Griffith Bowen
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Griffith Bowen (abt. 1600 - abt. 1675)

Griffith "Griffin" Bowen
Born about in Slade or Llangennith, Glamorgan, Walesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married about 1627 in Gelli-hir, Ilston, Glamorganshire, Walesmap [uncertain]
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 75 in London, Middlesex, Englandmap
Profile last modified | Created 27 Mar 2011
This page has been accessed 7,211 times.
The Puritan Great Migration.
Griffith Bowen migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 37)
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Contents

Biography

Puritan Great Migration
Griffith Bowen immigrated to New England between 1621 and 1640 and later departed for Wales.

Griffith Bowen was born about 1600 ("gent[leman]" 31 April 1621); probably in either Slade (ancestral home), parish of Oxwich, or six-miles-distant Burryhead, parish of Llangennith, both in the district of Gower, county of Glamorgan (that part now the City and County of Swansea), Wales.[1] His parents were Francis Bowen and Ellen/Elen (Franklyn) Bowen.[2]

He married probably in or near Gelli-hir, parish of Ilston (about 9 miles from the Bowen home of Burryhead, Llangennith), say 1627, Margaret Fleming, daughter of Henry Fleming of Gelli-hir and Alice (not Sarah), daughter of Jenkin Dawkin, son of William Dawkin, the latter also of Gelli-hir.[3]

Griffith Bowen was living on the Gower Peninsula when on May 1, 1638 he sold two small estates, described as: "Griffith Bowen of Oxwich, gent. and Margarett his wife and Ellen Francklyn als Row of the parish of Langenith widdowe of the one partie and Samuell Matthewes of Westminister, gent. of the other partie - - - in consideracon of the some of Three hundred pounsx - - - confirme unto the said Samuell Mathewes - - - two severall messuagex and Tentx withe divers parcells of landx - - - comonly called and known by the severall names of Coolme and Burry conteyning together by estimacon two messuagx two barnes two gardens one orchard fifty and five acres of pasture - - - Within the parish of Langenith - - -."[4]

On September 17, 1638 Griffin Bowen and Margaret his wife entered into an agreement with William Bennett where Griffin and Margaret agreed to sell "two messuages, two barnes, two gardens, one orchard, twenty-four acres of land, three acres of meadow, six acres of pasture, four acres of wood and six acres of furze and heath with appurtenances in Penrice."[4]Penrice is in the parish of Glamorgan[5]

He immigrated to New England about 1638; settling in Boston then Roxbury (probably not the latter; see next paragraph).[6]

It is highly doubtful that Griffith Bowen ever lived in Roxbury. Two of his four children whose baptisms are entered in Roxbury church records also appear in the records of the Boston First Church, to which "Griffyn" and Margaret Bowen had been admitted soon after their arrival (see below). The Roxbury church record of son Peniel's baptism indicates that "Mr. Bowen of Boston Church" lived "nearer to us than to Boston." Thus as a matter of convenience, four Bowen children were baptized in the Roxbury church; the family never lived there, however. Griffith Bowen's only other known connection to Roxbury (now part of Boston) is found in the first item of his Boston estate inventory—introduced by his description as "formerly of Boston"—which lists 1½ acres of fresh meadow "lying in Roxbury bounds." Roxbury is mentioned precisely because he did not live there. Of all the records Griffith Bowen generated, not one describes him as a resident or former resident of Roxbury.(ECZ)

On the 6th of the 12th month [February] 1638[/9] Griffyn Bowen and his wife Margarett were accepted as members of the First Church in Boston.[7]He was granted a "great Lott" at Muddy River two months before he was made a freeman on May 22, 1639.[8][4]

The Deeds of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, contains a recorded bond dated May 15, 1640 in which Henry Bowen of Haraden in Glamorgan, gentleman and Henry Morgan of Llougher in Glamorgan, gentleman bound themselves to pay Griffith Bowen, "late of Langenith in the county aforsaid, gentleman, fiftye pownds vpon the twentieth day of October 1641, and Three score & Eighteen pownds more vpon the twentieth day of October 1642." Edward Bowen in "Griffith Bowen of Boston" says "It is a fortunate thing that this bond was recorded, for it is the only clue we have in America of the place of Griffith Bowen's residence before he came to New England." The Town of Boston held a meeting on "29th day of 11th Mo. 1643" when it voted "There is granted unto Gryphen Bowin Gent., an howse lot, if any yet remaine to be disposed of."[4]

