Captain Johannes (John) Jacob Bowman, Sr., (December 2, 1733 - June 20, 1781) was an 18th-century American pioneer, grandson of Jost Hite, Colonial Militia officer of Virginia Colony, veteran of the French and Indian War, City of Strasburg Trustee, large land owner in Virginia and South Carolina, a South Carolina State Representative (Third Whig), District 96 Road Commissioner and Revolutionary War Patriot noted for supplying mill goods to the Continental Army. In 1753 he helped his father in the construction of Ft. Bowman (aka Harmony Hall) near present-day

Strasburg, Virginia Strasburg is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States, which was founded in 1761 by Peter Stover. It is the largest town by population in the county and is known for its grassroots art culture, pottery, antiques, and American Civil ...

. Four of his younger brothers, Col. John (aka Johannes) (

John Bowman (pioneer) Col. Johannes "John" Bowman (17 December 1738 – May 4, 1784) was an 18th-century American pioneer, colonial militia officer and sheriff, the first appointed in Lincoln County, Kentucky. In 1781 he also presided as a justice of the peace over th ...

), Col. Abraham, Maj. Joseph and Capt. Isaac Bowman were excellent horsemen and later known in John Wayland's book as the "Four Centaurs of Cedar Creek", and all of whom were among the earliest pioneers to settle in Kentucky and serve as prominent officers in the Continental Army. While his younger brothers were in Kentucky, Jacob Bowman and brother-in-law George Wright had earlier removed to the old 96th District in the Province of South Carolina where he owned a grist mill and trading post on the Reedy River. He was also the brother-in-law of frontiersmen Isaac Ruddell, Lorentz Stephens, Peter Deyerle, Henry Richardson, George Brinker and the aforementioned George Wright. A future great-grandson, Abram Hite Bowman. in 1919 would found Kentucky's first airport, Bowman Field, which is the oldest continually operating airport in North America. His grandnephew, Col. Abraham's grandson

John Bryan Bowman John Bryan Bowman (October 16, 1824 – September 21, 1891) was an American lawyer and educator, most notably as the founder of Kentucky University and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky. He was the grandson of Kentucky frontie ...

, founded the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky.Wayland, John W. ''A History of Shenandoah County, Virginia''. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980. (pg. 588) 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)

Early life

Born in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the east ...

of what was then the

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for t ...

to pioneer George Bowman and Mary Hite (daughter of pioneer Jost Hite) on Cedar Creek in what was then Spotsylvania, later

Shenandoah County, Virginia Shenandoah County (formerly Dunmore County) is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 44,186. Its county seat is Woodstock. It is part of the Shenandoah Valley region of Virgi ...

Thwaites, Reuben Gold and Louise Phelps Kellogg. ''The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775-1777''. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1912. (pg. 170) he is first recorded as having fought in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

(1754-1763), as a Captain in the Virginia militia in 1758. He lived in Botetourt County. In November 1761, (John) Jacob served as a Trustee for the City of Strasburg. By marrying Sarah Stephens in 1766, (John) Jacob married his young step-niece, the daughter of Lawrence Stephens and a step-daughter of (John) Jacob's sister Mary (Bowman) Stephens. Between August 1766 and March 1768, his brother-in-law George Wright and sister Sarah (Bowman) Wright talk (John) Jacob and Sarah Stephens Bowman into moving to the Carolinas where George Wright and he had visited family in 1764.

South Carolina

Within a year after his father's death in March 1768, Jacob Bowman sold his remaining real estate, including 500 acres on Linville Creek and his part of the Cedar Creek Estate which he inherited from his father, and finally settled next to the Wrights on the

Reedy River The Reedy River is a tributary of the Saluda River, about long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States. Via the Saluda and Congaree rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Santee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. The ...

, Laurens County, Province of South Carolina near Greenville where he built a mill and trading post. Here the Bowmans raised seven children: (John) Jacob, Jr., Mary, John, Rebecca, Sarah, Nancy and George. ''The Bowmans: A Pioneering Family in Virginia, Kentucky and the Northwest Territory''. (Staunton, Virginia: McClure Co., 1943). In 1776 (John) Jacob would have been 43 years of age and 50 when the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

ended in 1783. During the war he took a leading role in the new colonial government and in November 1778, (John) Jacob was elected to the South Carolina Legislature as a state Representative for the Ninety-Six District. He was a member of the Third South Carolina Whig General Assembly and was later recognized for his civil and private service to the people of South Carolina. In June 1781, (John) Jacob was shot in the doorway to his mill by Indians (or Tories dressed as Indians; this point is unclear). His widow filed for administration of the estate on October 2, 1782 in the Ninety-Six District as Sarah 'Stephens' Bowman of Reedy River.

Clearing the record

There are conflicting accounts of Jacob Bowman's loyalties and death. One says he was killed at the

Battle of Ramsour's Mill The Battle of Ramsour's Mill took place on June 20, 1780 in present-day Lincolnton, North Carolina, during the British campaign to gain control of the southern colonies in the American Revolutionary War. The number of fighters on each side of th ...

in North Carolina on June 20, 1780. Although a Captain John Bowman was mortally wounded in that battle, it has been asserted that this was not the same (John) Jacob Bowman. He was not the husband Grace Grizel Greenlee, as had been stated. Grace did marry a John Bowman but again she did not marry (John) Jacob Bowman. A third link would be the confusion that exists between him and his own brother: 1738 Colonel John Bowman (aka Johannes). With somewhat similar adult names, one has to remember that their lives after 1768 were spent in two different locales. (John) Jacob was in the Province of South Carolina while Colonel John was in the area of what would become the state of Kentucky.

Late court case discovery

Records of an 1840-1842 Mercer County court case brought Bowman's Tory sympathies into question. The case was brought by Pendleton and wife Sarah (Dunklin) Thomas (ostenisbly a granddaughter of (John) Jacob and Sarah (Stephens) Bowman) who brought suit against her Uncle George for the wrongful distribution of Sarah (Stephens) Bowman's estate. These court records were deemed to fully established a true death date, the names of (John) Jacob and Sarah (Stephens) Bowman's children and a record of supplying goods and materials to the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

. These findings gained them acceptance as DAR Patriots in 1995. (Ref. Pendleton Thomas and wife vs George Bowman, Mercer County Circuit Court, yrs 1840, 1841 & 1842, File Box #39.) As of 2024, however, the DAR states that future applicants must prove Bowman's patriotic service and lists him as serving in the Tory militia in 1775 and 1780.

References

*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. *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. *''Pendleton Thomas and wife vs George Bowman'', Mercer County Circuit Court, yrs 1840, 1841 & 1842, File Box #39. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Jacob People from colonial Virginia 1733 births 1781 deaths Trustees of populated places in Virginia People from the Shenandoah Valley People from Shenandoah County, Virginia