According to Patricia Scott Deetz and James Deetz, ten years after the Mayflower’s arrival in 1620, the population of Plymouth Colony was near 300. By 1640 that population approached 2000.
Between 1635 and 1640, Griffith and Richard Bowen entered the Colony with their families from Wales.
Griffith Bowen (1590-1667) came from Langeuith, Glamorgan, Wales, and later returned to England, leaving some of his descendants.
Richard Bowen (1594-1674), our patriarch, appeared in the 1642 land records of the Plymouth Colony, but his daughter was married there in 1640. Therefore, he likely arrived prior to 1640. Some think Griffith & Richard were brothers, but the consensus notes that Richard was the son of Thomas Bowen from Kettle (or Kittle) Hill in the Swansea area of Wales.
Thomas Bowen (1634-1663), son of Richard, the immigrant, and father of Richard Bowen (1660-1737), died when his son was about three years of age. The widow of Thomas then married Dr Samuel Fuller, son of Dr Samuel Fuller of the Mayflower. Trained by his stepfather, Richard Bowen became a doctor, the first of several generations of Bowen doctors. The Bowen family located in Bristol, MA, later a part of Rhode Island, where they prospered and became numerous.
Dr Joseph Bowen (1756-1832) was the great grandson of Dr Richard Bowen (1660-1737) and a Surgeon’s Mate in the Rhode Island Navy during the Revolutionary War. He was cited for his participation in negotiations for prisoner exchanges. His son, Benjamin (1784-1848) married Lucinda Sayles and started a family in Rhode Island. Before 1830, he moved his family to Ohio, settling in Montgomery, Sycamore Twp of Hamilton County, about 12 miles north of Cincinnati on the road to Columbus. There the family continued to prosper and propagate.
The ninth child of Benjamin and Lucinda was William F Bowen (1826-1899) who wed Selena Carpenter and began his own family in Montgomery, OH. Between 1865 and 1870, William F moved his family to Jefferson Co., MO where his eldest sons, John (1853-) & Benjamin (1857-), married sisters, Elizabeth and Julia Kenner.
Between 1872 and 1877, William F Bowen, wife (Selena), daughters (Minerva & Olive), sons (Ben & Clark) and Ben’s wife (Julia), moved south to Texas. Selena died in 1877 and William in 1899. Both were buried on the family farm west of San Antonio, near the Castroville road.
William and daughters, Minerva & Olive were noted in Bexar Co. on the 1880 census. Son, Benjamin and wife were nearby with their children, Fred & Adaline. My best guess is that the home was west of the current location of Lackland AFB. The area is called Medina for the Medina River that winds through the region. On the same census, son Clark, was working on a farm (or ranch) in southern Bell Co. TX.
By 1900, the family was scattered. Ben Bowen, widower, was in a wagon yard in south Waco, TX with two other "horse traders". That was our last glimpse of him. His wife, Julia, was working at the West Texas Military Academy in San Antonio and listed herself as a widow (all 4 children living).
All four children, Fred, Nan, Ed & Harry, were in the vicinity of southern Bell Co., TX. A photo of the four children was taken in Holland, Bell Co., TX in 1898.
1. Fredrick Bowen (1877-1937) married in Taylor, TX and moved to Sedan, KS, then to Bartlesville. OK where he had a blacksmith shop for many years.
2. Nan Bowen (1879-1925) married Robert L "Cub" Burns (1876-1946) in 1898 in Bell Co., TX. They lived out their lives in Vilas, near Holland, and had no children.
3. Edward Standard (1882- ) married Josephine Lodovic, a French woman with 2 young Lodovic children. They had no children and lived in Oklahoma City. Neither Ed nor Josie has been located after 1920.
4. Harry Miller Bowen (1883-1929) graduated Holland High School in 1901 and married "Lizzie" Hunter in 1905. In 1907, he and Lizzie moved to Los Angeles Co., CA east of the city of Los Angeles. They lived in Santa Ana and possibly Pomona. All three of their daughters were born in the Los Angeles area. The family moved back to central TX in 1910. From 1913 to 1926, they lived in Belton, TX and Harry was with Hunter & Co. In 1926, the Bowen’s moved to Goose Creek, now Baytown, TX. He died in 1929 of tuberculosis after an extended stay in a San Antonio, TX sanitarium. His mother, Julia and brother, Fred, were among those who attended the funeral in Belton.
