This is the information I have found concerning Bowens' with Indian or Native American connections.

 

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 Robeson Co, NC, census records.
The Bowen News Exchange, Editor Marguerite Bowen Mason, P.O. Box 855, Steelville, MO 65565.

 

 

 

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