Bowies and Their Kindred
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THE BOWIES AND THEIR KINDRED. A Genealogical and Biographical History. BY WALTER WORTHINGTON BOWIE. ILLUSTRATED. WASHING TON : PRESS OF CROMWELL BROS. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899, by WALTER WORTHINGTON BOWIE, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. Governor Robert Bowie. An Explanation of the Numerical Ar1·angement. The sketches of individual members are arranged in numerical succession, the emigrant progenitor of each family being No. r. Opposite the names of the child ren, through whom the line descends, there are large mar ginal figures indicating the number of the article further on in which each child and his children are again carried · on. At the head of each sketch (No. I excepted) is given the name of each paternal ancestor from whom the indi vidual is descended. A small numeral over each of these names indicates the generations, starting with the emi grant progenitor. An index at the end of the work will afford any further information necessary. List of Illustrations. Governor Robert Bowie Frontispiece Stirling Cathedral (plan l 12 Major Benjamin Brookes 45 Colonel Washington Bowie (1st) 97 Thomas Contee Bowie, Sr. !08 Mrs. Thomas Contee Bowie. 109 Commodore William D. Porter II6 William Mordacai Bowie . J4I Judge RichA.rd Johns Bowie 149 Hon. Reverdy Johnson 162 Mrs. Reverdy Johnson . 163 Robert Bowie "of Cedar Hill" 168 General Thomas Fielder Bowie 172 Dr. Allen Thomas Bowie . 180 Mrs. Allen Thomas Bowie 181 Allen Perrie Bowie 186 Mrs. Allen Perrie Bowie 187 William Duckett Bowie 192 Dr. Richard William Bowie 209 Major Thomas Fielder Bowie 221 Governor Oden Bowie . 232· James Weston Bowie . 255 Dr. William Capers Bowie 256 Rezin Pleasant Bowie 266 Colonel James Bowie 271 Dr. James Bowie 304 Major John Bowie . 310 Chancellor Alexander Bowie 319 Roger Brooke Taney 354 Judge Samuel Harper Berry 377 Bishop Thomas John Claggett 4°7 Thomas Clagett (6th) . 414 Judge Thomas William Clagett 417 Colonel Thomas Contee 436 Rev. John Eversfield 447 Mrs. John Eversfield . 448 Colonel John Henry Waring 494 Walter Brooke Cox Worthington 5°7 In the preparation of this work, the author has endeav ored to present a clear and accurate record of the descend ants of the various emigrants of the name of Bowie, who came to America from Scotland prior to the ending of the Eighteenth Century. There are at present many of this name in the United States who have arrived in more recent years and whom the author does not include in this work. Among these late arrivals are several in the Northern and New England States. One is· a druggist _in New York; another a merchant in Brooklyn; and still a third is a weaver in Philadelphia. Chicago has a Walter Bowie who hails from Glasgow; and several others born in the British Isles are found in Cin cinnati, New Orleans, and Baltimore, in addition to a family in Petersburg, Virginia, which has been in this country less than thirty years. At White Castle, Louisiana, Capt. George M. Bowie is mayor of the town and a wealthy lumber dealer; he was born in 1848 at Forchabers, in Banf, Scotland, and emigrated to Texas about twenty-five years since, where he married Miss Armstrong, and became a partner of the multi-millionaire, William Cameron, in the red cypress lumber business. He has four children, the eldest being William A. Bowie. But none of these later emigrants or their families, as far as is known, are related to the Bowies who settled in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina during the Colonial Era. All of the name, however, are doubtless sprung from the same Gaelic stock which impressed its sturdy charac- vi PREFACE. teristics upon members of the Clan, whether born in Scot land or America. Owing to the vast extent of country over which the numerous descendants of these early emigrants have scattered, the loss of family documents, the difficulty ex perienced in consulting official records at distant points, and the inaccessibility of the ancient registers in Scotland, the writer met with obstacles often almost insurmountable. The compiling of this history was first suggested by an article which appeared in the Baltimore American during December, 1894, entitled the "Fighting Bowies." It was written by the well-known historian, J. T. Scharf, shortly after the death of Ex-Governor Oden Bowie. While the article was very complimentary to the Bowie family, it asserted that the original progenitor of the race was ship ped to Maryland in 1716, and "sold into slavery for seven years, for participating in a' Highland uprising' in 1715." Such barbarous treatment of a prisoner of war reflected no personal dishonor upon