Barney B.[ranford?] Gowen [William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of William Gowen and Mary Harrison Gowen, was born at Combahee Ferry, in 1809 according to the 1850 Camden County census.

 

In 1820, at the simultaneous deaths of his parents, he was adopted by his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Harrison, ac­cording to Mary A. "Mollie" Wingfield, who "brought the two younger children to Georgia, leaving William and Ann with the Gowen relatives in South Carolina."  The "Gowen relatives" were not identified.

 

Barney B. Gowen and his brother, James Gowen, "orphans of Glynn County, Georgia" in 1821 received a land grant of 202.5 acres of land in Dooly County, Georgia from the state of Georgia.  The land was described as Lot 141, District 12.  Dooly County was later located in Wilcox County, Georgia upon formation of the new county.

 

Barney B. Gowen held warrant No. 155 in the 1827 land lottery of Georgia.  He was described as "Barney Gowen, orphan, over 18, resident of Georgia over three years, Glynn County, April 20, 1827."  He became 18 in 1827, the year of the lottery.

 

Barney B. Gowen of Glynn County purchased eight slaves for $1,000, August 8, 1828 from Andrew Paul and John M. Paul, both of Anson County, North Carolina, according to Glynn County legal records.  At the same time he purchased from John M. Paul five additional slaves by the names of "Will, Binar, Andrew, Susie and Katie."  A bill of sale covering the transaction August 18, 1828 was recorded by "Barna B. Gowen" in Glynn County Deed Book H, page 152.

 

Barney B. Gowen appeared as the head of a household in the 1830 census of Glynn County, page 264, according to the 1830 census of Georgia:

 

"Gowen, B. B. white male 20-30

white female 70-80"

 

The septuagenarian included in the household is identified as Elizabeth Harrison, his maternal grandmother.

 

Thomas F. Harrison, son of John Harrison and Elizabeth Harrison, was a resident of Glynn County.  He received 202.5 acres in Wayne County from John Perry June 30, 1827.  The will of Thomas F. Harrison of Glynn County, written November 3, 1829 and probated January 4, 1830 mentioned "James Gowen and Barna Gowen, nephews", according to Glynn County Will Book D.  The will devised his horse and gig to his mother, Elizabeth Harrison.

 

The will of Elizabeth Harrison of Glynn County, was written May 28, 1837 and probated September 4, 1837, according to Glynn County Will Book D, page 343.  The document read:

 

"State of Georgia, Glynn County

 

Know all men by these presents that I, Elizabeth Harrison, being in perfect sound mind and memory, but knowing the uncertainty of this mortal life, do make this my last will and testament in words and form as follows:

 

Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson James Gowen my negro fellow, Jacob.

 

Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson Barny B. Gowen my negro woman, Eve with her future in­crease, my negro boy, George and my boy, Moses.

 

Item: All my ready money which I may have in possession, say about seven hundred dollars, I re­quest may be put out at interest and to be equally divided between the children of my late son, William Harrison as they may arrive at age, but if my Executors hereafter named think proper to make a distribution of the money among the children before they arrive at age, they are at liberty to do so.

 

Item: My three negroes by the name of Jimmy, Tumah, and Albert I request may be sold at public outcry to the highest bidders for cash and the pro­ceeds of the same to be equally divided between the following children: Ann Gowen, William Gowen, the children of my late daughter Mary Harrison, and James Scott, Eliza Thomas, Mary Henning and Sarah Porter, the children of my late daughter, Sarah Harrison, six in number. 

 

I also nominate and appoint and leave my two grandsons, James Gowen and Barney B. Gowen my lawful executors to carry fully into effect this my last will and testament, revoking all other wills by me made.

 

In testimony whereof I have this day signed my name this 28th day of May, 1837.

Elizabeth [X] Harrison

 

Signed, sealed and acknowledged in the presence of us.

V. Wooley, A. F. Wooley, Frances M. Scarlett, I.I.C.J.C.

 

Inventory and Appraisement of the Estate of Eliza­beth Harrison, late of Glynn County, Georgia, de­ceased.

 

1  Jim, a negro man valued at $ 650.00

2  Tamar, negro woman valued at    75.00

3  Albert, negro boy valued at   550.00

4  One note of hand given by James Gowen

      dated 16 April, 1837, on demand   552.75

5  One note of hand given by James Gowen

      dated 3 April, 1837, on demand  100.00 

6  Four Hundred 41 & 25/100 note   441.25

 

We certify upon oath that as far as was produced to us by the executors, the above and foregoing con­tains a true appraisement of the goods, chattels and credits of the Estate of Elizabeth Harrison, deceased to be best of our understanding and judgment.

 

Alex McDonald, Stephen W. Timmons, G. Hous­town, Appraisers"

 

Barney B. Gowen appeared in the legal records of Camden County when he received a deed to 486 acres of land from John Talbird of South Carolina.  The land conveyed by the deed was bounded on the east and the west by land already owned by Barney B. Gowen indicating that he was already a large landowner by the time he was 28 years old.  The deed read:

 

"The State of South Carolina

 

Known all Men by these Presents, That I, John Tal­bird, in the state aforesaid, in the consideration of the sum of Four Hundred Dollars to me paid by Bar­ney B. Gowen in the State of Georgia, have granted, bargained, sold and released, and by these presents, Do Grant, bargain, sell and release unto the said Barney B. Gowen all that tract of land situated in Camden County in the State of Georgia containing four-hundred and eighty-six acres, more or less, bounded on the south by the Great Satilla River, on the east by land owned by Barney B. Gowen, on the north by vacant land and on the west by land of Barney B. Gowen.

 

Witness my Hand and Seal, this thirty first day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven and in the 61st year of the Independence of the United States of America.

John Talbird

 

Signed, Sealed and Delivered in the presence of: John Hazel, John H. Webb, Thos. Talbird."

 

Barney B. Gowen received other land from the state of Georgia.  In 1837 he was granted 40 acres of land in McIntosh and Camden Counties, and later in Camden County he was granted 225 acres in 1850.

 

For $150 Barney B. Gowen gave a deed to Thomas S. Hop­kins March 10, 1840 to 225 acres which he had received in a grant dated November 4, 1839, according to Glynn County Deed Book CC, page 548.

 

Barney B. Gowen was enumerated in the 1840 census of Cam­den County as "B. B. Gown, age 30-40," and regarded as a bachelor since he was the sole white member of the house­hold.  The report also indicated him as the owner of 13 slaves with 8 members of the household engaged in agriculture.

 

On July 1, 1844 Barney B. Gowen purchased from John C. Sheffield 150 acres for $130, according to Camden County Deed Book O, page 24.  On October 1, 1844 Barney B. Gowen for $550 received a sheriff's deed to "chattels of Henry B. Turner," according to Camden County Deed Book O, page 52.  Property purchased included "one negro woman named Gilley, age 35; one boy named Alonzo, 8; one boy named Richard, 3; one boy named Ernie, 6; one girl named Annie, 7 months; 75 head of cattle; 1 bay horse, age 6 years."

 

Barney B. Gowen purchased items from the estate totaling $21.39, March 4, 1850, according to Glynn County Deed Book E, page 162.  On August 17, 1850 Barney B. Gowen appeared in District No. 9, Camden County, Household No. 50-50, page 755 in the 1850 census.  He was shown as a single man, 41, a planter born in South Carolina with real estate valued at $2,600.

 

He received a deed February 20, 1853 to 500 acres for $1,000 from Gideon A. Mallette, according to Glynn County Deed Book P, page 216.

 

It is believed that he did not marry.  He died before his brother, William W. Gowen and was buried at Old West Union Church Cemetery, Colesburg, Camden County, three miles south of Woodbine.

 

Barney B. Gowen, son of Barney B. Gowen and Josephine Dobbs Gowen, was married in Folkston, Georgia in Charlton County to Thelma Taylor about 1946.  She was born August 23, 1926 to Richard Chandler Taylor who was born July 19, 1900 in Charlton County and Cora Bell Crews Taylor who was born there February 3, 1903.  Thelma Taylor Gowen was transferred to a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, March 7, 2004.  Thelma Taylor Gowen had a tombstone in Sardis Cemetery.

 

A Barney Gowen, age 4, was enumerated in the 1850 census of Camden County, Georgia, living in Household No. 50-50.

 

James Gowen, [William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of William Keating Gowen and Mary Harrison Gowen, was born in Combahee Ferry about 1810.  When the parents of James Gowen died, both on the same day in 1820, he along with his brother, Barney B. Gowen was adopted by his grandmother, Elizabeth Harrison, the widow of John Harrison.  John Harrison had died 13 years earlier in Beaufort District in 1807, according to a letter written June 21, 1960 by Charles Latimer Gowen, his great-great-great grandson.

 

On April 25, 1827 "Elizabeth Harrison, widow of a revolutionary war soldier" received a land grant from the state of Georgia to land in Columbia County.  Revolutionary service land grants did not require residence.

 

Elizabeth Harrison survived her husband until 1837 and died in Camden County where she had moved following the death of her husband 30 years earlier.

 

James Gowen, at age 8, and his brother Barney B. Gowen, "orphans of Glynn County," were the grantees of 202.5 acres of land in Dooly County from the state of Georgia in 1821.  The land, described as Lot 141, District 12, Dooly County, was later located in Wilcox County, upon the formation of the new county.  The orphans probably did not ever see the land, but simply had the deed recorded and sold the land, according to "Historical & Genealogical Collections of Dooly County" by Powell.

 

"James Gowen" described as "over 18, resident of Georgia for over three years" received a land grant in Glynn County in the Georgia land lottery of 1827.  Date of the lottery was March 12, 1827.  If this individual were, a generous allowance was made for his age to state he was "over 18."

 

He purchased a negro named Harriott and her child named Mary for $450 September 2, 1828 for $450 at a sheriff's sale, according to Glynn County Deed Book H, page 160.  On June 10, 1831 he purchased a negro slave named John from John Coles for $275, according to Glynn Deed Book H, page 256.  On September 17, 1830 he purchased 236 acres at a sheriff's sale for $250, according to Glynn County Deed Book H, page 260.  "Barna B. Gowen" and Francis W. Scarlett were wit­nesses.

 

James Gowen was a member of the exclusive Camden Hunting Club October 18, 1832, according to its minute book.  The group was composed of prominent citizens of the area, in­cluding two army generals.

 

James Gowen, was married to Anna Elizabeth Abbott about 1839, probably in Camden County.  Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen was born in 1818 to George Abbott and Rebecca Bruce Abbott of St. Simons Island, Georgia.  George Abbott was from County Galway and had settled in Frederica about 1805, according to E-mail written October 1, 1996 by Hugh Casement, Abbott descendant and researcher of Munich, Germany. 

 

George Abbott was born April 26, 1789 to Thomas Abbott and Ann Tubbs Abbott at Mt. Bellew, Ballinasloe.  Thomas Abbott was the son of George Abbott and Cecily Netterville Abbott of Castlegar, according to Hugh Casement.  She was a daughter of Patrick Netterville, a merchant of Dublin. 

 

George Abbott, who died in 1783, was a son of the Rev. Thomas Abbott of Castlegar, Galway.  He was baptized in Dublin June 8, 1688.  He wrote his will August 11, 1759 and died near Castleblakeney, County Galway in January 1762, at age 80, according to "Occurrences" by Pew.  A memorial to him was erected in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin 

 

The Rev. Thomas Abbott is presumed to be the son of John Abbott, "alehousekeeper" who was educated in Trinity College, Dublin where he received his BA degree in 1707 and his MA degree in 1710, according to “Alumni Dublinenses.”  In 1715 he was named curate of Athenry, County Calway. 

 

Of George Abbott, Hugh Casement wrote:

 

"When he was 16, his mother's cousin, Robert Hadlock [who was very attached to her and had wanted to marry her] wrote from Georgia that his heart was failing and that he would make her eldest son his heir if she would send him there.  George sailed to Georgia immediately and founded the branch of the Abbott family in Georgia.  He was married February 2, 1808 in Connecticut to Mary Winget Wright, only daughter of the late Maj. Samuel Wright of Frederica and Rebecca Bruce Wright.

 

George Abbott became a vestryman in Christ Church at Frederica when it was established December 22, 1808, according to Patrick Demere of Florida.  George Abbott was the owner of 30 slaves, according to the 1820 census of Glynn County."

 

Mary Winget Wright Abbott was born in 1792 to James Bruce Wright and Anne Burnett Wright.  She was the daughter of Moses Christopher Burnett and Rebecca Moore Burnett.  He was the son of Maj. Samuel Wright and Rebecca Bruce Wright.  The major who was born about 1738 was vendue master of Savannah in 1790.  He was married August 14, 1790 to Rebecca Bruce, daughter of James Bruce, a merchant on St. Simons Island who owned Orange Grove Plantation located two miles south of Frederica, Georgia.  

 

Maj. Samuel Wright was a commissioner of Glynn County Academy and a member of the Georgia House of Representa­tives in 1791.  He was elected to the senate from 1792 to 1798.  He died May 4, 1808.  A petition was filed February 23, 1829 for the division of the estate of Samuel Wright by James Bruce Wright and Mary Winget Abbott, according to "Glynn County Minutes of Ordinary," page 38.

 

George Abbott received a deed to Lot 17 and a residence in Frederica May 11, 1811 for $125 from John Morgan et al, according to Glynn County Deed Book G, page 115. 

 

George Abbott died November 19, 1825, at age 34, and was buried at Christ's Church.  George Abbott had a younger brother, Edmund Netterville Abbott who also came to Georgia, arriving about 1807.  He was a merchant clerk in Frederica and was recorded as an alien in the War of 1812, age 16, according to "British Aliens in the United States During the War of 1812" by Kenneth Scott.  He "sailed to the West Indies and was not heard of again."  A still younger brother, Richard Wakely Abbott emigrated to Georgia after the death of his brother George Abbott.  He was married in 1826 to Agnes Dunne. 

