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I have recently found two records which tend to show that in 1836 a Cornelius Bowman was granted possibly 7100 acres of land in TN. Was the Cornelius Bowman who received this grant the son of William E Bowman and Elizabeth Betsy McClain?
One record is the case of Cornelius Bowman et al v. Addison Bowman et al of the September 1859 term of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. It is on pages 47-50 of the "Reports of the Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreeme Court of Tennessee, During the Years 1859-1860" by John W. Head, State Reporter, Vol. II, A.C. Mercer Printer Nashville 1866.
In May of 1859 there was a trial at the Circuit Court of Claiborne County. The action was one in which the plaintiffs sought to have the defendants ejected from certain land. The land in controversy was between Walker's line and latitude 36 degrees 30'. That would have been land that was once known as the Squabble State where KY and TN were not in agreement as to the boundaries of their states. A compact was made between KY and TN underwhich KY was to have the right to make grants to the land but that the land would be a part of TN. Under that Compact KY apparently granted this Cornelius Bowman 7100 acres of land in that area.
Was the Cornelius Bowman who received this grant the son of William E Bowman and Elizabeth Betsy McClain?
According to the case the grant was issued July 25, 1858 to Cornelius Bowman for one thousand four hundred acres of land, however, the court noted that there was upwards of 6 thousand acres of land within the boundaries of the grant. The man who carried out the Survey in 1836 indicated that Cornelius Bowman had indicated to him that there were not less than 4 thousand acres of land within those boundaries that were previously granted or held by prior legal surveys and so the surveyor included that statement in the certificate of survey. The Supreme Court of TN held that there was nothing which showed any of the property within those boundaries had in fact be appropriated by patent or survey other than a 50 acre parcel and a 150 acre parcel which that Cornelius Bowman had surveyed in 1833 and for which he received a patent in December of 1854.
The defendants Addison Bowman et al claimed a small acreage within the boundaries of the 1859 grant. The lower Circuit Court found in favor of the defendants Addison Bowman et al however the Supreme Court held that the defendants provided no evidence that they had any ownership right to the land. The Supreme Court further held that if there was a error in the grant of 1858 it was between the State (I presume KY) and the plaintiff Cornelius Bowman et al and that it had no bearing on establishing rights to the defendant Addison Bowman et al. Thus the Supreme Court of TN took the position that plaintiffs Cornelius Bowman et al were entitled to all the land within the bounds of the survey unless someone else could show superior title or unless the State of KY sought to have the grant changed. Thus this suit appeared to be a windfall for the plaintiff Cornelius Bowman et al.
Years later, the State of KY later filed a suit in the Circuit Court in an attempt to regain title to part of the land within the boundaries of the 1836 survey. KY wanted title back to all but the 1400 acres. The KY Circuit Court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction and the State of KY appealed the case to the KY Court of Appeals. On March 7, 1889 the Court of Appeals affirmed the Circuit Court by stating that the jurisdiction of KY over the land had expired 48 years before. The Court held that jurisdiction over any such controversy would lie with the State of TN. The Court noted that at that time of the hearing the Cornelius Bowman was dead and that his son Washington Bowman was therefore isted as a defendant. The Court also noted that much of the land had by then been sold to others and was not in the possession of or claimed by the heirs of Cornelius Bowman. (This is from "The Lawyers Reports Annotated" Book III by Rovert Desty, Editor and Edmund H. Smith and Burdett A. Rich, Assistants, 1889 published by The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company Rochester NY 1905.)
William E Bowman Sr and Elizabeth Betsy McClain (1760-1832) have been reported to have had a son named Cornelius (b abt 1783) who abt 1819 married Elizabeth Lynch d/o John and Eliz Allison Lynch. I've also seen it reported that the children of Cornelius (b ~1783-1793) and Elizabeth Lynch,included Sarah, Sally, Deborah, Susannah Susan , Berthena, Maraza Raisey, and George Washington (Wash). George Washington Bowman could thus have been the son mentioned in the KY lawsuit as Washington Bowman.
The Bowman Cemetery off Bowman Lane in Well Springs includes the stone of an Addison Bowman 1827-1913. I've seen it reported that William E. Bowman's son William Jr (b 1795 d 1845 or 1849) married Mary Beeler and had a son named Addison Bowman who was born May 3, 1827 in Claiborne County, Tennessee and who died October 8, 1913 in Claiborne County, Tennessee. Thus it would appear that the original ejectment action involved an attempt by Cornelius Bowman (b abt 1783) or his heirs to have his brother William's son Addison Bowman evicted from the land that he claimed.
Can anyone confirm that the Cornelius Bowman who received the grant was the son of William E. Bowman Sr? Also does anyone know what Cornelius Bowman (b abt 1783) did to get a grant as large as 1400 acres let alone 7100 acres? Could he have received the grant as payment for military service of some sort? Maybe War of 1812?
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