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John Bowman (pioneer)

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John Jacob Bowman
Born1733 or 1738
Frederick County, Virginia Colony
DiedMay 4, 1784(1784-05-04) (aged 51)
Harrodsburg, Kentucky, United States
NationalityGerman-American
Known forEarly Kentucky pioneer and militia officer; first county-lieutenant and sheriff of Lincoln and Kentucky County.
TitleSheriff and Lieutenant-General of Lincoln County
Term1781-1783
SuccessorBenjamin Logan
SpouseElizabeth McCullum (c. 1766-1784)
ChildrenJohn Bowman
Parent(s)George Bowman
Mary Hite
RelativesJost Hite, grandfather
Abraham Bowman, brother
Joseph Bowman, brother
Isaac Bowman, brother

John Jacob Bowman (1733 or 1738 – May 4, 1784) was an 18th century American pioneer, colonial militia officer and sheriff, the first appointed in Lincoln County, Kentucky. He also presided over the first county court held in Kentucky in 1781 as a justice of the peace. The first county-lieutenant and military governor of Kentucky County during the American Revolutionary War, he also served under General George Rogers Clark during the Illinois campaign.

He is the brother of Joseph, Isaac and Abraham Bowman, all of whom were among the earliest pioneers to settle in Kentucky and prominent officers in the Continental Army.[1] He was also the brother-in-law of frontiersman Isaac Ruddell, Jethro New and George Brinker. His grandnephew, Abraham's grandson John Bryan Bowman, founded Kentucky University and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky.[2][3]

Biography

Early life

Born to Virginia pioneer George Bowman and Mary Hite (daughter of pioneer Jost Hite) in Frederick County, Virginia,[4] he is first recorded as a captain in the local militia in 1760.[2] Living in Botetourt County during the late 1760s, he was a witness to the land deed of Andrew Miller, heir-at-law of John Miller, to Israel Christian for a tract of land (81 acres) in southern Catawba later donated to build the first county courthouse and other public buildings. During that same year, he acted as an appraiser for the estate of David Bryan.[5]

In July 1768, he sold his share of the inheritance received from his father's death, 545 acres of the Bowman family estate in Linvel's Creek, and settled on the Roanoke. He was later recommended a justice of the peace in Augusta County in June 1769 and was appointed as commissioner of Botetourt County following its official incorporation into the Colony of Virginia.[5]

Marrying the widow of David Bryan, he was involved in a minor legal dispute during the early 1770s over land which Bryan had directed in his will be sold to William Cox upon his death. He successfully acquired the 166 acres along Glade Creek and kept it as part of the Bryan estate until selling the Clade Creek claim to Esam Hannan and the rest of the estate to Tolliver Craig shortly before moving his family to Bowman's Station.[5]

Soldier and frontiersman

Visiting Kentucky in 1775, he served on the safety committee at Harrodsburg the following summer and was appointed as colonel of the Kentucky militia by Virginia Governor Patrick Henry in the fall.[4] The following year, he was named as the first county-lieutenant of Kentucky County on July 14 and, with his officers Captains Henry Pauling and John Dunkin, marched with two companies numbering 100 men from Holston River area to Kentucky County stopping at Boonesborough on August 1 and Logan's Fort on August 26 before finally arriving at Harrodsburg on September 2. Immediately after his arrival, he was elected a presiding judge in the first court of quarter sessions held at Fort Harrod and included Richard Callaway, John Floyd, John Todd and sheriff Benjamin Logan on September 2, 1777.[6]

During the Illinois campaign he received a message from General George Rogers Clark shortly after the capture of Kankanskia requesting support for his planned campaign into Detroit. Promising Clark at least 300 men, he began gathering men and provisions during the spring of 1779.[7][8]

Accompanied by Benjamin Logan and Levi Todd, he led between 160[9][10] and 300 militiamen[7][11] against the Shawnee town of Chilicothe in late May. Dividing his forces between himself and Logan, the camp was attacked from both sides but were eventually repulsed. Unable to draw the Shawnee from their single blockhouse, he instead burned much of the camp and left with between 30 to 300 horses valued at $32,000. He and his men marched two days north to meet Clark at the mouth of the Licking River and later participated in Clark's expedition along the Little Miami and Ohio River.[12][13]

Although initially blamed for their defeat, as well as the eight or ten casualties suffered, the raid proved a major victory for the Kentuckians. With the destruction of a major Shawnee settlement and the death of Chief Blackfish,[14] the battle at Chilicothe discouraged further war parties being sent against Kentucky and, according to Theodore Roosevelt in The Winning of the West, "the expedition undoubtedly accomplished more than Clark's attack on Piqua next year."[9]