 

A sister of George Abbott, Elizabeth Deborah Abbott was born September 20, 1807.  She was married May 10, 1824 to Henry Evans, Esquire of Cross, County Galway.  He was a cousin of Lord Carbery.  Henry Evans emigrated to Quebec and became a farmer at Kingsey, Drummond.  He was ordained to the ministry and died of a heart attack at Dunham, Quebec about 1845.  Five sons and six daughters were born to them. 

 

Mary Winget Wright Abbott was recorded in the 1830 census of Glynn County as the owner of 23 slaves.  She died August 27, 1848 and was buried beside her husband.  Two sons and four daughters, including, Ann Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born to them.

 

The estate of Mary Winget Wright Abbott was valued at $930.16 December 14, 1848, according to Glynn County Deed Book E, page 130.  James Gowen and Alexander Scranton were appointed administrators of the estate of Mary Winget Wright Abbott January 8, 1849, according to Glynn County Will Book D.  They continued as administrators of the estate in 1850, according to Glynn County Deed Book E, page 197. 

 

James Gowen, unidentified, received a land grant of 347 acres in Glynn County, in 1838 and another one for 259 acres in Glynn County in 1842.  In 1839 James Gowen was employed by Pierce Butler of Darien, Georgia, the largest slave owner in Georgia as an overseer.  Butler owned Butler Island Plantation and Hampton Point Plantation on St. Simons Island which employed his 500 slaves.  Butler had married Fanny Kemble, an English actress who later wrote a journal of her plantation life.  

 

A portion of Camden County was appropriated in the formation of Charlton County in 1854, and James Gowen found himself residing in the new county when it was organized.

 

James Gowen, unidentified, appeared as the head of a house­hold in the 1840 census of Chatham County, living in the city of Savannah, according to "1840 Index to the Census of Georgia" by Woods and Sheffield.

 

James Gowen apparently lived the remainder of his life in Charlton County and was buried there when he died, date un­known.

 

Children born to James Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, according to a letter written by Charles Latimer Gowen, his great-grandson, dated June 21, 1960 included:

 

George Harrison Gowen born about 1840

William Harrison Gowen born February 23, 1842

Mary A. "Mollie" Gowen born about 1843

Thomas B. Gowen born in 1844

Milton Gowen born about 1850

James Francis Gowen born about 1852

DeLancey William Gowen born about 1856

 

George Harrison Gowen, [James7, William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of James Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born about 1840, probably in Camden County.  On November 3, 1857 he was married to his cousin, Elizabeth C. Evans, according to Glynn County marriage records.  She was a daughter of Henry Evans and Elizabeth Abbott Evans of Quebec.

 

George Harrison Gowen later moved to Canada, according to Charles Latimer Gowen.  It is reported that two children, James Gowen and an unidentified daughter were born to George Harrison Gowen and Elizabeth C. Evans Gowen.  Nothing more is known of this branch of the family nor their descendants.

 

William Harrison Gowen, [James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of James Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born in Charlton [Camden] County, February 23, 1842, according to Charles Latimer Gowen, his grandson.

 

From the Georgia State Confederate Pension and Record De­partment it is certified that William Harrison Gowen enlisted as a private in Company K, Fourth Georgia Cavalry [Clinch's] Regiment August 25, 1862.  The record indicates that he was transferred to Company F of the same regiment early in 1863.  Throughout the Civil War the Fourth Georgia Cavalry Regi­ment, under the command of Col. D. L. Clinch was unattached from an army corps, but was used in the defense of Savannah River batteries and other nearby military installations.

 

Gen. G. T. Beauregard's, Department of the military comman­der of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Order No. 12 commended the Fourth Cavalry for its success in an en­gagement with the enemy near Jacksonville, Florida.  The commendation mentioned Col. Clinch in the efficient discharge of his duties and also Maj. J. C. McDonald who commanded three of the five companies of that regiment who dismounted and served as infantry.  The citation read that the "Officers and men of the fourth Georgia were eager and ready to meet the enemy on any and all occasions."

 

On March 20, 1863 the Fourth Georgia Cavalry, composed of 277 men and three pieces of artillery was stationed at Jack­sonville.  On March 27 of that year the Fourth Georgia faced the Eighth Maine Infantry Regiment and the Sixth Connecticut Infantry Regiment near Jacksonville, along with some 1,500 negro troops under "Montgomery of Kansas."  On May 8, 1863 the Fourth Georgia remained under the command of Gen. Beau­regard who had his headquarters in Charleston.

 

On July 2, 1863 Capt W. M. Hazard of Company G of the Fourth Georgia Cavalry Regiment filed a report to his head­quarters at Savannah, concerning the part played by his troops in the repulse of federal naval craft attempting a landing near Brunswick, Georgia, according to "War Department Records," Se­ries I, Volume 14, page 315.

 

His report states that his troops turned back the federal boats which moved from St. Simons Island in their landing attempt.  Thwarted here, the federal boats turned up river in a forag­ing attempt.  Capt. Hazard reports that his troops mounted and dashed up river to place themselves in defense of a salt factory which the federals threat­ened, again repulsing them.  On that date the Fourth Georgia operated in the Georgia theatre under command of Brig. Gen. H. W. Mercer.  Their status remained the same on July 30, August 31 and October 7, 1863.

 

In the fall of 1863 an ambitious Col. R. H. Anderson, who commanded the Fifth Georgia Cavalry Regiment, a parallel fa­cility to the Fourth, attempted to disparage the Fourth in order to have himself placed in command of all of the Geor­gia cav­alry regi­ments.

 

He addressed a letter to the commanding general describing for his benefit the Fourth, as follows, "no two commands are drilled alike, their internal organization is entirely different, their discipline is loose and irregular, their armament is bad and the equipment miserable.  I verily believe that they could not march tomorrow from Savannah to Charleston without having 50% of their horses unfit for service."

 

The muster roll of the Fourth Georgia for June 1864, last on file, shows William Harrison Gowen still "present."  The regi­ment was included in the command of Maj.-Gen. Sam Jones, CSA, when it surren­dered to Federal forces.  William Harrison Gowen was paroled at Thomasville, Geor­gia in mid-May of 1865.

 

William Harrison Gowen was married about 1870 to Anne Elizabeth Wright of Carteret's Point, near Brunswick, Geor­gia, probably in Glynn County.  She was a daughter of Moses Christopher Burnett Wright and Ann Anderson Wright.

 

Their household was enumerated in the 1880 census of Glynn County, Enumeration Dis­trict 57, page 25, as:

 

"Gowen, W. H. 38, born in Georgia

A. E. 27, born in Georgia

C. B.   9, born in Georgia, son

C. A.   7, born in Georgia, son"

 

William Harrison Gowen died February 23, 1890 at St. Si­mons Island, and was buried there in Christ Churchyard, Frederica, Georgia.

 

Children born to William Harrison Gowen and Anne Eliza­beth Wright Gowen include:

 

Clarence Blain Gowen born January 29, 1871

Charles Moore Gowen born May 18, 1872

 

Clarence Blain Gowen, [William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of William Harrison Gowen and Anne Elizabeth Wright Gowen, was born January 29, 1871 at St. Simons Island.  He owned an interest in Wright & Gowen, a ship chandlery in Brunswick.  He became a civilian aviation pilot.

 

He was married February 14, 1900 to Edna Augusta Latimer of Fayette County, Iowa.  She was born at Westgate, Iowa in 1877, according to DAR Vol. 95, page 65.  The cou­ple while on their honeymoon, visited with Mary A. "Mollie" Gowen Wing­field in Rome, Georgia.  Clarence Blain Gowen main­tained his residence in Fayette County from about 1900 until 1904 when he returned with his family to Georgia to make his home.  Edna Augusta Latimer Gowen died of cancer in July 15, 1932 in Brunswick.

 

Clarence Blain Gowen was remarried in 1942 to Jo Gieger.  He died January 6, 1956 at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and was buried in Christ Church Cemetery on St. Si­mons Island.  In November, 1961 Jo Gieger Gowen lived on St. Simons Island. 

 

Charles Latimer Gowen, son of Clarence Blain Gowen, wrote an account his father's life and provided a copy for the Foundation:

 

"Clarence Blain Gowen was born at Monticello at Carterets Point in Glynn County, Georgia, on January 29, 1871. He was the son of William Harrison Gowen [born February 23, 1842 and died February 23, 1890] and Anne Elizabeth Wright Gowen [born November 1, 1849 and died September 13, 1934]. His paternal grandparents were James Gowen and Ann Abbot Gowen of Camden County, Georgia, and his maternal grandparents were Moses Christopher Burnett Wright and Ann Anderson Wright of Glynn County. He lived in the Dixville section of Brunswick with his parents for a while, but they must have moved to St. Simons Island by the time he was six or seven years old and perhaps ear­lier. His father became sawyer at the Hilton‑Dodge sawmill at Gascoigne Bluff and his mother oper­ated the hoarding house at the Mills. The Hilton‑Dodge mill was one of the largest in Georgia and there were a number of supporting buildings including a manager's resi­dence, a doc­tor's residence, a church, a rectory, a com­missary and some res­idences for the white people who worked at the mill. The Dodge family had extensive land holdings on the Ocmulgee and Oconee Rivers, princi­pally in Dodge, Montgomery, Wheeler and Telfair coun­ties and the logs were cut and rafted down the Altamaha River to Darien and then towed to the mill on St. Simons for manufac­ture into lumber and timber.

 

The Reverend Anson G. P. Dodge of the millowners' family became a resident of St. Simons and Rector of Christ Church at Frederica, the church at the Mills and the church for the colored people at Jewtown. Since the only denomination which white people attended was Episcopal, both William H. Gowen and Anne Elizabeth Wright Gowen were communicants at Christ Church and attended ser­vices there or at the church at the Mills.

 

My father had one brother, Charles Moore Gowen, for whom I was named. He was born May 18, 1872 in Brunswick at the Dixville house I believe. He deserves separate treatment in our family history which I hope to prepare.

 

My father's parents lived at the Mills where his father worked and where his mother continued to operate the boarding house. The Hilton‑Dodge people had a school at the Mills for the white children that went through the primary grades and my father and Uncle Charlie at­tended. There was little planned entertainment for chil­dren so they made their own. To the southeast of the Mills was an area of high marshland and white sand. Since the sand was covered with salt water at least some of the time it was just like the beach on the ocean side of St. Simons and made an ideal playground which the boys called "the white sands." Jewtown where the negro children lived was about the same distance from the white sands and they played together. I've been told my father organized a base­ball team of white and black boys. The white boys were tanned by the sun and my fa­ther was given the nickname of "Tar" by which his mother addressed him in my presence many times. Of course, there was fishing and crabbing off the docks at the Mills and a three mile walk through the woods took the Gowen boys to St. Simons beach where turtle eggs, quite a delicacy, could be found in season.

 

My father told me how he learned to swim. He must have been six or seven at the time. At Easter his mother had bought a new straw hat for him, and after church he was walking by the mill pond deserted for the holiday. A gust of wind blew his new hat into the mill pond. Know­ing if he returned without it a whipping was in store he went into the water, paddled "dog fashion" to the hat and towed it to shore. During my boyhood my father was a fine swimmer with an excellent overhand stroke.

 

After Wright & Gowen was formed and the Steamer Hessie ac­quired my father's family was able to travel. My grandmother told me of a trip to Brooklyn by sailing vessel when she took my father and a colored girl a few years older than he to nurse him. The place in Brooklyn where they stayed fronted on a park and the colored girl would take father there to care for him. Having been well tanned on "the white sands" and the makeshift baseball diamond my father was quite dark and someone complained to Dixie Ma (our name for my paternal grandmother) about the care the colored girl was taking of "her little brother."

 

Uncle Charlie spent a year or two in Massachusetts, stay­ing with the Fuller family and going to school. A mem­ber of the Fuller family was manager at the Hilton‑Dodge mill. I feel sure father resided at the Mills until he went to military academy. Moreland Park Mili­tary Academy was located in Atlanta, not far I think from the present Little Five Points. It was operated by Professor Neal, the father of Warren Neal who was di­rector of the Highway Depart­ment during Governor Thompson's administration and later Engineer-Director of Glynn County. I believe my father attended Moreland Park Military Academy for several years until he gradu­ated. Uncle Charlie went there, too, but whether father went there first or they went together I don't know. I re­member seeing father's cadet uniform which Dixie Ma had preserved all in Confederate grey with large brass buttons and a swallow tail. Dixie Ma had great admira­tion for Professor Neal and he visited her at the Mills on several occasions.

 

Father told me that one of the pleasures of cadet life was to be invited to General Gordon's house near the Academy for sylla­bub. Another experience not so pleas­ant was attending the Methodist Church in the vicinity when the Bishop paid a visit. At the end of the regular service the Bishop arose, directed the ushers to close the doors and announced that he was there to raise the church debt. He directed that the collection plates be passed again for donations or pledges. A hymn was then sung while the "take" was counted, then the deficit that still remained was announced. The Bishop directed the plates be passed again and said they would all be there till the debt was satisfied. Eventually it was but accord­ing to father it took a long time.

 

Another of father's military academy experiences was hunting for minnie balls in the woods around Moreland Park. Thanks to the Battle of Atlanta they were in plenti­ful supply.

