"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 517.

JAMES S. BOWEN

     a respected citizen of Mount Vernon, was born in Tioga county,
Pennsylvania, in 1841, the son of William and Elizabeth (Thorp) Bowen. The
father, of Scotch descent, was born in Rhode Island, but later moved to
Wisconsin, where he engaged in farming till the time of his death, at the age of
thirty-eight. The mother, who traced her ancestry back to Revolutionary stock,
died in Kansas. Coming with his parents to Wisconsin at the age of two, Mr.
Bowen remained there for six years, then returned to Pennsylvania where he lived
with an uncle, and there received his education. Returning to Wisconsin, he
served an apprenticeship of three years learning the carriage making trade.
Thrilled with zeal for his country, he answered her call for volunteers when the
war broke out, enlisting December 13,1861, for three years, assisting in the
defeat of the famous Price raid in Missouri. He was discharged February
25, 1865, only to re-enlist in Hancock's veteran corps, in which he served one
year, receiving his final discharge in Washington, D. C., in 1866, after
which he returned to Wisconsin and there pursued his former occupation until the
fall of 1867, when he moved to Cloud County, Kansas, and took up a homestead.
Here he spent the next two years, and then located in Concordia, the county
seat, that he might the better discharge the duties of the offices to which he
had been elected, that of clerk of the court and register of deeds. Here he
remained till 1875, when, after serving his third term as register of deeds, and
having also occupied the office of under sheriff and United States marshal for a
number of years, he retired from public life, came West and settled in Seattle,
Washington, where he engaged in various occupations. In 1879 he started on a
trip east, made a brief visit in Kansas, and then went on to Washington, D. C.,
to accept a position in the Pension Department, which he held for fourteen
months, at which time he resigned on account of his health. After spending some
time visiting points in the east in search of health, he located in Emporia,
Kansas, where for two years and a half he was employed in the Pacific express
office, and then moved to Shoshone, Idaho, and was there connected with the
Oregon Short Line as express messenger. Desirous of changing both his place of
residence and occupation, he went to Pendleton, Oregon, and there for a time
worked at the carpenter trade, but later resuming the trade of his early
manhood, carriage making, which he also followed when he later located in
Whatcom, Washington. In 1890 he purchased a farm on the Samish river and resided
there till in 1899 he came to his present home, Mount Vernon. After an extended
trip to California for his health, he engaged in his present business, that of
real estate and insurance.
     Mr. Bowen was married, in Wisconsin, in 1860, to Clara Russell, to which
union five children were born, three of whom are now living; James M., Benjamin
W. and Walter G. In 1887, in Pendleton, Oregon, he was again married, his second
wife being Mrs. Rebecca J. Conley, the daughter of Joseph Rob, a native of
Pennsylvania, who died in Tacoma at the age of ninety-five. She was born in
Ohio, November 21, 1846, but came with her parents to Iowa when quite young, and
there secured an excellent education. She taught for several years prior to her
marriage to Mr. Conley, a prominent lawyer of Pendleton. Of their three
children, two are now living, Cleora F. Smith and Alberta A. Curry.  Mrs. Bowen
is a member of the Presbyterian church. Always an active Republican, Mr. Bowen
is at present police judge and justice of the peace of Mount Vernon. He is a
honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in business and political
and social circles is held in the highest esteem.

     
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in September 2007 by Diana
Smith.  Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family
mentioned above.