Re: BOWIE, Ayshire,Scotland to IA to where?
-
In reply to:
BOWIE, Ayshire,Scotland to IA to where?
8/17/00
I have a connection to Iowa Bowies.My husband's paternal grandfather, Fred May, married Anna Bowie.Both Fred May and Anna Bowie were from Iowa and from what I know they grew up together and I believe were cousins.Fred May moved to Steamboat Springs, CO around 1900 and homesteaded here.He maintained a long-term correspondence with Anna during this time.From what I know Anna became a school teacher or a school headmistress and moved to Washington State.Fred proposed marriage via letters to Anna and they married in 1917, with the marriage ceremony taking place in Washington State.Anna then returned to Steamboat Springs with Fred where she took up the life of a Colorado pioneer, raising five children (Frances, Helen, Dorothy, William and Jack) in first a tiny log cabin then an old frame farm house on the Elk River.Anna and Fred named their original ranch, which is still in the family, MYSTIC, after their childhood hometown in Iowa.Anna died in the mid 1950's, not long after the birth of my husband, so he never really knew his grandmother.I think she died of a stroke.Four of her five children are living (Dorothy died fairly young of cancer).They have alot more information and I'd be glad to share more with you if you are interested.I believe the reason you can't find Anna's parents in the Iowa census after a certain date is because they may have moved to Washington State by then - but I'm not sure about that.We have photos of Anna Bowie and I think some of her sisters, perhaps even her parents.I'll have to check on that if you are interested.By all accounts, Anna was a very elegant and pretty young woman, apparently very well educated and from a nice family.One of Anna's daughters, Helen, inheirited an old brooch that had been brought to America when the Bowies came over from Scotland.It was supposedly made with the hair of a long-ago ancestor and there is some connection to Mary, Queen of Scots through family folklore.The brooch belonged to Helen's great grandmother Mrs. Helen Bowie, nee Stuart, who died about 1892 or 1893, after she came to America.I'll quote part of a recent letter from our Aunt Helen regarding her great grandmother, Helen McDonald Stuart Bowie:"I think I'm beginning to understand why the girls don't find Helen McDonald Stuart listed - because probably we are correct in assuming that her husband was one of the illegitimate sons - and because of the Stuarts being Catholic and the Bowies were not.I think that's one reason Aunt Jenny and her sisters were actually ashamed of being Stuart decendents.Naturally they would have felt the illegitimacy of their ancestor was a disgrace, and would say (and I quote Aunt Jenny) "The Stuarts were aye bonnie, but not very good"."Not sure I understand all that, but at any rate my Aunt Helen went to Scotland some time ago and gave the brooch to the Royal Museum.It is now on display in the new "Heritage Museum".Mrs. Helen Bowie, nee Stuart, Aunt Helen's great grandmother, did come from Ayrshire, and must be your William Bowie's mother.
More Replies:
-
Re: BOWIE, Ayshire,Scotland to IA to where?
Cheri Smith 8/11/02