Mary Bowen, born in Augusta County VA 1748
was the mother of our Reese Porter and the wife of William Porter Jr.
She was the daughter of John Bowen and Mary (McIlhaney) Bowen. The name Bowen was Welsh and was a derivative of an old Welsh name "Ap Owen" meaning "son of." The Owens and Bowens are from the family.
She drew a military pension for knitting wool socks for the soldiers at the pivotal Battle of Kings Mountain which turned the tide of the Revolutionary War. After the death of her husband in 1804, she and five of her sons, including our Reese, migrated southwest into southern Tennessee where she lived until her death in 1820. We dug her headstone out of the mud and scraped it off enough to read "mother of nine sons and five daughters". She is our GGGGGGGrandmother.
1 comment:
Obviously, we (Bret and I) love the name Reese! And our son thought for many years that he owned his own candy company.
Enjoying your rantings . . .
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