WOW, my family history!!

[Pressing-On]

I was on another forum and they were talking about old landmarks in San Antonio, Texas. I called my mother because she grew up there.

She told me to ask about Bowen's Island which is my grandmother's maiden name.

My Uncle John Bowen bought the property and renamed it Bowen Island in San Antonio and you will see on the plaque that he was a Unionist and helped fugitive slaves!!!! I am so thrilled to know this!!

He became the first United States Postmaster in San Antonio!

He also founded the town that I grew up in and we have a plaque there on the town square. I've never seen this until today!!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/372495672_bb27c2c213.jpg%3Fv%3D1170156540&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/29933776%40N00/372495672&h=500&w=375&sz=150&hl=en&start=3&um=1&usg=__M-L-hwgtJOOI6B1HaEjtSAFOU0s=&tbnid=-KhKwYZ_D1g6XM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbowen%2527s%2Bisland%2Bsan%2Bantonio% 26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

http://www.granadahomes.net/pages/history.htm

[Margies3]

PO, genealogy can be so fun! It's a real lift when you find ancestors who did wonderful things, as yours did.

On the flip side of that, imagine my reaction when doing my genealogy and finding out that my gr-gr-gr grandparents on my mother's side were plantation owners in Virginia who owned a number of slaves. The first time I read that, I literally got sick to my stomach!

The thing that really galls me is that I have a photo of this particular gr-gr-gr grandmother now and guess who I look almost identical to! Geesh! She would have to be the one with the strong genes!!

[clgustaveson]

Who cares?

[Pressing-On]

PO, genealogy can be so fun! It's a real lift when you find ancestors who did wonderful things, as yours did.

On the flip side of that, imagine my reaction when doing my genealogy and finding out that my gr-gr-gr grandparents on my mother's side were plantation owners in Virginia who owned a number of slaves. The first time I read that, I literally got sick to my stomach!

The thing that really galls me is that I have a photo of this particular gr-gr-gr grandmother now and guess who I look almost identical to! Geesh! She would have to be the one with the strong genes!!
But do you know if they treated them badly? They could have taken very good care of them like Harriet Beecher Stowe's family.

[Pressing-On]

Who cares?

Lord, go take a long walk off of a short pier! :club :ursofunny

[clgustaveson]

Lord, go take a long walk off of a short pier! :club :ursofunny

You just want me to visit that island... can't fool me.

[Pressing-On]

You just want me to visit that island... can't fool me.

:ursofunny:ursofunny:ursofunny

[MawMaw]

I was on another forum and they were talking about old landmarks in San Antonio, Texas. I called my mother because she grew up there.

She told me to ask about Bowen's Island which is my grandmother's maiden name.

My Uncle John Bowen bought the property and renamed it Bowen Island in San Antonio and you will see on the plaque that he was a Unionist and helped fugitive slaves!!!! I am so thrilled to know this!!

He became the first United States Postmaster in San Antonio!

He also founded the town that I grew up in and we have a plaque there on the town square. I've never seen this until today!!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/372495672_bb27c2c213.jpg%3Fv%3D1170156540&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/29933776%40N00/372495672&h=500&w=375&sz=150&hl=en&start=3&um=1&usg=__M-L-hwgtJOOI6B1HaEjtSAFOU0s=&tbnid=-KhKwYZ_D1g6XM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbowen%2527s%2Bisland%2Bsan%2Bantonio% 26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

http://www.granadahomes.net/pages/history.htm


Wow, I think that is awesome!! :) I have a cousin and sisnlaw who absolutely love to do geneaology work!!

[Margies3]

But do you know if they treated them badly? They could have taken very good care of them like Harriet Beecher Stowe's family.

I really do wish that I knew how they treated them. That MIGHT make me feel a little bit better. But it still bothers me that they would have thought that it was acceptable in any form or situation for one human being to "own" another human being.

I'll tell you a funny story. My grandmother was very dark complected (is that the way you spell that?) Anyhow, she had dark skin :) So are most of the rest of us (her descendents). In the summer when I am outside much, I get VERY dark. So much so that one year when I lived in Pontiac and worked nights in a nursing home, I was working with several black people. One night a lady who I'd worked with regularly came to me and asked, "Who's black, honey? Your mama or your daddy?" She couldn't believe me when I said neither.

Anyhow, I digress..........

My grandmother had grown up in Detroit (by the Ambassador Bridge). In her days, to be Italian meant "mafia" in the area she grew up in. So if someone said to her, "You must have alot of Italian in you", she considered those fighting words.

So when I found out about her great grandparents and the slave connection, I went to her one day and said, "Grandma, do you suppose that your complexion might have come from one of those slaves?", she was just fine with that. I had to laugh at her. Not that it was funny. But I said, "it makes no sense to me that it's ok with you if your grat grandparents took advantage of one of their slaves, but you get all bent out of shape if anyone even suggests to you that you might be part Italian. No sense at all.

