Return to the Bowles DNA Main Page.
1 Oscar Bowles, b. 31 Mar 1811 in Nelson County VA; d. 1874 in AR
+ Elizabeth Melton, b. 23 Oct ?? in VA; md. 13 Apr 1831 in Fluvanna County VA
2 David Oscar Bowles, Sr., b. 1838 in Arkansas City AR
+ Marie Caroline Sofgee (Zoffjke)
3 David Oscar Bowles, Jr., b. 4 Jul 1868 in Arkansas City AR; d. 10 Apr 1939 in Rolling Fork MS
+ Willie Eugenia Kerr, b. 1875 in Jackson MS, d. 26 Jul 1908 in Hinds County MS
4 Marion Elizabeth Bowles, b. 22 Jul 1898 in Jackson MS
4 Ora A. Bowles
+ William Bonner
4 David Oscar Bowles, b. 6 May 1899
4 Willie Eugene, b. 26 Apr 1900(?)
4 Malcolm Kerr Bowles, b. 22 Sep 1902; d. 3 Aug 1988
4 Eva Bowles, b. 8 May 1904, d. 22 Jun 1964
4 Ann Bowles, b. 6 Mar 1906
+ Eva "Dottie" Kerr, b. 1876 in MS, d. 22 Jun 1964 in MS
4 Theodore S. Bowles, b. 19 Oct 1912 in MS; d. 7 Oct 1968
4 Dolores Olga Bowles, b. 30 Jun 1915; d. 20 Jan 1964
3 C. Augusta Bowles (wife of Dr. J. M. Carter)
3 Ora Bowles
3 Olga Bowles
2 Mary E. Bowles, b. abt 1840 in AR (wife of Mr. Dickson)
2 Joseph (James) M. Bowles, b. abt 1852 in AR
2 William W. Bowles, b. 1832 in Flavanna County VA
+ Elmira McMullen
3 Mary E. Bowles (wife of J. W. Davis)
3 Joseph S. Bowles
+ Ida J. ---
4 Daphne E. Bowles, b. abt 1888 in AR
4 Chester Bowles, b. abt 1892 in AR
4 Howard W. Bowles, b. 3 Nov 1898 in AR; d. Jan 1977
4 Joseph S. Bowles, Jr., b. abt 1900 AR
3 William J. Bowles
3 John A. Bowles
3 Jessie E. Bowles
3 Emma E. Bowles
1840 Federal Census: Arkansas, Chicot County, Franklin Township, page 27
Oscar Bowles - 11001-00001
1850 Federal Census: Arkansas, Chicot County, Franklin Township, page 185B
household 173/173
Oscar Bowles - 39 M, owner, $9000, VA
Elizabeth E. Bowles - 38 F, VA
William W. Bowles - 18 M, AR
Oscar D. Bowles - 12 F, AR
Mary E. Bowles - 10 F, AR
Joseph M. Bowles - 8 M, AR
1860 Federal Census: Arkansas, Chicot County, Franklin Township, page 963A
household 361/361
Oscar Bowles - 50 M, planter, $11200, $11900, VA
Elizabeth Bowles - 49 F, VA
D. Oscar Bowles - 22 M, AR
Mary E. Bowles - 19 F, AR
James M. Bowles - 18 M, AR
1870 Federal Census: Arkansas, Chicot County, Franklin Township, page 7
household 40/40
Bowles, Oscar - 60 M W, farmer, VA
Bowles, E. E. - 60 F W, VA
1880 Federal Census: Arkansas, Desha County, page 312A
household 103/107
Bowles, W. W. - W M 48, self, stock raiser, VA VA VA
Bowles, Elmira - W F 47, wife, keeping house, AL - -
Bowles, Mary E. - W F 23, daughter, AR AL VA
Bowles, Joe S. - W M 21, son, AR AL VA
Bowles, Wm J. - W M 18, son, AR AL VA
Bowles, John A. - W M 16, son, AR AL VA
Bowles, Emma E. - W F 9, daughter, AR AL VA
Bowles, Jesse E. - W F 5, daughter, AR AL VA
household 106/110
Bowles, Elizabeth - W F 68, self, keeping house, VA VA VA
1910 Federal Census: Arkansas, Desha County, Franklin Township, Arkansas City, page 51A
household 6/6
Bowles, Joseph S. - head M W 45, married 24 years, AR VA AL, carpenter
Bowles, Ida J. - head, F W 38, 5 children/4 living, MO US US
Bowles, Daphne E. - daughter, F W 22, single, AR AR MO
Bowles, Chester - son, M W 18, single, AR AR MO, salesman
Bowles, Howard W. - son, M W 12, AR AR MO
Bowles, Joseph S. Jr. - son, M W 10, AR AR MO
1920 Federal Census: Arkansas, Desha County, Franklin Township, Arkansas City, page 209A
household 9/9
Bowles, Bass - head, M W 61 married, AR TN TN, mechanic (road)
Bowles, Julie - wife, F W 48 married, AR AR AR
Bowles, Howard - son, M W 20, single, AR AR AR, surveyor
Bowles, Joseph S. - son, M W 18 single
from http://www.rootsweb.com/~ardesha/goodspd.htm
WILLIAM W. BOWLES, the oldest resident of this portion of Desha County, and one of the
representative citizens of the same, was born in Flavanna County, Va., in 1832, and is the son of
Oscar and Elizabeth E. Bowles. Oscar Bowles came to this county in 1835, making the trip in a
flatboat from Virginia, and landed where Arkansas City now stands, when there were but about four
acres cleared and one log cabin. He brought with him the slaves belonging to John R. Campbell, and
