Hannah (Feake) Bowne (1637 - 1677)

Born Aug 1637 in Watertown, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Wife of John Bowne Sr. — married 7 May 1656 (to 31 Jan 1677) in Flushing, Long Island

Descendants

Died 31 Jan 1677 at age 39 in London, England

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Biography

Hannah Feake was born in August 1637 at Watertown, Massachusetts^[1] to Robert Feake and Elizabeth (Fones) Hallett aka Winthrop, Feake. As a child, Hannah lived in [Old] Greenwich in 1640, in New London in 1648, in Flushing in 1649 and in Hell Gate, New York in 1652.^[1]

Hannah married John Bowne on 7 May 1656 at Flushing, Long Island:

John Bowne (1627-20 Sep 1695) & 1/wf Hannah Feahe (?1637-31 Jan 1677/8, funeral 2 Feb 1677/8); 7 May 1656; Flushing, LI^[2]

Hannah was described in her husband's journal as “outwardly beautiful and amiable”.^[1] They were not Quakers at the time of marriage, but they were close to some townspeople who were attracted to Quaker principles. Hannah became convinced of Quakerism and became a member of the Society of Friends, who at the time conducted their meetings in the woods. She played an influential role in her husband’s adoption of the faith. Hannah was a Quaker minister in 1675.^[1][3][4]

In 1661 John bought land and built a comfortable farmhouse. This house, little changed since he added the front part in 1680, still stands on Bowne Street, about two blocks from the meeting house.^[3]

Much of Long Island had been settled by colonists from the British Isles who believed that their emerging New Amsterdam towns would be free from religious strife. However the Governor Peter Stuyvesant strongly favored the Dutch Protestant church, and was determined the new Quaker religion and teachings would not compete with his religion. Thus all town governments were ordered to eliminate Quaker meetings and activity. In Flushing 1657 several citizens were quickly targeted, and this triggered a series of events which culminated in 29 citizens of Flushing drafting the historic Flushing Remonstrance and History of Flushing Meeting, 17th Century which would result in the imprisonment of Hannah's husband John, and his eventual victory in the Dutch Courts, which for the first time guaranteed Religious Freedom.^[3]

ten children.^[1] (other sources list 12 children)

Children of John Bowne and Hannah Feake

John and Hannah had the following children:

1. Mary Johanna Bowne
2. John Bowne
3. Elizabeth Bowne
4. Abigail Bowne
5. Hannah Bowne
6. Samuel Bowne
7. Dorothy Bowne
8. Martha Johanna Bowne

Hannah became a minister and made two religious visits to England and Ireland, and one to Holland and Friesland. The letters her husband sent to her are expressions of tender affection and of interest in her religious service. In one of these he writes:

"Dear heart, to particularize all that desire to be remembered to thee would be exceedingly large, but this I may say for all Friends in general, relations and neighbors, and people, the like largeness of love for one particular person I have seldom found amongst them, as it is for thee."^[4]

John Bowne joined his wife on her second trip to England in 1676, and accompanied her in her religious service until the twelfth month, 1677, when she died in London. His testimony concerning her, given at her funeral at the Peel meeting, was "remarkable for its tenderness and beauty.”^[4]

Hannah died at the home of John and Mary Elson, who lived at the Sign of the Peel in Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England. She was buried at Quaker Gardens in London.^[1][4]

Research Notes

Hannah was the daughter of Elizabeth Fones who was born at Groton Manor, Suffolk, England on 21 Jan 1610 to Thomas Fones, a London apothecary, and his wife, Anne Winthrop, sister of John Winthrop, a staunch puritan and the eventual Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. See below for insights about how the Feake and Fones historic status on Long Island as well as Massachusetts-Connecticut Colonies is recorded in very revealing correspondence and facts related to numerous significant people.

Anya Seton's excellent historical novel about her mother Elizabeth, The Winthrop Woman, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1958 and reissued in 2014, offers a variety of insights into Elizabeth's life in England and the New World.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Find A Grave Memorial# 232386439 (birth as Aug 9)
2. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc. Baltimore. 1785. pg. 88
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Flushing Meeting Religious Society of Friends A History of Flushing Meeting : accessed 9 Sep 2019
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Ambrose M Shotwell. Annals of our Colonial Ancestors, Genealogical Register of the Shotwell Family in America. Robert Smith & Co., Printers And Binders, Lansing, Mich. 1895. pp. 206-10

• Flushing Remonstrance and History of Flushing Meeting, 17th Century The Early Years of Persecution. Flushing Meeting Religious Society of Friends, home page
• Annals of our Colonial Ancestors, Genealogical Register of the Shotwell Family in America Ambrose M Shotwell; 1895. Robert Smith & Co., Printers And Binders, Lansing, Mich. Pages132-138. A M Shotwell. coverage of 5 or more generations preceding Mary Thorne & and J Shotwell Jr. Ambrose Shotwell, family marriages and spouses that came out of the Flushing Community.

Wikipedia articles, which also are sourced;

• Husband John Bowne b1617
• Mother "Bess" Elizabeth Fones b 1610 PGM
• Capt John Underhill PGM, b 1597 , Man of means very large property owner, historic military campaigns; connected to all important, individuals regarding Feake-Bowne. His written glowing endorsement of John Bowne is unmistakable supporting source confirming Feake & Bowne pedigrees.
• Lion Gardner PGM, b 1599 for many years had John Underhill as closest friend. very prosperous land owner, leading citizen in the Eastern half of Long Island. Similar military campaigns, well known to Winthrops.
• Mother's cousin, John Winthrop Jr PGM, 1st Governor Connecticut Colony active 25 years, also highly influential in Massachusetts Colony.
• Mother's uncle, Gov John Winthrop PGM, 1588-1649 19 years as leader and Governor of Mass Cay Colony until his death

• Reierson, Art. The Fones Family. Reprinted by Higginson Book Company, Salem MA. Page: 4

• New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2013;

• Walter Gilbert published geneaology that included these source materials for his profile that included Hannah Feake and John Bowne;
• Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, 1750-1930, vol. III, pp. 39-43; "New York Monthly Meeting"
• New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 55, Jan. 1901, pp. 300-1, in an article titled "New York Settlers from New England"
• Bunker, Mary Powell; Long Island Genealogies, Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany 1895.