Trannie Edgar Bowen
Edgar "Trannie" Bowen
Trannie and Narocia with children (left to right) Vernie, Mrs. Bowen holding Maulsie, Gracie, Mr. Bowen, Verbal, and Mabel in front of his sawmill in Tilden across the highway from Union Grove Cemetery. Taken in 1907.

Trannie was born on February 20, 1876 in Itawamba County, Mississippi to Richard Henry Bowen and Martha Adeline Webb Bowen.  He grew up in Itawamba County and on November 15, 1896, he married Mary Rochia "Narocia" Stone, the daughter of Winston Stone and Rebecca Lawson.  She was born on September 22, 1876.

Trannie was born from a big family, and he had a big family of his own.  In all, they had nine daughters and one son.  All apparently lived to adult ages, married, and had children of their own.  In 1900, the census recorded them like this:

1900 Itawamba County, Mississippi Census
Beat 5, Fulton; June 12, 1900
Bowen Tranney        Feb. 1877        age 23 married 04 yrs. MS. MS. MS.
Mary W.        Sept. 1877        age 22 MS. MS. MS.
Verbal C.        Aug. 1897        age 03 (daughter)
Verna        Nov. 1898        age 02 (daughter)
He operated a sawmill, as seen in the photo above, and in 1911, the Itawamba paper records this move:
Itawamba County News
February 2, 1911

Mr. Bowen, who has been operating a sawmill outfit near Otis, intends moving at an early date near Harden's Chapel, where there is an immense ammount of splendid timber.

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Itawamba County News
September 14, 1911

Mr. Tranny Bowen located three miles east of Fulton, has installed a new gin in connection with his machinery.

Tranny and Noroshia also lived with their son Darnell for a while in Verona.  They often visited back in the Clay community with Leta, Trannie's sister.  Mary Esta "Mutt" Webb would often come to visit since she lived across the road.  They also knew their Wax cousins and some of the others.  Trannie was a sawmill operator, but he ran a grist mill in Verona.  He had moved out of Itawamba County when some of their kinfolks had gone to the Mississippi Delta and convinced them they should move down there.  They did but almost died! They hardly made enough to eat.  Naroshia always complained about "G. Johnson" that they worked for!  They moved back and this is when they relocated to Verona.

Trannie was said to have been a very tall and lanky man with really good health. He lived to an advanced age and some credited the fact that he walked almost everywhere he went.  He had a really long gait and he would almost run when he went. He went about three miles every day of his life.  Even though always wanted that daily "toddy" to keep him going in his old age, his health stayed good.  He was very likeable and all his grandchildren seemed to genuinely and intensely loved him!  Some of them remember him as being "ancient" in his old age, but he still got around well.

Narocia was invalid for much of the late part of her life. She often would have epileptic seizures.  She passed away in 1960 at the age of 84.  Trannie lived till 1969, when he passed away at the age of 93.  They are both buried at the Lee Memorial Gardens in Verona, Lee County, Mississippi.

Please let me know if you have any other information or photographs (specifically of his children) that could be added here!


Children of Trannie and Narocia Bowen

Verbal Clara Bowen (md. Chester Olen Spencer)
     Verbal was born on August 25, 1897 in Itawamba County.  She married Chester on June 26, 1915 and together they had three children.  C.O. died in 1978 at the age of 83, but Verbal lived to be 93 years of age and died on March 13, 1996.  She and C.O. are buried at Itawamba Memorial Gardens outside of Fulton.

Verna "Vernie" Bowen (md. Perry Lee Burleson)
     Vernie was born on November 2, 1898 in the Clay Community of Itawamba County.  She Perry had three daughters, all of whom have moved out of the area.  Vernie and Perry Lee, who was a veteran of World War I and served in Germany, moved to Selma, Tennessee, where she passed away at the age of 95 in 1993.  They are buried at the National Cemetery in Corinth, Mississippi.

