The Bowen>Boren>Boring>Bowring line is very interesting and convoluted. I have written here about recently making the connection from Bowen > Boren. This took me back to the Borings>Bowrings in England.

A descendent of that line is a Chaney Boring. He was born in Washington County, NC, later part of TN. His name is sometimes written as Chana Boren. In his will he leaves $200 to a "John Dorsey Boren the grandson of Nicolas Boren". 

I have spent a lot of time trying to find a Nicolas Boren in the line that goes back to Maryland and then England. But, the only Nicolas Boren I have been able to find is not from that line. In fact it is claimed that Nicolas Boren (1756-1826) was from Ireland! Nicolas married Mary Catherine Hampson. They had a daughter Margaret Boren who was the third wife of Chaney Boring. So, even though their names are similar, they apparently were not related! So when Chaney left $200 to John Dorsey Boren grandson of Nicolas Boren, he wasn't leaving to someone in his family line, but rather to another, unrelated line of Borens!!

I hope you can see how easy it is to get very confused when tracing these old family lines. But, it is rewarding when you finally get the pieces to fall into place.

P.S. I have some doubts about the claim that Nicolas Boren was from Ireland. He may be related to the Borens out of Maryland that Chaney was from. I will continue to keep an eye out for more on Nicolas.

Bowen meets Bowen

There was a prominent family of war heroes who were granted land in Tennessee following the revolutionary war.  One member of that family went on to be a Governor of Tennessee. Their name was Bowen. They were descended from the Evan Ap Owen family that came to America from Wales. William Berry Bowen of this family married a Malissa Bradley who's father was James Bradley. James Bradley had another daughter named Clementine Bradley. Clementine married James Daniel Bowen. They had a son named William Rich Bowen, who was my Great Grandfather. James Daniel Bowen's family traces back through the Bowen>Boren> Boring line back to England.

So, although both of those families became Bowens there is apparently no relationship between them. We are connected to the line from Wales only by the marriage through the Bradley family.