 

After graduation from Moreland Park Military Academy, father studied pharmacy at a school in Philadelphia which I believe later became a part of the University of Pennsylvania.  His best friend and room­mate there was Ed Ridenour who was later con­nected with a chemical company in the East.  While in Philadelphia father be­came a talented bicycle rider, win­ning several bicycle races which were ten to twenty miles in length over the countryside.  I've seen several gold medals he won. Father told me he always carried several lumps of loaf sugar and took one when he began to tire.  Uncle Charlie attended Dentistry school also in Philadelphia, but I do not believe they were there at the same time.

 

After leaving pharmacy school father went to Sumner, Iowa, to visit Dr. W. L. Whitmire, the brother of his step­father. He liked the country and decided to open a drug store in Westgate, a town of about 300 population on the Chicago Great Western Railway about ten miles south­east of Sumner. The store was in a wooden build­ing next door to the post office. Hart Spears was the post­master and was also Mayor. I do not know just when the drug store was opened, but I would suppose in 1897 or 1898. Father boarded with a Mrs. Ritchie who had two daugh­ters. He told me that Mrs. Ritchie would wake the daughters at the beginning of the week by calling out: "It's Monday, tomorrow's Tuesday, next day's Wednes­day, week half gone and nothing done! Get up, girls'" He also said that Mrs. Ritchie would bring in breakfast with an egg on his plate and then later call plaintively from the kitchen, "Mr. Gowen, will you have another egg?" Eggs in Westgate were a ready medium of ex­change at the general store with groceries on one side and dry goods on the other.

 

Father made friends with Lou Farrand who had a drug store in Sumner. Lou married a girlhood friend of my mother's, a Miss Dickman, and this friendship continued for many years. Their son Rygel went to Culver Summer School and this was responsible for mother taking her savings and sending me there in the summer of 1921.

 

Drug stores were not too profitable in Iowa at the turn of the century for the medical doctors filled their own pre­scriptions. Removing this substantial revenue hurt. To help out the drug store father did some photography and started a weekly newspaper, the Westgate Gazette. I re­member seeing the camera on a tripod, some back drops, photographic plates, etc. in the first floor of the building in Westgate when mother and I lived in the up­stairs flat. I also remember the hand press on which the Westgate Gazette was printed, the cases of type that were set by hand and old issues also on the first floor.

 

In the latter part of 1898 or early in 1899 a telephone was installed in the Spears building. My mother, Edna Latimer, came into Westgate to see this new wonder and while there was introduced to the new druggist. A courtship developed and father's horse and buggy was often covering the four miles to the Latimer farm. They were married on St. Valentine's Day in 1900 on the farm and Dixie Ma made the trip from St. Simons to Westgate for the wedding. Mother told me Dixie Ma cut quite a figure with her new clothes by an Atlanta dressmaker. Dr. W. L. Whitmire was also at the wedding.

 

After a wedding trip to Brunswick and St. Simons father and mother returned to Iowa and lived in the flat above the drug store. My sister, Ardis Evangeline Gowen, was born there, but soon after they went to the Mills at St. Simons and Ardis died there in infancy on April 15, 1903 and is buried in the family plot at Frederica Ceme­tery. Sometime after that they moved to Brunswick and lived on the west side of Newcastle Street between Howe Street and Hanover Park in a house owned by Captain Russell, Uncle Duncan Wright's father‑in‑law. This must have been when father went in the wholesale drug busi­ness.

 

Dixie Drug Company, a wholesale drug company, was formed with father as manager. Uncle Mansie, Dixie Ma and several other Brunswick businessmen bought stock. In addition to the patent and proprietary medicines usual at the time, Dixie Drug manufactured some of their own. I remember seeing sometime after Dixie Drug was out of business a bottle of "Forma Libris", a formaldehyde preparation to be used as a disinfectant that said it was manufactured by Dixie Drug Company.

 

The venture was not successful and must have ceased business after two or three years. Father was in Iowa in 1904, because I was born on the Latimer farm January 31, 1904, but I am told I was taken to Brunswick in March of that year.

 

About 1904 or 1905 father purchased an automobile, a second‑hand American. I remember seeing it several years later. It had one seat for the driver and one pas­senger, no windshield and was cranked on the left side by a crank that was removed after the engine started. I think it had a two‑cylinder motor. Father started from Brunswick to drive it to Iowa. In some fashion he got to Chattanooga but that much of the trip convinced him it couldn't be done, so he put it on a river boat at Chat­tanooga and via the Tennessee, the Ohio and the Missis­sippi it reached Dubuque or Clinton, Iowa from where he drove it to Westgate or to Cedar Rapids. I was told fa­ther broke his wrist cranking it. I remember that he did drive it from Cedar Rapids to Westgate which must have been in 1907 or 1908.

 

There were from 1900 to about 1908 or even 1909 dif­ferences of opinion between mother and father as to whether they should live in Iowa or Georgia. Mother wanted to live in Iowa and I think father was agree­able, but Dixie Ma, Uncle Mansie, Uncle Charlie and Maje Whitmire wanted father in the family business in Brunswick. Wright & Gowen had moved the ship chan­dlery business from St. Simons to Brunswick and it was flourishing. The Steamer Hessie was a great success on the Brunswick‑Darien run, paying dividends as high as 200 per cent per year. On the other hand, there was great opportunity in Iowa. At one time in the early 1900s fa­ther had an opportunity to have the Ford agency fran­chise for two or three Iowa counties. His friend, Lou Farrand, was talking of a chain of drug stores and wanted father to go in with him. Father made the deci­sion to go to Brunswick and by 1909 we were there and thereafter there was no indecision as to where our fam­ily would live.

 

Mother and I lived in Iowa in the flat upstairs in the building where the drug store had been for at least a year during 1906 and 1907. Father was working in Brunswick and mother used to get letters from him on Wright & Gowen letterheads. Their envelopes had a pic­ture of a full rigged ship under full sail on the lefthand side. I would go next door to Mr. Spears to get the mail and if there was a letter with a ship on it I hurried home for I knew how happy mother would be to hear from fa­ther. I also remember carrying some old photographic plates in a "red wagon" on a Westgate sidewalk hunting direct sunlight to print the images on old proof paper. I remember my third birthday there when Eva Stahl, the shoemaker's daughter, brought me a pretty china plate with a sausage on it as a present. We had the plate for many years and may even still have it in the things we in­herited from mother.

 

After Dixie Drug Company closed we must have moved to Cedar Rapids where father got a job with Churchill Drug Company, a wholesale drug house. I have only a few recollections about Cedar Rapids. One was a visit to a photograph gallery where they had a book with pic­tures of battleships. The other was when George was born. Our neighbors, the Heaths, had a daughter Gretchen about my age with whom I'd play. On May 13, 1907 Mrs. Heath took Gretchen and me on the street car to the end of the line to gather dandelion greens. When we got home I found I had a baby brother. When mother made bread, a weekly chore, she would make a little loaf for me in a baking powder can. Evidently, Sat­urday was baking day because when my parents slept late on Sun­day I would creep down to the kitchen and get my little loaf of bread and take it back to bed to munch on.

 

Father had a boat for a while after he was married. It was named the "Edna" and was what was known locally as a launch but had been at one time a sail boat. It was dis­posed of be­fore I was old enough to remember it, but I've been told my parents and I went out for rides on the Edna when I was a baby to find the cooler breezes on the water.

 

After leaving Cedar Rapids, father went to work at the Wright & Gowen store at Mansfield and Bay Streets in Brunswick. He was a clerk and I think was paid $125 a month. As a partner at first and a stockholder after in­corporation, I suppose he was in fact head clerk. His stepfather, J. H. Whitmire, was manager and Uncle Mansie became President when Wright & Gowen be­came a corporation.

 

Father rented an apartment in the house of Ernest Dart,  a Brunswick lawyer, who lived in the next house south of Dixie Ma on Albany Street. There was a vacant lot in be­tween owned by Wright & Gowen. The rear of this lot had a barn and a fenced lot where the Wright & Gowen drays and the horses that pulled them were quartered there after store hours. Mrs. Ernest Dart was formerly Nellie Forsyth and she was one of those for whom the tow boat "Angie & Nellie" was named. They had two girls, Angie, my age, and Eleanor, my brother George's age. Eleanor had the nickname "Topsy" because she had been ill as a baby and the doctor pre­scribed toddies for her which were made from Tip Top whiskey. My sixth birthday was celebrated at the Dart house, and my mother had somehow managed to get some fresh straw­berries, and we had strawberries and cream to celebrate. The strawberries probably came on a "fruiter," one of the small sailing vessels that frequently came to Brunswick from the Bahamas or Cuba loaded with fresh fruit, principally bananas, oranges and pineapple. Father would often bring home a whole bunch of bananas which was hung on the screened porch and we children could pull one off the stem whenever we wanted.

 

Probably as a result of his Iowa negotiations with Ford Motor Company, father got the Brunswick Ford agency for Wright & Gowen, per­haps as early as 1910. Father did the automobile selling and there were buyers ready whenever a boxcar load arrived on the side track on Bay Street in front of the store. I don't remember just how it came about, but in some trade Wright & Gowen ac­quired a Peerless automobile which was stored in the Wright & Gowen barn behind Albany Street. We were all taken for a ride in the Peerless which seemed huge compared to the early Fords. I remember access to the rear seat was through a door which was in the middle of the back of the car.

 

In 1910 we moved to a house father rented on Albe­marle Street at the corner of Wolf Street where we lived until 1912, when father purchased the house at 1302 Dartmouth Street. I think Gladys' arrival precipitated the move from the Dart apartment. While living in the Albemarle Street house, Brunswick had the first hurri­cane that I remember. It didn't seem to be too much to me, but my grandparents in Iowa were quite upset when it was reported that "Brunswick, Georgia, was cut off from all communication." The telephone and telegraph wires out of town were all down. Other damage was min­imal.

 

The Dartmouth Street house required a good deal of work both inside and out. It had beautiful heart pine floors, two sitting rooms, a wide hall both upstairs and down, a dining room, butler's pantry and kitchen. There were three large bedrooms, a small "hall" bedroom, a small sewing room and a bath upstairs. There was a lat­tice porch east of the kitchen and a porch in the rear ex­tending from the kitchen west behind the back sitting room. There was a front porch along the entire north­ern part of the house. There were sliding doors between the two sitting rooms so they could be opened and made one room for a large gathering. In cold weather one room could be closed off to make heating easier. There were fireplaces in the sitting rooms, the dining room and in each of the three large bedrooms. In the kitchen mother had a large stove, half of which was wood and half gas. We heated with pine and oak wood and an­thracite coal. Mother wouldn't have soft coal because it was too dirty.

 

Originally the Dartmouth Street lot was 90 by 90 feet, but father bought the 90 by 90 feet next south along Al­bany Street and built a combination woodshed and tool house with a servant's toilet on the east side of the new lot. There was a one car garage when father bought the place. Later this was enlarged for two cars and a play house all on the Albany Street side. At the extreme rear was a chicken yard. The rest was in garden, a grape ar­bor and a children's play area with a swing hanging from a large live oak. The house was about three feet above the ground on brick pillars. This made an additional storage area and a place for children to call out doodle bugs. We would chant, "Doodle, doodle your house is on fire" and then blow into the depression that indicated a doodle was there and sure enough out would back the doodle.

 

Father was very handy with tools and kept a large as­sortment in his workshop in the tool house. At one time he built a rig to saw wood. He had a circular saw on a drive shaft with a bench on which to place a small log. There were rollers with belts from them to the drive shaft. The automobile was backed up so the rear wheels ran against the rollers. When the auto was put in gear this "Rube Goldberg" worked well, turned the saw at high speed and cut pitch pine and oak into stove or fireplace lengths.

 

On another occasion later when I was in high school father took me and three boy friends to Jacksonville to see a high school basketball game. The road wasn't paved and in Camden County our Dodge broke down. There was a chain inside the engine housing that ran the generator. This chain broke and jammed the drive shaft stopping the engine. Father went to work. He always had an ample supply of wrenches and other auto tools in the car. The car was jacked up in front.  He got under, loosened the engine pan which released some of the pressure the broken chain was applying to the drive shaft. The crank was inserted in the front of the car and we were able to move the engine enough to get an end of the chain out where it could be reached and the chain taken out. The engine pan was screwed back and we went on to Jacksonville on the storage battery arriving before game time despite the delay of a couple of hours. That no one came along while the repair work was in progress shows what auto travel between Brunswick and Jacksonville was about 1919.

 

After Wright & Gowen lost the Ford agency, they got the Dodge agency as of January 1, 1915 and they kept it several years. The Hudson agency was added I suppose about 1920. Father was the auto salesman, but Wright & Gowen had no garage or repair service. The automobile business at Wright & Gowen was always a sideline and never considered valuable enough to give it a showroom or have a repair service. To have garage service for the people he sold automobiles to father became a silent partner with Nick Young in Young's Garage which was located in a wooden one story building on the east side of Newcastle Street between Mansfield and Howe Streets. The venture was a financial disaster for the "silent partner" and the partnership dissolved.

 

It was about 1920 that the Brunswick Laundry and the Coca‑Cola bottling franchise (which had come under one ownership) became for sale. Father wanted to buy them but mother vetoed the idea because she didn't be­lieve the bottles were properly cleaned.   L. "Pap" An­drews bought them and sold the Coca‑Cola plant to Mr. Millard Copeland and the laundry to someone else.

 

After World War One the Port of Brunswick declined rapidly. Lumber was no longer exported. Rosin and turpentine were not in great demand and the importation of kainite and nitrate was falling off as the boll weevil killed "King Cotton." The ship supply busi­ness was reduced to supplying shrimp boats principally. The "Piggly Wiggly" style of marketing groceries was supplanting the old commissary style. While the oil refinery built by Atlantic Refining Company was bringing in tankers from Texas and Mexico they bought little in Brunswick. The Florida boom was soon to gain spectacular proportions and take capital out of Brunswick for investment there. This was the picture at Wright & Gowen when Maje Whitmire died and father became its manager. In 1920, incidentally, I began my senior year at Glynn Academy.

