Gene Notes

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

The Project - Pile of Folders

I always have a pile of paper on my desk. Sometimes, it's things I want to do, things to file, things to shred. The paper got so out of hand, I had to relegate it to file folders. I spent a couple of hours one evening sorting the paper into folders and then labeling the folders.

Right now I am somewhere between illustration one and illustration two. I am workin on Folder 3 which is a mix of hubby's genealogy. Interesting stuff. But everything I've pulled out has generated two or three more records. For instance, I had a death certificate for a first cousin 3 times removed. I wasn't even sure this person was related, until I went into the Polish archives and found his baptismal record and proved his father was hubby's maternal grandmother's first cousin once removed. Yay. On the other side of his family, I had a death notice for a relative, which led to her marriage announcement, marriage record, social security info, and her husband's name along with that of her two children and three grandchildren. Found her husband's obituary, and her daughter's marriage announcement. This folder has at least twenty five more pages to it, not to mention the stuff I've already done or am currently working on. And it's one of the lighter folders.

Monday, September 12, 2022

For Sale or Trade? Mary Bowman's House

For Sale or Exchange.

Having determined to sell my residence, on South street, I will do so at a very low price for cash, or exchange for a smaller house in the city. The house is two stories high, and has nine large rooms; the lot is large and is as desirable as any in the city. The place is well supplied with various kinds of fruit and shrubbery, and has all the necessary out-buildings. For particulars apply to G. M. Mountjoy, A. J. Hall or the undersigned. (mh22) Mary E. Bowman

What an interesting concept! By 1900, Mary E. Bowman nee Chinn was living with her son-in-law and daughter, George and Isabella (Bowman) Mountjoy. By 1880, all her sons had reached their majority and would inherit from their late father, Lt. Col. John Parker Bowman, who died on retreat from Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Mary Chinn Bowman passed in 1904.

Saturday, September 10, 2022

The More You Work a Family, The More Confusing They Get

One of my direct lines is the Bowman family. My paternal grandmother was a Bowman and my dad was named for her father, Frank Bowman.

Frank was one of six children in this family: Isabella, John, Joseph, Edwin, Frank and Clifton. Clifton has long given me the slip. This time the culprit is Joseph.

Joseph and his siblings named above were the children of John Parker Bowman and Mary Elizabeth Chinn. The eldest son, John C. Bowman died in 1858. John Parker Bowman died in 1862 on retreat from Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge) in Arkansas. Mary Elizabeth was left to raise the rest of the children on her own.

Mary appears on the 1880 census with the following children: Joseph, Edwin, Frank and Clifton. Joseph is 30. There is a Susan Foster on the 1880 census in Lafayette county, Missouri who is the right age with a son Robert and a daughter, Daisy, ages 3 and 1. Those dates coincide perfectly with the known children. Susan Foster is listed as a widow.

Let's fast forward to 1900. Joseph is in Wyandotte county, Kansas with wife Susan and sons Robert and Leroy. The census says that they've been married 25 years. But wait, Joseph is with his mother and younger brothers in 1880. No marriage record to be found anywhere. And certainly not before 1880. The 1910 Census shows Joseph and Susan, married, one marriage for each of them and now they've been married 33 years. It's definitely not adding up.

When Susan dies in 1934, no mention of her late husband, but does mention her children. However, it references Miss Daisy Bowman. I have a marriage record where she marries Allen Root in 1897. In her father's obit, she is Mrs. Daisy Lucas.

Certainly I have more work to do on this family, if I can get them straight in my head.