Isabelle (Stewart) Bowen

BOWEN, STEWART, KELSO, GIVENS, DAVIS

Posted By: Patricia Bollozos (email)
Date: 7/6/2020 at 12:53:08

Isabelle Stewart was born in Stewartstown, Morgan County, West Virginia on May 15, 1797. She was the daughter of Daniel Stewart (1769-1829) and Anne Kelso-Stewart (1769-1832). The granddaughter of William Stewart and Elizabeth Givens-Stewart.

William Stewart, the grandfather, was born in County Cork, Ireland about 1727. William an orphan, arrived with an uncle to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1745. He married Elizabeth Givens (1731-1813) in 1750. William and his wife and their three children trekked from Pennsylvania to Stewartstown, Morgan County, West Virginia in 1770. From the West Virginia Encyclopedia, Stewartstown was named after the early settler William Stewart. William built a log cabin and raised corn in order to qualify for a land grant of four hundred acres. He increased his land holdings throughout his lifetime. William served in the Virginia Militia as required by the state. He also served as a Private during the Revolutionary War under Col. Davis and Col. Lewis. The DAR service description he was a Wagoneer: VA Regt. Upon William’s death in 1811, he left his plantation and land where he lived to his sons Daniel and Alexander.

Daniel Stewart, the father of Isabelle, married Anne Kelso in 1794. Daniel was involved in Indian Wars and the War of 1812. He continued to farm on the family plantation, where he and Anne raised their children. Daniel and Anne are buried next to his parents, William and Elizabeth, in the Stewart Cemetery on land once owned by William Stewart. Located in a wooded area off Ridenhour Road and Route 119, in Morgantown, Monongalia County, West Virginia according to Ronald L. Stewart.

Isabelle Stewart married John Bowen (1792-1844) in Monongalia County, West Virginia in 1822. John was the son of Samuel Bowen (1755-1822) and Sarah Davis-Bowen (1754-1830). John Bowen and his family were early settlers in Johnson County, Iowa in 1844. John, however, died the same year. Isabelle a widow with ten children moved to Decatur, Green County, Wisconsin where her brother Thomas Stewart resided. Her eldest son Jared Ingersol Stewart (1823-1886) rejoined the family in Wisconsin to help support them.

Isabelle died in Waukon, Allamakee County, Iowa while visiting family on December 26, 1879. She was eighty-two years old. Her cause of death was indicated as old age. Isabelle is buried at the Gap Cemetery in Albany, Green County, Wisconsin.

References: Memorial and Biographical Record of Iowa, pg. 868. Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia, pg. 505. History of Monongalia, West Virginia, pg. 38-39. West Virginia History, Cemetery. Find A Grave. History of Green County,Wisconsin, 1884, pg.787-801. Stewart Family of Monongalia County, 1976. Ancestry.com.