 

All of the years that father was at Wright & Gowen he worked long hours. He opened the store at 7:00 a.m. and closed it at 6:00 p.m. He came home for the mid‑day meal which was some of the time our main meal and at others only a light lunch.  His social life was limited. My mother's upbringing verged on the Puritanical. Neither she or her sister were permitted to dance or play cards.  Father, before his marriage, I've been told was an excellent dancer and was much in demand at the weekly dances at the first St. Simons Hotel in the 1890's.  I don't think father ever played cards though his mother and brother both played a good game of bridge and Dixie Ma and Maje sometimes played pinochle. My mother was very religious and a Methodist when she was married. Father had been raised in the Episcopal Church on St. Simons though I don't believe he was ever a member. After their children were old enough for Sunday School father and mother joined the Presbyterian Church in Brunswick and George, Gladys and I joined too as we reached ten or twelve years.  Mother took a great interest in church work, father little or none.  Her close friends were in her church.  Father's friends were in the business world.  While I think my parents were always very much in love, the difference in their upbringing precluded much activity outside the home and business, though mother founded the Parent Teachers Association in Brunswick and was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution.

 

Times were really hard in Brunswick in the early 1920s and Wright & Gowen continued downhill. This was not in my opinion the result of father's mismanagement, but rather because Uncle Mansie, Uncle Charlie and he continued to try to operate a ship chandlery without shipping instead of moving the business into some other field or liquidating it.  Even though money was scarce it was always anticipated that I should go to college when I finished Glynn Academy.  As I've mentioned, my mother went into her savings to send me to Culver Summer School in the Black Horse Troop. It was a time of homesickness for me but it certainly made adjustment to college life much easier. I know what sacrifices my parents made to send me to the University of Georgia and how much the $50 per month sent to me took out of the family budget. Father was generous and I don't think every turned me down for anything I really needed.  In my junior year at Georgia we were having a house party at my fraternity for "Little Commencement" and I needed some extra money.  I wrote father about what I needed and to add emphasis I closed by saying "in fact my last two cents goes for the stamp for this letter."  By return mail I received a check for the $15 I'd asked with a letter that read, "Dear Ted, [my family nickname]  I don't know what you did with the rest of your money, but you made a damn good investment with your last two cents."

 

When I finished law school, was admitted to the bar and fortunate enough to be offered a junior partnership with Judge C. R. Conyers, father offered to help me get a better car.  The Model T Ford I brought back from Athens wasn't up to the standard he thought a young partner in a Brunswick law firm should drive.  He lo­cated a Hudson Speedster second hand in Vidalia and we went up and bought it one Sunday.  He endorsed my note for $1,000 at The First National Bank to pay for the car.  We thought it wouldn't take long for me to pay for it, but the Florida boom was draining Brunswick; the Great Depression followed and the car was long gone before the note was paid.  Father always said I might not have successfully courted Evelyn with the old Ford so it was a good investment.  The Hudson was stolen while we were on our honeymoon, and it was back to a Ford for us, but a Model A this time.

 

In 1929 or 1930 my mother found she had cancer.  Fa­ther did all that anyone could do for her.  She went to Atlanta where Dr. Floyd McRae pronounced it inopera­ble. At the Steiner Clinic X‑ray treatment did little good. Two visits were made to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Min­nesota where we were told nothing could be done. On July 15, 1933, mother passed away and father asked Eve­lyn and me and our nearly three-year-old daughter Anne to move into the house at 1302 Dartmouth Street to make a home for him which we did, moving from the Mallard apartment on the second floor of 800 First Av­enue.

 

I'm sure this was a trying time for Evelyn but she under­took the task and carried it out nobly. Father never com­plained, let us run the house in our own way and con­tributed I'm sure more than his share of the expenses.

 

The next year Dixie Ma passed away on September 13, 1934 and on April 7, 1935 Uncle Charlie died of a heart attack in his car in front of 828 Albany Street where he lived. Father in­herited their combined estates and for the first time in his life was by Brunswick standards com­fortably fixed. One of the first things he did was to take flying lessons from Francis [Sam] Baker a distant cousin.  As soon as he earned his pilot's license he pur­chased a Piper Cub. The air field then was Redfern Field, where Redfern Village is at present on St. Simons. Father loved to fly and was quite good at it. He was 65 when he re­ceived his pilot's license and continued to fly until just a few years before his death on January 6, 1956.

 

Father had inherited two cottages in front of the Beacon on St. Simons. He owned two lots on East Beach he had purchased to help Presbyterian Conference Grounds, which was planned for East Beach in 1928 but which failed early in the Depression. He engaged J. M. Kent, a builder he liked, to erect a cottage on the East Beach lots, so he would have a cottage to give to each child. He thought an architect was superfluous and had Kent pre­pare a plan.  He did adopt a suggestion or two from Eve­lyn. Fortunately, Quisie Fleming was cutting some vir­gin timber on Oak Grove Island and manufacturing it into lumber and father bought from him so the lumber in the East Beach house was heart pine as was that in the other two cottages.  While Kent's "masterpiece" was not very attractive from the outside it was quite livable in­side.

 

While we knew father planned to give each child a house we didn't know who would get what. Just before Christmas in 1935 father asked me to prepare three deeds: one to Gladys for the Cottage he had inherited from Uncle Charlie; one to George and Sarah for the cottage he had inherited from Dixie Ma and the East Beach cottage to Evelyn and me. I took our deed to Ken­tucky where we were spending Christmas, wrapped it in holiday fashion and put it with the presents. It was a pleasant surprise for Evelyn who now for the first time had a place of her own.

 

In 1938 the Post Office Department was anxious to en­courage and publicize air mail. While it had been in ex­istence for over ten years the public didn't trust it. If business people used air mail they almost always sent a confirmation by regular mail. All of this prompted the Post Office Department to establish an air mail week de­signed to promote air mail usage nationwide. Private pi­lots were asked to fly air mail between points where there was no regular service. Father flew his route on May 19, 1938. He left the airport on St. Simons at 6:00 a.m. with seven pounds of air mail. The pouch was handed to him by Lewis L. Wolfe, postmaster at Brunswick and was dispatched to Macon. Evelyn and I, George and Sarah and Gladys and Bo were on hand to see him off. His first stop was Alma, Georgia where he arrived at 7:30 a.m. and where he picked up five pounds of air mail.  He departed Alma at 7:35 a.m. and arrived at McRae at 8:30 a.m. where he picked up four pounds of air mail.  He departed McRae at 8:40 a.m. and arrived at Cochran at 9:20 a.m. where he picked up three pounds of air mail. He departed Cochran at 9:30 a.m. and ar­rived in Macon at 10:12 a.m. the completion of the route. He returned to St. Simons that after­noon.

 

The ability to give such detail about Father's flight of the air mail is due entirely to his great‑grandson, John Spalding. John spent August 1981 in the Washington, D. C. office of Congress­man Wyche Fowler as an intern. I asked John to try to find out from the Post Office De­partment when the trip was made. The Post Office De­partment couldn't help, but at National Archives he found a file of all Georgia air mail flights during the week of May 15, 1938 and in it was the flight log of Clarence B. Gowen on May 19, 1938. It bears the signa­tures of four postmasters and one assistant post­master as well as the familiar signature of my father "C. B. Gowen." John sent copies of that portion of the file to me. My half‑sister Jean Randolph recently visited us and told me that she has the plaque presented to father by the Post Office Department to com­memorate his flight. It is well John found the data because my recollection was faulty. I thought the flight went to Atlanta, but evi­dently Macon had regularly scheduled air mail and the flight ended there for that reason.

 

Air Mail Week was well publicized and many of the let­ters Father carried were sent to the post offices where he received mail to be sent on the flight to become collec­tors items. We mailed letters that went on the flight for Anne and Bootie. In addition to Father'S air mail cargo I might add that he took a five gallon can of aviation gaso­line that he had strained himself because he didn't trust the gasoline at the McRae field. He knew he would have to refuel on the trip and preferred to take his fuel with him. I am not sure which of his planes he had at this time but it was either a Piper Cub or an Aeronca Chief. Both were single engine planes capable of carry­ing a pi­lot and one passenger. Harry Smith, a son‑in‑law of George True of St. Simons, was an aviation mechanic and maintained Father's plane. His good care did much to further Father's safety record.

 

Father only had one serious accident. He was attempting to land on a golf course in Blackshear when he crashed destroying the plane, a Piper Cub. Fortunately it didn't catch fire and Father was able to walk away. He arrived home pretty well "bummed up" but with no broken bones. After a day or so in bed he was up arranging to buy a new plane.

 

Father's only other accident was in connection with the flight of a group of private pilots who were meeting in Atlanta to fly around the state. Father flew to Atlanta to meet the group without incident. They took off for Au­gusta and were to follow the lead plane there. Unfortu­nately the others were faster than his plane, and they were soon out of sight. Father tried to find a railroad to follow but realized he was off course and began looking for a place to land. He found a good grassy field and cir­cled it and it looked all right so he came down. As he approached he saw a few bushes in his path but didn't think them serious enough to go up again and pick a new place, so he let the plane run into them. He found these bushes marked the places where the rocks had been gathered from the field and his still revolving pro­peller struck a stone and bent it so it couldn't be used. His plane was reported missing and we had some anx­ious moments until he phoned he was all right.  Father got a new propeller from Atlanta and while he missed the festivities in Augusta and Savannah planned for the group of pilots, he did reach Savannah in time to take off for St. Simons with the group and land with them be­fore the homefolks.  Again my immediate family were there to greet him.

 

At least by 1941 Father was a member of the Civil Air Pa­trol which was organized as part of the preparedness of the United States because of the war in Europe. Our en­try in the war on December 8, 1941 brought activity in the Civil Air Patrol on St. Simons. Father began pa­trolling the coast looking for German submarines which by early 1942 became active off Georgia. Several ships were sunk off Brunswick and one tanker at least was sunk by gunfire by a submarine off Little St. Simons. The planes of the Civil Air Patrol were equipped to carry bombs on their patrols and I've been told my father took off with a bomb attached to each wing to patrol off shore. The ground crew breathed a sigh of relief when he landed safely and the bombs were removed.

 

Later during the war my sister Gladys' husband "Bo" was in the Navy and stationed at Charleston. Father de­cided to fly over and visit Gladys. He filed a flight plan calling for a direct flight from Brunswick to Charleston, but af­ter passing Savannah, the weather being nice and pleas­ant, he decided to detour and fly over the islands and beaches of South Carolina. When he landed in Charleston he was met by Army officers who lit into him.  It seems he had been reported by the air watchers along the coast as an unidentified plane and had caused con­siderable commotion.  He told me the officer in com­mand of the "reception committee" really let him have it. The result was that he flew back to Brunswick and put his plane in storage saying "there are too many regula­tions now."

 

Our parents liked to travel by automobile and always took the three children along. Usually the trips were to Iowa, hut the routes there and back were varied to take in many cities, historical shrines and other points of in­terest. Some of these places that I remember were the battlefields at Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge out­side Chattanooga; Lincoln's birthplace at Hodgenville, Kentucky; Mammoth Cave; the Field Museum and the Art Institute in Chicago; The Little Brown Church in the Wildwood and the Ice Caves of Decorah in Iowa; the Capitol, Washington Monument and Smithsonian Mu­seum in Washington; Mount Vernon and Manassas bat­tlefield in Virginia and the Museum of Natural history and the Flatiron Building in New York to name a few. One of the New York highlights for the children was a subway ride to Coney Island.

 

It was on December 6, 1941 that my father told me that he had married again to Jo Geiger whom we had not known.  I suggested that we should vacate the house at 1302 Dartmouth Street and he agreed.  We were moved in a few days.

 

Father and Jo lived in Brunswick for several years and then moved to Davie, Florida where he purchased a place and where he made his home for the rest of his life.  He made few trips to Brunswick, but did come at least once a year to get me to make out his income tax returns.  On one or two occasions I visited him at Davie, but our relationship was never very close after his sec­ond marriage. In retrospect, however, I now know that this marriage was good for him and good for me and my family.  Jo was good to him; provided him with a home and a second family and gave him companionship his older children could not.  It was good for us because we were freed of responsibility that I know was a burden for Evelyn which of necessity would have increased.

 

Another plus from this marriage has been my sister Jean whom we have come to know and love in recent years. Her brothers Jimmy and Dickie are doing well, too, we hear from Jean. Jean's daughter Renee has visited us and we've enjoyed her. She now is a young lady in school at the University of Richmond.

 

Father loved to drive automobiles. In 1913 or 1914 he drove a Ford Model T to Iowa where we were spending the summer with our Iowa grandparents. Mother and we three children rode with him from Westgate to New York City in that car. We went along the Great Lakes. I remember Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Fredonia, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Albany, Poughkeepsie and New York on this trip. Two of these made special impression on me. At Niagara Falls we visited the shredded wheat fac­tory. We had cereal for breakfast, usually shredded wheat, but none of us ever put sugar on our cereal. After the tour at the factory we were invited for shredded wheat biscuits and rich cream. Our pleasure was dashed when we found sugar had been poured over the shred­ded wheat biscuits and none of us children would eat them.

 

The second incident was in Poughkeepsie. When we were going through that city the streets were crowded and father struck a dray pulled by an old horse a light blow, but the horse fell and a crowd gathered. Soon a policeman arrived. The drayman was a foreigner and he was shouting, my sister Gladys was screaming and the crowd was surprised to see a Georgia car that far from home. We had Brunswick, Georgia pennants on the car. The policeman suggested that Father pay the drayman his damages [ten dollars comes to mind though it might have been more] even though we thought it the dray­man's fault, otherwise a police court case would be made for the judge to decide. Father paid and we were on our way.