was overseer for the last-named gentleman and sons for seventeen years. There were other similar
improvements in this section of the county, and Mr. Bowles opened for Mr. Campbell the first farm
in this part of the county, which was at that time a vast wilderness, and game abounded in vast
numbers throughout the entire country, and what few white male inhabitants there were here at that
time were mainly hunters and raftsmen. After leaving the employ of Mr. Campbell, Mr. Bowles and
Charles Campbell purchased a farm of land of a Mr. Johnson, one of the early settlers, and
immediately engaged in cultivating the soil, remaining in partnership from 1850 to 1860. During the
war Mr. Bowles moved his and Campbell's Negroes back on Crooked Bayou, where they remained for one
year, and then Mr. Campbell took his Negroes to Texas. After the war Mr. Bowles returned to his
farm and resumed agricultural pursuits, in which he was quite successful. His death occurred in
1874, when he was drowned by going through a crevasse in the levee in a dugout. His widow still
survives, makes her home in Arkansas City on her own property, and as she was born July 3, 1812,
she is now seventy eight years of age. The father was born in Nelson County, Va., March 31, 1811.
William W. Bowles was principally educated at Washington College, Tenn., and November 26, 1859, he
was married to Miss Elmira McMullen, a native of Alabama, but who came with her parents to this
county when a little girl. Mr. Bowles has always followed planting and stock raising, making a
specialty of the latter occupation. He is the owner of about 665 acres of good bottom land, with
about 100 acres improved, with fair buildings, etc., and aside from this he is the owner of a
desirable residence in the city. In 1861 Mr. Bowles enlisted in the Confederate army as a private
in Company G. Twenty-third Arkansas, and served east of the Mississippi. He was with Gen. Price,
and was at the evacuation and battle of Corinth and the surrender of Port Hudson. He was at the
siege of Port Hudson, was here captured, but was paroled after being held a prisoner for only three
and a half days. He came home and was exchanged in the fall of 1863, and in 1864 he joined a
scouting company in this section, but was not in active service the last six months on account of
his eyes, which were injured at Port Hudson. The first three years after the war Mr. Bowles was
engaged as bookkeeper and salesman for Cabbell, Sappington & Armour as a lumber dealer and sawmill
man at Cypress Bend, and received $75 per month. He had only his place and one mule left to
commence work with after the war, and his mother-in-law and wife were weaving and making their own
clothing, consequently he accepted the above-mentioned position. Mr. Bowles and wife were the
parents of nine children, five of whom are nor living: Mary E. (wife of J. W. Davis, the present
postmaster of Arkansas City), Joseph S., William J., John A. and Jessie E. Mr. Bowles is a member
of the Masonic fraternity, Branson Blue Lodge No. 113. Politically he is a Democrat in his
tendencies. He was constable of Desha and Chicot Counties for four years, and also held the office
of justice of the peace for a like number of years in the same counties.
DAVID O. BOWLES, planter, Arkansas City, Ark. Mr. Bowles is one of the oldest settlers of Franklin
Township, and is a man who has the respect and esteem of all acquainted with him. He is a
native-born resident of Desha County, born in 1838, and is the son of Oscar and Elizabeth (Melton)
Bowles, natives of Nelson and Flavanna Counties, Va., respectively. Oscar Bowles came to this State
in 1832, and bought land adjoining that upon which Arkansas City is now standing. He came here in
company with C. W. Campbell, and the latter bought the land upon which the city now stands. They
tilled the soil upon adjoining farms for a number of years, and in the forties entered into a
partnership in stock raising. This partnership existed until the death of Mr. Campbell in 1866.
