An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL. 1893

HON. JOHN H. BOWMAN, whose name is prominently connected with the story of San
Juan island, Washington, is a native of Rutherford county, Tennessee, born near
Nashville, August 16, 1821. He was the first inhabitant of Friday Harbor,
Washington, having come here to survey the town site, and for two years he lived
alone on the island, his only mode of communication with the outside world being
with a small boat. When the land on which Friday Harbor is situated was selected
by the county as the seat of justice he was the one who went to Olympia to make
final proof and get a patent from the Government, he having in the meantime
resided on the land as County Auditor and held it for the county the required
length of time. Of Mr. Bowman's parents, we record that his father, William
Bowman, was born in South Carolina in 1787 and died in Tennessee in 1865; and
that his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Wade, was born in Maryland in
1790 and died in Tennessee in 1838. The father was a pioneer in Tennessee,
having moved from South Carolina to that State with his parents when he was a
boy. There he grew to manhood and was married and reared his family. Of his ten
children only four are now living. He was a resident of Tennessee when that
State was admitted to the Union, and during the war of 1812 he was an active
participant. John H. Bowman remained on his father's plantation in Tennessee
until 1841, when he went to Jackson, Mississippi, to work in a large mercantile
establishment. He was there employed when the Mexican war broke out, and he
resigned his position to enter the army. As a member of Company E, First
Mississippi Rifles, under Jefferson Davis and General Taylor, he went to the
front and participated in all the principal battles of that war. On account of
bravery at the battle of Monterey he was promoted from a private to the rank of
Corporal. His next principal battle was that of Buena Vista, where he was again
promoted for bravery, this time to the position of Fourth Sergeant. He was in
Jefferson Davis' command during his entire service. At the close of the war he
returned to Jackson, Mississippi, where he was employed in a mercantile
establishment until 1851. That year he set sail from New Orleans to Panama, went
up the Chagres river, footed it across the isthmus, carrying his pack, and made
the Pacific voyage to San Francisco in the Republic, landing at his destination
May 1, 1851. He followed mining for eleven years throughout California, coming
from that State to Union county, Oregon, where he continued in the mines eight
years. In 1862 he went to Lewiston, Idaho, where he continued his mining
operations, being in Idaho when it was organized as a Territory. In October,
1872, after an experience of twenty-one years as a miner, he retired from the
mines and came to Washington, first locating on Orcas island. This was about one
mouth before the dispute between the British and the United States Governments
was settled. In November, 1872, the trouble having been settled, he pre-empted
the land on which he had been residing under a squatter's right. The next
Legislature organized the county of San Juan and located the county seat at
Friday Harbor. He was the first Probate Judge of the county, in which office he
served three terms, the first time by appointment and the others by election. He
was also the second County Auditor; has since been elected Auditor and served
for ten years. He assisted in clearing the ground and building the first county
courthouse in Friday Harbor, where it still stands. As all his time was required
on San Juan island, he in 1877 sold his property on Orcas island to the Newhall
Stave Company, now known as the Cascade Mill Company, and after disposing of it
he bought property adjoining Friday Harbor. He has since disposed of most of his
property. At one time he owned nearly the whole of Friday Harbor. Mr. Bowman was
made an Odd-Fellow at Jackson, California. He received a demit from the lodge
there in 1881, but he has never since joined any other lodge.

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.