Tonight I got a nice surprise

Tonight I got a nice surprise, an email from someone in Colorado who is a distant cousin. This woman has done a lot of work on our Bowen family. I have been trying to contact her for months. We have been emailing back and forth tonight. Her great grandfather was a half brother of my great grandfather, William Rich Bowen.

Thanksgiving Dinner Guest

In an online group I follow that discusses the Bowen family, someone posed a fun question today:

"if you could have one of your ancestors with this surname join you for
Thanksgiving dinner, which ancestor would you invite? What questions would
you ask him/her?"

This is my reply:

 I would invite William Rich Bowen

He was my great grandfather. I never knew him.

He was apparently born in Huntland, Franklin County, Tennessee on April 15, 1859.

Much of his life was spent in the area around Fayetteville, Lincoln County, TN., and later the separated Moore County.

He married a girl named Queen Anne Smith in 1886. They had six children including my grandfather Rawls Coston Bowen.

Rawls eventually moved to North Carolina, eventually settling in Durham, NC.

William Rich and Queen Anne appear to have moved around living with various of their children, including some years in Durham, where Queen Anne died and is buried.

William Rich moved back to TN and lived for some time with a daughter, and later moved to live with a son in Toledo, Ohio, where he died on October 12, 1931 and is buried.


I would love to ask him if he could confirm the ancestry I have for him, or shed some light on this line of Bowens, and how they came to Tennessee.

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine


The old song says it well. I have a Clementine Bradley in my family tree, and she seems lost forever.

The bulk of five generations have been fairly fast and thanks to ancestry.com, fairly easy to fill out in my tree. But having done that, I am now going back and trying to confirm that I don't have limbs spliced on that don't belong.

The 1860 census of Lincoln County, Tennessee lists a Clemente Boren married to a Daniel Boren. They have several children including a William Boren who is one year old. My family name is Bowen. This appears to be an example of a frequent problem with old census records. The census taker wrote down what he heard when he asked for names. Often, the one providing the information could neither read nor write, therefore the spelling of a name was difficult to verify. This often led to family names being changed for future generations.

I have concluded with some confidence that these people are actually Daniel and Clementine Bowen. I also believe Clementine's maiden name was Bradley. This is based on a marriage record of a Daniel Boren marrying a Clementua Bradley January 9, 1842. The 1860 census lists Clementine's place of birth as "Geo", which I interpret to be Georgia. Her age is given as 41, which would put her birth around 1819-20. Beyond that, I know little else about her.

I had jumped to the conclusion that I had found her parents, a James Bradley and Emelia Horner Bradley. But, there is a problem. This couple appears to have a daughter named Clementine N Bradley, but born in 1833, and marrying an Issac Julian in Missouri, where they seem to have remained.

Much of the information I have was taken from other family trees on ancestry.com. As is often the case much of this information is difficult to confirm and different sources frequently conflict.

So, I am trying to sort out which of the Clementines, if either will remain in my tree.

Spinners and Weavers

Yesterday I received an email from ancestry.com informing me that new hints had been located that might involve folks in my family tree. On the ancestry.com web site these are indicated by small green leaves on the corners of the nameplates in my tree.

As it turned out, some of these new hints were indeed associated with ancestors in my tree. Both involved Smiths. This Smith family was on my Bowen grandfather's mother's side of the family. The hints were military service draft records completed in the early 1900's. I have found that these draft records include a lot of interesting information.

I am amazed at the high quality of the pictures of these old draft records. Many appear as if they had been filled out yesterday. On them I see such things as full name, day of birth, address, age, closest relative, occupation, employer, and even physical information such as hair and eye color, height (tall, medium, short), size (slender, medium, stout), and health problems (none, general poor health, bad leg, etc.).

I found two of these newly associated records interesting. This Smith family was from Bedford County in mid-Tennessee. However by these draft records I could see that two sons had sought their fortunes elsewhere. One, registering in 1917 was 23, single and living in Knoxville, working as a textile worker in the Brookside Cotton Mills and said he had no health or other exemptions. The other was in Winona, Mississippi, was 42, married and working in The Winona Cotton Mill as a mechanic.

