Individual Details

Joseph is now believed to be a son of Samuel BOWLBY by a first wife whose name is unknown, but may have had the maiden name of INSLEY. This belief is based upon Colonel Herbert M. BOWLBY's list of Samuel's six children in which Joseph was the third child, upon a confusion of information presented by William B. LAMBERT in "The BOWLSBY Family", a two part article that appeared in August of 1902 in "Neligh Leader", Antelope County, Nebraska, and upon an 1850 census report of Gratiot, Wisconsin. It took several years to realize that dates given in Joseph's biography for his early life were all from ten to twenty years too early, making Joseph appear much older than he was when he died. This became quite evident in the 1850 census report. As told in his biography, Joseph I. BOWLSBY was born 6 MAR 1770, " . . . on the north of the Musconetcong River, in the then Sussex, now Warren County, New Jersey. His father's land lying on both sides of the river." This date of birth, if it is not mere fantasy, could well be the date his father was born, since it is known that Samuel (9) was born some time after 1765. The lands described are obviously those of Samuel BOWLBY (8) upon which Samuel BOWLBY (9) lived for 30 years or more. Joseph I. BOWLSBY died at Antelope County, Nebraska, 11 JUL 1877, reported to be 107 years old, but was most likely around 80 years old, since his wife was born around 1801 according to the 1850 census. Joseph first served an apprenticeship as a printer, then another as a taylor in Philadelphia before moving to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where he became a cobbler, then moved on to Uniontown and Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where he stayed for some time. Samuel BOWLBY (9) was said to have moved to Fayette County around 1825, and was living there with his second wife in 1827. Joseph I. married Lettice BLAIR at Brownsville. "Miss BLAIR's mother's maiden name was PARKHILL, and she was born on the ocean on a sail ship, which was disabled on her voyage and was nearly three months in making the voyage across the Atlantic." Figuring from the census to the biography, Lettice would have been eight to ten years old when she married. Joseph and Lettice were said to have had eight children, Manuel Parkhill BOWLSBY being the third and last born in Pennsylvania. According to the census, Manuel was born around 1829 in Ohio. The family moved to Newark, Licking County, Ohio in 1816 according to the biography. Joseph is said to have taught school for seven years and served as constable and Justice of the Peace in Licking County. Moving on to Marion, Grant County, Indiana, the family settled on the Indian reserve then in rapid succession to Rapids, Michigan, then to where Rockford, Illinois is now located, then to Fielden, Jersey County, Illinois, and finally to Iowa County, Michigan Territory, now Lafayette County, Wisconsin. Lettice is said to have died in Wisconsin in the spring of 1833; yet, the census shows Lettice BOWLSBY and children living there in 1850. Joseph's biography says that he left his family in the charge of his son Manuel in Wisconsin in 1833, became an itinerate jobber sending money to his family, and occasionally visiting them. In November of 1875 after traveling through many of the southern states afoot, Joseph I. arrived at the home of Manuel P. BOWLSBY near Neligh, Nebraska, where he died in 1877. The exceptional names in this family of Lettice, Manuel Parkhill, and Serepta, were instrumental in reconstructing the names of Joseph I. and Lettice (BLAIR) BOWLSBY's eight children in at least a plausible order of birth: John H., Samuel, Emmanuel "Manuel" Parkhill, Sophia M., James H., Sarepta, Adeline, and Joseph.

Wanda (BLACK) MORRIS, an ardent researcher into the THOMPSON family of Lafayette Co., WI, discovered marriage records for five of Joseph's children. The dates of these marriages, and other dates that can be confirmed concerning Joseph's children support the proposition that Joseph married Lettice around 1820 rather than 1810 as suggested in Joseph's biography, because all the children were born after 1820.

JOSEPH I. BOWLSBY (10) {Samuel (8)] was born near the Musconetcong River in what was then Sussex County but today is Warren County, New Jersey. Joseph began his vocational life as a printer and then as a tailor in Philadelphia, PA before moving west of Pittsburgh to Westmoreland County, PA, where he worked as a cobbler and then moved on to Uniontown and Brownsville, Fayette County, PA, near the West Virginia state line, where he met and married Lettice Blair.
In 1816, Joseph and Lettice and their growing family moved to Licking County, Ohio where Joseph taught school and served as a constable and later as a Justice of the Peace. From Ohio the family moved on to Marion, IN; Rapids, MI; Rockford, IL; Fielden, IL; and finally to Lafayette County, WI. After the death of Lettice in Wisconsin in 1853, Joseph "became an itinerant jobber, sending money to his family and occasionally visiting them. In November 1875, after traveling through many of the southern states afoot, Joseph arrived at the home of [his son] Manuel P. Bowlsby near Neligh, Nebraska, where he died in 1877.

Birth	6 MAR 1770	Sussex Co., NJ
Marriage	1824	Brownsville, Fayette Co., PA - Lettice Parkhill "Letty" BLAIR
Death	11 JUL 1877	Neligh, Antelope Co., NE
Burial		Laurel Hill Cem., Neligh, Antelope Co., NE

Spouse	Lettice Parkhill "Letty" BLAIR (1801 - 1851)
Child	John K. BOWLBY (1821 - 1890)
Child	Samuel BOWLSBY/BOWLBY (1826 - 1894)
Child	Emanuel Parkhill "Manuel" BOWLSBY (1815 - 1902)
Child	Sophia M. BOWLBY (1830 - )
Child	James H. BOWLSBY (1833 - 1864)
Child	Serepta M. BOWLSBY (1835 - 1862)
Child	Adaline/Adeline BOWLSBY (1837 - 1925)
Child	Joseph BOWLSBY (1842 - )

Father	Samuel BOWLBY (1753 - 1827)
Mother	Grace INSLEY OR LACEY ( - )
Sibling	Aaron BOWLBY (1772 - 1857)
Sibling	(Daughter of Grace INSLEY and Samuel) BOWLBY (1780 - )
Sibling	Samuel L. BOWLBY (1798 - 1878)
Sibling	Robert BOLESBY/BOWLBY (1799 - 1875)
Sibling	Moses BOWLBY (1808 - )