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THE MERTON YARWOOD WILLIAMS COLLECTION University of British Columbia Archives
March 26, 2002
Introduction: I went through just the Bowerman box of Merton's archives (#4) in the eight hours I was there (minus one half hour for lunch). The archives are only open 9-5, and most photocopying is not done on the day requested. My first task was to compare Merton's copies of his “Bowerman Family from 1379” with the copy I had from the Picton Ontario Library. File 4-1 consists of two copies of this, and there are indeed some differences (see below, p. 5ff). However, these are not major changes. My second task was just to get a fuller inventory of the Bowerman material than what is online. This I was able to do. I would not be surprised to find out that I was the first to look at this box since it was put in the archives, and the archive description is exceedingly brief, to put it mildly. My third task was to find items of highest interest to our Thomas Bowerman website. First, Merton was clearly an amateur genealogist. There are not a lot of primary documents consulted or copied. He cared little about finding proof of dates. For example, there are no family Bible extracts in box 4, only two wills (Thomas II [3 November 1727—if indeed this is a will] and Ichabod I [two different typed transcriptions]), and I think only two tombstone records. Prior to 1952 Merton seems not to have had a real plan in his collection of data. Most of his work on the Bowermans seems to have been done after 1952 when his brother John P. Williams found in his(?) attic Vincent Bowerman's 1870 “A Short history of the Life of Thomas Bowerman as related by by his son Vincent, Transcribed from his accounts by Levi V. Bowerman 1894.” This “short history,” handwritten, is part of a 4”x5” hardcover journal. The journal is the only thing in file 4-5, and is by far the most valuable thing in the box for Bowerman genealogy—in my estimation. There were some items I expected to find in Box 4, but they were not there. Apparently Merton did not ever have copies of them. For example, there was no copy of “Bowerman Family of Ont. Canada by A.C. Bowerman” (1916), and no 39-page letter from Jane Clubb to Cyril E. Bowerman (dated 1926). Merton seems not to have begun writing Jane until 1956. There are no letters to him from Robert H. Bowerman. He seems not much interested in Ichabod I’s ancestors until after 1952 when his brother found Levi Vincent Bowerman’s “A Short History.” There are many letters that I have not listed or looked at.
File 4-1: “The Bowerman Family, 1379 to the Present” by MYW 2 copies, marked “1” and “2” A manila envelope is attached to the back of each copy, and in these envelopes are newspaper clippings, photos, and letters—ostensibly related to the Merton’s “The Bowerman Family, 1379 to the Present.” In the envelopes at the back of copy 1 called “Addenda” are the following: 1) Picton Gazette March 23, 1960. “Mrs. E. Bowerman dies in Toronto in her 98th year. 2) Newspaper not named. Deaths Bowerman—at Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital on Thursday, October 7th,1965. Herbert A. Bowerman in his 86th year beloved husband of Ada Snow, brother of Thomas of Cherry Valley, Kenneth of British Columbia. . . . Interment Cherry Valley Cemetery 3) Photographs and negatives that appear in “The Bowerman Family, 1379 to the Present.” 4) “Return Given to Major Peter Alstine. . .” handwritten on ruled paper. 5) Picton Gazette April 21, 1961. Ethel Bowerman Cronk (A Memorial Tribute). – d. 24 March 1961 wife of Wilford Cecil Cronk; born in Hallowell April 21, 1879 d/o Stephen J. Bowerman and wife Elizabeth Lucas. . . Her mortal remains rest in the burying grounds set aside by her grandfather and her husband’s great grandfather, Stephen and Judah Bowerman. 6) Picton Gazette August 28, 1964. Mark Birthday Thomas G. Bowerman 7) “Maturah Bull” Ontario Historical Society and Bureau of Archives of the Province of Ontario Vol. V, p. 81. Handwritten copy. 8) An accounting of the first distribution of the “The Bowerman Family, 1379 to the Present.” Merton originally made 17 copies. Among these, one was given to the Picton Ontario Library, and one was given to the Loyalist Library in Adolphustown, Ontario. 9) List of photographs being printed for “The Bowerman Family, 1379 to the Present.” 10) “Old Bloomfield Inn.” Newspaper clipping, p. 11 no date [For Gazet] 11) Miscellaneous letters and notes, too many to catalogue, most do not appear particularly interesting. 12) Account list John Mullett to V. Bowerman 1857 beginning 8 mo 10, 1858 beginning 2 mo 26. One page, blue paper, handwritten.
File 4-2: Bowerman Family – Research Notes “History of the Bowerman Family UEL.” 5 pages, typed “Copied from a manuscript written by my grandfather Levi Vincent Bowerman about 1900 and a genealogy assembled at much expense by the late David B. Bowerman. MY Williams, Vancouver BC 1936.”
