James Bowie (abt. 1738 - 1797)

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Whitehead) Bowie — married about 1754 in Orange County, North Carolina [uncertain]

Descendants

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Biography

This profile is part of the Bowie Name Study.

According to Walter Worthington Bowie, in The Bowies and Their Kindred, James Bowie, b. 1739, may be the son of John Bowie and Elizabeth Pottenger:

"He (the above James Bowie) was living in 1760, when the court records show he received his property. No mention is made of him after that date on the county records, and he is not mentioned in the will of his maternal grandmother, proven in 1767. By some he is supposed to have died soon after reaching his majority, unmarried. It is however, asserted by others that he left Maryland upon reaching manhood, and removed to South Carolina, where he became the father of Rezin [Reason] Bowie, who was father of Col. James Bowie, hero of the Alamo, and Col. Rezin P. Bowie. If this latter was the case, he doubtless married about 1761, or very shortly after reaching South Carolina. He is the only one of the Prince George's County Bowies of whom the record is uncertain."^[1]

And then again he may not. Walter Worthington was far from decidedly confirming this, yet it has been "generally accepted for more than a century."

"In the absence of documentary evidence, family tradition must be accepted for the following account of the ancestor of the Bowies who settled in Louisiana about 1800, and were such noted actors in the early history of that State and Texas. The current tradition among all members of the family who are sprung from these first Bowie settlers in Louisiana is that the father of the elder emigrants was James Bowie, who removed from Maryland, where he left two brothers, and located in South Carolina prior to the [American] Revolution, married, and died there."^[2]

The following records will show what we definitively know, that James Bowie was acquiring land in North Carolina starting in 1752 and died in Georgia around 1795.

Land Records

The earliest known verifiable record of James Bowie to date is a 1752 "Granville" land grant in North Carolina for 640 acres. ^[3][4]

He acquires 6 patents of land in Orange County from 1753 to 1760.

He acquires land again in 1762 in Orange County, North Carolina in 1762, 700 acres.^[6][7]

1763 Emigration to Colonial Georgia

"1764 – St. Paul’s Parish, Colonial Georgia. The Colonial Records of Georgia” states the following;

James Bowie, a year from North Carolina, was in Georgia in 1764 with a wife and three children.

Marriage

Research has revealed that his wife was Sara Whitehead, the daughter of Thomas and Alice Whitehead. She was married to James Bowie before the eighteenth day of July 1765 when mentioned as the wife of James Buoy in her father's will.^[8] -more in the scrolling:

Given that James and Sarah had three children in 1764, we should infer that the marriage probably dates to 1761 or earlier. Based on the DAR date of Sept 1756 for the birth of Reason, their first son, the best estimated date is probably 1755.

Deposition of Henry Karr relative to the Bowie Family

Confirming list of children of James Bowie and Sarah Whitehead, and in its entirety

(because the document is obscure, unavailable online elsewhere, and mentions all James and Sarah's children)

Written in Spanish with insertions from the original text.

New Feliciana, 4th District, April 18, 1800

Before me, John O'Connor, Alcade of the said p.606] district, appeared Henry Karr, and having taken an oath on the Holy Gospel, he declared that he has known James [Diego] and Sarah Bowie, in he State of Georgia, United States of America, for about twenty years, more or less, and that he knew nine children that they had anmed: [named:] Reason, John, Reece, Ana, Sara, Mary, Elay, Martha and Comfort. That all the said children were alive in the year nineteen hundred and ninety-eight [evidently an error - should be seventeen ninety-eight (1798)], and he believed that the said parents, James and Sara Bowie, died five years ago [What year was this??]; that Sara, the [a] daughter, lived as wife with James Menasco in the City of Augusta, in Georgia, the said Sarah staying with the deponent for a month in his home, and that she told him that she had been informed that the said Menasco, her husband, had another living wife, and that she was very sorry that through ignorance she had married a married man. That they had a daughter about six months old or older, who died in his presence in Augusta, and he says that the said James Menasco showed him a young man eighteen years old or older who, he said, was his bastard son, and he says that he knew a negress named Diana or Dinah since she was born, belonging to the said James and Sara Bowie, who at present must be about eighteen years old, more or less. That some of the children as well as the said Sara and James Menasco have told him that she belonged to the said Sara, by testament of her said father and mother. That the deponent was informed by the said James Menasco, and by a letter from her brother named Reason, that the said Sara, his sister, died in New Madrid in the year nineteen hundred ninety-nine [evidently seventeen hundred ninety-nine]. That the said James Menasco had informed him that he brought the said Dinah with him to this district, and that he left her at the house of John Bartelay with her mulatto son about sixteen months old until his return from the city of New Orleans, and that he believes that the said negress, together with her daughter is found in the house of the said John Bartelay. He said he is forty-eight years old and swore not to have made this deposition through malice, but because it has been necessary to do so. He signed this with me and the witnesses of assistance, Cuth Norton Woodbridge and John Taylor, Jr. on the date above stated.^[9]