I guess where you grow up makes alot of difference in your perspective of things, eh?

[MawMaw]

PO, genealogy can be so fun! It's a real lift when you find ancestors who did wonderful things, as yours did.

On the flip side of that, imagine my reaction when doing my genealogy and finding out that my gr-gr-gr grandparents on my mother's side were plantation owners in Virginia who owned a number of slaves. The first time I read that, I literally got sick to my stomach!

The thing that really galls me is that I have a photo of this particular gr-gr-gr grandmother now and guess who I look almost identical to! Geesh! She would have to be the one with the strong genes!!


You seem to be a very sweet lady.......I'm sure that came on down from your grgrgrgrgrandma too! :) I'm sure they were very good to their help....most were.

[Ron]

That is awesome PO!
Family History is both fun & educational.

We actually have a Bowen Island in B.C not far from Vancouver.

Any relatives up here?

[Margies3]

You seem to be a very sweet lady.......I'm sure that came on down from your grgrgrgrgrandma too! :) I'm sure they were very good to their help....most were.

Thank you, Lacey. That's very kind of you to say that :) You made my day!

[Bishop1]

I was on another forum and they were talking
about old landmarks in San Antonio, Texas.
I called my mother because she grew up there.

She told me to ask about Bowen's Island which is my grandmother's
maiden name.

My Uncle John Bowen bought the property and renamed it
Bowen Island in San Antonio and you will see on the plaque
that he was a Unionist and helped fugitive slaves!!!!
I am so thrilled to know this!!

He became the first United States Postmaster in San Antonio!

He also founded the town that I grew up in and we have a
plaque there on the town square.
I've never seen this until today!!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.
flickr.com/128/372495672_bb27c2c213.jpg%3Fv%3D1170156540
&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/29933776%40N00/372495672&h
=500&w=375&sz=150&hl=en&start=3&um=1&usg=__M-L-hwgtJOOI6B1
HaEjtSAFOU0s=&tbnid=-KhKwYZ_D1g6XM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=98&
prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbowen%2527s%2Bisland%2Bsan%2Bantonio
%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

http://www.granadahomes.net/pages/history.htm



addendum to above geneology;

Many many years ago
when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow
who was pretty as could be.

This widow had a grown-up daughter
who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her,
and soon the two were wed.
This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life.

My daughter was my mother,
For she was my father's wife.
To complicate the matters worse,
Although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became
A brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,
Though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle,
Then that also made him brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter
Who, of course, was my step-mother.

Father's wife then had a son,
Who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson,
For he was my daughter's son.

My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife,
She is my grandma too.

If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.

For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa.

Author unknown


NOTE *
Any And All Plaques That Refer To The Above
have since been destroyed
derict by the decendants of the above fiasco.

[ronharvey]

I was on another forum and they were talking about old landmarks in San Antonio, Texas. I called my mother because she grew up there.

She told me to ask about Bowen's Island which is my grandmother's maiden name.

My Uncle John Bowen bought the property and renamed it Bowen Island in San Antonio and you will see on the plaque that he was a Unionist and helped fugitive slaves!!!! I am so thrilled to know this!!

He became the first United States Postmaster in San Antonio!

He also founded the town that I grew up in and we have a plaque there on the town square. I've never seen this until today!!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/372495672_bb27c2c213.jpg%3Fv%3D1170156540&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/29933776%40N00/372495672&h=500&w=375&sz=150&hl=en&start=3&um=1&usg=__M-L-hwgtJOOI6B1HaEjtSAFOU0s=&tbnid=-KhKwYZ_D1g6XM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbowen%2527s%2Bisland%2Bsan%2Bantonio% 26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN

http://www.granadahomes.net/pages/history.htm

That's kewl!

I shook my family tree and a bunch of nuts and squirrels fell out!

Ron

[rgcraig]

PO - that's cool!!

[Pressing-On]

Wow, I think that is awesome!! :) I have a cousin and sisnlaw who absolutely love to do geneaology work!!

My oldest sister has done an extensive genealogy on my father's side.

One really neat thing that happened to them - They were in Poland and decided to walk back to the town where they were staying instead of riding the bus. On the way they passed by a little church, I can't remember the name of the town, and went in to go through the church registry. One family member they were missing in the link was on the register! I thought that was awesome.

[Pressing-On]

I really do wish that I knew how they treated them. That MIGHT make me feel a little bit better. But it still bothers me that they would have thought that it was acceptable in any form or situation for one human being to "own" another human being.

I'll tell you a funny story. My grandmother was very dark complected (is that the way you spell that?) Anyhow, she had dark skin :) So are most of the rest of us (her descendents). In the summer when I am outside much, I get VERY dark. So much so that one year when I lived in Pontiac and worked nights in a nursing home, I was working with several black people. One night a lady who I'd worked with regularly came to me and asked, "Who's black, honey? Your mama or your daddy?" She couldn't believe me when I said neither.

