Background notes on the young man who married Clarissa Williams on
November 11, 1852, fathered three children, and died November 29,
1857. Neither any oral or written family histories from either
the Bowman or Williams families documents the linage of Pleasant
Bowman. The known facts follow.
He is buried in a solitary plot at Old Union Cemetery in Lawrence
County in the midst of the Kerns/Williams gravesite--the ancestors of
Clarissa. The gravesite is southeast of the Old Union Church
Building. There are
no other Bowman grave-sites of that or earlier years to be found in
Lawrence County.
The only Pleasant Bowman of an age comparable to Clarissa as listed in
the 1850 FEDERAL CENSUS is found in adjoining Washington County,
Indiana. (1850 census was the first Federal Census to
list names of all individuals in a household.)
“Pleasant Bowman, age 21, occupation farmer “ is
listed in the household of John Bowman, age 35 , a farmer with real
estate holdings valued at $1000.
Also listed as living in that household in
Washington County on July 1, 1850 were:
Catherine, age
53 ??
Mary,
age 23
Napoleon, age 13
The follow are excerpts from a book entitled
Washington County, Indiana History, page 660. (A copy is in the
library at Bedford, Indiana)
“ The late Hon. John A Bowman who
was a leading farmer and businessman of Polk township, and one of the
most prominent citizens of Washington county, Indiana, was born in
Blount county, Tennessee, on April 7, 1818, he being the next eldest of
eleven (11) children born to a John and Catherine Bowman, natives of
Virginia and Pennsylvania, respectively, and who came in 1830 to Walnut
Ridge, later moving to Monroe Township, where the elder (John) Bowman
died.
John A. Bowman received his education in the common
schools of his native county and in the schools of Monroe township,
Washington county, after which he worked with his father on the home
farm until at the
age of eighteen years, he started for Louisiana, making the trip down
the
Mississippi river on a flat board. After two years in Louisiana,
Mr.
Bowman returned to Washington county, Indiana, and purchased a farm
near
that of his parents, he later, after the death of his father, placing
his
mother and her two children on the farm, while he engaged in the
business of a stock dealer, his field of operation being between
Washington county and the city of New Orleans. Mr. Bowman
continued in his business as
a stockman until the outbreak of the Civil War, and then following the
close
of the war, he re-engaged in his business for a short time after which
he
returned to his farm, near Farrabee, a place where he cultivated as a
general
farmer for the remainder of his active life. Mr. Bowman at the
time
of his death being the owner of nine hundred and twenty-four acres of
well
cultivated land in Washington County. On January 17, 1881, John
A.
Bowman was married to Mary Jane (Davis) Howell, who was born near South
Boston,
Franklin Township, Washington County, the daughter of Henry and Lydia
(Tash)
Davis.
The following information comes from Theresa Koehler who has an
extensive web page on the Internet listing her family history research
and sources:
John A. BOWMAN (Sr.)
BIRTH: C1790, VA
Franklin Township Cemeteries, Washington Co, IN 1987
S.C. 1880 Census (per Carol Brown
records, Mesa, AZ)
DEATH: BEF 1843, Walnut Ridge,Monroe Twp,Wash Co, IN
TITLE: Sr.
Father: William Harrison BOWMAN
Mother: Sarah BOWMAN
Family: with Catherine BOWERMAN
MARRIED: 29 JUN 1812, Maryville, Blount Co., TN
1. Louisa BOWMAN
2. John A. BOWMAN
3. William J. BOWMAN
4. Sarah Elvira BOWMAN
5. Papina BOWMAN
6. Male BOWMAN
7. Lycurgus BOWMAN
8. Mary BOWMAN
9. Pleasant BOWMAN
10. Michael Dill BOWMAN
11. Elisha BOWMAN
12. Napolean Bonaparte BOWMAN
Additional information on this web page verifies the dates and ages
given in the history and the 1850 census records. Unlike most of
the other siblings, NO INFORMATION is given regarding the death and
burial site of Pleasant. (All of the other sibling
lived and died in Washington County. County and cemetery records
would verify their death and burial.)
