Stephen Samuel Bowen, Sr.

SAMUEL HARRISON BOWEN & SARAH LEE were Stephen Samuel Bowens' parents. Steve was born in York County, SC, October 1, 1802. When he was nine years old, his father moved the family to Wilkes County, Georgia.

He ran away from home when he was about 18 years old because his father whipped him for fighting one of his school masters. He settled near Macon, GA, where he bought a piece of land and built a one room log house. He met Permelia Killingsworth, who lived in Macon and married her. Permelia left her home of plenty, where she did not want for anything and had servants to wait upon her and went to make her home in the log cabin. The first meal Permelia cooked for Steve consisted of bacon, corn pones and black coffee. It was the first meal she had ever prepared, but Steve thought it was the best food he had ever tasted. In 1846, Steve sold the home in Georgia and moved the family to Cottondale, Tuscaloosa County, AL, where he bought a farm of several hundred acres and built a cotton gin, operated by horse power.

Just imagine being 59 years old with 12 children, 11 of them sons, at the beginning of the War Between the States. You are a Southerner, but not a slave holder and never have been. Suddenly in the fall of 1861, your sons are signing up for duty, leaving their families behind to fight for States Rights. What must have gone thru the minds of Permelia and Steve Bowen?

They were married in Henry County, Georgia, on November 11, 1828 and are listed in the Tuscaloosa County, AL State Census for 1850 with a total of 10 in the household, including two females and 8 males. A total of six of Stephen Bowen's sons served during the conflict, only two of these sons survived the war, JT and Doc. Stephen Bowen was a founding member of Mount Zion Baptist Church and was the Justice of the Peace in 1858, 1859, and 1860 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.

DEATH OF AN OLD CITIZEN from the Tuscaloosa Gazette Tuscaloosa Alabama, Thursday, July 29,1897, Vol XXV No 11

"News was brought to town yesterday of the death near Mt Zion, twelve miles from Tuscaloosa, of Mr Stephen Bowen, an old and revered citizen. Mr Bowen was perhaps one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, citizen in the county, he being near to ninety five years of age. His long life was well spent; and there is much sympathy felt by many for the bereaved relatives.

His death certificate Reference ID 102, shows cause of death was heart disease and senile decay.

On the 1860 Tuscaloosa County, AL census it lists him having heart disease and age 45.

Another descendant states his birth year as 1800.