JAMES C. BOWEN

From the Vernon County Historical Society: The home in the picture (courtesy of Dee Lerch) was built by Captain James G. Bowen [James C. Bowen] after he returned from the Confederate Army and found his previous house burned by [Kansas Civil War] Jayhawkers and his wife sitting forlornly under a tree. He engaged John M. Young, an associate, to do the actual building. The house was occupied in later years by the Frank Weis family. Among our evidence for this is a piece in the Nevada Daily Mail, Aug. 26, 1937, written by Marvin Emery, one of the founding members of the Vernon County Historical Society.

Terry Ramsey - Museum Coordinator, Vernon County Historical Society

The Frank and Charlotte Weis family is pictured above. This stone house is located approximately six miles south of Nevada, Missouri on Talley Bend Road.

The Weis family pictured in the photo above did not build the original house but did build the two cut-stone wine caves that are on the property. At one time there was a working vineyard on the property, and the Weis family made wine and aged it in the caves. We hope some day to restore the house and would appreciate any photos/information that anyone would have about the property and especially about the (rear) addition to the house. Photo contributed by Ginny & Chuck Nash

Bowen House. Photo contributed by Ginny & Chuck Nash

James C. Bowen married Sarah H. E. Gilkey on December 25, 1843 in Warren County, Missouri.

The 1850 Warren County, Missouri census shows the James C. Bowen family enumerated as follows:

James C. Bowen, 26 yr old male, farmer, $400 value of real estate owned, born Missouri.

     Mary, 26 yr old female, born KY.

     Reece, 6 yr old male, b. MO.

     John, 4 yr old male, b. MO.

     Armilda, 2 yr old female, b. MO.

James C. Bowen had three land patents in Vernon County, Missouri:

     # 20302 dated 5/15/1857

     # 28357 dated 5/10/1859

     # 26282 dated 11/1/1859

The third land patent is for the land on which the pictured home was built: Township 34 North, Range 31 West, Section 6; Northeast 1/4, Lot 10, consisting of sixty-one and twenty-seven hundredths acres.

The 1860 census shows James Bowen and family now living in Drywood Township, Vernon County, Missouri. He is a 36-year-old head of household farmer. It is presumed that his wife, Mary, is deceased. James now has a 24 yr old wife, Jane, who was born in Virginia. Jane may be the mother of 1-year-old William. The following children are in the household:

     Reece, 15 yr old male

     J. C., 13 yr old male  [John]

     Amanda, 12 yr old female  [Armilda]

     M. J., 9 yr old female  [Minerva]

     T. A., 7 yr old male  [Thomas]

     William L., 1 yr old male

The James Bowen family is listed in the 1870 Vernon County, Missouri census in Center Township. James is a 46-year-old farmer who owns real estate valued at $3,600 and personal property of $775. His wife, listed as H. A., is 36 years old and was born in Virginia. The following children are in the household, and all were born in Missouri:

     Armilda, 21 years old

     Minerva, 19

     Thomas A., 18

     William, 12

     Jefferson, 9

     Ithamer, 4 (son)

     James, 9/12 yr old

By 1880, James Bowen is 55 years old and is still farming. His father was born in Kentucky and his mother in Missouri. His wife is listed as Ester J., 46 years old who was born in Virginia. Her parents were also born in Virginia. The children living in the household are:

     William, 21

     J. D., 15

     Ithamer, 13

     James, 10

     Sarah, 7

Living next door are married sons Reece and Thomas. Reece married his young wife Sarah Arrena Brasuer October 16, 1879 in Vernon County. Next door to them are Thomas and his wife, Mary Brasuer, and son Luther who was born in January. Thomas and Mary were married February 22, 1877 in Vernon County.

James C. Bowen

Dec. 23, 1823 - Jun. 24, 1882

Moore Cemetery

Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri

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