Griffith Bowen, along with William Colbron and Jacob Elliott were "bound unto Francis Kingsmyle Esqr Willm Arundell Willm Fleming & George Waters merchants in 265ł [£265] to pay 235ł [£235] to them upon the first day of January next ensuing the date hereof 7. (5) 1640. [1s. 6d. copayd 1s. copayd 1s.][9]

In Boston, Griffith Bowen on "9: 2 mo: 1649" was elected as perambulator... to walk and record its boundaries. This is the last record we have of him before his departure from New England. Soon after this he sailed for England, then Wales, taking with him his wife and some of his children.[4]

Griffith Bowen returned to Great Britain about 1650, residing first in the Gower (his home district; living in town of Swansea by 1654), Wales, and removing to London, England, by 1669.[6]

His name is found in a Survey of Gower Wallicana in 1650 as a "freeholder" in the "Parcell Clase: the same for a tenemt in the hands of Griffith Bowen."[4]

He purchased "those respective mesuages or tenemts Cotages Milnes lands on the Hill within the parish of St. Maries comonly called St. Maries Hill in the Libtie of Pembroke within the County of Pembroke, etc. for L524. He enjoyed his Pembroke estate only for a short time for in 1656 the Commonalty of the City of London and the University of Oxford claimed the land. "It was found that these lands of right belonged unto the City of London, and that the Fee Farme Rent belonged unto the University of Oxford, and the sale made by Phillip Jones became absolutely void. He became entangled in several legal disputes regarding his land, until finally while living in "Swansey" on July 20, 1661 he "executed a formal surrender to the King of the property bought of Colonel Philip Jones." The King on August 19, 1661 "granted and devised unto his 'beloved subject Griffith Bowen All that water grain mill in Milton,' in the County of Pembroke, "of the yearly rent of x All that fulling mill there hitherto in the tenure of John Perrott Knight... for the term of 31 years thereafter Paying therefore to us and our successors."[4]"On April 7, 1669 he was living in London, Co. Midd., in the Parish of St. Saviours, Southark, Co. Surrey" when he gave Isaac Addington of Boston two parcels of land at the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth Bowen.[2]

Griffith Bowen was also involved in a complaint against his son Francis Bowen and a kinsman John Bowen after Griffith had moved to London.[4]

Griffith Bowen died in 1675 at London, England.[2]The administration of his estate was given to Henry Bowen his son on April 17, 1676. His estate was inventoried by William Davis and Edward Morris and appraised at L535 which included 176 acres of land. His wife had died previously since she is not mentoned when his estate was settled.[2]At a Boston Court on November 6, 1683, Jacob Eliot of Boston as well as Samuel Ruggles and John Bowles of Roxbury appointed a Committee for the Division and Settlement of the Estate of Mr. Griffith Bowen who died intestate. Francis, his eldest son was to receive a double portion and equal portions to the other children.

Children of Griffith & Margaret (Fleming) Bowen[4]