 

My best recollection is we stayed in Brooklyn at a place recommended by Aunt Lizzie Wright on this trip. I re­member being taken to the Hippodrome where there was a vaudeville program that  was marvelous indeed. I think we went from New York to Brunswick by train and the Ford went home by Mallory Line steamer.

 

We made at least two trips to Iowa in the 1915 Dodge. Each was an adventure. There were no service stations or motels and few garages. There were more unpaved than paved roads. Private toll roads were frequent and an en­terprising farmer with a mule or a team of horses was usually nearby if a car was stuck in a mud hole. There were frequent fords over streams and if the creek was up you either went around looking for a bridge or waited for the water to subside. Rivers were crossed by ferries and picnic lunches were standard equipment each day. When comfort stops were necessary a roadside with good cover was soon reached and the men went on one side and the women on the other. There were no road maps but there were Blue Books. These charted the road from one city to another with these sorts of directions. "Set your trip speedometer at zero at the courthouse. Go north on Main Street for 8/10 of a mile to a factory on the left. Turn right on macadam road to 3.4 miles on speedometer where you turn left over a bridge. Proceed to 6.9 miles where there is a brick creamery on your right. Turn left on road through village of ----, etc."

 

We followed Blue Books through 1918 and could never have found our way without them. About 1916 high­ways were given names and in­signia which was painted on telephone poles along the road. The Lincoln High­way from New York to San Francisco was one. An­other I remember was the Hawkeye Highway through Iowa and, of course, the Dixie Highway which went through Georgia. We spent the night at hotels, though some auto tourists took tents and camped in the woods. When we took off in the morning, Father would have a place in mind to spend the night. Usually we would make it, but occasional­ly we had to stop earlier. The Blue Book would recommend hotels in the cities and we would pick out one whose rates suited our pocket­book. When we pulled up in front, Mother would go inside and bar­gain for a room or rooms and then she would go and look at them and if approved we moved in, other­wise we looked further or even tried for another town down the road. Most hotels had dining rooms and towns of any size had a restaurant or two. Peanut butter sand­wiches were a staple lunch with apples and candy be­tween meals.

 

Summers in Iowa at our grandparents with Father and Mother were lots of fun. Trips were made to visit rela­tives and friends. In addition, most little Iowa towns held a "field day" during the summer. At the one in Westgate prizes were given to the winners of events such as "the three legged race" two people running as a team with two legs tied together), "catching the greased pig" (a well greased pig released and given to the man who could catch and hold it) and "climbing the greased pole" (a flag would be placed at the top of a metal flag­pole about 20 feet tall and well greased and the winner the one who could reach the flag in the least time), these in addition to races, jumps and weight lifting.

 

Then there were the county fairs. We went to the Fayette County Fair in West Union. In addition to the usual midway carnival, there were trotting races, vaudeville acts in front of the grand­stand, animal husbandry ex­hibits, fancy work and after dark a great fireworks exhi­bition.

 

During World War One, Brunswick went on a great boom. There were at least three shipyards erected to build wooden steamships. Rosin was shipped through the port to Europe where it was used to hold shrapnel together in artillery shells. Construction was started on a picric acid plant for the Italian government. The popula­tion of Brunswick trebled. Living space was at a pre­mium and residents were urged to rent any unused rooms to war workers. We rented the downstairs rear parlor to a couple from Maine, the John Crookers. When the war ended there was a great recession from which Brunswick never recovered until World War Two. This I'm sure hastened the end of the firm of Wright & Gowen.

 

In retrospect, my father was an excellent family man in the sense that his family came first. He loved my mother and the three children very much. His hours at Wright & Gowen were long (7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) six days a week. This left no time for hunting or fishing with him. While he saw that we lived well, he believed in buying cheaper, unadvertised things because he could get them through the store at wholesale. I remember when phonographs became popular in the 1912 to 1915 era my mother wanted an Edison but we ended up with a cheaper one with much inferior tone.  I wanted a bicycle like the other boys had, but I ended up with one from a wholesale house that lacked many features the others had. Yet when new inventions came out he was among the first to have one.  For instance, in Iowa near the turn of the century he bought one of the first Edison phono­graphs that played circular records and had a large horn above the machine very much on the order of the old advertisement where the dog hears his master's voice.  I saw the machine years later in my grandfather Latimer's wood shed. When electric refrigerators first came out Fa­ther looked at one in Chicago and bought it.  Though it had some trouble, we used it several years when it was replaced with a more advanced model.

 

He was at his best traveling and we children had previ­ously visited many of the cities, buildings, battlefields and historic places that we later studied in school. We lived comfortably, our parents were respected and we enjoyed many luxuries that were denied our contempo­raries. Certainly I can't say that I ever called on my fa­ther for something of importance that was denied. I should have shown more gratitude.

 

Clarence Blain Gowen died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 6, 1956. He is buried in Christ Church Cemetery, St. Simons Island, Georgia, beside my mother and with his father and my sister. May he rest in peace in this beautiful spot."

 

Children born to Clarence Blain Gowen and Edna Au­gusta La­timer Gowen in­clude:

 

Ardis Evangeline Gowen born in 1900

Charles Latimer Gowen born January 31, 1904

George William Gowen born May 13, 1907

Gladys Hemenway Gowen born Oct. 19, 1909

 

Children born to Clarence Blain Gowen and Jo Geiger Gowen include:

 

Lynton Errol Gowen born about 1943

Mary Jean Gowen born about 1944

James William Gowen born Jan. 12, 1948

Richard Wright Gowen born July 12, 1952

 

Ardis Evangeline Gowen, [Clarence Blain9, William Harri­son8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] daughter of Clarence Blain Gowen and Edna Augusta Latimer Gowen, was born in 1900 in Fayette County and died in 1902.

 

Charles Latimer Gowen [Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Clarence Blain Gowen and Edna Augusta Latimer Gowen, was born January 31, 1904 in Fayette County.  He was graduated from Glenn Academy in 1921 and received his law degree from the University of Georgia Law School in 1925.  He returned to Brunswick in July 1925 enter the practice of law as a partner of Judge C. B. Conyers. 

 

He was married to Evelyn Williams of Franklin, Kentucky June 14, 1928.  He practiced law in Brunswick for 36 years and served as Brunswick County Juvenile Court Judge from 1939 to 1946.  He served in the Georgia State Legislature from 1939 to 1961, except for two years when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1954.  While in the legislature he served on the Appropriations Committee and the Judiciary Committee.  In 1945 he served on the State Constitution Revision Committee.  He was elected president of the Georgia Bar Association in 1945.  In 1958 he was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

 

In June 1960 Charles Latimer Gowen was listed as senior partner of Gowen, Conyers, Fendig & Dickey, law firm in Brunswick, Georgia.  At that time he was Democratic campaign chairman of the Eighth Congressional District of Georgia.  On January 1, 1962 he removed to Atlanta to become a partner in the law firm of King and Spalding.  His residence in 1971 was listed as 3680 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta.  In 1992 he lived at 1327 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta.  In January 2001, at the age of 97, he lived in Presbyterian Village at Austell, Georgia.  He died March 30, 2003 at the age of 99 and was buried in Christ Church Cemetery on St. Simons Island.

 

Charles Latimer Gowen served on the University of Georgia Law School Board of Visitors and was a recipient of the Law School Association’s Distinguished Service Scroll.  In 2002, a dedication was held on the University’s Old Campus of the Charles Latimer Gowen Courtyard.

 

He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta and a charter member of the St. Simons Presbyterian Church. 

‘’

 

Dick Yarbrough, a retired vice president of BellSouth Corporation and one of his associates wrote:

 

“From 1939 to 1960, Gowen was a major force on the state political scene as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from Glynn County.  Through his influence the state bought Jekyll Island in the late '40s.  In 1954, he lost the governor's race to Marvin Griffin and soon after retired from politics to devote himself to a long and distinguished career as an attorney with the Atlanta law firm of King & Spalding.

 

I was honored to have the opportunity to present Gowen with a special award at the University of Georgia annual alumni luncheon, which this year celebrated the 75^th anniversary of his graduation. To give that some perspective, when Gowen left Athens with his law degree in hand, the University of Georgia had less than 2,000 students [it now has 30,000].  The entire state population [2.8 million] was less than metropolitan Atlanta's today.

 

My first exposure to Charlie Gowen came in 1990 in, of all places, Biarritz, France.  We were on a University of Georgia tour and bravely I walked up and introduced myself. ''Mr. Gowen,'' I said, ''my name is Dick Yarbrough and I want you to do know that when I became eligible to vote, I voted for you in the governor's race.''  If I was expecting a ''Gee, thanks,'' I had badly miscalculated.  Instead, he said, ''Young man, if everybody who told me that had done that, I would have been governor.''

 

Straight-to-the-point, as I was to learn, is a Charlie Gowen trademark.  While he can sometimes be coaxed into reminiscing about his days in the General Assembly, Gowen tends, at 96, to look forward and not back. He still drives his car, still enjoys an evening out and still maintains a passion for the University of Georgia.

 

I have asked him several times about writing a book, but he's not interested. His stories would make a great read.  Consider one of his first court cases.  Fresh out of law school, he was asked to defend a black man on St. Simons Island who had a nightclub, Sam's Emporium, which was being encroached on by a new white development.  So many spectators showed up for the trial that it had to be moved from the one-room courthouse to a pier overlooking the ocean. As the trial progressed and Charlie began his closing arguments, several jurors suddenly left their seats and jumped into the ocean.  They went to the rescue of a summer resident crying for help. After the swimmer was safely on shore, Gowen finished his closing arguments and the soggy jurors found in his favor. Sam's Emporium was saved.

 

Then there was the night in 1946 when Georgia could claim three governors. Eugene Talmadge, who had just won election, had died before he could be sworn in.  His son, Herman, was elected by the legislature to succeed him, but the State Constitution supported the succession of Lt. Gov. M. E. Thompson.  The outgoing governor, Ellis Arnall, refused to give up the office to young Talmadge.  Word was received that a group of Talmadge supporters were coming to break down the doors and take over.  Rumors were that someone had a gun.  A number of legislators, including Gowen, were guarding the door to the governor's office, just in case that happened.  It was a tense moment.  As he waited for the mob to approach, Gowen asked one of his fellow legislators, ''Where is security?'' He wasn't pleased to hear that the governor's security officer had climbed out the window and was headed for parts unknown!

 

Today, our legislature is more urban, has an impressive contingent of minorities and women, and is more sophisticated and progressive by light years than ''the good old days.''  But one thing that deliberative body could always use more of is a few good Charlie Gowens.

 

His brand of integrity and class never go out of style.

 

Children born to Charles Latimer Gowen and Evelyn Williams Gowen include:

 

Anne Wakefield Gowen born Sept. 21, 1930

Mary Evelyn Gowen born March 7, 1936

 

Anne Wakefield Gowen, [Charles Latimer10, Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Charles Latimer Gowen and Evelyn Williams Gowen, was born September 21, 1930 at Brunswick, Georgia.

 

On June 28, 1955 she was married to Jack Spalding III who was in 1961 editor of the "Atlanta Journal."  Jack Spalding III was the son of Hughes Spalding of King and Spalding law firm of Atlanta.  He, a reporter for the “Atlanta Journal” covered the campaign of his future father-in-law-in gubernatorial campaign of 1954.  Charles Latimer Gowen declared that he had a successful campaign; he had acquired a good son-in-law out of it.

 

In 1996 they lived on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

 

Five children were born to Jack Spalding and Anne Wakefield Gowen Spalding:

 

Charles Gowen Spalding born July 2, 1956

Elizabeth Hughes Spalding born May 24, 1958

John Phinizy Spalding born Jan. 13, 1960

James Wakefield Spalding born Nov. 22, 1961

Mary Anne Latimer Spalding born May 17, 1967

 

Charles Gowen Spalding, son of Jack Spalding and Anne Wakefield Gowen Spalding, was born July 2, 1956.  A son was born to him:

 

Charles Gowen Spalding, Jr. born March 23, 1991

 

Elizabeth Hughes Spalding, daughter of Jack Spalding and Anne Wakefield Gowen Spalding, was born May 24, 1958.

 

John Phinizy Spalding, son of Jack Spalding and Anne Wake­field Gowen Spalding, was born January 13, 1960.  He was the father of:

 

Holly Spalding born March 18, 1991

 

James Wakefield Spalding, son of Jack Spalding and Anne Wakefield Gowen Spalding, was born November 22, 1961.

 

Mary Evelyn Gowen [Charles Latimer10, Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Charles Latimer Gowen and Evelyn Williams Gowen, was born March 7, 1936 in Brunswick.  On November 28, 1957 she was married to Royce Wood of St. Simons Island.

 

Children born to Royce Wood and Mary Evelyn Gowen Wood include:

 

Evelyn Williams Wood born June 11, 1959

Laura Jerudine Wood born April 30, 1961

William David Wood born July 8, 1963

 

Evelyn Williams Wood, daughter of Royce Wood and Mary Evelyn Gowen Wood, was born June 11, 1959.  She was mar­ried November 24, 1979 to Richard Walker.

 

Children born to them include:

 

Ashley Walker born July 17, 1983

Jennifer Walker born July 2, 1987

 

Laura Jerudine Wood, daughter of Royce Wood and Mary Evelyn Gowen Wood, was born April 30, 1961.  She was mar­ried August 16, 1980 to Jeffrey Cammon.

 

Children born to them include:

 

Jeffrey Cammon, Jr. born March 18, 1985.

