Stephen Bawden

BAWDEN, HOUGH, CLEMO, TERRILL, CARBIS, PLATTS, MOSSMAN, HARRISON, MORE, FOSTER, BARROWS, JELBERT, ILES

Posted By: Carol Bawden (email)
Date: 4/1/2007 at 16:31:34

STEPHEN BAWDEN b. 6 April 1812 (ch 25 April 1813) in Redruth, Cornwall, England, at the end of the long, troubled reign of George III and seven years before Queen Victoria was born. He was the oldest of seven siblings (In order: Harriet, Edwin, John, Henry, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Matilda) all born to blacksmith, and possibly victualler at the Redruth Inn, Stephen and Elizabeth Jelbert Bawden in Redruth.

Redruth was a large mining and manufacturing community set amid the red-hued, tin-rich hills of Cornwall. The town rang to the sound of Cornish folk 'coursing' in a language someone from 20 miles down the road might have had trouble understanding. The Cornish dialect is usually spoken, not written and each parish had it's own dialect.

On 4 September 1837, Stephen married Mary Terrill, as London’s General Register Office records it:

“1837. Marriage solemnized by Banns in the Church of Redruth in the County of Cornwall No. 18, September 4, Stephen Bawden and Mary Terrill, Full age, Bachelor and Spinster. Occupation, Smith; Residence, Redruth; Father’s name, Stephen Bawden, Occupation of Father, Smith, Married in the Church of Redruth according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England by me, J.W. Hawkeley, Rector. This marriage was solemnized between us, Stephen Bawden, Mary Terrill; in the presence of us, Samuel Terrill, Sally Carbis.”

Mary Terrill was born the oldest child at Redruth, 8 April 1817, daughter of Samuel and Mary Hough Terrill of Redruth, Cornwall, UK.

Mary’s sister, Elizabeth, born 13 April 1820 in Redruth, married probably in Redruth, William Clemo. They were divorced before 1860. She and William had a daughter, Elizabeth Clemo b. 18 July 1849 in Redruth.

In 1837, Victoria became Queen of England, beginning the golden years of the English Colonial Empire. Spain’s influence as a world power was waning, particularly in the Caribbean area. England, watchful for an opportunity to expand its empire, cast eyes on the mineral-rich island of Cuba.

Stephen and Mary had their first child, Elizabeth, b 10 July 1838 on Green Lane in Redruth. She died 2 years later 24 June 1840.

Just before the 1841 English census, the couple sailed to Cuba in the interest of president Stephen’s Sawanee Mining Company. The family settled in Cobra, in the hills above Santiago. Their 2nd and 3rd children were born here: Stephen Douglas Bawden b 13 September 1843, and Henry Lightbourne Bawden b 28 December 1845. They spent some years here and returned to England [Redruth?] for the birth of their 4th child, William b 2 February 1849.

The coal mining industry in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was in full force when the Bawdens settled in Norristown, its county seat. The 1850 Philadelphia census lists the Bawden family: Stephen, Mary, seven-year-old Stephen Douglas, five-year-old Henry Lightbourne, and two-year-old William. Stephen lists his occupation as “agent” It is probable that he was connected with the sale of coal-mining equipment manufactured in Redruth. His sisters, Matilda Bawden and Mary’s sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Clinson and her daughter, Elizabeth, have joined the family.

In the 1860 Pennsylvania Federal Census for Norristown taken 3 August 1860, 49-year-old Stephen Bawden’s family includes: wife Mary, sons Stephen Douglas and Henry Lightbourne, 3 more children - Mary Terrill b 9 May 1851, Thomas John b 10 February 1855, George Washington b 9 May 1859; and Elizabeth and her 10-year-old daughter Elizabeth, 2 female servants 18-year-old Mary Douglas and 14-year-old Eliza White, both from England. Two-year-old son William, born in England, dies in Norristown 10 April 1851. Stephen gives his occupation as “gentleman” and states that his combined worth is $70,000. He has obviously prospered in the 10 years they have lived in Norristown.

By 1860, railroads had made travel relatively speedy and inexpensive. Stephen came to the area in advance of his family to purchase land. In Scott County, Iowa Deed Book Y, page 186, on 31 July 1860 Stephen, still a resident of Norristown, purchased part of Section 4 in Rockingham Township from William and Mary Platts for $6,500. On 12 September 1860, more land is deeded in Section 4 by James G. And Margaret Mossman and on 20 September 1860, Willard and Anna H. Barrows deed land to him in the same section. Both September deeds give Stephen’s residence as Scott County, so the family became residents between 4 August and 11 September 1860. The Platts, next-door neighbor John Harrison and wife Jane, and Harrison’s next-door neighbor Mary More and her mother Mary A. Foster were all from England. It might be that Stephen was previously acquainted with one or all of these families as a reason to come to Scott County.

Rockingham is the smallest township in the county, and many historical scenes center there. Its settlement began simultaneously with Princeton and LeClaire, just upriver. During the years 1835, '36 and '37, a few settlers made claims back from the river, along the bluffs, and the edge of the prairie. [Rockingham Township was annexed to Davenport 22 January 1958].

The City of Davenport was established in 1836. By 1860, the population of Davenport reached 20,000, while the once-promising Rockingham had become almost a ghost town.

Stephen owned most of the northwest quarter of Section 4 consisting of about 160 acres. The southeast corner lay along the Mississippi River adjacent to Offermann’s Island, now Credit Island. The road leading to Rockingham ran through the center of the Bawden property now known in city/county registers as Bawden’s Addition.

Stephen moved into this pastoral setting “Valley Farm” as he called it. On the bluffs were large estates and summer places built by the Putnam, Fejervary, and Dillon families and some who came from St. Louis to escape the summer heat.

He set up a farm and built a large two-story brick home with cyclone cellar. There is now Roosevelt Public School - a neighborhood grade school which was closed in the early 2000s - where Stephen and Mary’s home was built (1220 Minnie Ave., Davenport, Scott County, Iowa). The Iowa Agricultural Census for 1870 and 1880 indicates Stephen would be a “gentleman farmer”. Only 18 of his 160 acres were cultivated, he had only 2 horses, 2 dairy cows, 25 barnyard fowl, 9 swine. In a 20-year period, he didn’t earn more than $1000 per year.

He died at his home of a paralytic stroke 18 October 1881 at the age of 69. Mary moved to her daughter Mary Terrill Iles’ home at 614 E. 13th St. in Davenport where she died of “general disability” 8 December 1884. The family belonged to the Methodist Church. Mary and Stephen are buried in Davenport’s Oakdale Memorial Gardens in a plot marked by a huge BAWDEN family marker, and headstones also marking sons Albert L. and Dr. Henry Lightbourne Bawden,, baby Clark Bawden (Henry’s son), and baby M. B. Knot well (Matilda’s son).

Albert L., the last child, was born 18 July 1861 in the Rockingham home and died of dysentery a month later on 10 August 1861.

Stephen and Mary Terrill Bawden had:
1. Elizabeth born in Redruth, Cornwall, England; died before the family moved to Cuba.
2. Stephen Douglas born 13 September 1843 in Cobra, Cuba
3. Henry Lightbourne born 28 December 1845 in Cobra, Cuba
4. William born 2 February 1849 in England and died 10 April 1851 in Norristown, Montgomery Cnty, PA.
5. Mary Terrill born 9 May 1851 in Norristown, PA
6. Thomas John born 10 February 1855 in Norristown, PA
7. George Washington born 9 May 1859 in Norristown, PA
8. Albert L born 18 July 1861 in Rockingham Township, Scott County, IA, died 10
August 1861.