Bowden Family History & Genealogy Research

This site is my attempt to preserve as much detail as possible regarding the lives of my ancestors who came from various places in Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and many of whom settled in Australia. The information is being gathered for the benefit of their descendants, those presently living and those yet to come.

I would love to hear from anyone who shares common ancestry Send an e-mail to: Amanda Taylor

Contents

• A little about myself
• Surname List of my Ancestors - My Research Interests

Meaning of the Name

Name History and Origin for the name BOWDEN
English: habitational name from any of several places called Bowden or Bowdon. Bowden in Devon and Derbyshire and Bowdon in Cheshire are named with Old English boga 'bow' + dun 'hill', i.e. 'hill shaped like a bow'; one in Leicestershire (Bugedone in Domesday Book) comes, according to Ekwall, from the Old English personal name Buga (masculine) or Bucge (feminine) + dun. There are also Scottish places of this name, but there are comparatively few bearers of the surname Bowden north of the border. In England the surname is found most frequently in Lancashire and in the West Country. In Devon and Cornwall there has been some confusion with the Norman personal name Baldwin.

English: habitational name from Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, so named with the Old English phrase bufan dune 'on, upon the hill'. The surname may also have arisen as a topographic name from the same phrase used independently, for someone who lived at the top of a hill.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic 'Buad'in 'descendant of Buad'n', an Old Irish personal name.
Source : Dictionary of American Family Names
Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Our Bowden Ancestors Place of Origin

Our BOWDEN family comes from Kent in England and can be found in the following towns/villages:

• Benenden, Kent
• Rolvenden, Kent

My BOWDEN ancestry is via the line of my late father. My father's maternal ancestry has been traced back to Job M. BOWDEN b. 1740 of Benenden, Kent, England.

Our BOWDEN Ancestry in England

Our earliest known connection to the BOWDEN name is the marriage between Job M. BOWDEN and Elizabeth HINKLEY on 14 May 1765. Elizabeth was the daughter of John HINKLEY and Mary WELLER of High Halden, Kent, England.

BOWDEN Online Resources

• BOWDEN List at Rootsweb.Com - includes surname variations (e.g., Baudon, Baudouin, Boden, Boudoin, Bowdoin, Bowdin, Bowdon, Bowdown)
  * Subscribe: BOWDEN-L-request@rootsweb.com
  * Search the BOWDEN archives.
  * Browse the BOWDEN threaded archives.
• Bowden Family Genealogy Forum at Genealogy.Com

Our BOWDEN ancestors immigration to Australia

William BOWDEN was born on the 12 Aug 1796 in Benenden, Kent, England and subsequently christened in Benenden on 16 Oct 1796 to William BOWDEN (Jun 1774 - 2 Jun 1833) and his wife Elizabeth YOUNG (3 Dec 1775 - 9 Jul 1841)

William married Elizabeth GODFREY in St George Church at Benenden, Kent on 4 Dec 1816 and he, Elizabeth and their family migrated to Australia in 1838 aboard the ship 'Maitland' when he was 42 years of age, with his brother Joseph. They departed Gravesend in Kent (near London) England, on 24th June, 1838 arriving in Sydney NSW on 6 Nov 1838 as 'Assisted Immigrants'. In the shipping records William stated he was going to live at Paterson River, which is in the Raymond Terrace area.

Our BOWDEN families life in Australia

Tragically William's wife Elizabeth died upon arrival in Sydney and their son James shortly thereafter. The remaining family members settled at the Emmigration Barracks in Hunter Street and William found work as a gardener. In the 1841 Census he was in the carrying business and living at Bourke Street Surrey Hills. William applied for land and in due cause was granted a clearing lease. Early in 1842 the family moved to Dora Creek near Lake Macquarie, leasing a property known locally as 'Muddy Creek' near the present railway station at Dora Creek (originally called 'Newport') where William and his sons worked at logging the cedar which they would haul by bullock team to Newcastle for sale until 1847. The Bowden's 'Muddy Creek' lease was owned by a Mr. Holden who took up a position in the Brisbane Water Court House.

William moved his family to Ash Island, probably as tennant farmers of Alexander Walker SCOTT in the Hunter River near Hexham and established a thriving fruit and vegetable trade with the Newcastle markets. When the Hunter River flooded in 1856 William and his youngest son George moved to 'Kennington Park' at Raymond Terrace and became vegetable & grain farmers, carting produce to the Newcastle markets (maize, potatoes, melons, pumpkins & lucerne). Even at the age of 60, William was very active and could effectively handle the bullock teams. 'Kennington Park' is north of Hexham, on the Raymond Terrace Road, opposite the 'Courtauld's Factory'.

William and Elizabeth had a family of ten children, James (1817), William (1819) married Caroline MUNN, Rebecca (1821) married Thomas ADAM, Thomas (1824) , Ann (1826) our direct ancestor married Samuel ASHER, Frank (1828) married (1) Alice Maria ROTHWELL then (2) Rebecca OSBORNE , Catherine (1830) married Joseph BILLINGHAM, Mary (1832) married Thomas PRYOR, Joseph (1834) and George (1837) who married Maria FOUNTAIN.

William is buried at Raymond Terrace near the graves of his son-in-law Thomas & his daughter Rebecca (Bowden) ADAM.

Many of the descendants of their son Thomas settled in Stroud and still reside in the area to this present day, with one of the descendents still living on the original property as of 2005. Raymond Terrrace where William is buried is 30 minutes (in today's travelling time) from Stroud.

For conditions regarding the voyage of the 'Maitland' and other information see Juliette HENDRY's Home Page and for another site which gives substantial details of the voyage of the 'Maitland' and its' passengers, refer Bruce Fairhall's pages at Maitland - The Voyage of 1838.

Our Convict Connection

My complete Rootsweb database can be seen at Amanda Taylor's Genealogy

Surname List of my Direct Ancestors Individual Name Index

Prepared by:

Amanda Taylor
P.O. Box 5042
Wheeler Heights NSW 2097 Australia