Samuel Bowen

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Samuel Bowen (abt. 1746 - 1802)

Samuel "Sam" Bowen

Born about 1746 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Son of John Bowen [uncertain] and Mehitable (May) Bowen [uncertain]

Brother of Mehitable Bowen, John Bowen, Penuel Bowen and Joshua Bowen

Husband of Mary (Blaney) Bowen — married 14 Feb 1771 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Father of John Bowen Sr and Samuel Bowen

Died 14 Dec 1802 at about age 56 in Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Bowen-2383 created 20 Mar 2014 | Last modified 4 Nov 2021

e dwelling-house, near the East Meeting House, this afternoon, at 3 o'clock, which his friends and relations are requested to attend, without further invitation. [19] The widespread publishing of his death, even in a New York newspaper, would seem to indicate the Samuel was a person of some standing in the community.

Samuel died intestate. His probate was administered by his elder son John with his younger son Samuel signing as surety for the probate bond. [20] The inventory of Samuel's estate included, "A house & shop adjoining and a barn," valued at $400.00. [21] Presumably Samuel's saddlery business had been carried out in the shop. No record has been found of the disposition of this property or of any other of his effects.

Research Notes

Who were Samuel Bowen's parents?

Josiah and Mary Bowen of Muddy River?
Josiah and Mary Bowen had a son Samuel born 8 August 1837 in Muddy River (Brookline) [22] who, being born just a few miles from Roxbury, would be the obvious candidate to be Samuel of Roxbury except for two facts.

The 1737 date of this Samuel's birth is 10 years early compared to the computed 1746-47 birth of Samuel of Roxbury. Either the recorded birth year of Samuel of Brookline or the reported age at death of Samuel of Roxbury would have to be off by 10 years for the two to be the same person.
In the late 1700's Mary Bowen, widow of Josiah, appears at least three times in the town records of Muddy River (Brookline) over matters of the town council budgeting funds to pay for her boarding and care.[23] Could this have been the case if the nearby well-known, well-off sadler Samuel of Roxbury were her son?
Further research might resolve the 10 year birth discrepancy and suggest much more strongly that the two Samuels are one, but from the evidence available at present it seems very unlikely that this is the case.
Also further research might find later records for Samuel of Brookline that make him incompatible with Samuel of Roxbury. For example records show that a private Samuel Bowen (not further identified) died at the battle of Ticonderoga in 1776. Family records of Josiah and Mary Bowen might be found indicating that this was their son. [24]

Any other possibilities?
No other Samuel Bowens have been found in the U.S. who have birthdays remotely near the desired 1746-47, or who in any other way might have been Samuel of Roxbury. A world-wide search likewise turned up no likely candidates who might have emigrated to Massachusetts Colony ending up in Roxbury. The possibility that an otherwise unknown Samuel Bowen arrived in Roxbury to blend into the existing Bowen family and marry Mary Blaney can not be definitively ruled out but the chance of such an occurance seems vanishingly small.

John and Mehitable Bowen of Roxbury?
Samuel of Roxbury fits perfectly into the family of John and Mehitable.

In a culture in which first names run in families Samuel shares his name with Mehitable's brother and her grandfather's brother.[25]His first child is John, his putative father's, grandfather's and late brother's name as well as the name of Mehitable's father, grandfather and great grandfather. Samuel's second son is, again, Samuel.
He is the member of the church to which the rest of family, but no other Bowens, currently belong.
Most significantly when two members of the family die, John Sr and John Jr (putative father and brother) Samuel appears as a co-signer of the probate bond in both cases.[26][27]
The only thing missing from Samuel's biography is a birth record confirming him as the son of John and Mehitable. Yet his older brother Joshua also has no birth record and is only proven a son of John and Mehitable by chance comments in two legal documents.[28] So it is hardly surprising that Samuel might also have a lost birth record. Perhaps further research will discover a similar proof for Samuel in some as yet unseen documents. Until then the manner in which everything known about him fits perfectly into John and Mehitable's family, and with no other candidates found for Samuel's parents, we can accept the overwhelming likelihood that Samuel Bowen of Roxbury is indeed the son of John and Mehitable Bowen.

Sources

↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH5Z-DQF : 10 November 2020), Samuel Bowen, 14 Dec 1802; citing Death, Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009473.
↑ Columbian Centinel, Dec 18, 1802. Boston, MA: Vol XXXVII, Issue 32, Page 2.
↑ Salem Register, Dec 20, 1802. Salem, MA: Vol III,Issue 273.
↑ Republican Gazetteer, Dec 18, 1802. Boston, MA: Vol I, Issue 60, Page3.
↑ Newburyport Herald, Dec 21, 1802. Newburyport, MA: Vol VI, Issue 7, Page 3.
↑ New-York Gazette, Dec 27, 1802. New York, NY: Vol XV, Issue 5310, Page 2.
↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHZ9-RM5 : 10 November 2020), Samuel Bowen, 14 Feb 1771; citing Marriage, Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009473.
↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4LP-BYN : 10 November 2020), Samuel Bowen in entry for John Bowen, 12 Jun 1772; citing Birth, Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009473.
↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQ6L-LVZ : 5 January 2021), Samuell Bowen, 1774.
↑ Norfolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1793-1877. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2739/rd/51352/2255-co6/70982794 $ (American Ancestors membership required)
↑ Independent Chronicle, Nov 26, 1798. Boston, MA: Vol XXX, Issue 1845, Page 4.
↑ 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
↑ Boston Gazette, Jul 24, 1769. Boston, MA: Issue 746, Page 3.
↑ Thwing, Walter Elliot. HIstory of the First Church in Roxbury Massachusetts 1630-1904. Boston: W. A. Butterfield, 1908. Pages 192 193 195 198.
↑ "United States Census, 1790," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYYG-9MH7?cc=1803959&w... : 14 May 2015), Massachusetts > Suffolk > Roxbury > image 4 of 4; citing NARA microfilm publication M637, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRZ5-9HC?cc=1804228&wc... : 10 June 2015), Massachusetts > Norfolk > Roxbury > image 7 of 17; citing NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
↑ Norfolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1793-1877. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2739/rd/51352/2255-co6/70982794 $ (American Ancestors membership required)
↑ New-York Gazette, Dec 27, 1802. New York, NY: Vol XV, Issue 5310, Page 2.
↑ Massachusetts Mercury, Dec 17, 1802. Boston, MA. Vol XX, Issue 49, Page 3.
↑ Norfolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1793-1877. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2739/rd/51352/2255-co4/70982794
$ (American Ancestors membership required)
↑ Norfolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1793-1877. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2739/rd/51352/2255-co6/70982794
$ (American Ancestors membership required)
↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5NZ-FZF : 15 January 2020), Samuel Bowen, 1737.
↑ Muddy River and Brookline Records. 1634-1838. By the Inhabitants of Brookline, in Town Meeting (J. E. Farwell & Co., 1875; reprinted, Salem, Mass.: Higginson Book Co.), 215, 216, 279. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t1qf8wv40&vie...
↑ "United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q5GH-YYN2 : 15 December 2020), Samuel Bowen, 1 Feb 1776; citing Military Service, Massachusetts, United States, Citing various published state rosters, United States; FHL microfilm 103140770.
↑ May, Samuel,. A genealogy of the descendants of John May : who came from England to Roxbury in America, 1640.. Boston: Franklin Press, Rand, Avery, 1878. Pages 1 and 2.
↑ 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/48699/15875-co3/0
$ (American Ancestors membership required)
↑ 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-co10/0
$ (American Ancestors membership required)
↑ See "Final Proof" section of the biography of Joshua Bowen