They owned and operated a large farm in this township, known now as the Roston farm, and this they
worked very successfully. They were large stock-raisers of cattle, horses and mules. Mr. Bowles was
not a politician although one among the most popular men of the county. He was captain of the
militia here previous to the late unpleasantness, and afterward filled the office of justice of the
peace. He continued his agricultural affairs until his death, which occurred in 1874, when he was
drowned while crossing a crevasse in the levee near old Chicot City. His widow still survives him,
and is seventy-eight years of age, and makes her home with her granddaughter, Mrs. Lizzie Trippe,
of Arkansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Bowles were the parents of four children: W. W. (a planter and
stock-raiser of Franklin Township, and who now resides in the city), D. O., Mary E. (deceased wife
of a Mr. Dickson), and J. M. (deceased). D. O. Bowles was educated principally in Desha County, at
Chicot City, where, previous to the war, the planters of this county had built a school, and at the
age of seventeen years he became assistant to his father on the plantation. He acted as general
superintendent, and managed the hands, etc. At the age of twenty-two he entered the Confederate
service in company H, Churchill's First Arkansas Mounted Rifles, McNair's brigade, and served first
in the Western army, and was first in the battle of Oak Hills. He was captured at Elk Horn Tavern
and sent to Alton, Ill. He was sent South in the latter part of the summer of 1862, reported to his
old command, and entered the Army of the Tennessee. He participated in the battles of
Barboursville, Perryville, Knoxville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and was in all the battles
from Dalton, Ga., to Atlanta. During the winter of 1864 or 1865 he was serving in the Secret
Deciphering Department for the Confederate army from Dalton to Atlanta, and was ordered to report
to the war department at Richmond, Va., four days previous to the time when Gen. Hood had taken
command of the army in place of Gen. J. E. Johnston. Mr. Bowles was commissioned captain, and while
serving in that capacity from the war department was ordered to report to Gen. E. Kirby Smith in
command of the Western army, then stationed at Shreveport, La. He was then ordered by Gen. Kirby
Smith to operate in the secret service department on the Mississippi River, but only filled this
position for a short time, when Col. Carlton appointed him as adjutant of his regiment. This
position he held until the close of the war. His command was paroled at Pine Bluff, and although
Mr. Bowles did not surrender, he, like all other good men, has accepted with a good grace the
termination of the war. He returned home, engaged in tilling the soil in Drew County, where he was
married in 1866 to Mrs. C. F. Henningway, widow of Gen. Henningway, of South Carolina, who was the
uncle of one of the supreme judges of Arkansas. She is the daughter of Mr. Zoffjke, a Polander, who
was a manufacturer of pianos and organs at Detroit, Mich., and afterward at Cincinnati, Ohio. The
mother was born in Hamburg, Germany, and came to this country when three years of age. She died in
1879 and Mr. Joffjke in 1878. Mrs. Bowles became the mother of three children by her first
marriage: Charles, Theodore and Wilson. By her marriage to Mr. Bowles she became the mother of four
children: D. O., Jr., C. Augusta (wife of Dr. J. M. Carter, of Augusta, Ga.), Ora and Olga (the
last two attending school at Jackson, Miss.). In 1874 Mr. Bowles came to this county and followed
farming for two years, and in 1876 was elected mayor of the town. He has held every position in the
city within the favor of the people, from marshal to mayor, and has also served as deputy sheriff
of this part of the county for a number of years. Mr. Bowles has under cultivation about 260 acres
of land on which is produced about 100 bales of cotton annually. He has a good gin and a nice frame
residence. Mrs. Bowles is a member of the Baptist Church. The mother of our subject has been a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since 1833, and is one of the first members of that church
organized in this city. She is a conscientious Christian woman, and although quite advanced in
years is still actively engaged in church work. She will long be remembered for her great piety and
the good she has done in the church.
Mound Cemetery at Rolling Fork, Sharkey County Mississippi
Bowles David Oscar July 4, 1868 April 10, 1939 Husband of Eva Kerr Bowles
Bowles Dolores Olga June 30, 1915 January 20, 1964 Dau of David Oscar & Eva Kerr Bowles
Bowles Eva Kerr October 16, 1876 June 22, 1964 Wife of David Oscar Bowles
Bowles Malcolm Kerr September 22, 1902 August 3, 1988
Bowles Theodore S. October 19, 1912 October 7, 1968 Son of David Oscar & Eva Kerr Bowles
Bowles Virgie R. January 13, 1906 February 14, 1997
from http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ms/sharkey/cemeteries/mound.txt