 

George William Gowen [Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Clarence Blain Gowen and Edna Augusta Latimer, was born May 13, 1907 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  About 1908, he removed with his father to Georgia.  In 1930 he was married to Sara Weir of Athens, Georgia.  In June 1961, the couple lived in Brandon, Florida, having moved there from Georgia in 1947.  In April 1989, he was an Oldsmobile dealer in Charlotte, North Carolina.  He died there October 20, 1990.

 

One child was born to George William Gowen and Sara Weir Gowen:

 

George Whitmire Gowen born about 1932

 

George Whitmire Gowen [George William10, Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], only child of George William Gowen and Sara Weir Gowen, was born about 1932, probably at St. Simons Island.  About 1952 George Whitmire Gowen was married to Ollie Ann King.  They lived in Charlotte in 1989.

 

Children born to George Whitmire Gowen and Ollie Ann King Gowen include:

 

Sarah Nell Gowen born March 19, 1955

Mary Ann Gowen born March 19, 1957

Laurie Jane Gowen born April 21, 1960

George Louis Gowen born August 3, 1962

 

Sarah Nell Gowen [George Whitmire11, George William10, Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keat­ing6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of George Whitmire Gowen and Ollie Ann King Gowen, was born March 19, 1955.  She was married June 18, 1977 to Jack Allen Green III.

 

Children born to them include:

 

Jack Allen Green IV born April 20, 1980

Mary Nell Green born Jan. 27, 1983

Christopher George Green born Jan. 10, 1986

 

Mary Ann Gowen [George Whitmire11, George William10, Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of George Whitmire Gowen and Ollie Ann King Gowen, was born March 19, 1957.  She was married December 4, 1982 to William Barry Jenkins .

 

Children born to them include:

 

Lindsey Holland Jenkins born Feb. 14, 1986

Amy Elizabeth Jenkins born Dec. 24, 1989

 

Laurie Jane Gowen [George Whitmire11, George William10, Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keat­ing6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of George Whitmire Gowen and Ollie Ann King Gowen, was born April 1, 1960.  She was married December 27, 1980 to Anthanosios Nickolas Goudes. 

 

Children born to them include:

 

Christina Annalisa Goudes born Sept. 12, 1985

 

George Louis Gowen [George Whitmire11, George William10, Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keat­ing6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of George Whitmire Gowen and Ollie Ann King Gowen, was born August 3, 1962.  He was married June 1, 1985 to Maryann Nissi.  No children had been born to George Louis Gowen and Maryann Nissi Gowen in January 1990.

 

Gladys Hemenway Gowen [Clarence Blain9, William Harri­son8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Clarence Blain Gowen and Edna Augusta Latimer Gowen, was born October 10, 1910 in Westgate, Iowa.  In 1929 she was married to Albert "Bo" Fendig, an attorney of Brunswick.  He was born April 12, 1906 in Brunswick.  He was graduated from Glynn Academy in 1923 and attended Harvard University.  He was admitted to the Bar and began practicing law in 1930.  During World War II, he served in U.S. Naval Intelligence in the 6th Naval District.  In 1951 he combined his law practice with that of his brother-in-law, Charles Latimer Gowen.  The firm became known as Gowen, Conyers, Fendig & Dickey of Brunswick.

 

In June 1960, the couple lived at Orange Grove Plantation, St. Simons, Georgia.  In May 1989, they continued on St. Simons Island surrounded by their children, 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.  He died June 26, 1990 at age 84.

 

In his obituary which appeared in the June 26, 1990 edition of "The Brunswick News" Albert "Bo" Fendig was cited for over 50 years of active law practice.  He was a fellow in American College of Probate Lawyers and president of Brunswick-Glynn County Bar Association.  He served as president of the Young Men's Club which was a forerunner or the Brunswick Chamber of Commerce.  He was chairman of the American Red Cross and president of the Brunswick Rotary Club.

 

He was an Eagle Scout, a scoutmaster, chairman of the Oke­fenokee Scout Council and recipient of the Silver Beaver award.  He was a member of Christ Church at Frederica, Geor­gia and served as senior warden of the vestry.  He was a mem­ber of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Brunswick and director of First Federal Savings & Loan Asso­ciation of Brunswick.  He established Borchardt Educational Trust at Brunswick College and was a charter member of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society.  He was a trustee of Ft. Frederica association and assisted in the establishment of Boys' Estate.  He was buried in Christ Church Cemetery.

 

Children born to Albert "Bo" Fendig and Gladys Hemenway Gowen Fendig include:

 

Jane Hemenway Fendig born March 17, 1930

Albert Fendig, Jr. born Nov. 17, 1931

James Gowen Fendig born April 7, 1936

Rosalie Deneen Fendig born June 21, 1947

 

Jane Hemenway Fendig, daughter of Albert "Bo" Fendig and Gladys Hemenway Gowen Fendig, was born March 17, 1930.  She was married about 1952, husband's name Ledbetter.  In 1991, she continued on St. Simons Island.

 

Albert Fendig, Jr, son of Albert "Bo" Fendig and Gladys Hemenway Gowen Fendig, was born November 17, 1931 in Brunswick.  He continued there in 1991 as an attorney.

 

James Gowen Fendig, son of Albert "Bo" Fendig and Gladys Hemenway Gowen Fendig, was born April 7, 1936 in Brunswick.  In 1991 he lived in Savannah, Georgia.

 

Rosalie Deneen Fendig, daughter of Albert "Bo" Fendig and Gladys Hemenway Gowen Fendig, was born June 21, 1947.  She was married about 1969, husband's name Emery.  In 1991 they lived in Asheville, North Carolina.

 

Lynton Errol Gowen [Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Clarence Blain Gowen and Joe Geiger Gowen, was born about 1943.  In June 1960 he lived in Davis, Florida.  In 1993 he lived in Pompano Beach, Florida.

 

Mary Jean Gowen [Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Clarence Blain Gowen and Jo Geiger Gowen, was born about 1944.  She lived in Davis about 1960.  She was married about 1967, husband's name Hinson.  She was remarried, husband’s name Smith.  In 2003 she lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

 

Children born to them include:

 

Renee Hinson born about 1969

 

Renee Hinson, daughter of Mary Jean Gowen Hinson, was born about 1969.  She was married March 14, 1989 to Donald Elliott.  In December 1989 they lived in Richmond, Virginia.

 

James William Gowen [Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Clarence Blain Gowen and Jo Gieger Gowen, was born January 12, 1948.  In December 1989 he lived in Ft. Smith, Arkansas.  In 2003 he lived in Cane Hill, Arkansas.

 

Children born to him include:

 

Thomas William Gowen born December 9, 1976

 

Richard Wright Gowen [Clarence Blain9, William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Clarence Blain Gowen and Jo Gieger Gowen, was born July 12, 1952.  "Richard W. Gowen" was a senior student at Valdosta State College, Valdosta, Georgia, according to the 1973 student directory.  He gave his home address as 2015 Ash Ave, Brunswick, Georgia.  In 2003 he lived in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

Children born to Richard Wright Gowen include:

 

Richard Wright Gowen, Jr. born March 17, 1978

 

Charles Moore Gowen [William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of William Harrison Gowen and Anne Elizabeth Wright Gowen, was born May 18, 1872 in Glynn County.  He was a bachelor and practiced dentistry at Brunswick until his death in 1936.

 

Mary A. "Mollie" Gowen [James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] , daughter of James Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born about 1844, probably in Camden County.  About 1866 she was married, husband's name Wingfield.  In 1913 and 1914 the couple lived in Rome in the northwestern section of the state.  It is known that Mary A. "Mollie" Gowen Wingfield had a niece by the name of "Hazel" who also lived at Rome, during this period.

 

Children born to Mary A. "Mollie" Gowen Wingfield include:

 

Annie Louise Wingfield born in 1870

Marion Montgomery Wingfield born in 1872

L. H. Wingfield born in 1875

Percy Wingfield born in 1878

 

Annie Louise Wingfield, daughter of Mollie A. "Mollie" Gowen Wingfield, was born about 1870, probably at Rome.  She was married about 1896, husband's name Glover and the couple continued to live in Rome.  In February 1961 Annie Louise Wingfield Glover was deceased.

 

Children born to them include:

 

H. Wingfield Glover born about 1903

John Abraham "Abe" Glover born about 1904

Jule M. Glover born about 1906

 

H. Wingfield Glover, son of Annie Louise Wingfield Glover, was born about 1903, probably in Rome.  In February 1961 he wrote a letter from Philadelphia, Mississippi where he was re­siding at that time.

 

John Abraham "Abe" Glover, son of Annie Louise Wingfield Glover and her husband was born about 1904, probably at Rome.  In February 1961 he was employed by the Texas Com-pany in Atlanta and had compiled a family tree of the Wing-field family.  In April 1989 he lived in St. Simons Island.  He died there March 12, 2001.  He was survived by two daugh-ters, one son, seven grandchildren and eight great-grand-children.

 

His obituary appeared in the March 13 edition of the local newspaper:

 

“John Abe Glover, 85, of St. Simons Island died Saturday at the Brian Center Inn on SL Simons.  A memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the St. Simons Presbyterian Church with the Revs. Robert Brearley and Deanie Strength offciating.

 

Memorial contributions may be made to the Thornwell Children's Home, P.O. Box 60, Clinton, S.C., 29325, or to the St. Simons Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 205 Kings Way, St. Simons Island, GA, 31522.

 

Surviving are one son, Abe Glover of Statesboro; two daughters, Ellen McMullan of Tampa, Florida and Louise Kinzey of St. Simons; seven grandchildren, eight great‑grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

 

Mr. Glover was a native of Rome and had lived on St. Simons since 1975. He was a graduate of |Darlington School in Rome and attended Louisiana State Univer-sity.  He worked for the southeast offices of Texaco Inc. for more than 40 years, retiring from the Atlanta office.  He was a deacon elder, clerk of the session and trustee for the St. Simons Presbyterian Church.  He was a founder of the East Beach Homeowners Association.  He was a member of the Sea Island Golf Club and en-joyed 14 years as a golf starter.  Edo Miller and Sons Funeral home is in charge of arrangements.”

 

Jule M. Glover, son of Annie Louise Wingfield Glover, was born about 1906.  In February 1961 he resided at Columbus, Mississippi.

 

Marion Montgomery Wingfield, son of Mary A. "Mollie" Gowen Wingfield, was born about 1872, probably at Rome.  He was married about 1897.  A Mrs. M. M. Wingfield, resided in Rome in February 1971.  Vula Wingfield Abbott Dewey, was born about 1900.  She resided at Rome in 1961.

 

Of L. H. Wingfield and Percy Wingfield, sons of Mary A. "Mollie" Gowen Wingfield and their descen­dants nothing is known.

 

Thomas B. Gowen, [James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of James Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born in Camden County in 1844.  Thomas B. Gowen enlisted as a private November 23, 1861in the Georgia Hussars.  He was listed as Company Quartermaster on the May - Jun 1862 muster roll.

 

Thomas B. Gowen was promoted to Captain November 20, 1862, and appointed Regimental Quartermaster on the fol-lowing day.  The muster roll for November – December 1862, last on file, lists him as present.

 

Capt. Thomas B. Gowen was mentioned in "War of the Rebellion" Volume I, as an assistant quartermaster in Anderson's Brigade which saw service in North and South Carolina during the Civil War.

 

About 1876 he was married, wife's name Fanny L.  In the census of 1880, he was a cotton merchant and his household was listed in Floyd County, Georgia, on Howard Street in Rome, Georgia, Enumeration District 64, page 8 as:

 

"Gowen, Thomas B. 36, born in Georgia, father born

in Virginia, mother born in

Virginia, cotton factor

Fanny L. 23, born in Georgia, father born

in Georgia, mother born in

Georgia, wife

Irene W.   3, born in Georgia, daughter

Ethel C.   1, born in Georgia, daughter

Flinn, Mary 21, born Georgia, negro servant

Brown, Nancy 20, born Georgia, negro servant"

 

The enumerator recorded erroneously that his parents were born in Virginia.

 

Thomas B. Gowen was enumerated as the head of a household in the 1900 census of Dallas County, Alabama, Enumeration District 43, page 15, living on Church Street in Selma, Al­abama:

 

"Gowan, Thomas B. 52, born January. 1848 in

Georgia

Fannie 43, born Feb 1857 in Georgia

Ethel 19, born May 1881 in Georgia

Lucile 17, born Jan. 1883 in Georgia

Wingfield 15, born Feb. 1885 in Georgia

Annie May 13, born Mar. 1887 in Georgia

Abbott 11, born Oct. 1888 in Alabama

Helen   9, born Dec. 1890 in Alabama

Hazel   7, born Jan. 1893 in Alabama

Thomas B.   5, born Sept. 1894 in Alabama

 

Children born to Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen in­clude:

 

Irene W. Gowen born in 1877

Ethel C. Gowen born in May 1879

Lucille Gowen born in January 1883

Wingfield Gowen born in February 1885

Annie Mae Gowen born in March 1887

Abbott Gowen born in October 1888

Helen Gowen born in December 1890

Hazel Gowen born in January 1893

Thomas B. Gowen born in September 1894

 

Irene W. Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in 1877, probably in Floyd County.  She appeared in her father's house­hold in 1880 there as a three-year-old.

 

Ethel C. Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in 1879, probably in Floyd County.  She appeared in her father's house­hold in 1880 there as a one-year-old.  She reappeared in the 1900 census as a 19-year-old born in May 1881.  She was actu­ally 21.

 

Lucille Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in Georgia in Jan­uary 1883.  She appeared in her father's household as a 17-year-old in the 1900 census.

 

Wingfield Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in February 1885 in Geor­gia.  He was recorded as a 15-year-old in the 1900 enu­meration of his father's household in Selma.