It seems that around the mid 1850s the Bowen and Smith families had often turned from farming, to working in cotton mills. Perhaps they saw the regular pay, and regular working hours as a benefit. Some may have been attracted by the relatively new and nice homes available in the mill villages.

Dead Man Walking

A mistake I often made when I first started working on my family tree was to accept information others had already included in theirs. This has turned out to be a big mistake. It also wastes a lot of time removing the bad information.

Here is an example I ran across tonight. I was working on some Smiths in Tennessee in the mid 1800s. Another person had my Mr. Smith in their tree and had included a story about him dying in 1864 in military action as part of the Civil war. Just one problem, the 1880 census shows him and his second wife and children happily living in Lincoln County, TN. The poor guy that was killed in the war just couldn't be our Mr. Smith. 

Other things I have seen are a man dying before wedding day, or prior to his children being born over the next 12 years. I have seen a fellow only 10 years old become a father while married to a woman of age 24. A little common sense could eliminate a lot of the errors.

Is It Him?

It is fantastic that so many records are available on line. Census records, marriages, deaths, deeds, etc. But, just having access to data does not ensure it will be easy to judge its value in building your family tree. It is SO tempting sometimes to accept a nugget of information. But, I have learned that sometimes it is better to earmark a record and continue to look for something else to confirm it before incorporating it into my tree, only to find later that I have to remove it and possibly a large number of entries it lead me to.

Here is an example. I mentioned recently working on an ancestor named Martin VanBuren Smith. I have been unable to find his parents or siblings. However, I have an 1850 census for Greene County, Tennessee that includes a family with a child named Martin V. Smith! Tempting. But Greene County is in the eastern end of Tennessee, while all references to my Martin V. Smith have him in the lower mid-state area in Bedford and Lincoln counties. So, I am reluctant to accept this as the same Martin V. Smith, even though his name and birth year seem a match.

I'll hold onto this record, continuing to see if I can find any other record that connects my Martin V. Smith with any of the names in this Greene County family.

Famous twigs on the tree

If you grow a family tree, eventually you will run into someone who had fame of one sort or another.

In my wife's branch of our tree we have the following for example:

Joseph Melvin Broughton - Governor of North Carolina 1941 - 1945

 and also:

Lu Long Ogburn - Miss North Carolina 1951

Click the names to see more.

Martin VanBuren Smith

Martin was my great-great-grandfather. In my research I had only known him as VanBuren Smith (born 1837) until recently, when I found a record identifying him as Martin VanBuren Smith. Each little nugget of information becomes so valuable, as it tends to lead us to veins of more nuggets.

This morning I awoke to find an email from someone else on ancestry.com, concerning Martin VanBuren Smith. This email gave me several pieces of information I did not previously have, date and location of death, and information on a daughter.

Family stories handed down said that VanBuren Smith had a habit of leaving for periods of time, and on each return named a daughter for a state he had visited. I do have three daughters listed as Florida, Virginia, Missouri. The morning email said that Missouri had a real name of Sara Olive Smith. So, I assume now that the other state names are nicknames also.

The email also gave me information on Sara Olive, her birth and death years, and spouse. Great nuggets!

According to the email Martin VanBuren Smith died in Sylvan Mills, just outside Shelbyville, Tn on 25 March 1899. I Googled Sylvan Mills and learned that a Sylvan Mill opened on the Duck River just outside Shelbyville in 1852, so that certainly make sense. The mill grew and evolved over the years. On Google Earth I found the mill and just down the road is a small village. I assume this would be the Sylvan Mill Village. Mill villages were very common.

If you aren't into genealogy you might not understand what a wonderful gift this email was for me, but let me just say, it was like opening a box on Christmas morning.

So close, yet so far away

Sometimes, in my genealogy work, I run into brick walls. I am up against one now with my wife's Barbour family. I have them back to a William Parker Barbour born in 1826, with a fairly high level of confidence. But, I just can not make a link further back that I can confirm.

