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TENTH GENERATION

540. David BOWLBY ⁽³⁴¹⁴⁾⁽³⁴¹⁵⁾⁽³⁴¹⁶⁾⁽³⁴¹⁷⁾⁽³⁴¹⁸⁾⁽³⁴¹⁹⁾⁽³⁴²⁰⁾⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾⁽⁸⁾ was born on 9 Apr 1815 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.⁽³⁴²¹⁾ He was baptised on 1 Jan 1819 in Presbyterian Church, Hunterdon County, NJ.⁽³⁴²²⁾ He died on 17 Jul 1896 in Olney, Richland County, Illinois.⁽³⁴²³⁾ He was buried in Sugar Creek Cemetery, Richland County, Illinois.⁽³⁴²⁴⁾ David moved from New Jersey early in life to Milford, Clermont County,
Ohio. Diane Bowlby Alderson, one of David's descendants and a family
researcher, states that "... He came to Ohio from New Jersey before
1840 with an Adam Bowlby and (Adam's) wife Martha (McDaniel) Bowlby."
Martha died 6 October, 1839. Adam secondly married Mary McGrew in
1840, the widow of an Andrew McGrew. The 1850 census indicates that
Adam (and therefore David) came to Ohio from New Jersey around 1836.

David Bowlby married 6 February, 1840, CLEMENCY BROWN, the daughter
of Joseph Ball Brown and granddaughter of Thomas Brown from
Cardiganshire, Wales. They were married by Elder David Thompson,
according to MARRIAGE RECORDS OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO: 1800-1850. She
was born in Ohio on 12 February, 1817, died in Olney, Illinois on 2
January, 1881, buried beside her husband in Sugar Creek Cemetery.
Seven children were born to David and Clemency in Clermont County,
Ohio: Mary, Elizabeth, George W., William Ennis, John, Joseph, and
Adeline. Of these seven children, three passed away in childhood.
Elizabeth died on 12 September, 1851, at the tender age of eight years
and ten months. She is buried in the Brown family cemetery in Miami
township on Price Road near Mulberry, Ohio, on what was the John Howe
(or Hews, depending on source) farm. John Bowlby, the third son of
David and Clemency, died on 20 Decemeber, 1861, aged eleven years and
seven and a half months. He is buried beside his sister, Elizabeth, in
the Brown family cemetery in Ohio. Joseph Bowlby was the fourth son of
David and Clemency. He died in Olney, Illinois on 7 December, 1869, at
the age of sixteen. He is buried in Sugar Creek Cemetery beside his
parents.

Clemency's father, Joseph Ball Brown, was an early settler in the
Milford area. The following is taken from HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY,
OHIO by Louis H. Everts:

Joseph Brown, a Virginian, in 1799 settled on the farm which is
now occupied by H. P. Brown, opposite Camp Dennison, where he died in
1862, at the age of 91 years. He served in 1812 ...The daughters
married David Smysor; Hiram South; Joshua Wright; and Philip Smysor.

David is not listed among the men that married the daughters of
Joseph Brown, but this may be accredited to the fact that David and
Clemency had lived in Illinois for over fifteen years when this book
was published in 1880 and may have, unfortunately, been forgotten
about. There can be no question that this is the correct Joseph
Brown. In the first place, David and Clemency and their first four
children are listed in the 1850 census as living in the same household
as Joseph Brown and his son Henry P. Brown. In the second place,
Joseph's daughter Mary Ann married a Philip Smysor and they have a
child buried in the Brown family cemetery along with two of David and
Clemency's children and Joseph Brown himself. Finally, David and
Clemency's son George and wife Xenia named one of their children Henry
Parker Brown Bowlby after the child's grand-uncle.

David and Clemency probably attended the "Christian Church at
Newberry." Newberry is a small town just a few miles from Milford.
Joseph Brown's sons-in-law were active in their church as the
following quote from Everts' history reveals:

This body of Christians (Disciples) was organized in 1838 by
the Rev. Walter Scott...The first meetings were held at the house of
Isaac Elstrun and later in barns, schoolhouses, and in the Old Union
Church. In 1841, the meeting house at Newberry was built, chiefly
under the direction of David Smysor and Hiram South. Subsequent
repairs have placed it in its present condition. The present trustees
are Hiram South, Joseph Brown, and George Smysor.
The first elders of the church were Francis Schumard and David
Smysor...The Rev. David Thompson was the first regular minister of the
church.

The 1850 census of Clermont County, Ohio lists David Bowlby as a
wagon maker. The 1870 census of Richland County, Illinois lists him
and his sons as farmers. Diane Bowlby Alderson claims that David and
Clemency and their family "came to Olney, Illinois about 1863, after
two years of drought drove them away from their formerly prosperous
orchards and farms." This is a good ballpark estimation of their
immigration date to Olney. However, son George's obituary in the Olney
Times states that he moved to Olney with his parents when he was
seventeen. This would probably have been in 1862, though it could have
been anytime prior to his eighteenth birthday on 10 March, 1863.
Clemency's death certificate states that she had been a resident of
Richland County for 18 years. This would fix the year at 1862.

