John Bowater (bef. 1630 - 1705)

Born before 25 Apr 1630 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Anne (Unknown) Bowater — married 1654 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England

Husband of Mary (Maunder) Bowater — married 12 Nov 1685 in Wheeler Street, London, Middlesex, England

Descendants

Died 16 Jan 1705 after age 74 in Westbury St, Spitalfields, London, England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Terri Bartos [send private message] and Glenn York [send private message]

Biography

John was a Friend (Quaker)

John Bowater (Boeter, Bowter, Bowyter) was a well-known, persecuted member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), living near London in the seventeenth century who also traveled extensively in Colonial America.

His first wife Anne ______ died 25 Apr 1679 and was buried 27 Apr 1679. The maiden names of Cross and Cater assigned to her are errors as is probably also the case with Carter.^[1]

He joined the Society of Friends (Quakers) before 1660. On 8 Jan 1660 a John "Bowter" was imprisoned for refusing to take an oath at Worcester,^[2]

John's own written testimony states that in 1677 and 1678 he came to Colonial America to spread the gospel.^[3] He says he visited New York, Long Island, Road [Rhode] Island, New England, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. He returned to England in 1678 and in 1681 was placed in Worcester Gaol for refusing to pay tithes, then transferred to Fleet Street Prison in London where he appears to have remained until 1683.^[2]

His second marriage to Mary Maunder, of Whiterow in Spittlefields, took place at the Quaker meeting house on Wheeler Street, London 12 Nov 1685.^[4] Mary died from a fever 10 Feb 1705 aged about 55 years, daughter of Edward Maunder of Blackwell, Worcester, husbandsman (her parentage given in the marriage record).^[5]

John Bowater passed away 16 Jan 1704 (old calendar) Westbury St., Spitalfields, London. He was buried on the 20th in the Quaker Burying Ground near White Chapel Green, London^[6] The London Burial Grounds pg. 142-3

Children with Anne __________

John Bowater bap 8 Aug 1652, Bromsgrove; m. Frances Corbett

Thomas Bowater b 10 Feb 1655

Possible son with Anne __________

William Bowater d Oct 1697. No direct evidence of his parentage but if born before John and Thomas this was a poorly recorded period in the Bromsgrove register; and he could have been born after the parents conversion to the Quaker faith. Lack of baptismal or birth record is easily explained.

Children with Mary Maunder

Jonathan b 31 Jul 1687, d 30 Mar 1688^[7]

Mary Bowater b 3 Feb 1689; m James Wright (Note: there is significant evidence that the wife of James Wright, Mary, may be incorrectly identified. See the series of articles by Baldwin in TAG Vol 75--it is necessary to read each or a wrong conclusion may be drawn. Parts of this article are cut and pasted below in Caution and Notes. Others have found issue with the conclusions of Baldwin.)

Caution and Notes

A great deal of errors and contradictions concerning this family, due to errors in the LDS Ancestral Files and the International Genealogical Index (IGI) have lead to confusion about their English origins. One factor is the use of two different spellings which were alphabetized separately in the IGI: Beoter and Bowyter.^[1]

John's father William had two wives, Mary Byrt and Dorothy _____________. It is uncertain which is his mother. See William's profile for additional information.

Richard Bowater and Elizabeth Sadler have been removed from parents as incorrect and without documentation or sourcing. Please do not reattach them to this profile.

The daughter Elizabeth Bowater formerly attached to this profile does not appear in in the research of Stewart Baldwin for The American Genealogist and similar exhaustive research.

Upon the death of John Bowater, there was published in London a work entitled Christian Epistles travels and Sufferings of that Ancient Servant of Christ, John Bowater, who departed this life, the 16th of the 11th Month, 1704, Aged about 75 years. Excerpts from this were reprinted in 1909 in the Bulletin of Friends’ Historical Society in Philadelphia. This records as to John: “He was born in 1629 or 1630 and died in 1704 or 1705. At what time he became “convinced” is not mentioned, so far as is known, or when first, as the biographical “Preface” puts it, “he was concerned in a Publick Testimony in the Gospel Ministry” . . . He was called to travel beyond the seas, into America, and several parts thereof, in the year 1677, and 1678 . . . visiting many places and Meetings, which he had in these remote parts, for the spreading the Blessed Truth and Gospel of the Grace of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ; . . . and God was pleased eminently to Preserve him in his travels by sea and land, through divers hardships, and jeopardies unto he was safer in the wilds of American than at home, for the account goes on, “It appeared by the said John Bowater’s own brief relation, that he was more kindly used by the Poor Indians in American than by some pretended Christians here in England, after his return. The Indians entertained him in their Wigwams (the best of their habitations or lodgings) but these Christians in their cold Goals, under confinement as they did many others of his brethren and Friends in those times.” Not long after his arrival at home he was thrown into the “County Goal” of Worcester, certainly as early as 1679, for one of his Epistles bears date, ”Worcester County Goal the 25th of the 7th month 1769.” The cause of his committal was his refusal to pay the tithes demanded by “Thomas Willmate, Vicar of Bromsgrove, in the County of Worcester.” From Worcester he was transferred to the Fleet Prison in London some time in the year 1681. He was a prisoner for several years, and if the date is correctly printed must have been sent back to Worcester or perhaps suffered a second imprisonment, for one Epistle is dated, “Worcester County Goal, the 24th of the 5th month 1687.” He seems to have written little; the collected Epistles, his most considerable work, occupying by 54 pages. His style is for that day unusually simple and to the point. A single extract from “Of Submission to Authority will suffice. In view of his personal experience, it is particularly interesting, as it was probably written in prison. “There is active Obedience, and there is passive Obedience in outward things; and in that which is just. Magistrates are actively to be obeyed, and Tribute and Custom to be payed to them for the outward preservation of the Nation; and that we may live peaceably under them and enjoy our just Rights, having them defended by them; but in spiritual things, and things relating to the worship of God, God and Christ must rule; if outward Rulers make Laws about Worship, not according to the law of God, nor commanded by Christ Jesus, nor practiced by his holy apostles; we must rather bear the Penalty of such laws, than disobey God or Christ; and patiently suffer, as the hold me and Martyrs in all Ages, from righteous Able to this Day have done.” A few sentences may be quoted from “The Preface” Morning Meeting” and signed by twelve Friends . . . dated London the 21st of the Third Month, 1705: “Tho’ this our Deceased Brother, was but low and poor in this world as to External enjoyment; yet he was rich in Faith , and in true Love; He was of unblameable innocent Life and conversation; He preached well, both in Doctrine and practice . . . He did not make merchandize of the Word of God, or his Ministry; but being low in the World, he laboured with his Hands, for a honest (though mean) livelihood . . . The simplicity and plainness of his Ministry and following Epistles do not bespeak School-Education, but great Sincerity, Faith, Resolve, Constancy, and true Love in our Lord Jesus Christ; and his not being furnished with Human Learning, did not hinder him from being with Jesus.”

