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Stephen Bowie (1797 - 1833)

Stephen Bowie
Born in Elliott Springs, Tennesseemap
Ancestors ancestors
[spouse(s) unknown]
[children unknown]
Died at about age 36 in Adams County, Mississippimap
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Profile last modified | Created 25 Dec 2014
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Biography

Sheriff of Lafourche Parish

Stephen BOWIE was born in 1797 in Elliott Springs, Tennessee. and died on January 29,1833 in Adams County, Mississippi.

The Bowie family came to Louisiana from Tennessee in 1802 and settled in what is now Rapides Parish. As children the family lived in Saint Landry and Catahoula Parishes. As young men, Stephen and his brothers, Jim, John and Rezin, headed South to fight in the Battle of New Orleans in 1814, but they arrived too late. It was there they befriended Jean Lafitte. In 1819, the Bowie Brothers descended upon Bayou Black, near the current location of Southdown Plantation in Houma.

Stephen married Mary Ann Compton Bowie (1804 - 1831) of Maryland in 1819 in Avoyelles Parish, La

Their three known children were

  1. Mary Ann Bowie (1821-1878), she married Charles Sydnor Leckie

(1816–1855)

  1. James Bowie (c1826-?) He married Elizabeth Kirkland.
  2. George Washington Bowie (1828-1865).

The Bowies lived near present-day Houma until the Atchafalaya River flooded its banks, putting the Bowie farm underwater. With a suggestion from Lafitte, the Bowies sought higher ground on Bayou Lafourche in 1827.

The brothers then began purchasing adjoining plantations, forming a 1,500 acre estate they called Acadia, located next to the current location of Nicholls State. [1] See Acadia Plantation

While in Thibodaux, the Bowies continued to run a slave trade operation, but they also got involved in the sugarcane industry and built Louisiana’s first steam-powered sugar mill.

With additions, Acadia grew to 2,100 acres. Acadia would go on to be owned by Phillip Barton Key (nephew of Francis Scott Key) and Andrew Donelson, (nephew of Andrew Jackson.)

In 1830 Stephen became sheriff of Lafourche Parish

The plantation became known as a "model estate", but on February 12, 1831 they sold it and 65 slaves for $90,000. With their profits, Rezin and James bought a plantation in Arkansas

No. 617 On March 29, 1828 James BOWIE, through his attorney Stephen BOWIE sold land... a sample of many transactions in Terrebonne Parish . There were over one hundred twenty claims made involving persons that had purchased land from the Bowies that never received title.

BOWIE STEPHEN JAN 29, 1833 35 YRS (ABOUT) BILIOUS PLEUIRSY DR. S.A. CARTWRIGHT[2]


Sources

  1. http://lib.lsu.edu/sites/default/files/sc/findaid/Acadia_files/4906_app.a.pdf
  2. http://www.natchezbelle.org/adams-ind/b4.htm
  • 1820; Census Place: Bayou Boeuf, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, USA; Roll: M33_31; Page: 11; Image: 15.
  • 1830; Census Place: Lafourche Parish, Louisiana; Roll: 43; Page: 22; Line 4.




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Stephen by comparing test results with other carriers of his ancestors' Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Stephen:

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