David made a puzzling real estate transacton in 1861 in Olney,
but apparently without any intention of staying at that time. On 7
March, 1861, David purchased a parcel of land from one Charles Launer,
paying $2800, the instrument being listed as bond. On 13 April of the
same year, at 3:00 P.M., he paid another $1400 (?) (the record reads
14//) and the instrument was a deed. At that same time and date, David
sold the property back to Charles Launer; $750 was paid and the
instrument was a mortgage. The conclusion must be that David
personally financed a mortgage on the property for this Charles
Launer. This is significant for several reasons. First, David had
connections in Olney, Illinois at least as early as the winter of
1861. Second, he was apparently a prosperous man. Third, he probably
did not move his family to Illinois until sometime later (his next
real estate transaction was not until 20 February, 1865, when he
purchased some land from Alexander and Mary Snider for $3500). It is
interesting to note that David's grandson, David Shaw, later married
Emma Caroline Launer, the daughter of Charles Launer.

Clemency lost her father Joseph Brown on 24 October, 1861, according
to Robert D. Craig's CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO CEMETARY RECORDS, Vol. I.
Her son, John, died the next month on 20 December, 1861. Perhaps it
was these deaths, the drought in Ohio, daughter Mary's move to
Illinois, and ties to family and friends in Olney, among reasons still
unknown, that prompted the move from Milford, Clermont County, Ohio to
Olney, Richland County, Illinois.

According to family sources, the Bowlbys travelled to Illinois by
wagon train with the family of Nimrod B. and Susan Jane (Snider)
Buckingham. The two families had apparently been friends in Ohio.
David's son, George W. Bowlby married Nimrod's daughter, Xenia
Buckingham, in Olney on 11 February, 1865 (her name on the marriage
record was Heniah). The families settled close together southwest of
Olney. An amusing story was told by Evelyn (Bowlby) Coffey. She said
that her grandfather, William Ennis Bowlby, used to tell the story
that on the way from Ohio, the party was met by a large bear. Clemency
was on horseback and David was walking along beside her. On seeing the
bear, David charged after it waving his hat and shouting like a
madman, whereupon the bear took flight into the woods. According to
family sources, the family fortune was brought to Illinois by being
sewn into Clemency's petticoat to protect it from highway robbers.

David and Clemency came to Olney with four of their five surviving
children: George W. (1845-1924), William Ennis (1847-1936), Joseph
(1853-1869), and Adeline "Addie" (1859-1900). Daughter Mary
(1841-1900) was married to J.W.B. Shaw in Clermont County, Ohio, and
moved to Illinois immediately afterwards. Their son Joseph died at the
age of sixteen in 1867 and was buried in Sugar Creek Cemetery, as
mentioned.

The Bowlbys purchased farm land in sections seven and eight of Olney
township, this being to the southwest of the town. As mentioned, David
bought some property from Alexander and Mary A. Snider for $3500 on 20
February, 1865, followed by 100 acres more from the same on 8
November, 1865 for the sum of $4000. Another 20 acres was purchased
from James and Malinda Eliabeth Scamahorn for $600 on 8 December, 1866
-- this property was sold to son George for the same sum on 6 April,
1867.

He was married to Clemency BROWN on 6 Feb 1840 in Milford, Clermont County, Illinois.⁽³⁴¹⁷⁾ David and clemency's marriage record is in the Clermont County Couthouse, Volume 3, page 183 of the marriage record books. Clemency BROWN⁽⁶⁾⁽³⁴²⁵⁾⁽⁷⁾⁽⁸⁾ was born on 12 Feb 1817 in Ohio, probably near Milford, Clermont County.⁽³⁴²⁶⁾ She died on 2 Jan 1881 in Olney, Richland County, Illinois.⁽³⁴²⁷⁾ She was buried in Sugar Creek Cemetery, Richland County, Illinois.⁽³⁴²⁸⁾ She was the daughter of Joseph Ball Brown.

David BOWLBY and Clemency BROWN had the following children:

+1477 i. Mary BOWLBY.
1478 ii. Elizabeth BOWLBY⁽⁸¹⁶⁾⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾⁽⁸⁾ was born on 10 Nov 1842 in Clermont County, Ohio.⁽³⁴²³⁾⁽³⁴²⁹⁾ She died on 12 Sep 1851.⁽³⁴³⁰⁾ She was buried in Brown family cemetery, Price Road near Mulberry, Ohio.⁽³⁴³¹⁾ She was buried on a farm owned by John Hews in 1850.
+1479 iii. George BOWLBY.
+1480 iv. William Ennis BOWLBY.
1481 v. John BOWLBY⁽⁸¹⁶⁾⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾⁽⁸⁾ was born on 3 May 1850 in Clermont County, Ohio.⁽³⁴³²⁾ He died on 20 Dec 1861 in Clermont County, Ohio.⁽³⁴³³⁾ He was buried in Brown family cemetery, Price Road near Mulberry, Ohio.⁽³⁴³⁴⁾
1482 vi. Joseph BOWLBY⁽⁸¹⁶⁾⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾⁽⁸⁾ was born on 20 Oct 1853 in Clermont County, Ohio.⁽³⁴³⁵⁾ He died on 7 Dec 1869 in Olney, Richland County, Illinois.⁽³⁴³⁶⁾
+1483 vii. Adeline BOWLBY.