In the fall of 1779, he founded Bowman's Station on Cane Run in present-day Mercer County, Kentucky. Originally housing seven families during the "Hard Winter" of 1779-80, the settlement eventually grew to thirty families during the next year. His position was reaffirmed by Governor Thomas Jefferson and he used the settlement as his base of operations although he himself was often away organizing the defense of Kentucky County.[15]

Later years

In 1781, he became the first sheriff and county-lieutenant of Lincoln County, Kentucky. He also presided over the first county court held in Kentucky, when he and several others were appointed justice of the peace on January 16, 1781.[16] His position was eventually taken over by Benjamin Logan who succeeded him as county-lieutenant in July 1781[17] and sheriff in November 1783.[18] Settling down at the station founded by his cousin Isaac Hite, he spent his last years at his home where he hired local residents to tap the maple trees on his property and sold the sugar for a substantial profit. Falling ill, Bowman died at his home on May 4, 1784.[4] Although said to be opinionated and quick to anger, he was both admired and respected by fellow settlers for his bravery.

Following his death, his brother Abraham served as executor of his estate with his wife Elizabeth receiving one-third of his property and the residue going towards the education of his son, John.[5] John Bowman, Jr. would build a brick house which still remains near the site of his father's old station.[15]

References

  1. ^ Hayden, William. Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778-1783. Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill Company, 1896. (pg. 979)
  2. ^ a b Wayland, John W. A History of Shenandoah County, Virginia. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980. (pg. 588) ISBN 0-8063-8011-X
  3. ^ Johnson, E. Polk. A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities, Vol II. Chicago and New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1912. (pg. 1132)
  4. ^ a b c Thwaites, Reuben Gold and Louise Phelps Kellogg. The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775-1777. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1912. (pg. 170)
  5. ^ a b c d Kegley, F.B. Kegley's Virginia Frontier: The Beginning of the Southwest, the Roanoke of Colonial Days, 1740-1783. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. (pg. 533) ISBN 0-8063-1717-5
  6. ^ Hammon, Neal O. and Richard Taylor. Virginia's Western War. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2002. (pg. 62) ISBN 0-8117-1389-X
  7. ^ a b James, Alton James. George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771-1781. Virginia Series, Vol. III. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Historical Library, 1912. (pg. cviii)
  8. ^ Dillon, John B. Oddities of Colonial Legislation in America. Indianapolis: Robert Douglass, 1879. (pg. 397)
  9. ^ a b Faust, Albert Bernhardt. The German Element in the United States, Vol. I. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1909. (pg. 372)
  10. ^ Esarey, Logan. A History of Indiana: From its Exploration to 1850, Vol. I. Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1918. (pg. 88)
  11. ^ Pieper, Thomas I and James B. Gidney. Fort Laurens, 1778-79: The Revolutionary War in Ohio. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1980. (pg. 74) ISBN 0-8733-8240-4
  12. ^ Schuyler, Robert Livingston. The Transition in Illinois from British to American Government. New York: Columbian University Press, 1909. (pg. 52)
  13. ^ James, James Alton. Oliver Pollock; the Life and Times of an Unknown Patriot. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1937. (pg. 172)
  14. ^ Zeisberger, David; Hermann Wellenreuther and Carola Wessel, ed. The Moravian Mission Diaries of David Zeisberger. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005. (pg. 506) ISBN 0-271-02522-0
  15. ^ a b Kleber, John E. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Louisville: University Press of Kentucky, 1992. (pg. 107-108) ISBN 0-8131-1772-0
  16. ^ Harper, Lillie DuPuy. Colonial Men and Times. Philadelphia: Kessinger Publishing, 2006. (pg. 26)
  17. ^ Whittsitt, William H. Life and Times of Judge Caleb Wallace: Some Time a Justice of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky. Louisville, Kentucky: J.P. Morton & Co., 1888. (pg. 89)
  18. ^ Lincoln County Historical Society. Lincoln County, Kentucky. Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Publishing Co., 2002. (pg. 16) ISBN 1563117-894

Further reading

  • Butler, Mann. A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: From Its Exploration and Settlement by the Whites, to the Close of the Northwest Campaign, in 1813. Cincinnati: J.A. James & Co., 1836.
  • Clark, Thomas D. A History of Kentucky. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1937.
  • Cotterill, Robert S. History of Pioneer Kentucky. Cincinnati: Johnson & Hardin, 1917.
  • Giles, Janice Holt. The Kentuckians. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1987.
  • Rice, Otis K. Frontier Kentucky. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1975.
  • Sanchez-Saavedra, E.M. A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1978.
  • Wayland, John W. The Bowmans: A Pioneering Family in Virginia, Kentucky and the Northwest Territory. Staunton, Virginia: McClure Co. , 1943.
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