Joseph Besse’s 1753 “A Collection of the Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, For the Testimony of a Good Conscience From the Time of Their First Being Distinguished by That Name in the Year 1650, to the Time of the Act, Commonly Called the Act of Toleration, Granted to the Protestant Dissenters in the first Year of the Reign of King William Third and Queen Mary in the Year 1689” states at page 76 as to John Bowater: “Worcestershire Anno 1681 On the 27th of the month called June, John Bowater was committed to the Worcester goal, at the suit of Thomas Wilmot, Priest of Bromsgrove, for small tithes, and about five months after he was removed thence to the Fleet Prison in London, and while there in prison has a heifer taken from him at home worth 1£10 s.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} John and Thomas Bowater and their Sister Mary (Bowater) Wright: Early Quaker Immigrants to Pennsylvania. The American Genealogist.] (Vol 75, Pg 37) New Haven, The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/13223/37/234979812
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Besse, Joseph, Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, London, 1753, Vol II:61
3. ↑ Boweter, John, Christian Epistles, Travels, and Sufferings, of that Ancient Servant of Christ, London 1705, A3
4. ↑ England & Wales, Society of Friends (Quaker) Marriages 1578-1841 Transcription; First name(s) John; Last name Bowater; Marriage year 1685; Marriage date 12 Nov 1685; Marriage place as transcribed Wheeler Street; Marriage parish as transcribed Citties Of London, Westminster, Southwarke; Marriage county as transcribed Middlesex, Surrey; Father's first name(s) William; Father's last name Bowater; Spouse's first name(s) Mary; Spouse's last name Maunder; Meeting place London, Middlesex; Monthly meeting -; Quarterly meeting London, Middlesex; County London, Middlesex; Country England; Archive reference RG6/1437; Description LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex: Marriages; Record set England & Wales, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Marriages 1578-1841; Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers); Subcategory Parish Marriages; Collections from United Kingdom, England; Repository: FindMyPast.com
5. ↑ London and Middlesex Quarterly Meeting records, PRO RG6/331 [FHL Film #588,013]
6. ↑ Society of Friends' Registers, Notes and Certificates of Births, Marriages and Burials. Records of the General Register Office, Government Social Survey Department, and Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, RG 6. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England. Piece 0331: Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex: Burials, Frame 225
7. ↑ Death records of the London and Middlesex Quarterly Meeting, PRO RG6/499 [FHL film #587,999] call the son "john" but the age at death of about 8 months makes it clear that the Jonathan born 1687 is the one intended.

See also:

• England & Wales, Society of Friends (Quaker) Burials 1578-1841 Transcription; First name(s) John; Last name Bowater; Age 75; Birth year 1629; Death year 1704/05; Death date 16 Jan 1704/05; Burial year 1704/05; Burial date 20 Jan 1704/05; Burial place as transcribed Devonshire House; Burial county as transcribed London, Middlesex; Meeting place London, Middlesex; Monthly meeting -; Quarterly meeting London, Middlesex; County London, Middlesex; Country England; Archive reference RG6/331; Description LONDON AND MIDDLESEX: Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex: Burials; Record set England & Wales, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Burials 1578-1841; Category Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers); Subcategory Parish Burials; Collections from United Kingdom, England; Repository: FindMyPast.com
• John's Find-A-Grave includes a copy of his testimony. The testimony tells of his persecutions and imprisonment in England from 1678 and several years thereafter. He spent time in the Worcester Gaol and Fleet Prison in London. He said the Lord sustained him for 20+ years thereafter. Find A Grave: Memorial #213090752.
• Information was gained by John S. Hopkins on 22 Jan and 9 Mar 1989 at Library of Religious Society of Friends, Friends House, Euston Rd., London NW1 2BJ
• Christian epistles, travels and suffering, of that ancient servant of Christ, John Boweter; who departed this like the 16th of the 11th month, 1704 [old calendar]. Aged about 75 years. J. B. (John Bowater). London Printed and Sold, by T. Sowle, in White-Hart-Court in Gracious Street, 1705.