Benjamin Franklin Bowlsby

BARR, BOWLSBY, BROWN, COMPTON, DAVIDSON, GARRETSON, GREGORY, HYSKELL, KRABIEL, LOWDEN, SOUTHWICK, WEYHRINCH

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 9/2/2004 at 13:51:45

Winterset numbers Benjamin F. Bowlsby among its valued and respected citizens and Madison county claimed him for many years as one of its leading agriculturists, but at the present time he is living retired, having now passed the seventy-fifth milestone on life's journey. For more than sixty-three years he has made his home in this state and has been a witness of much of its development and progress. He was born near Muncie, Delaware county, Indiana, September 30, 1839, and is descended from English and German ancestry. His paternal grandfather emigrated from England in company with two brothers and became one of the first settlers of Indiana. He probably served as a soldier in the War of 1812.

William H. Bowlsby, father of Benjamin F. Bowlsby, was born in Union county, Indiana, March 18, 1815. He was but fourteen years of age when his father died and he was bound out to learn the blacksmith's trade, serving a regular apprenticeship. He was reared in the wilderness of Indiana and pioneer conditions existed when he opened, a blacksmith shop on his own account in Union county. Later he removed to Delaware county, where he married and also conducted a blacksmith shop for several years. About 1843, however, he removed to Hollansburg, Darke county, Ohio, where he engaged in blacksmithing until June, 1852. That year witnessed his arrival in Oskaloosa, Iowa. With a team of horses and a wagon he journeyed across the country and after reaching Oskaloosa he rented a shop and followed his trade. He exchanged his team for land at Linn Grove, Jasper county, Iowa, thus becoming owner of one hundred and sixty acres. In the spring of 1854 he came to Winterset and entered two tracts of one hundred and twenty acres each in this county. He also entered two lots in the town, building a shop near the south side of the square. He conducted the business for a year and then built a gravel wall shop on the lots that he had previously purchased. There he conducted business for about a year, when he traded all of his town property for land in Scott township. At one time he was the owner of about four hundred acres. However, he built a shop on his farm and continued blacksmithing, while his son Benjamin conducted the farm. The father continued at his trade until November, 1866, when he removed to Osceola,. Iowa, where he conducted a smithy until about 1900, when he retired on account of his age. The last year of his life was spent at the home of his son in Clarke county, Iowa, where he died June 15, 1901. He was a republican in his political views, active in his support of the party. He belonged to the Methodist church and he ever displayed those sterling traits of character which command respect and confidence. He was a self-made man and his was a successful life, indicating clearly what can be accomplished when determination and energy lead the way.

On the 5th of May, 1836, William H. Bowlsby was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Ann Garretson, who was born in Pennsylvania on the 18th of June, 1817, her parents being Benjamin and Hannah (Way) Garretson, likewise natives of the Keystone state. On removing westward they settled in Indiana in 1829 and in the year 1851 came to Iowa, establishing their home in Winterset in 1852. Her father was a Methodist preacher and also followed the trade of shoemaking in early life, but in his later years he devoted his entire time to the work of the ministry. In 1861 he removed to Osceola, Iowa, where he engaged in preaching until his death, which occurred in November, 1863. His wife survived him until about 1866 or 1867. Their daughter, Mrs. Bowlsby, went to Indiana with her parents during her girlhood and was married in that state, after which she accompanied her husband to Iowa, becoming one of the pioneer women of Madison county. As there was no hotel in her locality she entertained all the travelers who came their way, her home being hospitably open. She died in Clarke county, Iowa, August 31, 1904. In the family were nine children, of whom four died in infancy. The eldest of the family were Benjamin F. and a twin, but the latter died in infancy; Eliza J. is the wife of J. R. Compton, living in Oklahoma City James F. is a retired farmer, making his home in Des Moines; Addison K. lived in Clarke county, Iowa, where he passed away; Hannah M. is the wife of Andrew Barr.