Mabel Ione Bowen (md. Stanley Bluitt Burleson)
     Mabel was born on March 12, 1901.  She and Stanley moved over to Verona in Lee County, Mississippi where he was a farmer and she was a housewife and also worked for the telephone company.  They had six children together, but Stanley died when the youngest was just an infant, around 1947.  She passed away on November 11, 1993, at the age of 92.  They are buried in the Old Union Cemetery near Shannon, Mississippi.

Ethel Vell "Totsy" Bowen (md. Charles Scroggins)
     Totsy was born on February 3, 1902.  She married Charles, who was seventeen years older than her, in 1937, and together they had one son.  Charles was a farmer and was just passing through Mississippi going from his home in Iowa to Florida to pick oranges when he stopped on the road at a little store where the old woman who owned it was complaining about running it.  He bought the store right there!  He met and married Totsy about a year later.  Totsy was a housewife.  She worked at a factory for two hours one day and quit!  Never went back!  Charlie passed away in 1967 at the age of 82.  Totsy lived to be 95 years old, dying on December 22, 1997.  They are both buried at Harden's Chapel in Itawamba County.

Rada Gracie Bowen (md. Oscar Elmer Wallace)
     Gracie was born on July 7, 1903.  She and Elmer had three children, all of whom still live in Mississippi.  She stayed in Itawamba County most of her life.  Gracie passed away on January 7, 1963, at the relatively young age of 59.  Elmer died in 1964 at the age of 68.  They were both buried at the Friendship Cemetery in Itawamba County.

Maulsie Bowen Maulsie Moline Bowen (md. Harvey J. Guntharp)
     Maulsie was born on March 3, 1906 in Fulton.  She married Harvey Jordan Guntharp in 1924, and together they had nine children.  They lived in Verona for a year or so, but then moved back to Itawamba County.  Harvey was a farmer and a sawmiller and drove a schoolbus for a long time also.  He passed away in May of 1987 at the age of 81.  Maulsie died on January 22, 2000, at the age of 93.  They were both buried at Harden's Chapel Cemetery in Itawamba County.

Myrtle Odell Bowen (md. Charley Marston Guntharp)
     Myrtle was born on May 20, 1908.  She married Charley on January 22, 1926.  She and Charley stayed in Itawamba County and had five boys, who all stayed in Northeast Mississippi.  He was a farmer and schoolbus driver and she was a housewife and helped around the farm.  She passed away at the age of 58 on October 12, 1966.  Charley remarried and lived till 1979, when he passed away at the age of 71.  They are both buried in Harden's Chapel Cemetery.

Trannie Darnell Bowen (md. Hettie Lucille Putt)
     Darnell was born on February 27, 1911.  He married Lucille in 1943 they moved over to Lee County around Verona.  He was a blacksmith and mechanic and a World War II veteran, serving as a mechanic in Europe, and she worked at the hospital.  They had four children together.  He passed away on December 8, 1985, at the age of 74.  He is buried in Lee Memorial Cemetery in Verona.

Ruby Irene Bowen (md. John Harrison Sewell)
     Irene was born on February 7, 1915.  She married Harrison who was from near Senatobia, Mississippi and moved down to Clarksdale.  They had five children together, most of whom had careers with the Army or Air Force at one time or another.  He was a farmer and worked for the highway department while she stayed at home and worked for Reeds Manufacturing a little.  Harrison died in 1980 at the age of 67 and Irene passed away on October 5, 1997, at the age of 82.  They are buried at the Memorial Gardens in Clarksdale.

Maxell "Mack" Bowen (md. Joseph Elmo Carnathan)
     Mack was born on August 20, 1917.  She married Joseph in 1940 and together they had seven children.  Joseph was a farmer and Mack was a housewife.  They lived in Okolona for most of their adult lives.  He passed away in Greenville, Mississippi in 1977 at the age of 60.  She passed away in Lee County on July 13, 1984, at the age of 66.  They are both buried in Lee Memorial Cemetery in Verona.



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Photo of Trannie and family provided by Mr. Billie Franks of Clay, Itwamba County, Mississippi.
Photo of Maulsie Bowen Guntharp provided by her daughter Iva Lee, of Mantachie, Mississippi.