Re: Hugh Bowen - Asa Bowen (need dates)
BOWEN
Posted By: Steve Hanken (email) In Response To: Re: Hugh Bowen - Asa Bowen (need dates) (Joanne Wilken)
Date: 6/3/2003 at 06:27:58
Asa Bowen was from New York, he settled in Jones County for a time and then moved into Delaware County, Iowa near Sand Springs. He was a school teacher and a carpenter when he first came to the area. He had been raised on a dairy farm in up-state New York and had been advised by his brother James to come to Iowa. He purchased several parcels of land with warrants from military veterans that he had bought in the east, including several parcels that he purchased in Delaware County as well as Jones County. He is said to have built the first cabin in Sand Springs. He was a large dairyman for the time and also had a cheese factory. One of his brothers, I believe it was Chancey, came out from Chicago to visit Asa, while in the area the people around Hopkinton were looking to establish a college. As a lark, Chancey said that he would donate $500 for a college, so the original name of what later became Lenox College in Hopkinton was the Bowen Institute. Chancey was involved with a large merchandising store in Chicago known as Bowen Brothers, he was at one time an alderman, but all the records were distroyed in the Chicago Fire. I too have been looking for a connection between the two, Asa and Hugh, have not found it as yet. Although the immigration patterns suggest that they could very well be related. Hugh settled somewhere around Cinncinatti and that would be directly on the way to the west from New York via the great lakes. I have been working on an archaeological excavation from the Bowen's Prairie area now going on the second year, so if you find something let me know!
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