the unfortunate captive, yet the statement as applying to the ancestor of the Maryland Bowies was so manifestly untrue, the present writer deter mined to make a thorough investigation, and to compile a correct sketch of the entire family. The State records show no Bowie was ever transported to Maryland as a "redemptionist," but they do show that in 1716 "James Bowe" was sent here and bound out for seven years for complicity in the Argyle Rebellion. Again in 1746, one "John Bowe," taken prisoner at the battle of Coloden, was sent to Maryland under like con ditions. Thi;; progenitor of the Maryland Bowies, as will be later shown, was here prior to 1706, was married and a large land owner in 1708. Further, there is not a particle of evidence to indicate he was in any way related to the two men named Bowe, transported a number of years later to the Province. Mr. Scharf's attention was called to his misstatement, and the author of this work received a letter from him PREFACE. vu acknowledging his error, which he explained was caused by his supposing Bowie to have been the correct spelling · for the name of the two redemptionists. The researches thus instituted caused the writer to be come much interested in his family genealogy, and he concluded to present short sketches of many ";ho were an honor to the generation in which they lived. In the work thus undertaken he has been greatly aided by the hearty co-operation of his numerous relatives, and he cannot refrain from especially thanking Mr. Robert Bowie, of Annapolis, who devoted much time to a research of the old records in that city, and whose personal reminiscences have been so valuable; Dr. Howard Strafford Bowie, who was untiring in his efforts and interest in the work, and Capt. Allen T. Bowie for his able and extended assist ance. Mrs. Eugene Soniat, of New Orleans, will be ever gratefully remembered for her earnest efforts to assist in unraveling the line of the Louisiana Bowies and for contributing some of the most interesting data received. Among enterprising seekers for information concerning the South Carolina Bowies have been Hon. Frank P. Bowie, of Carthage, Mississippi, Mr. Sidney J. Bowie, of Talladega, Alabama, and Mr. John M. Bowie, of Anniston, Alabama. Many other contributors such as Mr. T. T. S. Bowie, Miss Willie Swan, Miss Mary Tasker Bowie, Miss Lucy Leigh Bowie, Miss Rebecca Davis, Mrs. Fannie Ogle Griffith, Mr. B. H. Craig, of Trappe, Maryland; Mrs. William Wallis; Mr. Augustus]. Bowie, of California, who sent much of the matter regard ing his branch of the family; his consin, Mrs. Chipman; Miss Mary A. Bowie, of Richmond, who furnished very nearly all the information regarding the Virginia Bowies, and to others, too numerous to mention, thanks are due for their valuable aid. Nor must I fail to thank the mem bers of my immediate family, who have greatly assisted me in the laborious preparation of the work. Much of the data regarding the Bowies. in Scotland was procured viii PREFACE. for me by Mr. Henry Patton, of Edinburg, who makes a specialty of such researches. 'fhe gathering of the necessary material for this history, has, after a lapse of three years, been at last completed, and the work is presented to the Bowies and their connec tions of the present generation by THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION. The origin of the name of Bowie is lost in the mists and shadows of antiquity. The word is probably a blend ing of the early Norse, or Scandinavian, and the later Gaelic of the Scotch Highlander. We gather from tradition that the progenitor of the name was one of the reckless and roving vikings of Nor way, who "harried" the coasts of Caledonia, and whose descendants finally settled in the western isles of Scotland and the neighboring shores. Professor Anderson, of the University of Wisconsin, an authority on Scandinavian literature, writes, in 1896, to Miss Virginia Berkley Bowie, in regard to the derivation of the word. He says: "It is very difficult to trace the origin of names, and the nearest we can come to the significance of your name Bowie . is ypnr own construction. Bua, in the old Norse, means to 'dwell,' and 'bua sik' means to 'get ready.' Bua is the past participle buin, and bua sik, and buin, survive in our English 'busk' and 'bown.' They 'husked themselves for the fray;' they were 'all busk and bown' for the journey. We have the word buer, which means a farm. In modern Norwegian bu means an inhabitant. Sandeidsbu means a' dweller in Sandeid.' Then we have the old name Bui, or Bue,' Bue Digre,' or' Bue the Thick,' or 'Big Bue.' I am of the opinion that Bue means a dweller on the farm, and I know no other name in the North from which Bowie could be derived.