  1. Margaret who was born in Wales, was perhaps the oldest child. She married John Weld on December 24, 1647 at Roxbury. Weld was born in England on October 27, 1623 and died in Roxbury on September 20, 1691. Margaret died September 13, 1692.
  2. Francis was born in Wales.[4] about 1630 and probably migrated to Boston with his parents. He returned to Pembroke, Wales; was probably unmarried, as his share of the estate of Griffith Bowen was assumed by his brother Henry Bowen. He died about 1716 in England.[2]
  3. William was born in Wales. He was "of Bristol and was a mariner who was captured by the Turks and died in captivity about 1686"; he had a son also named William. The elder man lived in Boston, then returned to England after the division of his father's estate on February 21, 1683/4.[2]
  4. Henry was born in Wales in 1633. On December 20, 1658 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Capt Isaac & Elizabeth (Porter) Johnson of Roxbury. Elizabeth born December 24, 1637. Henry lived in Roxbury and Woodstock, Connecticut, dying in Woodstock on March 13, 1723/4 at 90 years of age.[4]Elizabeth died on August 15, 1683. Henry married (2nd) Susanna (Barker) Heath widow of Peleg Heath Senr. and daughter of Dorothy Barker of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Dorothy's mother migrated from Barbados.[2]
  5. Mary, born about 1635 in Wales. She married Benjamin Child of Roxbury about 1653. He may be the Benjamin Child who died October 14, 1678.[2] His wife known as "Widow Child" had a share of Griffith Bowen's estate. She died October 31, 1707.
  6. Esther was born in Muddy River section of Boston; was baptized 10 : 12th mo : 1638[4] (Feb. 10, 1638) and died possibly on March 28, 1654 at Roxbury, as Hester Bowen a young maide.[2]
  7. Abigail was baptized 10 : 2d mo : 1641.[4] (April 10, 1641) at Boston.[2]
  8. Peniel was baptized "1644 Month 3, day 5." He probably died before the settlement of his father's estate, in 1683/4, for he is not mentioned in it.
  9. Elizabeth was born about 1646 in Boston in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Before April 7, 1669 she married Isaac Addington; son of Isaac and Anne (Leverett) Addington. He was born January 22, 1644/5 and died March 19, 1714/15 at Boston. Elizabeth died March 2, 1712/13. Addington married (2nd) to Eliza Wainwright on November 19, 1713; daughter of William and Lucy (Downing) Norton of Boston and Ipswich. She died November 22, 1742 as "Elizabeth" age 88 years. Her 1st husband was John Wainwright of Ipswich.
  10. Deriah was baptized 11 : 2 mo : 1647 (April 11, 1647) "aged about 6 days." He returned to Great Britain with his father and died before 1676.[2]

Research Notes

  • Fabrication on E. C. Bowen's chart. "Above the line of Richard Bowen "mort" and Ann there is a line showing Owen, the second son of James Bowen, marryingElen, daughter of Thomas Lloyd, and having a single child, Griffith Bowen of Llangwydd, Glamorgan, who married Mary, daughter of William Ryfel[sic], gentleman." There is a note at the right that says, "They and their son Henry (5 years old) emigrated to America in the summer of 1638. They settled first in the lot known as the 'Liberty Tree' block Washington St. Boston, Mass. moving afterwards to Roxbury, Mass." So E. C. Bowen made Griffith Bowen the nephew of Richard Bowen "mort." E. C. Bowen later saw that that the Roxbury birth records indicated that Griffith's wife was Margaret, so he made up an explanation - that Griffith had married Mary Rifel in Wales who was the mother of two children, Henry and William, who migrated with them. However, the fabrication came to light by two Welsh pedigrees indicating that Griffith Bowen's father was Francis, son of Phillip Bowen of Slade, Glamorganshire. Pedigree shows that Griffith married a daughter of Henry Fleming. Torry continued this error on sources available to him writing "Mary [?Rifel]" as Griffith's first wife and Margaret second. A study has recently concluded that Griffith could have had only one wife - Margaret Fleming.[10]
  • A pedigree researched by Peter Clement Bartrum and ...that goes back to Henry I, King of England and an unknown mistress, through an illegimate son of Henry's -- Robert of Caen, Earl of Gloucester. If this is accurate, then documented descendants of Griffith Bowen could be eligible for membership in the Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain (Royal Bastards). (Warning: they have very strict documentation requirements; every generation needs to be proven by contemporaneous, direct evidence.)

Sources

  1. Edward Augustus Bowen, Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut (Cambridge, Mass., 1897), 10–11, 28.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 John William Linzee, Jr. "The History of Peter Parker and Sarah Ruggles of Roxbury, Mass. and Their Ancestors and Descendants" J. W. Linzee, Boston, MA (1913) pp 511-520.see at archive.org
  3. Herman Nickerson, "Margaret Fleming, Wife of Griffith Bowen," Connecticut Nutmegger 19(1986):335–41; Bowen, Bowens of Woodstock [note 1], 11.
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) Edward Augustus Bowen. "Griffith Bowen of Boston" Vol. 47, pp 453-459.subscriber$
  5. genuki:Penrice, Glamorgan.link
  6. 6.0 6.1 Robert Charles Anderson. "The Great Migration Directory, Immigrants to New England 1620-1640" New England Historic Genealogical Society (2015) p. 37.
  7. Richard D. Pierce. "The Records of the First Church in Boston 1630-1868, Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Boston (1961) p. 23.link
  8. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff. "Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686. (Boston 1853-1854) Vol. 1, p. 376.see at archive.org
  9. Edward Everett Hale, Jr. "Notebook Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer; in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638-July 29, 1641." Cambridge (1885). p. 258.see at archive.org
  10. The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Richard LdBaron Bowen, Jr. "The Ancestry, Wives, and Children of Richard Bowen of Weymouth and Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Vol. 76 (2001) pp 266, 267.subscriber$