Much of the data for the first five generations of the our Bowen line draws heavily from Jim Bullock’s RootsWeb database "Rehoboth Roots" and consensus data from other RootsWeb and LDS Family files.
Joyce Bowen Bose, a descendant of Benjamin and the History of Montgomery, OH Historical 1795-1995 provided considerable input related to our Bowen family in Hamilton Co. OH. Much of the data on the years in Bexar Co., TX was collected by Minerva Wilke Calle, granddaughter of Minerva Bowen, and provided by her son, Bill Calle.
Beth Service and Nathan Galloway, descendants of Lizzie Hunter Bowen, provided many files and photos collected by Mary Alice Law Hunter and her daughter, Mary Alice Hunter Grace.
Kenner
Julia Kenner was the wife of Benjamin Bowen. Elizabeth Kenner was the wife of John Bowen. Both men were the sons of William F Bowen and both ladies were daughters of Beverley Kenner.
The Kenner family has a long and well-documented history arriving in Virginia, probably in the late 1630’s, from England, with Richard Kenner I (1610-1648/59?). The family was connected to a number of the prominent families of early Virginia.
Francis Kenner (1680-1722) married Hannah Howson, daughter of Leonard Howson and Elizabeth Lee. Elizabeth was the daughter of Col. Richard Lee, forebear of the Lee’s of VA.
Maj. Howson Kenner (1712-1778) married Margaret, daughter of Col. George Eskridge. The Col. raised orphaned Martha Ball from a very early age. Martha named her son, George Eskridge Washington, in honor of her guardian.
The Kenner family named their children for the various associated families, Rodham, Howson, Beverley, etc. Thus did Beverley Kenner, father of Julia, acquire his given name.
Early data on the Kenner family was taken largely from the "grossnickle" database by Tony Grossnickle found on Rootsweb.com. Juanite Brosh, Carol Kenner Harrington, Mary Day and others provided helpful data on the Beverley Kenner family.
Nentwich
Minerva, elder daughter of William F Bowen & Elizabeth Carpenter, married William Nentwich in Bexar Co., TX. The Nentwich family was one of many from the central European States to immigrate to central Texas during the second half of the 1800's. Henry Nentwich was born in 1805 Prussia. In 1852, after the death of his first wife, he immigrated to Bexar Co., TX and began a second family. His descendants still live in Bexar County as of 2008.
Much data on the extended Nentwich family came from Bill Calle and Rose Collins
Hamil
Nellie Bowen, eldest daughter of Harry Miller Bowen & Elizabeth Hunter, married Howard Hamil. This Hamil (O’Hamill) line was brought to America in the early 1770's by James Hamill of Ireland. There are at least two books documenting the family. "Genealogy of the James Hamill family from 1770 to 1972, by Rev. M. Nash Hamill (1971)" and "History of the Hamil Family, by Betty Hamil". There are also several family Trees listed on RootsWeb.com.
A copy ofBetty Hamil’s book, loaned to me by Ron Hamil, was the primary source for data in this document. Use of excerpts and photos from the book were authorized by Kenneth HamilGalloway
Frances Bowen, second daughter of Harry Bowen & Elizabeth Hunter, married Nathan Costello Galloway, Jr. This line is documented back to Robert N Galloway (1822-1906). Though Robert’s parents are not in the 1850 census, other census data indicate his parent were likely Nathan Galloway and Rizpah Northcutt from the Darlington, SC area.
Many photos of the Galloway, Bowen, Hunter & Branscomb families were provided by Nathan Galloway III. Joe Galloway also provided data on the Galloway tree.
McIlroy
Luci Bowen, youngest daughter of Harry Bowen & Elizabeth Hunter, married Leonard McIlroy.
Richard Bowen, 6th great grandfather of Luci Bowen, was raised from an early age by his stepfather, Dr Samuel Fuller Jr (1629-1695), son of the Mayflower passenger, Dr Samuel Fuller (1580-1633). In the same household, there was yet another Dr Samuel Fuller (1612-1683), the son of Edward Fuller. That Dr. Fuller was the 7th great grandfather of Leonard McIlroy. (An interesting, though confusing, side point) The McIlroy genealogy is posted on the net at: