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The Bowen News Exchange, Editor Marguerite Bowen Mason, P.O. Box 855, Steelville, MO 65565.
Robeson Co, NC, census records.References for Bowen fam1, G4, 20 Sep 1996:
PARENTS AND LINEAGE OF ABRAHAM BOWEN
Studies to find parents of Abraham BOWEN are mentioned in his family summary, and they have not been successful thus far. First, it is clear that the name is Welsh; provided that it has come down to us in its original spelling. The name is rather common in Wales, and persons by the name of BOWEN were sheriffs in counties of Wales in several centuries. It has been suggested the name was originally AB OWEN, or son of OWEN. ABOWEN gradually became BOWEN.
When members of the BOWEN family came to America, they settled in all colonies from New England to Georgia. Many who came to Pennsylvania with William Penn and were later enticed to move to the Carolinas with offers of free land. So, in the Carolinas, we have the BOWEN families who came directly; and we have those who transplanted from the Northern colonies.
We do not yet know to which group Abraham belongs. As we first find him in Pitt Co, NC, which was formed in 1760 from Beaufort, we might think his family came directly to NC ports. Unfortunately, many Pitt Co records were burned in a court house fire in 1858; and not all could be reconstituted. Early Beaufort Co records may have clues to his ancestry.
Just west of Pitt Co is Edgecombe Co, which had numerous BOWEN families in its early history. These do not show an Abraham of the proper age.
It is said that BOWEN and BROWN families are found among the Lumbee Indians in Robeson Co, NC. The Lumbees believe that their white ancestors were remnants of Sir Walter RALEIGH's and John WHITE's first settlement on Roanoke Island in 1587 off the coast of NC. According to them, the settlers left Roanoke Island for the mainland to live among the Indians. They gradually drifted southwest into what is now Robeson Co. They intermarried with the Indians and later with free blacks, so that they are now a tri-racial group. They were considered to be a separate Indian tribe by the state of NC until after WW II. When they first received a tribal designation is not known. Robeson Co census records show white, black, or mulatto. Blood tests from those who now claim to be Lumbees show majority black strains, with white and Indian remnants.
Study of the Bowen family in Robeson county, NC, show very few of that family. Bryant BOWEN was identified, 1830 through 1860, as a white. Elias BOWEN in 1880 had child under 10 as a mulatto. This family must be investigated in greater detail. It may be that some of the Lumbees remained in Beaufort county.
There were indeed numerous BROWN families in Robeson County, some white, some black, and some mulatto. It is quite possible that an Abraham BOWEN, with roots in Beaufort Co, NC, would marry a part Indian, also with roots in Beaufort County. At the time, remnants of the Lumbees were still drifting southwest along the coastal areas of NC.
References for Bowen fam1, G4, 20 Sep 1996:
Robeson Co, NC, census records.
The Bowen News Exchange, Editor Marguerite Bowen Mason, P.O. Box 855, Steelville, MO 65565.