Benjamin F. Bowlsby was a lad of about thirteen years when the family came to Iowa. He was a pupil in the first frame school building erected in Winterset. His father was a blacksmith, but Benjamin did not like the trade, so the father exchanged town property for a farm, of which the son took charge, continuing its cultivation from 1856 until he was married in 1860. At that time his father gave him eighty acres of the homestead and he successfully cultivated the place until the outbreak of the Civil war. He and his father, equipped with a drum and fife, made their way all over Madison county, instilling the spirit of patriotism in the citizens and assisting in the organization of Company F, Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and several others. On the 9th of August, 1862, Benjamin F. Bowlsby joined Company A of the Thirty-ninth Infantry, with which he was connected throughout the remainder of the period of hostilities. He took part in the battle of Parker's Crossroads in Tennessee, in the engagement at Corinth, Mississippi, and in numerous other skirmishes and battles. He was on duty with the Third Brigade, Second Division of the Sixteenth Army Corps, commanded by General G. M. Dodge. On the 2d of November, 1863, he was taken to Middle Tennessee, and in the spring of 1864 went with Sherman in the campaign to Atlanta. His division was sent to Rome, Georgia, to take care of the sick and wounded and there remained until the troops were started in pursuit of General Wheeler. A month was spent in that way, after which they returned to Rome where they remained until ordered to Allatoona Pass on the 5th of October, 1864. In the engagement which there occurred the regiment to which Mr. Bowlsby belonged suffered heavy losses and Mr. Bowlsby, with others of the command, was captured and marched a distance of about two hundred miles to Columbus, Georgia, and afterward was taken to the Millan stockade. There he remained until about the time Sherman started for the sea, when the Union prisoners were moved in his advance from place to place. They were first at Savannah, later at Charleston for a time and then were taken to the stockade at Florence, where the winter of 1864-65 was passed until the 20th of February, during which time they were kept on quarter rations. In February they removed to Wilmington, North Carolina, and two days later proceeded to Goldsboro, but after one day were taken back to Wilmington. While they were there the Union army came up and they had to move on or else the prisoners would have been recaptured by the Union troops. While they were being transported from Wilmington Mr. Bowlsby jumped off the cars and hid himself until he could make his escape. He found some northern sympathizers who hid him in the swamp for about a week and furnished him with food. He was exchanged on Cape Fear river, North Carolina. Suffering from swamp fever, he was sent to the hospital in Wilmington, where he remained for six weeks and during that time General Lee and his army surrendered. As Mr. Bowlsby was then able to walk to the boat landing, he took a transport to Fortress Monroe and proceeded thence to Annapolis, Maryland, and on to Benton Barracks, Missouri, where he obtained a furlough and returned home. Ere the expiration of his furlough the war department ordered him to report to Davenport, Iowa, and there he was honorably discharged in May, 1865. He knows all of the experiences of war with its hardships and its horrors and, while he never regretted that he aided in the defense of the Union, he was glad when it was possible to return home, knowing that the country was once more united.

After the war was over Mr. Bowlsby settled on a farm in Madison county and continuously engaged in general agricultural pursuits until 1900, when he retired and took up his abode in Winterset, where he now makes his home. He was married in 1860 to Miss Catherine S. Hyskell, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania and when fourteen years of age came to Iowa with her parents, Jacob and Mary Ann Hyskell. They were also natives of the Keystone state and in 1856 arrived in this county, settling in Walnut township. Mrs. Bowlsby passed away January 27, 1894. There were ten children of that marriage: Marietta, who became the wife of William Southwick and lived in Wisconsin until her death, which occurred in 1904; Minnie, the wife of Sherman Gregory, of Des Moines; May, the wife of Frank Davidson, of Des Moines; Walter H., who carries on farming in North Dakota; Clarence C., who wedded Miss Emma Brown, of Madison county, and lives in Des Moines; Frank O., a resident of Omaha, who married Miss Elmina Gregory, of Madison county, Iowa; Othello, who died in 1908; Bertha, the wife of William Weyhranch, of Wisconsin; Fred A., who is a rural route mail carrier living at Winterset and who married Miss Ada Lowden, a native of Madison county; and Blanche, the wife of Albert Weyhranch, also of Wisconsin. Our subject also has the following grandchildren : Ernest, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Southwick, who is married and has a daughter; Curtis, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Gregory; Roy and Clara, who are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Davidson, the former being married and having a daughter, Alice May; Edith and Bessie, the daughters of Walter H. Bowlsby, of North Dakota; Everett, Merle and Lucille, who are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence C. Bowlsby; two sons and two daughters who are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Frank O. Bowlsby, of Omaha; Opal and Emmett, who are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Othello Bowlsby and are living in Kokomo, Indiana, with their widowed mother; Arthur, the son of Fred A. Bowlsby; and Alberta May, Bernard and a baby boy, who are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Weyhranch. For his second wife Benjamin F. Bowlsby chose Mrs. M. J. Krabiel, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of a Methodist Episcopal minister.

Mr. Bowlsby owns a nice residence in Winterset and is still the owner of his farm of two hundred and sixty-one acres of valuable land. He served as drum major of his regiment during the Civil war and is still a good drummer, his services being in demand at state encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member of the Des Moines Veteran Drum Corps and National Association of Civil War Musicians, and he is a charter member of Pitzer Post, No. 55, G. A. R., of Winterset. In politics he is a republican and has held various offices, to which he has been elected as the representative of that party. As a veteran of the Civil war, as a pioneer citizen of Madison county and as one of its foremost representative farmers he deserves mention in this volume, and the rest which has come to him is well merited, being the direct result of his perseverance and industry. He has a very wide acquaintance in the county and among his acquaintances there are many warm friends.

Taken from the book, "The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915"