When I reach these brick walls, I somtimes just start working on another family line, and come back later. Occasionally, that works, as other hints pop up on ancestry.com, or I stumble across something that adds to my data.

But, what I have found recently that works better, is to take what I have and share it with other researches on the internet. There are great forums with categories focused on places and others on surnames. By posting in these groups I have had wonderful people very willing to share what they have that might be useful. The genealogy community thrives on sharing.

One of these forum friends even visited the Heritage Center in Johnston County yesterday and sent me photos of information seen in a book. I have not actually connected my missing link, but it sure seems to be leading me in the right direction.

I had sent a plea for help on this William Parker Barbour. I feel that the Parker in the name might be a hint from a mother's family name. As it turns out, and the information in the photos I received, confirms, there certainly was marrying amongst the Barbours and Parkers in Johnston County, NC.

So, now I am following this line of research, hoping to find that missing link. On the other side of the gap is a connection into a Barbour/Barber line that is well documented, far into the past.

Genealogy Teaches History

An aspect of genealogy research I enjoy is the need to re-familiarize one's self with history. Family history was often affected by such things as what side the family was on during the Revolutionary War, or the Civil War (aka War Between the States, or War of Northern Aggression). Many of the records I rely on for names and dates of birth are the War Draft documents associated with WWI and WWII eras. It is fascinating to see an ancestor's hundred year old signature as clear as if signed yesterday, on his Draft Board Card.

When I see a young man show up on the 1860 census, but can not find him on the 1870 census, I have learned to start looking for a report of his being lost in battle during the Civil War. It is amazing how many were.

Some of the family lines go back to Pennsylvania or Baltimore. These were major ports of entry for immigrants and that accounts for so many of the families having their American roots branching out from those areas.

I have tracked several lines back into Europe. Places such as Ireland, Wales, England, France, Switzerland and Norway all contributed.

One historical fact that many would like to forget is that of slave ownership. I have been surprised at how many of those we have in our tree were slave owners. These were not very wealthy plantation owners like you see in movies. No, they were modest farmers of their own 100 to 400 acres of land. Wills give details of slaves being left to heirs, with some giving instructions for giving the males their full freedom at age 26 and females at age 21.

I have read one newspaper account from the time of the Civil war, when one ancestor answered a knock at the door. On opening the door, he was shot dead. The Sheriff was quoted as saying it was not well known as to which side he had been sympathetic to. Apparently someone decided it was the wrong side. The article went on to say his widow took their kids and moved to Montana.

The record of one 18th century ancestor notes that she was born in a certain hotel in Paris, France. European records I find are very good and go back a long way.

One family line starts in Wales, immigrates to Pennsylvania and then you can see generations gradually move south and west, seeking their fortunes. They move down the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, over the mountains and into what is now Tennessee, first settling in the foothills, and then continuing west and south reaching the Alabama territory and the Indian Lands as the recently established reservations were known.

In the early 1800s the U.S. was involved in treaty negotiations with the native population (mistakenly called Indians by Christopher Columbus). At times, the local white population and the Indians came into disputes over land. One of these disputes revolved around what came to be know as "The Intruders" on Indian land. A letter of petition was sent to the President by the Intruder community making a plea to remain. But more than once the Army was dispatched to move them off the Indian's land. This involved reservations near Fayetteville, Tn and the letter includes the names of Boren families, which could be related to our Bowen line.

Local Yocals

Some of the best resources are at the local level. Most counties have local Heritage Centers. Many also have Historical or Genealogy Societies. These can be great resources for information on local families of yesteryear.

In researching my wife's family, I found a lot of good information in the files available online from the Johnston County Heritage Center. I have placed a link to them in my Links List here.

Many of these resource centers have a physical location also, in which additional books and documents are available. I hope to visit the Johnston County Heritage Center soon.

One day, I'd like to take some days and drive up to Fayetteville, Tennessee and do some research there, and perhaps look up some of my kinfolk while I am there.

FamilySearch.org

Another link in my list is FamilySearch.org operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). This is a fantastic resource for searching for information on old family individuals. Also from this web site you can download for free the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) software. "PAF allows you to quickly and easily collect, organize and share your family history and genealogy information."