 

Annie May Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in March 1887 in Georgia.  She appeared in the 1990 census as a 13-year-old.

 

Abbott Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in October 1888 in Alabama.  He was recorded at age 11 in the 1900 census.

 

Helen Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in December 1890 in Al­abama.  She was reported at age nine in the 1900 census.

 

Hazel Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in January 1893 in Alabama.  Her age was reported as seven in the 1900 census.

 

Thomas B. Gowen [Thomas B.8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Thomas B. Gowen and Fanny L. Gowen, was born in September 1894 in Alabama.  He was recorded at age five in the 1900 census.

 

Milton Gowen, [James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of James Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born about 1847, probably in Camden County.  He died there of typhoid fever and was buried in Old Union Church Cemetery, Colesburg, date unknown.  It is believed that he had no descendants.

 

James Francis Gowen [James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of James Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born in 1842.  According to the 1880 census, he was born on St. Simons Isle which was part of Glynn County.  About 1867, he was married to Elizabeth Ann “Lizzie” Dana.  She was a kinsman of Richard Henry Dana, author of “Two Years Before the Mast.”  Richard Miller Gowen, a descendant of Savannah, has the will of Elizabeth Ann “Lizzie” Dana Gowen in which she left money to the children of her cousin, Anne Dana.

 

James Francis Gowen appeared June 2, 1880 in the 1880 census of Floyd County, Georgia in Enumeration District 62, page 4, South Rome, Georgia, as:

 

"Gowen, James 38, born in St. Simons Isle, father

born in Scotland, mother born

in St. Simons, cotton merchant

Ann 35, born in GA, father born in

RI, mother born in SC

Frances 12, born in St. Simons Isle, GA

Albert   7, born in St. Simons Isle, GA

 

James Gowen erroneously stated that his father was born in Scotland.

 

“Lizzie Gowen, widow of James” was listed in the 1889 Atlanta city directory with her son, “Albert S. Gowen” living at 71 Crew Street.  In 1890, she was living at 59 Walker Street.

 

Children born to James Francis Gowen and Elizabeth Ann “Lizzie” Gowen include:

 

Frances Dana “Fannie” Gowen born in 1868

Albert Sidney Gowen born in 1873

Miller Abbott Gowen born in 1881

 

Frances Dana “Fannie” Gowen [James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of James Gowen and Ann Gowen, was born in 1868.  “Fannie Gowen” was listed in the 1890 city directory of Atlanta as a “clerk at the Bradstreet Company.”

 

Albert Sidney Gowen [James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of James Gowen and Ann Gowen, was born in 1873.  He was listed in the 1889 city directory of Atlanta as an “office boy for M. Rich & Bros.”  He was “boarding” at 71 Crew Street, the address of his mother.  In the 1890 city directory “Alfred Gowen” was working at Budden & Son and lived at 59 Walker, the address of his mother.

 

Miller Abbott Gowen [James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of James Gowen and Ann Gowen, was born August 25, 1881 in Floyd County.  He was married in July 1909 to Mary Estelle Owen who was born March 2, 1882 in Piedmont, Alabama, according to her son Miller Abbott “Bud” Gowen  Later the Owen family removed to Cleveland, Tennessee where her father worked for the railroad. 

 

Miller Abbott Gowen was employed in Atlanta as secretary to Fireman's Fund Insurance Company. He died December 20, 1946 in Atlanta, and she died there in June 1968.

 

Three children were born to Miller Abbott Gowen and Mary Owen Gowen:

 

Albert Sidney "Barney" Gowen born April 19, 1910

Frances Dana Gowen born April 27, 1914

Miller Abbot "Bud" Gowen born July 19, 1923

 

Albert Sidney "Barney" Gowen [Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Miller Abbott Gowen and Mary Owen Gowen, was born April 19, 1910 in Atlanta.  He was graduated in 1933 from Georgia Tech with a degree in mechanical engineering.  He was employed by General Motors for two years following graduation.  He enlisted in U. S. Naval Aviation in 1935 and served aboard the U.S.S. Ranger in 1937.  He was married July 25, 1939 to Mary Saunders, daughter of Richard Saunders.  She was born in Savannah May 26, 1915.  In 1940 they lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.  He served as a dive-bomber pilot in World War II.  

 

Following World War II, he returned to his profession of mechanical engineer and became a consultant, working in various locations—Thailand, Columbia, Trinidad and Puerto Rico.

 

In 1989 he continued in Atlanta in retirement.  He died there November 5, 1993 of Alsheimers disease and his body was given to Emory Medical School.  Mary Saunders Gowen died there May 23, 1996.

 

Children born to them include:

 

Richard Miller Gowen born Sept. 1, 1940

Jane Gowen born Sept. 7, 1946

 

Richard Miller Gowen [Albert Sidney10, Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Albert Sidney "Barney" Gowen and Mary Saunders Gowen, was born September 1, 1940 in Charlotte.  In April 1989 and in August 2000, he lived in Savannah, Georgia.

 

Children born to Richard Miller Gowen include:

 

Dana Gowen born about 1964

 

Jane Gowen, [Albert Sidney10, Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Albert Sidney "Barney" Gowen and Mary Saunders Gowen, was born September 7, 1946.  Two children were born to her.

 

Frances Dana Gowen [Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Miller Abbott Gowen and Mary Estelle Owen Gowen, was born April 27, 1914 in Atlanta.  She was graduated with a degree in chemistry in 1936, during the depression.  Finding no jobs in chemistry in the depression era, she became a school teacher and taught in Georgia public schools for 42 years.  She died March 31, 1988.  Her body was given to Emory Medical School.

 

Miller Abbott "Bud" Gowen [Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Miller Abbott Gowen and Mary Estelle Owen Gowen, was born July 19, 1923 in Atlanta. 

 

He wrote,

 

“Determined that her children would not be under-privileged, my mother managed to send me to summer camp in 1938 at age 15 where I learned to shoot a rifle.  I came home with a gold cup as the "Best Camper of 1938" and an undying passion for marksmanship. Our school team won several national trophies, and I even held a world record at one time.  The high point of my career was in 1939-40, when I was chosen as a member of Georgia Rifle Team at the National Matches in Camp Perry, Ohio.  We didn't win, but it was quite an exper-ience for a 17-year-old boy.”

 

He served as a naval officer during World War II.  He was graduated in May 1948 from Georgia Tech as an industrial engineer.  His first consulting job was in New York City.  Later he did consulting in Europe.  He wrote:

 

“In September 1956, to open a new office for my con-sulting company in Milano, I hired a bright and pretty young lady with the improbable name of Albarosa Giu-seppina Luisa Dalla ‘Mimma’ Pasqua.  [In Italy a child is given the first names of the two grandparents].  That was on September 13.  By Christmas, I knew that I wanted to marry her, and when I went home for Christ-mas vacation, bought her engagement ring.  I proposed on January 6 when I returned, and we were married on March 16, 1957.”

 

She was born in Milan to Arnaldo Pasqua and Signora Ida Dalla Pasqua.  Her mother died in September 1999 at the age of 100.  She had been a widow since April 1966.

 

Shortly after marriage, they lived in Copenhagen, Denmark where he was an engineering consultant.  They located in Geneva, Switzerland in 1960.  In 1989 he was instrumental in the founding of Gowen Research Foudation.

 

He became a member of the Swiss financial community and continued there in 1990 and in 2000 where he operated a fi­nancial agency.

 

Children born to Miller Abbott "Bud" Gowen and Albarosa Guissepina Luisa "Mimma" Dalla-Pasqua include:

 

Timothy Albert Gowen born December 11, 1957

William Michele Gowen born October 16, 1960

Sarah Frances Gowen born December 11, 1961

 

Timothy Albert Gowen [Miller Abbott10, Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Miller Abbott "Bud" Gowen and Albarosa Luisa "Mimma" Dalla-Pasqua Gowen, was born December 11, 1957 in Milan.  He was graduated from George Institute of Technology in 1982.  For a time he was a stock broker in New York City.  In 1992 he lived in Geneva and continued there in 2000 as chief financial officer for Ares-Sarono, a pharmaceutical company.

 

William Michele Gowen [Miller Abbott10, Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7 William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of Miller Abbott "Bud" Gowen and Albarosa Luisa "Mimma" Dalla-Pasqua Gowen, was born October 16, 1960 in Geneva.  He was married there November 16, 1991 to Laura Losacco who was born December 13, 1962.  In 1992 and in 2000 William Michele Gowen and Laura Losacco Gowen lived in Geneva.

 

He was graduated in law from the University of Geneva in 1984, but chose to work for Nomura instead of taking his bar exams.  He was transferred to Tokyo where he lived for several years, [speaks Japanese fluently] before returning to Geneva where he has worked as an investment banker since 1987.

 

Four sons were born to William Michele Gowen and Laura Losacco including:

 

Sean Victor Gowen born December 13, 1991

 

Sean Victor Gowen, [William Michele¹¹, Miller Abbott10, Miller Abbott9, James Francis8, James7 William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], son of William Michele Gowen and Laura Losacco Gowen, was born December 13, 1991 in Milan, Italy.

 

Sarah Frances Gowen [Miller Abbott10, Miller Abbott9, James8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], daughter of Miller Abbott "Bud" Gowen and Albarosa Luisa "Mimma" Dalla-Pasqua Gowen, was born December 11, 1961 in Geneva.  She was married January 10, 1992 in Geneva to Marco Betancourt.

 

She lived in Hong Kong for six years before she was divorced. She attended The University in Beijing for a year and travelled Western China extensively.  She speaks Chinese as well as a several other languages.  In 2000, she lived in Taiwan where she worked as the assistant editor of the English language newspaper.

 

DeLancey William Gowen, [James Francis7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of James Francis Gowen and Anna Elizabeth Abbott Gowen, was born about 1856, probably in Camden County.  He was married about 1878 to Mary O. Kerr.  He appeared in the 1880 census of Floyd County, Enumeration District 62, page 78, as:

 

"Gowen, DeLancey 24, born in Georgia

Mary 19, born in Georgia

Thomas   1, born in Georgia"

 

“Delancey W. Gowen” was listed in the 1889 city directory of Atlanta, living at 132 Chapel in the city of 50,000 population. 

 

Twelve children were born to Delancey William Gowen [or DeLancey Wooley Gowen] and Mary O. Kerr Gowen, including:

 

Thomas Morgan Gowen born in 1879

Annie Gowen born about 1881

Milton Gowen born about 1883

D. W. Gowen born about 1886

Cecil Agnes Gowen born about 1888

George Gowen born about 1895

Marion Benson Gowen born April 29, 1901

 

Marion Benson Gowen, [Delancey William⁸, James Francis7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of Delancey William Gowen and Mary O. Kerr Gowen, was born April 29, 1901.  He was married about 1931 to Elizabeth Irene Pendley.

 

Two children were born to Marion Benson Gowen and Elizabeth Irene Pendley Gowen:

 

Margaret Elizabeth Gowen born January 24, 1935

Walter Benson Gowen born November 13, 1944

 

Margaret Elizabeth Gowen, daughter of Marion Benson Gowen and Elizabeth Irene Pendley Gowen, was born January 24, 1935.  She was married about 1955 to Robert L. Dickson.

 

Four children were born to them:

 

Teresa Dickson born about 1958

Robert Gregory Dickson born about 1961

Richard Eric Dickson born about 1964

Lori Elizabeth Dickson born about 1968

 

Walter Benson Gowen, son of Marion Benson Gowen and Elizabeth Irene Pendley Gowen, was born November 13, 1944.  He was married about 1980 Ricki Lynn Hardy.

 

One child was born to Walter Benson Gowen and Ricki Lynn Hardy Gowen:

 

Michael Benson Gowen born August 15, 1985

 

 

Charles Moore Gowen, [William Harrison8, James7. William Keating6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of William Harrison Gowen and Anne Elizabeth Wright Gowen, was born in May 1872.  Of this individual nothing more is known.

 

James Gowen, Jr, [James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] son of James Gowen and Mary "Polly" Keating Gowen, was born about 1767 at Combahee Ferry in Beaufort District, South Carolina.  He, like his brother William Keating Gowen, appears to have received a strong sense of practical values from his parents.

 

"James Gowen" appeared in the 1800 census of Beaufort Dis­trict, page 100 as "single, white male, 26-46." He had accumu­lated 14 slaves.  He was enumerated near the residence of William Keating Gowen and the Harrisons in Prince Williams Parish.

 

"Jacob M. Gowen," possibly James Gowen, appeared in the 1820 census of Beaufort District, thus heightening the specula­tion that James Gowen remained in South Carolina.  However, neither James Gowen nor Jacob M. Gowen reappeared in sub­sequent enumerations there.

 

Of this individual nothing more is known, however it is be­lieved that he had at least one son.

 

James R. Gowen born in 1798

 

James R. Gowen, [James, Jr.6, James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] believed to be a son of James Gowen, was born in Beaufort District in 1798.  It is believed that he was married about 1820.

 

He appeared in the 1850 census of Beaufort District, St. Peters Parish, Household 30-30.

 

"Gowen, James R. 52, born in South Carolina, planter,

 $4,000 real estate

Elizabeth 28, born in South Carolina

Sarah 18, born in South Carolina

James 14, born in South Carolina"

 

Children born to James R. Gowen include:

 

Elizabeth Gowen born in 1822

Sara Gowen born in 1832

James Gowen born in 1836

 

Mary Gowen, Jr. [James5, William4, William3, Thomas2, Mihil1] daughter of James Gowen and Mary "Polly" Keating Gowen, was born about 1770, probably at Combahee Ferry, South Carolina.  Of this individual nothing more is known.

