John Henry Bowen (September 1780September 25, 1822) was an American politician who represented

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Biography

Bowen was born in

Washington County, Virginia Washington County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,935. Its county seat is Abingdon. Washington County is part of the Kingsport–Bristol–Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statis ...

in September 1780, son of Captain William Bowen and Mary Henley Russell. He moved with his parents to Sumner County in 1784. When he was sixteen years of age, he attended school in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. In approximately 1800, he studied law in the office of John Breckinridge in Lexington and was admitted to

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Career

After two years Bowen returned home and began practice of law in

Gallatin, Tennessee Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 census. Named for United States Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, the city was established on ...

and soon gained prominence. He was a colonel in the Continental Army. Bowen was elected to the Thirteenth Congress, which lasted from March 4, 1813 to March 3, 1815, as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

. He then continued to engage in the practice of law in Gallatin until his death there. In 1815 Bowen married Elizabeth Allen. They had four children; two who died young, and two who reared large families. The eldest, Mary, married Judge Jacob S. Yerger of Greenville, Miss. a member of the famous Yerger family formerly of Lebanon. They had three sons killed in the Confederate army. Grant Allen Bowen married Amanda Yerger. They left two children John H. Jr., and Mary.

Death and legacy

Bowen died on September 25, 1822, at about age 42 years. The location of his interment is unknown. His brick home, bought by Governor William Trousdale, was presented by the widow, Mrs. Anne Berry Trousdale, to the Daughters of the Confederacy.

References

External links

Ancestry.comUSGenWeb Archives

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, John Henry 1780 births 1822 deaths People from Washington County, Virginia American people of Welsh descent Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American legislators