In ancestry web sites and software once you have a tree built, you can export what is called a GED file. This is a standard format which can then be imported into other web sites and software, allowing you to use the information you collect in several ways.

I do all my work in the ancestry.com web site, then export the GED file and import it into PAF. Occasionally I export a new updated version of my tree, as it is changing daily.

DNA gets us past missing links

Today, some families use simple, inexpensive DNA testing to find a link to an old family line. This is helpful when you run into a brick wall and can't make a link back to a well documented old line.

If for example a few of the males in our Bowen family would be willing to submit a swabbing from inside their cheek, we could probably establish from what old line we come. Then we could focus on only that line in a search for the missing link.

Name Fashions

Names, like clothes are fashionable for a while, then they aren't. In family tree building I love to note the names, and how they come into fashion for a time and then fade from use. Here are some names in our tree that you are not likely to hear a kid called now, although I think many are great names, deserving of a come back. Note that Biblical names were often chosen, and spelling was often a phonetic rendition of a name.

Males: Asa, Elbert, Lafayette, Larkin, Absalom, Cephus, Jocephus, Dewey, Columbus, Drury, Edgar, Hubert, Elijah, Enoch, Harry, Hezekiah, Hubert, Issac, Juleous, Noah, Newitt, Plyer, Romulus, Rutter, Theophilus, Wormley, Ziba, Festus, Gideon, Ransom, Balaam, Dickey

Females: Mihaly, Olive, Bearsheba, Bethseda, Elverne, Etta, Lucy, Alcinda, Calle, Ebbie, Elsie, Ethel, Fanny, Fannie, Gerdina, Hettie, Louenza, Mamie, Oma, Patience, Bertha, Byrdie, Flossie, Mable, Myrtle

I think when we name children we should not just consider how cute it will be when they are a small child for a few years, but how it will serve them for the many years of adulthood.

War

Wars are a big part of most generations memories. As unfortunate as this might be, it is true. Those who go and return, often remember it as a time of excitement, romance, and self improvement. Others never recover from the horror. Our association with war is often reflected in the markers of graves, reminding us that even those not killed in war, did serve.

This is the marker of my wife's grandfather.

Bowen Bros & Holt

This photo would have been made in the 1920s. My grandfather Rawls Coston Bowen operated a grocery store and meat market in Durham, NC. My mother says it was the first such store in Durham to offer home delivery, apparently using the truck seen in this picture. No one seems to know who Holt was, perhaps an investor in the store.

The man in the white hat and dark pants is William Rich Bowen. The man in the white pants is his son Sam.

The house behind them is where Rawls and Myrtle, my grandparents lived. I remember the house and have a lot of nice memories.

Update 10/20/14: Rawls operated the store with his brother Elbert Dickey Bowen. The partner was J. L. Holt. The store was located at 937 E. Main St. I just found this information in the 1927 City Directory. In the 1934 City Directory Rawls is shown as working in a hosiery mill, and the store is no longer listed.

Old Photos

I have been spending time at my mother's house scanning her old family photos and documents. This picture is my mother Mary Bowen and her mother Myrtle Bowen shopping in Durham, NC in 1942. I have always loved this picture.



Clicking on the photos posted here should take you to a larger version.

Queen Anne Smith

Here is a Bowen branch on my family tree: Bowens.

Take a look and you will see my great grandmother Annie Smith. She was actually named Queen Anne Smith. As she was born in 1867, her name may very well have to do with the following (from Wikipedia):

"Although Anne and her reign have no direct bearing on the style personally, at the time Queen Anne architecture style became popular in the late 1800s, her name connoted a sense of Old World elegance and extravagant, ornate details."

According to the family, Annie and her husband William Rich Bowen (maybe his parents were showing optimism naming him) were both prone to a certain laziness and mooching life style. Apparently they tended to move in with a child and remain until their welcome was worn out and then moved on to another.