                                             ==O==

James Gowen who was born in August 1889 appeared in the 1900 census of Charlton County as an adopted son of Thomas Albert Christy, according to the research Susan Mahoney.

 

The enumeration of the Christy household appeared as:

 

“Chrestie,                                Thomas                                46, born in June 1854, mar-

ried 21 years

                                                          Georgia                                47, born in July 1852, married

21 years, wife

Behid,                                                Mary L.                                22, born in January 1878,

Married 4 years,

Mary V.              2, born in October 1897,

granddaughter

Albert                    1, born in March 1899,

grandson

Gowen,                                James                                                11, born in August 1889,

adopted son”

 

Drew Christy wrote October 21, 2000 that his father James Walker Christy was born August 30, 1889 in Folkston, Georgia.  “His parents, as far I as know, were Thomas Albert Christy and Georgia Victoria Christy.  The census enumeration leads me to believe that my father’s original name was James Walker Gowen.  I have located the grave of Georgia Victoria Christy in Pineview-Bachlott Cemetery in Folkston.  My ancestry search may have to turn to the Gowen family.  Thomas Albert Christy and my mother, Olive Ester Paulk were married about 1952.  She was his third wife.”

                                             ==O==

Linton E. Gowen, born in 1942 and died in 1998, was buried in Sardis Cemetery.

                                             ==O==

Marie M. Gowen was born January 14, 1923 of parents unknown.  She died December 22, 1973 and was buried at Traders Hill Cemetery.

                                             ==O==

Nona Hayes Gowen was born July 12, 1888 of parents unknown.  She died April 19, 1920 in Traders Hill Cemetery.

                                             ==O==

Velma C. Gowen was born April 10, 1913 of parents unknown.  She died April 3, 1918 and was buried in Prospect Cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family Researchers:

 

Charles Latimer Gowen, 1327 Peachtree St, NE, Atlanta, GA, 30309

Louise Copeland Herring, Box 457, Greenville, GA, 30222

Ruth Copeland Johnson, Route 4, Box 4816, Jefferson, GA, 30549

Miller Abbott Gowen, P.O. Box 2389, 1211 Geneva [2], Switzerland

Walter Benson Gowen, [email protected]

Hazel Dean Overstreet, Route 1, Box 938, Odum, GA, 31555

Charles Gowen Spalding, Box 1996, Brunswick, GA, 31521

Julia Casey Watson, 250 Vacuna Road, Kingsland, GA, 31548, 912/729-5556

 

 

 

 

 

Alexander Gowen, son of William Gowen and Catherine Gowen was born about 1715, probably in Stafford County, Virginia.  He may have been a namesake of Maj. Robert Alexander, neighboring landowner and benefactor to the Gowen family in Stafford County.  He accompanied some of his siblings in removing about 1747 to the southside of Virginia near the North Carolina line. 

 

Alexander Gowen first appeared in the records of nearby Orange County, North Carolina in September 1753, according to "Orange County, North Carolina Court Minutes, 1753‑1761," Book 1, by Weynette Parks Haun. 

 

On February 10, 1757 "Alexander Gowin" was a chain-carrier on a land survey in Orange County, according to "The Granville District of North Carolina, 1748-1763, Abstract of Land Grants."  Orange County was created from Granville District in 1752.

 

Alexander Gowen was a "sworn chain carrier" on a patent survey January 26, 1758, according to Patent Book 14, page 327.

 

On July 25, 1760 "Alexander Gowing" received a patent to 248 acres in Orange County "in the parish of St. Matthew, on the north side of Dan River adjoining Mayo's line," according to Patent Book 14, page 407.

 

On October 6, 1761, "Alexander Gowen" was identified as a landowner in Orange County on Hogan's Branch, according to Patent Book 12, page 7.

 

The November 1763 Orange County Court minutes show Alexander Gowen filed a complaint against William Gowen, regarded as his nephew, according to "Orange County, North Carolina Abstracts of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of September 1752‑August 1766" by Ruth Herndon Shields.

 

In 1773, a petition for the partition of the north part of Orange County carried the signatures of Alexander Gowen, Sr, Alex-ander Gowen, Emos [Amos] Gowen, Daniel Gowen and John Gowen, according to "The Colonial Records of North Caro-lina, 1771‑1775," Vol. 9, by Sanders.

 

It is believed that Alexander Gowen removed to Rutherford County North Carolina about 1781 to join his son, William Goyne who had moved there about 10 years earlier.  "Alex-ander Going" appeared on the Rutherford County, North Carolina tax list in Capt. Whitesides District in 1782.  He owned no land.  Rutherford County was created in 1779.

It is believed that Alexander Gowen died about 1783.

 

Children born to Alexander Gowen are believed to include:

 

                Daniel Gowen                                                born about 1735

                William Gowen                                                born about 1740

                Alexander Gowen, Jr.                born about 1742

                Amos Gowen                                                                born about 1744

                John Gowen                                                                born about 1749

 

Daniel Gowen, regarded as a son of Alexander Gowen, was born about 1735.  He was married about 1760, wife's name Rebecca. 

 

"Daniel Gowen" drew pay for militia duty May 23, 1785 in Fairfield County, according to Book 2, "Stub Entries to In­dents," edited by A. S. Salley, State Historian of South Car­olina.

 

He died before October 24, 1785 when "Rebecca Elliot for­merly the wife of Daniel Gowen, present wife of John Elliot, appeared in Fairfield County Court Monday," according to Fairfield County Court Minute Book A, page 4:

 

"The Court met according to adjournment whereupon Isaac Young appeared and produced Rebecca Elliot, formerly wife to Daniel Gowen, deceased from whom the said Young rented a tract of land and had engaged to pay her and her present husband, John Elliot the rent of 55 bushels of corn.  The said Rebecca Elliot satisfied the court that her former husband purchased the said land and that had been 17 years in possession of the same."

 

John Buchanan, Esquire was one of the justices of the Fairfield court who heard the case in 1785.  "John Buchanan, Esquire" was later a justice in the court of Davidson County, Tennessee, and his land adjoined that of William Gowen.

 

Children born to Daniel Gowen and Rebecca Gowen include:

 

Daniel Gowen born about 1761

Levi Gowen born in June 1762

David Gowen born about 1763

 

Daniel Gowen, regarded as a son of Daniel Gowen and Rebecca Gowen, was born about 1761.  He was married about 1779, probably in Fairfield County.

 

"Daniel Goyin" was sued by William Rogers January 25, 1786 for slander, according to "Fairfield County, South Carolina Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799" by Brent H. Hol­comb.  The jury found for the plaintiff and assessed the defen­dant's fine at "forty shillings plus costs." 

 

"Daniel Goin" was enumerated as the head of a household in the 1790 [1786 state census of South Carolina] census, page 19, according to "Heads of Families South Carolina, 1790:"

 

"Goin, Daniel white male over 16

white female

white male under 16

white male under 16

white female

white male under 16"

 

His uncle "Alexander Gowin, page 19, nine members in the family" and "Henry Gowens, page 19," were enumerated on the same page of "Heads of Families, South Carolina, 1790."

 

On August 17, 1786, in "State vs. Daniel Goyen," "Danyel Goyen, principal and [his uncle] Alexander Goyen, his security forfeited their recognizance.  Sc: Fa: to issue," according to Fairfield County Court Minute Book A, page 32.  "S. Bradley appeared in court and swore that she has been delivered of Female Child, and that Daniel Goyan was the Father of it."

 

On Saturday, August 19, 1786 "Daniel Goyen" was convicted in the paternity suit and was fined "£5 in proclamation money and ordered to give bond in the amount of £50 for the maintenance of the child, payable to the justice," according to Fairfield County Court Minute Book A, page 34.

 

Also in the June 1791 court term "Daniel Goyen & Hugh Smith" were sued by James Curry on a debt judgment, according to Book A, page 36.

 

In the court term of January 1793, "Daniel Goyan" was indicted for petit larceny in a true bill, according to Fairfield County Court Minute Book A, page 71.  The case was dismissed January 25, 1793 when the defendant paid the court costs.

 

Of Daniel Gowen and descendants nothing more is known.

 

Levi Gowen, son of Daniel Gowen and Rebecca Gowen, was born in Fairfield County in June 1762.  "Levi Goines" enlisted "about the time of the fall of Charleston" [May 12, 1780] at age 17 from Fairfield County "where he lived" as a Revo­lutionary soldier in the South Carolina line, according to his pension ap­plication.

 

In 1792, he inherited the land of his brother, David Gowen lo­cated in Davidson County, Tennessee.  On September 17, 1792, "Levi Goyen, a free Mulatto of Fairfield County" sold land [in Davidson County] which he had inherited from his brother, David Gowen, according to the research of Dennis Pettit of Dallas, Texas.  William Easley and Benjamin Boyd were witnesses to the document.

 

The document read:

 

 ". . . that Levi Goyen of the state of South Carolina, Fairfield County, for divers good causes and consideration to me hereunto moving, hae made and constitute and by these presents for me, my heirs, estate and every one of those, do make . . . my trusty friend John Goyen of the state of North Carolina, Daverson County, gentleman, my true and lawful attorney . . . to sell a certain tract of land lying on Mill Creek on the east side of Daverson County aforesaid, the said land being first in the hands of David Goyen decd.  Four Mulattos went to Cumberland River in the year 1779 and were killed by the Indians in the year 1780 and left the said Mulatto Levi Goyen his proper heir in heir, the said tract containing 640 acres, and I do hereby grant unto my said attorney sale and full power . . . and follow such legal courses for confirming the right of said land unto himself.

 

In Witness whereof I have set my hand and seal 17 September , 1792.

Levi [X] Gowen

 

Signed, sealed and delivered

in presence of William Easley, Benj. Boyd.

 

State of South Carolina }

Fairfield County        }

 

Before me appeared Becky Eliot, formerly Becky Gowen by a former husband, David Gowen, and after being duly sworn deposeth and saith that she had a son by the afsd David named David Goyen who about 14 years ago left this county as she was informed, went to Cumberland River in North Carolina and was killed by the Indians, sd deponant further saith on oath that Levi Gowen who now appoints John Gowen as his atty is the full and oldest brother to the afsd David Gowen.

 

Becky [X] Eliot

 

Sworn and subscribed this 17th day of September 1792, before me Benj. Boyd, JFC, Fairfield County, I do hereby certify that the above named Levi Gowen passeth in this county for a free Mallato, and it is said  was born here.

 

Given under my hand this 17th September 1792.

 

Benj. Boyd, JFC"

 

However, it is possible that, based upon a suit filed by William Gowen in David­son County Court, that the court had ordered the prop­erty of David Gowen sold.  Accordingly, Levi Gowen would have received nothing.

 

"Levi Goyen" and James Scott were sued January 17, 1793 by James Craig, according to "Fairfield County, South Carolina Minutes of the County Court, 1785-1799."  The case was dismissed when the defendants paid the court costs.

 

It is believed that shortly after this time Levi Gowen re­moved to Moore County, North Carolina.  Levy Goin was enumerated as the head of a household in the 1800 census of Moore County, page 62.  "Goins, ----ve, free colored," was listed as the head of a house­hold in the 1820 census of Moore County, page 20, ac­cording to "Index to the Census of North Carolina."  Six families of Goings/Gowens/Gowins were enumerated in the 1840 census of Moore County, but Levi Gowen, approximately 78 by this time, was not recorded as the head of a household.

 

"Levi Goines" was a resident of Moore County April 26, 1852 when he applied for a Revolu­tionary pension "aged about 90."  His application read:

 

"Declaration in Order to Obtain the Benefit of the Acts of Congress for the Benefit of Revolutionary Soldiers.

 

State of North Carolina

County of Moore

 

On this 26th day of April AD 1852 personally appeared before the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for the county and state aforesaid, Levi Goines, a resident of said County of Moore and State of North Carolina, aged about Ninety Years, who first being duly sworn ac­cording to law, doth on his oath, make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provi­sion made by the Acts of Congress for Soldiers who Served in the Revolutionary War.

 

That he volunteered in Fairfield County, State of South Carolina and agreed to serve until the end of the War.  The time he entered the service he does not recollect, but believes it was about the time that the British took Charleston [1780], that he served as a private in a com­pany commanded by Captain John Gray and was at­tached to a Regiment which was commanded by Col. John Winn, and Gen. Richard Winn.

 

He continued in actual service for about the term of twelve months [he thinks nearly two years, but is deter­mined to be within bounds], though his recollection is not very distinct as to the time he served, but he was honorably discharged, as he believes, at the close of said Revolutionary War by his said Captain, having been marched back to said Fairfield County which was also the residence of his captain.  He obtained no written dis­charge.

 

He was engaged in a battle near the confluence of the Congaree and Santee Rivers.  Gen. Lee, he believes, was the commander though his memory to this is indistinct, says the Tories surrendered here without much fighting.  His services were entirely confined to the State of South Carolina, marching from Winnsborough to the Congaree Fort and various other parts of said state under his offi­cers.

 

He recollects the names of many officers and soldiers with whom he served, but does not know many regulars.  The following are of them: Maj. John Pearson, William W. Morey, James Steel, Joseph Kennedy, John Greggs, Lt. Andrew Gray and Samuel Croslin [the latter was a Regular].  He knows of no person living whose testi­mony he can procure who can testify to his Service having removed from the State of South Carolina to North Carolina, Moore County soon after the close of the Revolutionary War where he has resided ever since.

 

He has never been positive until recently that he was entitled to a Pension.  Several years since a Gentlemen informed him that he was entitled and he would procure a pension for him, but as nothing was done, he con­cluded that he was not entitled to anything and made no further effort until now. 

 

He hereby relinquishes every claim whatever to a pen­sion except the present and declares that his name is not on the Pension Roll of the agency of any State.