Garrett Williams (Clarissa’s father) and several of his brothers were
successful grain and livestock farmers in Lawrence County, Ind.
Garrett’s
brother Dr. Elkanah Williams’ letters,--as recorded in the Dixon book
on
Captain Isaac Williams, talk of their extensive livestock
dealings.
Thus is it highly possible that there would have been direct contact
between
the William families and the livestock trader John A. Bowman-- and his
little brother Pleasant -- of adjoining Washington County.
I believe this is the Pleasant Bowman who was Clarissa’s first husband
and the father of Jackson Bowman.
Other Bowman’s listed in the 1850 Federal census for Indiana are
as follows:
LAWRENCE COUNTY:
Absoleom Bowman , age 47, farmer in Shawswick Twp from North Carolina
Susan age 16
Agnus age 15
Lannina,
? age 13
Polly age12
Betsy age 11
Isaac age 9
William age 7
James
? age 5
John age
1 (note the absence of a mother)
MARTIN COUNTY:, BROWN TWP (between
present Burn City and Trinity Springs)
William Bowman,
age 30, Farmer, from TENNESSEE?
Jullian Bowman,
age 31
Mary
age 9
Sarah
age 8
Pleasant,
age 7 (This Pleasant is listed in civil war records)
John
age 5
Amanda
age 2
James
age 1
PLEASANT BOWMAN,
Age 44?, Farmer from TENNESSEE
Sarah Bowman
Age 42
from Tennessee
Richard
age 19
Mary Anne
age 15
???
age 13 (female)
John
age 11
Susan
age 9
Jane
age 9
Margaret age 4
This Pleasant is noted as one of
three persons on deed of land purchased for site of Burn City Christian
Church
in 1831.)
Land patents (original
deeds) are noted in 1838 and 1940 for this Pleasant Bowman.
A Septima Bowman received a land
patent in Martin County in 1937 but is not listed in the 1850
census. This grant was adjacent to one of the grants given to
Pleasant Bowman in Baker Twp.
A check of the 1850 census in Vermilion County
Illinois, the county where Pleasant and Clarissa’s son Jackson was born
in 1852 also reveals only a George Bowman age 27, married with
children.
There are no Pleasant Bowman’s of the right age
listed in any of the census records for either 1860 or 1870 for
Washington, Lawrence, or Martin Counties. There are census record
entries, and other records for George Pleasant, George P. and G.
Pleasant Bowman in various documents but the ages do not match. I
did NOT find a Pleasant Bowman in the 1860 Federal Census anywhere in
Indiana.
A. George P., age 16, is listed in the household of
Williams Bowman (the brother of Pleasant) of Washington Co. in the 1860
census
and as the 26 year old head of a household in the 1970 census of
Washington
County.
A single military style gravestone in the cemetery
located just northeast of Little York in northeastern Washington County
is listed as “P Bowman” in some Washington County historical Society
Documents. HOWEVER, close examination of the marker indicates the
remnants of the letter “G” in front of the inscription. Without
the “G.” the inscription is “Off-center” on the military marker.
A search of civil war military records –including those of Washington
County’s Historical Society—only reveals the enlistment of 8/19/1862
and discharge of George P. Bowman of Little
York, Indiana. The George P Bowman listed in the household of
William
Bowman in 1860 would have been 18 years of age in 1862 and thus of age
for
military service.
A member of the Bowman family from Washington
County has shared with a Lawrence County Bowman that Pleasant and his
brother had indeed visited the Williams families to purchase horses,
that lead to the marriage with Clarissa, and further that Pleasant had
died of pneumonia after getting soaked in a driving rainstorm.
Thus, having ruled out other possibilities, it can
be deducted that the Pleasant Bowman listed in the 1850 census of
Washington County and the one who married Clarissa Williams are in fact
“one and the same.”