Registration of LIvestock Brand

Recorded 17 June 1768

James Bowie of the Parish of St George Planter enters his Ear mark a crop in the left Ear and a hole in the right his Brand per Margine.

James Bowie for his children named Reason, - Sallie & Nancy and Alice Bowie enters their Ear mark Crop and under keel in the right Ear and crop and Slit in the Left their brand as per margine. ^[10]

Sallie is a nickname for Sarah, Nancy is a nickname for Ann, and might Alice be Elsie/Alesy/Else/Elsy/Elay?

Issue

Considerable speculation can be found on the source of the name "Rezin" or "Reason", James and Sarah's first son. Sarah's brother was named "Reason", the speculation needs to move to that individual, since it's clear that name came to the Bowies from the Whitehead family.

• Reason Bowie^[11]
• John Bowie^[12]
• Reece "Rhesa" Bowie^[13]
• Ana Bowie^[14]
• Sara Bowie Menasco^[15]
• Mary Bowie^[16]
• Elay Bowie Burnett^[17] (the assumption is being made that "Elay" is a transcription error for "Elsy")
• Martha "Patsy" Bowie^[18]
• Comfort Bowie Bowden^[19]

He [Rezin] then moved to Ebenezer, GA, near the Savannah River. He enlisted during the Revolutionary War. His sons were too young at first, but in 1779 Rezin did enlist.

Sources

1. ↑ The Bowies and their Kindred. A genealogical and biographical history by Walter Worthington, 1858-1938.[1] p.28
2. ↑ The Bowies and their kindred. A genealogical and biographical history by Bowie, [edited] by Walter Worthington, 1858-1938.[2] p.258.
3. ↑ Ancestral Trackers #[3]
4. ↑ North Carolina MARS - Manuscript and Archives Reference System #[4]
5. ↑ NC Land Grant Images and Data #[5]
6. ↑ Ancestral Trackers #[6]
7. ↑ NOrth Carolina MARS - Manuscript and Archives Reference System #[7]
8. ↑ Early Colonial Records of Georgia; Probate Place: Georgia Notes : Wills, Vol A, 1754-1772 #[8]
9. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16 "Records of West Florida, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA Courthouse, Vol. IV, pp. 213 - 200. During 1936 - 1939 the Spanish records were translated into English by the W.P.A. under the supervision of Mr Stanley Clisby Arthur, State Superintendent of Federal Archives in Louisiana, and five copies of the badly deteriorated original volumes of the Spanish records were made. These five copies were bound into 19 volumes. The original books and one set of the transcribed volumes are in the Courthouse of East Baton Rouge Parish, LA. West Feliciana Parish at St. Francisville, La; Tulane University in New Orleans, LA; University of Southeastern Louisiana at Hammond, LA, and the State Library of Louisiana also have copies. The Church of Later Day Saints Library in Utah has a microfilm of the records.
10. ↑ Source:JENNINGS p. 10 citing Georgia Records - Livestock Marks and Brands
11. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
12. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
13. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
14. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
15. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
16. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
17. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
18. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16
19. ↑ Source: #JENNINGS p. 16

• Source: JENNINGS Title: The Rezin Bowie family of Louisiana: Documents supporting corrections and additions concerning the Rezin Bowie family of Louisiana and suggestions for further research;

Author: Virginia Lobdell Jennings; 1997.

• http://www.oocities.org/bourbonstreet/8781/

See Also...

• Category: Anne Arundel County, Province of Maryland