Individual Details
Benjamin Leroy "Lee" Bowman
(31 Jan 1837 - 3 Mar 1920)
"Genealogy of a Bowman Family," by Byron Whitener Bowman, 1956:
Biography of Benjamin Lee Bowman, 1837-1920
The Rev. Benjamin Lee Bowman was the sixth child of Benjamin and Sophia
Ferguson. He was born January 31, 1837, in Franklin County, Virginia, where he
grew to youth. He tried various occupations, such as blacksmith and machinist,
but did not like any of them, so he decided to run away and become a sailor.
But after reaching a port and enlisting, he became sick and did not go to sea.
He returned home after visting some relatives in eastern Virginia and then
slipped off again and came to Missouri by following some neighbors who came
west. Here he met Miss Eliza Ford, and they were married on October 6, 1856,
and settled down. The next year he induced the family to follow him to
Missouri.
He possessed the faculty of being able to do almost anything he set out to do.
He was a good entertainer and was an expert banjo player.
When the Civil War came on, he organized a Company and went to the Confederate
service. Captain Bowman was very popular and was given Command of a Battery of
Light Artillery and saw some exciting service (Note: Bowman's Missouri Light
Artillery, Capt. Benjamin L. Bowman, merged into 6th Missouri Infantry
Regiment). Captain Bowman was very popular with his men because of his social
qualities and had circumstances permitted, he would have risen to more
honorable positions. But his health could not stand the strenuous service, so
he resigned his Commission and came home.
He soon found that he could not stay unmolested and was finally induced to take
clerical service in the Quarter Master's department of the Federal Army.
After the war, he turned shoemaker, at which he was a success. Then later on,
he took up carpentry and contracting. Then he turned his attention to
architecture, in each of which he excelled.
When he was about thirty years of age, he was converted and was baptized by the
Elder Read and soon went to preaching, to the great delight of all the family.
In 1877, he moved to Marble Hill, Missouri, and preached for churches and did
District and State Mission work for the Baptist denomination. He was induced
to serve as Justice of the Peace, which he did successfully for years, until he
became too feeble to work.
For years he suffered from palsy, which necessitated his early retirement from
all public life.
One of his best works and accomplishments was the building of the high school
and grammar school buildings at Dexter, Missouri, back in the early 1900s.
His last years were spent in Sikeston, Missouri, where he and his wife Eliza
Jane had every convenience and comfort, furnished largely by his oldest son
William Chesley who was known around Sikeston as Judge Bowman.
He was for many years an active Mason and, until feebleness prevented, attended
the meetings of the Grand Lodge each year.
To him and Eliza Jane were born thirteen children, three of whom died in
infancy.
by Rev. Thomas A. Bowman
Biography of Benjamin Lee Bowman, 1837-1920
The Rev. Benjamin Lee Bowman was the sixth child of Benjamin and Sophia
Ferguson. He was born January 31, 1837, in Franklin County, Virginia, where he
grew to youth. He tried various occupations, such as blacksmith and machinist,
but did not like any of them, so he decided to run away and become a sailor.
But after reaching a port and enlisting, he became sick and did not go to sea.
He returned home after visting some relatives in eastern Virginia and then
slipped off again and came to Missouri by following some neighbors who came
west. Here he met Miss Eliza Ford, and they were married on October 6, 1856,
and settled down. The next year he induced the family to follow him to
Missouri.
He possessed the faculty of being able to do almost anything he set out to do.
He was a good entertainer and was an expert banjo player.
When the Civil War came on, he organized a Company and went to the Confederate
service. Captain Bowman was very popular and was given Command of a Battery of
Light Artillery and saw some exciting service (Note: Bowman's Missouri Light
Artillery, Capt. Benjamin L. Bowman, merged into 6th Missouri Infantry
Regiment). Captain Bowman was very popular with his men because of his social
qualities and had circumstances permitted, he would have risen to more
honorable positions. But his health could not stand the strenuous service, so
he resigned his Commission and came home.
He soon found that he could not stay unmolested and was finally induced to take
clerical service in the Quarter Master's department of the Federal Army.
After the war, he turned shoemaker, at which he was a success. Then later on,
he took up carpentry and contracting. Then he turned his attention to
architecture, in each of which he excelled.
When he was about thirty years of age, he was converted and was baptized by the
Elder Read and soon went to preaching, to the great delight of all the family.
In 1877, he moved to Marble Hill, Missouri, and preached for churches and did
District and State Mission work for the Baptist denomination. He was induced
to serve as Justice of the Peace, which he did successfully for years, until he
became too feeble to work.
For years he suffered from palsy, which necessitated his early retirement from
all public life.
One of his best works and accomplishments was the building of the high school
and grammar school buildings at Dexter, Missouri, back in the early 1900s.
His last years were spent in Sikeston, Missouri, where he and his wife Eliza
Jane had every convenience and comfort, furnished largely by his oldest son
William Chesley who was known around Sikeston as Judge Bowman.
He was for many years an active Mason and, until feebleness prevented, attended
the meetings of the Grand Lodge each year.
To him and Eliza Jane were born thirteen children, three of whom died in
infancy.
by Rev. Thomas A. Bowman
Events
| Birth | 31 Jan 1837 | , Franklin, VA | |||
| Marriage | 6 Oct 1856 | Oak Ridge, Cape Girardeau, MO - Elizabeth Jane Ford | |||
| Death | 3 Mar 1920 | Sikeston, Scott, MO | |||
| Burial | 5 Mar 1920 | Sikeston Mausoleum, Sikeston, Scott, MO |
Families
| Spouse | Elizabeth Jane Ford (1840 - 1930) |
| Child | Amy Sophia Bowman (1857 - 1899) |
| Child | William Chesley Bowman (1859 - 1950) |
| Child | Charles Christopher Bowman (1861 - 1906) |
| Child | Mary Lee Bowman (1863 - ) |
| Child | Nettie Bowman (1866 - 1948) |
| Child | Samuel Lee Bowman (1868 - 1949) |
| Child | James Reed Bowman (1870 - 1961) |
| Child | Thomas Ford Bowman (1872 - 1935) |
| Child | Lou Ella Bowman (1875 - 1878) |
| Child | Joseph Maple Bowman (1877 - 1952) |
| Child | Wilbur Talley Bowman (1878 - 1940) |
| Child | Anna Bowman (1880 - 1955) |
| Child | Franklin Bowman (1884 - ) |
| Father | Benjamin Bowman (1804 - 1873) |
| Mother | Sophia Hill Ferguson (1805 - 1896) |
| Sibling | Lucy Ann Bowman (1827 - 1897) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth Mary "Betsy" Bowman (1829 - 1859) |
| Sibling | Charles Chisholm Bowman (1831 - 1837) |
| Sibling | John Otea Bowman (1833 - 1838) |
| Sibling | William Edwin Bowman (1835 - 1837) |
| Sibling | James Orin Bowman (1839 - ) |
| Sibling | Columbus Carroll Bowman (1841 - ) |
| Sibling | Samuel Sterling Bowman (1843 - 1916) |
| Sibling | Sophia Perizade Bowman (1846 - 1924) |
| Sibling | Thomas Anderson Bowman (1850 - 1915) |