The couple moved from Tennessee to Durham, NC to live with Rawls Coston and Myrtle, my grand parents. It is said that Annie was known to drink. Annie died in Durham and is buried there. After her death, William eventually returned to Fayetteville, Tennessee where he lived for some time with a daughter and her husband, and after that went to another son in Toledo, Ohio, where he eventually died in 1931 and is buried.

Bowen Family of Lincoln County Tennessee

Another link I have put in the list is "Bowen Family of Lincoln County Tennessee". This is a free web site I was able to create. It is very basic now. The primary purpose of the web page is to let others know about the Bowen line I am researching, and provide links to my data.

On the Bowen line, my mother's father's family, I have only gotten back to my great grandfather with a high level of confirmation. Prior generations are very fuzzy at best.

My Family Tree Database

On the right of this blog page I have a list of links I find helpful. Some of these will be pages of general interest to anyone, such as the link to ancestry.com. Other links will be links to web pages created by me. One example is the link to "My Family Tree Database". This is a free web site that allows you to upload your family tree database and make it available for others to see.

Although I titled the page "Bowen of Lincoln County TN" it actually includes my entire database of all lines in my family tree. By clicking the various links on the page you can drill down to surnames and individuals.

When other people are doing research they sometimes will do searches that give them links to my information, just as often I am directed to data in other people's databases.

This sometimes results in someone emailing me information correcting what I have, or comparing information with me.

So, if you find any of this interesting, perhaps my link list will help you find resources that might be helpful for you also.

Names

My family tree work is centered around the ancestry.com web site. I joined May 30, 2010. What an amazing tool it is! using the web site gives me access to an unbelievable amount of information. When viewing the 1860 census for Lincoln County, Tennessee I can actually see the original page in the census taker's book. This is very helpful, because often the transcribing of the information from the hand written page to a computer database turns out to be the source of many errors.

I don't fault the transcribers. It is a lot of information, and you can only spend so much time on each entry. But, if a particular line on the page is of interest to you, you can zoom in on it and examine the census takers writing in detail.

My mother's father was a Bowen. In some census records the database transcriber thought it said Boren, but on close examination, I can see that the census taker actually did write Bowen.

In other cases, it is clear that the census taker wrote down what they thought they heard when they questioned the person. So, Bowen might actually have sounded like Boren and was written down as Boren. And of course, if there was a husband, wife, and ten children, they all get converted into Borens!

Names are very fluid. You can not assume anything concerning names. Take my own case. I was named after my father. So, I am Henrik Benjamin Wergeland Rasmussen II. (My father was from Norway) When I was growing up, everyone called me Ricky. But, when I got married, my wife Dee (aka Delia, Deiliah) said Ricky sounded like a little boy, and besides, my real name ended in Rik so she called me Rik, and insisted everyone else do the same, so for the last 40+ years, I have written my name as Rik Rasmussen.

Pruning the Family Tree

One of my daughters (you know its you Kristina) has been urging me to start a blog about my efforts to research our family tree. So, this is it. I will be writing about anything I find interesting or helpful in this endeavor.

I'll be relating funny or interesting stories, sharing about software and web sites I find useful, providing links, and just rambling about family trees in general.

Let me say right from the start, I find this effort is tending to consume me. My wife says that whenever I take an interest in something, it has a way of becoming an obsession. She is probably right.

I began this effort May 30, 2010. I saw a TV commercial for ancestry.com. I had often thought about doing genealogy work on our families and that commercial sparked it. I went to the computer and subscribed. Within minutes I had roughed in a starter tree. Now, about three months later I have 2749 people in my database.

Most of the people I have in the database I feel very confident should be there. A few I am very skeptical belong. I even have a couple of "floating islands" of folks who are connected to each other, but I have not been able to establish a link to one of our lines.

These islands have sometimes been created when I broke a link based on data I found later.

Now that I have the past three or four generations pretty well documented for all of our lines, I am focusing on going back and cleaning up bad data, correcting when I find new data, and not so much on trying to push back in time.

I have made contact with many other researchers interested in some of the same lines I am working on. We are sharing information.

So, this gets the blog started. I'll probably be posting a lot initially to share what I have encountered so far.