Gideon Bowles and wife, of Dublin, Ireland, were members of the St. James Colony that settled in Goochland Co., Va. Anderson Bowles, their son, married Jane Thomas, and settled in Cumberland Co., Va. Their children were Caleb, Sarah, James, Gideon, Ann, Anderson, Jr., Virginia, Elizabeth, Augusta, and David. Ann and Gideon died in Virginia. The rest of the children came with their parents to Madison Co., Ky., in 1806, and in 1811 they all settled in St. Louis Co., Mo., where Mr. Bowles died the following year. His widow lived until 1834. Caleb the eldest son was Judge of the County Court of St. Louis County several terms. He was married twice, and finally settled in Saline County, where he died. Sarah married Stephen Maddox, of Virginia, who settled in St. Louis County. They had fifteen children. James was a ranger in Captain Musick’s company, and was killed by the Indians at Cap-au-Gris in 1814, in his 20th year. Anderson settled in Mississippi, where he died. Virginia married Richard Ripley, of St. Louis County, and died soon after. Elizabeth married Richard Sapington, and lives in Illinois, a widow. Augusta married Jacilla Wells, who removed to Texas and died there. David, the youngest son living, was married first to Julia Mackay, a daughter of Capt. James Mackay, of St. Louis, by whom he had James A., Jane, Jesse, Nathan Z., Mary E., George R., John B., Julia V., Gustave, Jefferson R., and David J. Mr. Bowles settled in Montgomery County at an early date and still resides there. He is a tanner by trade, but has pursued the avocation of a farmer the greater portion of his life, and has prospered in more than an ordinary degree. After the death of his first wife he was married, in his old age, to the widow Giles, of Lincoln County, and in that connection his neighbors tell a story on him to the following effect; When he got his new wife home, he was so overjoyed that he danced about the room and waved his hat over his head in an excess of delight, when he happened to strike the lamp that was standing on the mantel, and threw it on the floor, where it was dashed to pieces. In a moment the house was on fire, and it was only by the most prompt and energetic efforts that they were enabled to save it from destruction. Mr. Bowles was a great hunter during the earlier years of his residence in Montgomery County, and during one winter he killed 120 deer, three elk, and 400 raccoons, besides gathering 350 gallons of honey from the various bee trees that he found. The same year he killed the famous buck which the hunters had named General Burdine, and which had thirty-three prongs on his horns. But one day his favorite dog got hung by a grape vine in the woods, and he has not hunted much since. During the late war he was bold and fearless in the expression of his political sentiments, which were favorable to the South, and on that account he suffered severely from the depredations of the militia.
