John Bowen was the father of our Mary Bowen Porter. He was the grandfather of Wm Bowen Campbell, the governor of Tennessee from 1851-1853.
Mary Bowen is not listed in this post as she was #1 a woman #2 never did anything famous except to knit wool socks for the soldiers at the last pivotal battle of the Revolutionary War (Battle of Kings Mtn) We saw the gravestone of Mary Bowen in southern Tennessee on our genealogical trip last May.
John Bowen, a wealthy planter of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, as was the custom of the times, at harvest, gathered the lads and lassies of the surrounding country to his harvesting. One of these, Lilly McIlhenny, by her grace and beauty, so attracted the old bachelor's heart that he bowed at the shrine of matrimony. From this marriage came Captain William Bowen, the Indian fighter, and the more celebrated Reese Bowen, who was killed at King's Mountain. Captain William was one of the early settlers of Sumner county; the father of John H. Bowen, lawyer, and idol of his county of Sumner, and of whom the venerable Judge Thomas Barry says, he was the best and most loved man he ever knew. Such was his reputation for probity, that the juries gave him credence when he differed with the court on a point of law; he was elected to Congress before he was of the age to take his seat. His sister married David Campbell, a son of Colonel David Campbell, and brother of General John Campbell, of the war of 1812. This David Campbell and Catherine Bowen were the father and mother of Governor William B. Campbell, of our good State of Tennessee. Speaking, therefore, for our home, your annalist and his wife, daughter of W. B. Campbell, represent, of the Scotch-Irish blood, the united strains of the Kelleys, the Thompsons the Montgomerys, the Hamiltons, the McIlhennys, the Cunninghams, Hays, and Adams.
