Dora (Ross) Bowman (bef. 1873 - aft. 1940)

Born before 1873 in Kentucky

Ancestors

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Jeffrey Martin [send private message] and James Bowman [send private message]

Biography

The "before 1873" birth date is a hunch. Dora is the first-listed child. The second child (Ballard Ross) was born in 1873.

Biography

Information from 1900 and 1910 census. James Bowman Sr remembered that Dora Ross was supposedly "part Indian" and he remembered her as being "Dora Plank."

The Eunice Bowman-Staiger obit has her born to William T(homas) and Dora Ross in 1911. So Dora Ross was alive in 1911. She is listed as "Dora Bowmon" in the 1920 census with William T. Bowman and living in Oklahoma. They have a son named Fred living with them that is the approximate age of Fred Bowman.

Dora Ross's father is consistently listed as being born in Kentucky. Note that the 1900 census has her mother listed as being from Tennessee; this changes to Virginia in the 1910-20 censuses.

I've read genealogies that have Ross as both the wife of William T. Bowman and a John Mays from Owsley County. If she had been married to both men at separate times, then it could be that Ross died in 1960 and is buried in Owsley County, Kentucky.

But the facts didn't add up. I had Ross in two separate places through censuses, with William T. Bowman and with John Mays at the same time. I then began to suspect that there were two Dora Rosses from Owsley County - one the daughter of William H. Ross and Emily Angel, and the other the daughter of John D. Ross and Stella Venable. While looking through ancestry.com (I don't have a subcription), I found a big hit. The daughter of John Ross and Stella Venable had married a man named "Plank".

In the 1930 census there is a Jasper Plank living with a Dora Plank, a woman born in Kentucky. Furthermore, the 1940 census indicates a widowed woman born in 1875 named Dora Plank living in Kellyville, Oklahoma and born in Kentucky.

Living with Jasper and Dora Plank is a "mother-in-law" Stella Cole. According to the Findagrave link, Cole died in 1937. Cole's maiden name is Venable and Cole was her second husband after John Ross.

I finally confirmed the link through 23andme.com. I found that I was genetically related to a woman who was a descendant of John Daniel Ross. I believe that John Daniel Ross is the father the Dora Ross that married William T. Bowman.

Sources

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9HT-STR : accessed 13 August 2015), Dora Bowman in household of William Bowman, Magisterial District 3, Island Creek, Owsley, Kentucky, United States; citing sheet 11B, family 180, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,240,547.

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML7J-ZLQ : accessed 13 August 2015), Dora Bowman in household of William T Bowman, Kellyville, Creek, Oklahoma, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 42, sheet 1A, family 4, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,375,262.

• "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (Link : accessed 4 September 2015), William Bowmon, Kellyville, Creek, Oklahoma, United States; citing sheet 12A, family 28, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,459.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XC78-KG6 : accessed 4 September 2015), Jasper A Plank, Kellyville, Creek, Oklahoma, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0019, sheet 1B, family 11, line 52, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1900; FHL microfilm 2,341,634.

• Eunice Bowman-Staiger obituary. (Link: accessed 2 September 2015).

• Ancestry.com. (Link: accessed 4 September 2015.

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images([1] Link]: accessed 4 September 2015

• MyHeritage.com - Bernie Bowman. ([2]: accessed 8 October 2015).

• 23andme.com. Genetic relationship confirmed with John Daniel Ross descendant. (Added 11 August 2016.)