Mystery of the missing bp for William Bowden 1770 Callington

[Flemming]

Just wonder if Chatters can help with the following conundrum. Attached is a clip of the Army discharge paper for William Bowden of Callington. It says he joined up on 6.10.1790 when he was 20 yrs old + 205 days and that this was taken from 'Bapt Certificate' - possible birth and/or bp March/April 1770.

I can't find a bp 1770 in Callington or neighbouring parishes, although it's possible he was born/bp elsewhere and moved to Callington afterwards. There's a bp 3.8.1772 Landrake to Richard and Susanna, and it's possible William was born two years before his baptism, although his parents' likely marriage was in June 1772.

Maybe this was a non-conformist baptism and records lost or unavailable.

Any other ideas much appreciated.

[QueenoftheWest]

Hi,

Just to start this off:

If he married, whom did he marry? For the names of the witnesses, who may have been relations.
What were his children called (if he had any)? For naming patterns.

I see there is a marriage to a Mary Skinner in 1793 in Callington. Is this the right marriage?

Queenie 

[Flemming]

Hello Queenie, the Army record is all the info I have. There's a burial for William Bawden Nov 1839 Callington age 68 yrs so born 1770/1 which could be him, perhaps come home as an Army pensioner. GRO doesn't give an age for the death registration, which is a bit odd.

I saw the marriage to Mary Skinner, but no obvious bps for this couple in Cornwall or Devonport/Plymouth area. Also, the marriage was in 1793, three years after William joined up.

It would be helpful to know where he was discharged as he may have stayed there, but the single page on him says at the top 'Discharge lost or mislaid' and that info is 'Extracts from documents kept at the Head Quarters of the Corps'.

It puzzles me how he served 23 yrs, from 1790 to 1813/4, and yet he was only 'admitted from Board's order' in Feb 1830.

[Talacharn]

The written note of years and days also says 1830.
St Meubredus the Martyr Parish Register . Cardinham . Cornwall
Baptism 05 Jun 1811 . William Bawden
Parents: William and Maria Bawden

[Flemming]

The written note of years and days also says 1830.
St Meubredus the Martyr Parish Register . Cardinham . Cornwall
Baptism 05 Jun 1811 . William Bawden
Parents: William and Maria Bawden

I think that bp is to William Bawden and Maria Bate married 1805 Cardinham.

[athel_cb]

Unfortunately "William Bowden" is not a distinctive enough name to allow a unique identification. Both my great-grandfather  (b. 1826) and great-great-grandfather (b. 1794) were called William Bowden (though the former changed it to William Cornish-Bowden at his wife's insistence), but they are both too young to be your William Bowden (and neither had any connection with Callington that I know of). However, there was a William Bowden who was at one time hypothesized (probably wrongly) to be my great-great-great-great-grandfather. I know very little about him, but my father wrote some notes (probably in the 1950s) that say:

"WILLIAM Bowden of Cawsand.

"Nothing is known of his birth or death, but he is believed to have come to Cawsand from Redruth some time before 1802, and is thought by some to have had issue by a first wife, who identity is unknown, but who may have been the mother of AMBROSE.

"He married some time before 1779 (? as his second wife) Susannah Mabin, and by her had five children."

Although my father put a lot of effort into his genealogical work it was at a time when people didn't bother much about giving precise sources, so that's about all I know.

[Flemming]

Hello athel_cb, thanks for the reply, and fascinating info from your father. If only we all had such notes.

The Cawsand connection is interesting because there appears to be some Bawden/Bowden traffic between Callington and the Rame peninsula (including Antony, Maker and St John), although I can’t always find records for those involved - I couldn’t find a marriage for William Bowden and Susanna Mabin, for example.

I did spot Ambrose Bowden marrying 1769 Rame to Joan Booth and having two children (John and Richard) before Joan died in 1777, and Ambrose then remarried Elizabeth Booth 1778 Rame and had ten children, including William bp 1794 Rame. Is this your line? It looks as though Ambrose was buried 1822 in Rame, residence Portsmouth, age 72 years, so born around 1750. This might tie in with Ambrose bp 1750 Tywardreath to Ambrose and Beatrice.

As you say the Bowden name is quite widespread in Cornwall and Devon, and not sure if/how the Ambroses tie in with William of Callington, but every bit of info helps.

Thanks again for the interesting reply,
Flemming.

[athel_cb]

Yes. Ambrose Bowden was my great-great-greatgrandfather, and I'm descended from his second wife, Elizabeth. (She and Joan were sisters; Elizabeth's fist child was born less than a week after the marriage.) The hypothesis was that the William Bowden who came from Redruth was Ambrose's father, but that sees to have been little more than a guess* based on virtually no evidence, and is very unlikely to be correct. A kind person here at RootsChat pointed me towards the Parish Records for Cornwall, from which it is virtually certain that my Ambrose did indeed come from Tywardreath and was the son of Ambrose and Beatrice. He had a very active life in Cawsand as the captain of a revenue cutter. Today Cawsand seems to be a peaceful place, but he was physically attacked in his house several times.

*There were some even wilder theories, for example that he was an illegitimate son of George III, again based on virtually no evidence.

[athel_cb]

These are a couple of rather incoherent extracts of letters written by my greatgrandfather William [Cornish-]Bowden to his cousin and brother in-law Frederick James [Cornish-]Bowden in about 1862  (Notes in square brackets are by me):

First extract

I have seen the old Auntie Goldin [The old Auntie Goldin is probably Jane Goldin, the second daughter of Ambrose Bowden. In 1862 she would have been about 75.] She says Oh! You want to claim Royal Blood. I questioned her a good deal about the Sardis woman. [The Sardis woman is presumably a woman from Sardinia, but I know of no other source that can shed light on which woman they are talking about.] She said she was a fine woman — dark and handsome — but spoke English with difficulty. She spoke of remittances being sent by my grandfather. I could not make out if they were official. She said Sardis — was it not an island in Mediti? On asking if she spoke Italian, she said Not that she had heard. She spoke Copse almost saying Corpse — Q. Coptic? [Coptic strikes me as a wild guess. On the other hand the French word corse (meaning Corsican) when spoken by a French person sounds quite similar to an English ear to corpse. Moreover, although the dialects of Corsica and Sardinia are certainly different from one another, the two islands are sufficiently close that it seems plausible that they could be confused by people who had no direct knowledge of either.] She did not know who her grandfather was, neither did her mother — her father did — she thought George III had her in tow! and was grandfather, but did not know. [This sentence seems even more obscure than the rest, and has presumably become garbled at some stage.] Her mother often tried to find out. She married Mr. Knight; [There is no one in the data base to identify with the person who married Mr. Knight.] I could get nothing else out of her — except that they came from Redruth.

Second extract

Have you seen Father Bowden, or any of the Spanish lot? I wish you would. I should like the corpse mystery cleared up. The missus says Oh yes! Your Royal Bar! History says the Third George was most correct. But the old lady told me all she knew and was PERFECTLY SANE — but how on earth a Sardis woman should get to Redruth is a puzzle.