Anyhow, I digress..........

My grandmother had grown up in Detroit (by the Ambassador Bridge). In her days, to be Italian meant "mafia" in the area she grew up in. So if someone said to her, "You must have alot of Italian in you", she considered those fighting words.

So when I found out about her great grandparents and the slave connection, I went to her one day and said, "Grandma, do you suppose that your complexion might have come from one of those slaves?", she was just fine with that. I had to laugh at her. Not that it was funny. But I said, "it makes no sense to me that it's ok with you if your grat grandparents took advantage of one of their slaves, but you get all bent out of shape if anyone even suggests to you that you might be part Italian. No sense at all.

I guess where you grow up makes alot of difference in your perspective of things, eh?

LOL! I loved reading that Margie.

I've read a lot of history during the time of slavery here and I have to say that I've read many accounts of slaves being treated well. We were a more genteel people at that time and they had to have read the book of Philemon, etc.

After the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe and her family bought property in the South and started a school in order to educate the former slaves so that they could assimilate in the country on better footing. I've always admired them for that.

[Pressing-On]

That is awesome PO!
Family History is both fun & educational.

We actually have a Bowen Island in B.C not far from Vancouver.

Any relatives up here?

I don't know, Ron. Another person just posted yesterday that when they got time they have more information about the Bowen family and he was sure his ancestors were really good friends with my ancestors. I'm excited to see what information he can provide.

One of my cousins started a genealogy for my mother's side, but lost track at some point and couldn't go further. Maybe we found a link.

It was interesting, in the article, when they mentioned a Spanish land grant to the Curbelo family who were Canary Islanders. I know my family, on my mother's side, has history there, so now I'm wondering if the Curbelo's came to America from Canary Island with the Bowen's at some point. It seems highly likely.

[Pressing-On]

addendum to above geneology;

Many many years ago
when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow
who was pretty as could be.

This widow had a grown-up daughter
who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her,
and soon the two were wed.
This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life.

My daughter was my mother,
For she was my father's wife.
To complicate the matters worse,
Although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became
A brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,
Though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle,
Then that also made him brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter
Who, of course, was my step-mother.

Father's wife then had a son,
Who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson,
For he was my daughter's son.

My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife,
She is my grandma too.

If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.

For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa.

Author unknown


NOTE *
Any And All Plaques That Refer To The Above
have since been destroyed
derict by the decendants of the above fiasco.




:ursofunny:ursofunny:ursofunny

[Pressing-On]

That's kewl!

I shook my family tree and a bunch of nuts and squirrels fell out!

Ron

Somehow, I think I believe you!!! :toofunny

PO - that's cool!!

Thanks, Renda. I was always more interested in my mother's side of the family. They had more going on.

My father's family came from Poland, bought land, started ranching in Texas and that's about it. LOL! I know my grandfather would get some of the ranchers to drinking so he could buy their cattle for a cheaper price. :toofunny

[MamaHen]

I researched my family tree over the course of many years. I was able to trace back my great grandmother's line all the way to somewhere around 80 AD. Which wasn't too hard when I discovered royalty in that line. They had this thing about keeping records ;) My 39th great grandfather was Charlemagne. Impressive huh? ROFL! But I loved seeing just where and when my ancestors "came over." All but that one line of my great grandmother were German. My grandfather's line couldn't be traced very far, as the family name was changed when there was great animosity against Germans.

I researched my in-laws family trees, and they were shocked to find out that "Big DayDay" was a union soldier and not a Confederate. My father-in-law was stunned. "I had a Yankee in my family tree!? I don't believe it!" LOL

It was also interesting how names would change or become "americanized." My great (x3) grandfather was born "Franz Muller" (u with oomlats over it) in Germany, and died as "Frank Miller" in Illinois.

[Pressing-On]

I researched my family tree over the course of many years. I was able to trace back my great grandmother's line all the way to somewhere around 80 AD. Which wasn't too hard when I discovered royalty in that line. They had this thing about keeping records ;) My 39th great grandfather was Charlemagne. Impressive huh? ROFL! But I loved seeing just where and when my ancestors "came over." All but that one line of my great grandmother were German. My grandfather's line couldn't be traced very far, as the family name was changed when there was great animosity against Germans.

I researched my in-laws family trees, and they were shocked to find out that "Big DayDay" was a union soldier and not a Confederate. My father-in-law was stunned. "I had a Yankee in my family tree!? I don't believe it!" LOL

It was also interesting how names would change or become "americanized." My great (x3) grandfather was born "Franz Muller" (u with oomlats over it) in Germany, and died as "Frank Miller" in Illinois.
Lord, I would die if we had a Yankee in the family!!! :toofunny :toofunny

That's the hard part of doing the research - the name changing or if a courthouse or place where records kept happen to burn down.