“Notes on the Family and genealogy of Bowerman” 15 pages, typed by David Bowerman (this includes a typescript of Ichabod I's will with probate date)
“Family records written by my grandfather, Levi Vincent.” 27 pages, typed Pages 16-22 are the Mullett, Southard, and Haight families. Pages 23-27 are an account of Levi Bowerman’s 1873 trip to Baltimore.
“Some Account of the Events and Family Records written by my Grandfather Levi Vincent Bowerman, 11 mo 2 1870.” 7 page, single-spaced typescript, legal sized paper.
Thomas Bowerman will, 3 November 1727. Reverse photocopy (white on black). This could be a transfer of land, per other records. I did not check it closely.
Letter to Mrs. Arthur F. Clubb, July 26, 1956. On the sources for the Bowerman Family material in PLBQ.
Bowerman Genealogy and Vincent Bowerman’s “Account.” Typed copies.
Letter from John P. Williams, 19 May 1952. On finding Vincent Bowerman’s
1870 “Account” in the attic.
Letters from W. F. Bowerman, late of 1147 Herbert Ave. SLC
Letters from Mrs. Arnold J. Gifford of Falmouth MA
Letters from the Library of Congress
Letters from the Friends Library, Swathmore
Letters from the Mayflower Compact
And more
File 4-3: Bowerman Family – Research Notes “Journal. July 6th, 1860.” 44 pages, 5” x 7” hardbound, handwritten. “This account is of particular interest to the descendants of Deborah Bowerman and Vincent Bowerman, being an account of a visit to the V. Bowerman homestead at Schoharrie, near Bloomfield, of Frank and Minnie Fowler of Baltimore, Md.” Minnie Fowler was the granddaughter of a brother of William Mullett who was spending the remainder of his life with his daughter, Deborah Bowerman, and was the immediate cause of the visit. Description: Not much of a personal nature in the journal. Lots about their visit to Niagra Falls, watching the Bowermans make maple syrup, descriptions of landscape. Surprisingly little about the looming Civil War.
“Journal. July 6th, 1860.” 16 page, single-spaced typescript.
“A Diary by R. A. Bowerman my aunt. I was the baby referred to. Date probably 1884.” 26 pages, pencil-written, 3” x 5”.
File 4-4: Bowerman Family – Research Notes Diary of Deborah (Mullett) Bowerman, 1887-1892. 23 pages, typed.
Color postcards of the Thomas Bowerman home, West Falmouth. 8 of these.
“Legible inscriptions on memorial stones in the Friends’ Cemetery, East Bloomfield.” No date, no transcriber. 2-3 pages. Typescript.
File 4-5: Levi Vincent Bowerman – Family History
File 4-6: Thomas Bowerman – History “Thomas Bowerman 1761-1810.” Loyalist Gazette Volume IV:2 (Autumn 1966) pp. 8, 10. By M.Y. Williams.
“Thomas Bowerman 1761-1810.” Handwritten and typescript drafts.
File 4-7: Bowerman Family – Research Notes “The History of the Bowerman Family, Thomas I, UEL.” By M. Y. Williams, Vancouver, B.C. 1936. 9 legal size pages, handwritten.
File 4-8: Bowerman Family History – Handwritten Manuscript “The Bowerman Family, 1379 to the Present.” Handwritten draft.
File 4-9: Bowerman Family – Notes, Ledger Account Book of Vincent Levi Bowerman. Beginning 3rd mo 3rd 1854. Approx. 1” thick, 13”x 8.” There are lots of remedy recipes for human and horse ailments at the back.
“Some Account of the Events and Family Records written by my Grandfather Levi Vincent Bowerman, 11 mo 2 1870.” Two copies, 7 pages, typed single-space, legal size.
File 4-10: Haight Family – Consider Merritt Haight – Typescript and Manuscript History
A Brief Memoir Concerning Abel Thomas. Copyright 1824.
“A Trip from Adolphustown to Dutchess Co. NY 1824.” By Consider Merritt Haight. 5x5 hardbound journal, handwritten original, 21 pages.
“A Trip from Adolphustown to Dutchess Co. NY 1824.” By Consider Merritt Haight. 21 page typescript (double-spaced). Rough drafts.
File 4-11: Haight Family – History “Adoplphustown U.C. to New York,” by Consider Merritt Haight, 1824. Edited by Merton Yarwood Williams. Typescript, 44 pages, with maps and photographs. Final draft.
File 4-12: Haight Family – Notes Appendix to the Report of the Ontario Bureau of Industries 1897. Toronto: Warwick and Rutter Printers, 1899.
Genealogical History of the Hoyt and Haight Family, by David W. Hoyt. Providence: Providence Press, 1871. Photocopy, bound, with notes.
Last file: This file is not numbered or listed in the Archives. It is a collection of miscellaneous family correspondence. It is personal in nature, and not on the topic of family history. Webmaster -
Dr. Ronald L.
Lahti, M.A., D.A.
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