See also:

  • Gary Boyd Roberts, Notable Kin, Volume One; Boston, MA: NEHGS (1998)
  • Bowen, Edward Agustus, Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1897. Searchable online edition.
  • Supplement to Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700.
  • Ancestor Lineages of Members Texas Society/National Society Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century.Chapter:: Ancestor Lineages. Pg.24.
  • Bowen, Georgene Esther. The Ancestry of Griffith Bowen of "Burryhead", Llangenydd Parish, Glamorgan County, Wales (n.p., Philadelphia, 1960) Page 41
  • Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England Between 1623 and 1650, Fifth Edition. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982.
  • Jesse Montgomery Seaver, The Bowen Genealogy, Philadelphia: privately printed, 1931.
  • Edward Augustus Bowen, "Griffith Bowen of Boston", in The English Origins of New England Families, volume 2.1 (1985).
  • Chester Garst Mayo, John Mayo of Roxbury, Massachusetts 1630-1688 A Genealogical and Biographical Record of His Descendants, Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1965.
  • Samuel C. Drake, Samuel G., "Notes on the Addington Family", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register volume IV (1850).
  • David Pulsifer, "Early Records of Boston", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register volume VIII (1854).
  • Herman Nickerson, Jr., "Griffith and Margaret (Fleming) Bowen of Wales and Massachusetts, NGSQ 67(1979):163
  • "Boston Town Records" in Second Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston; containing the Boston Records, 1634-1660, and the Book of Possessions 2nd ed. (Boston 1881) Vol. 1, p. 38
  • National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 1 through present (1912 +)
  • Connecticut Nutmegger19:335-341. subscriber$




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Comments: 14

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Bowen-7117 and Bowen-319 appear to represent the same person because: these are the same people
posted by Scott Loarie
Jane, please identify where the image you uploaded is from (ie., Title, Author, Publisher, date, etc.) and explain why it is in the public domain, or it will need to be deleted from this profile. Thanks,

Jen, for PGM

posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
I also note that under See Also the entry: 'Stephen M. Lawson, "Bowen" Ancestry of Stephen Lawson, Online . Printout dated 12 March 1998.' has a broken link. The link points to a personal web account: sml.simplenet.com which apparently no longer exists. Given the broken link the entry contains no usable information and the entire entry should probably be removed. I can do that if desired.
posted by Jim Bowen
yes, please proceed, James. Thank you.
The Stephen M. Lawson entry in the "See also:" section has been removed.
posted by Jim Bowen
I see that under See Also the second entree lists simply Bowens of Woodstock with no link or other information. I wonder whether this actually refers to The Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut by Edward Augustus Bowen. If so, I would be happy to edit the entry including a link to the free online digital edition of the book.
posted by Jim Bowen
It probably does refer to that, so, yes, please improve the citation. Thank you.
posted by Anne B
I have expanded to citation to include the full listing of the book and a link to the online searchable text.
posted by Jim Bowen
Opinion of others sought: Should his place of birth be changed to "Glamorganshire, Wales, England?"

Linzee says "The exact place and date of birth of Griffith Bowen is not known, but either at Langenith, Slade, or Burryhead, Co. Glamorgan in England" see at archive.org

Wales and England are both part of the United Kingdom, but Wales is not part of England.
posted by Bob Gerrish
yeah, Bob, that's why it seems so strange that Linzee added "England." Anyway, Wikipedia says Wales became a part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and then the United Kingdom in 1808.[1] Since he was born in 1600, I'll use "Glamorganshire, Wales."
Heads up... I'll begin a biography rewrite, using primarily the sources found in the Great Migration Directory.
There are certainly lots of sources on this profile... with links. Would any one of the PMs care to tackle a biography re-write? See especially the additional sources under "Great Migration Directory." Thank you, your involvement would be greatly appreciated.
I just started a g2g on Griffith's wife's (Fleming-441) two lines to King Edward I, in case anyone is interested.

You can read it here.

posted by PM Eyestone