessed 13 February 2021), Griffith B Washburn in household of Phillip C Washburn, Parsippany, Morris, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 57, sheet 1A, line 26, family 8, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1374; FHL microfilm 2,341,109.
↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V58M-C9N : 24 January 2020), Joshua Bowen, 1782.
↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol XLVI - January 1892. Boston: The New England Historical and Genealogical Society,1892. Page 55. https://archive.org/stream/newenglandhisto39unkngoog#page/n64/mode/1up
↑ New England Historic Genealogical Society, Roxbury, Mass. Tax Lists and Receipt, 1749, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1774, Folder 2 - Roxbury MA Tax Lists, 1768; Roxbury MA Tax Lists 1768 Dec p9.jpg.
↑ Thwing, Walter Elliot. HIstory of the First Church in Roxbury Massachusetts 1630-1904. Boston: W. A. Butterfield, 1908. Page 195. https://archive.org/stream/historyoffirstch01thwi#page/195/mode/1up
↑ Thwing, Walter Elliot. HIstory of the First Church in Roxbury Massachusetts 1630-1904. Boston: W. A. Butterfield, 1908. Page 198. https://archive.org/stream/historyoffirstch01thwi#page/198/mode/1up
↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol XLVI - January 1892. Boston: The New England Historical and Genealogical Society,1892. Page 55. https://archive.org/stream/newenglandhisto39unkngoog#page/n64/mode/1up
↑ "United States Census, 1790," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHKG-SQX : accessed 15 February 2021), Joshua Bowen, Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 514, NARA microfilm publication M637, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 4; FHL microfilm 568,144.
↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRZ-VHN : accessed 15 February 2021), Joshua Bowen, Becket, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 265, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 13; FHL microfilm 205,611.
↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRZ-VHN : accessed 15 February 2021), Joshua Bowen, Becket, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 265, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 13; FHL microfilm 205,611.
↑ "United States Census, 1810," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2L-3PD : accessed 15 February 2021), Abigale Bowen, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 210, NARA microfilm publication M252 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 17; FHL microfilm 205,625.
↑ Thwing, Walter Elliot. HIstory of the First Church in Roxbury Massachusetts 1630-1904. Boston: W. A. Butterfield, 1908. Pages 128, 131, 132, 192 193 195 198
↑ New England Historic Genealogical Society, Roxbury, Mass. Tax Lists and Receipt, 1749, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1774, Folder 2 - Roxbury MA Tax Lists, 1768; Roxbury MA Tax Lists 1768 Dec p9.jpg.
↑ Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017-2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2735/t/48701/19192-co16/0
↑ Bowen, Edward Augustus. The Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1897. Page 113.https://archive.org/stream/lineagebowenswo00bowegoog#page/n132/
↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27093081/mehitable-may-higley
↑ Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017-2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2735/t/48701/19192-co7/0
↑ Norfolk County Deeds 1793-1795, Vol. 4-6. 4:160 – Norfolk Co Deeds v4p160.jpg

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Sep 19 2023, 23:21:10 UTC