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A Short History of the Life of Thomas Bowerman, as related by his son, Vincent …………………
My father, Thomas Bowerman, son of Ichabod and Jane Bowerman, was born 3rd mo. 29th, 1760 in Duchess County, New York State, where he lived until he was grown. (Birth date differs from Vincent Bowerman’s manuscript of 11 mo. 2nd, 1870. Gives birth date as 3rd mo. 20th, 1761.) During the Revolution war he remained attached to the King’s party and as soon as peace was proclaimed he camt to Canada. in the year 1783, or ’84, and married Sarah Vincent and settled on the North Shore of the little lake on the Thompson place near where Dyer Ogden now lives, but he soon left it and moved over on the West Lake shore near where Hiram Tubbs now lives and there I was born the 21st of 5th mo. 1791. My mother died when I was a day or two old. I was placed under the care of Daniel and Elizabeth Pettit (who used a sap trough for a cradle) where I remained until I was two years old, at which time my Father went to Duchess County and returned with his second wife, Maturah, a daughter of Josiah and Mehitabel Bull, married 4 mo. 14th, 1793. Then he moved over on the north shore of the lake and took me with him and settled on the farm lot No. 1 first concession military tract containing about 230 acres of entire wild land bought of Major Henry Young for about $100., and built a log house 20 x 22 down by the spring, wouth of the road where he lived until about the year 1806, when he built the frame two story house 30 x 40, which stood until 1879 when it was taken down by the present owner William S. Hubbs and Abraham Saylor. He used a log barn for eight or nine years. He built a frame barn in the year 1800. [pg. 13] He said, I remember, of watching gap when they drew the timber through a wheat field to keep the woods cattle out. John Bull and Cyrus Richman were carpenters used. He frequently let out three year old cattle to be broke and return them at the age of seven, and heifers the same way, on their return he sold them and bought land. He continued buying until he had got twelve hundred acres beside the homestead. He went to Quebec in the year 1810, with a raft of staves and was taken sick on his return home at Montreal with Typhoid fever, and died at Kingston. He was brought home and buried in the Old Friends burying ground by C. G. Bowerman, leaving me at the age of nineteen to manage all the business. (I think my grandfather [Ichabod] did not belong to any religious denomination, but all of his sons and one of his daughters (Lydia) joined Friends by request.) My father was always firmly established in their principles and a diligent attender of their meetings and careful to have his family go with him. They went to Adolphustown for a number of years. (At this time they belonged to Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting.) Then they got a meeting at West Lake held once in two weeks in Cornelius Blount’s log house and in warm weather in his log barn, and then they got a monthly meeting in Adolphustown and Preparative there and at West Lake. There were no divisions or subdivisions in the society at that time. ( Transcribed from his [Vincent’s] accounts by Levi Bowerman – 1894 )
(My father in the year 1810 at the age of nineteen, and after the death of his father, with the assitance of his step-mother, took charge of all the business and oversight of nine children (half brothers and sisters and the 1430 acres of land. At that time the oldest son heired all the real estate property. The land was divided among the family and he signed all the deeds to entire satisfaction. Except the oldest brother. Then lived until the whole family was buried. (The dates of those changes would have been valuable.)
Webmaster Note: This transcription is taken from a photocopy of a typed manuscript entitled: “Family Records, written by my Grandfather Levi Vincent Bowerman about 1904,”, by Merton Yarwood Williams, pages 12-13. This manuscript, in it’s entirety, is in my possession.
The document contains twenty-two pages of typewritten lineages, however few dates are included. As I am able, the entirety of this manuscript will be presented here, with no corrections to spelling (other than my notations/observations which appear within brackets. I have transcribed the information above accurately, other than the formatting, which I cannot replicate in a font viewable on the web.
I would like to thank Jeff Staley, of Washington, for taking the time to forward this material to me for the records collection being gathered here. Webmaster -
Dr. Ronald L.
Lahti, M.A., D.A.
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