Notes for Ephraim BOWEN

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Notes for Ephraim BOWEN

Described as the last survivor of the party which, in 1772, destroyed the
British war schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay (John H. Clarke's obituary,
November 1870).
BOWEN, Col. Ephraim

Date: 09-02-1841
09-07-1841 - Nat'l Intelligencer - Obit Notice

BOWEN, Col. Ephraim, a soldier of the Revolution, and last surviving son of the late Dr. Ephraim BOWEN, who had 14
children, died in Providence, R. I., Sept. 2, 1841, in the 89th year of his age. He leaves a wife. They had 9
children, all of which are dead. (Sept. 7, 1841).
[Abstracts of Marriages and Deaths from National Intelligencer, 1841, Page 1283]
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1840 Census of Pensioners:
Ephraim Bowen 87 Ephraim Bowen City of Providence-4th ward Providence
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Link with the Past-
Reminiscences of the last survivor of the party that burned the Gaspee
Tribune, June 24, 1906

In his chair under the great elms that spread its protecting branches over the old mile-stone forming the most familiar landmark on Pawtuxet Hill, Nel Slocum sat and enjoyed the sunshine following the rain and fog last week.

'Nel Slocum - the expression is one of intimacy implying a cordial relation for everyone in Pawtuxet knows and loves 'Nel Slocum - is Horatio Nelson Slocum, oldest man in the village and the village philosopher. He had been reading - or hearing about- the proceedings of the patriotic societies on Gaspee Day - the anniversary of the burning of the Gaspee on Namquid Point, a short distance below the old village.

"They never used to make, so much account of Gaspee Day when I was a boy," he said. "Old Ephraim Bowen was living here then - he was the last survivor of the party that burned the Gaspee, you know - and he used to ride in the Fourth or July processions in a carriage, so's everybody could look at him and know who he was. They used to carry them veterans of the burning of the Gaspee around in a carriage that way every Fourth of July until it got so finally that they war'nt none of them left.

"Ephraim Bowen," said the old man, whose memory is remarkably accurate, although within the last few months his powers of locomotion have been failing, "was always called Col. Bowen in Pawtuxet. I suppose he'd earned the title somewhere. Anyway, he was Deputy Grand Master of Masons, I understand, although I never was a Mason myself, he was quite a big bug.

"You know where he lived, in that big white house just beyond the turn in Fair Street, the road leading down to Spring Green and thereabouts. A. Lockwood Danielson lives there now. It's a fine, great house, set up on a terrace overlooking the whole of Narragansett Bay in sight from there, and with the grounds in front of it reaching down clean to the water, some distance away.

"I used to know old Col. Bowen, continued Mr. Slocum, "so you see it ain't so many years between now and the Gaspee trouble after all. I'm 84 and he was a pretty old man when I was a boy and used to go up to his house and ask for some of his apples. We always got 'em, too, but we had to work for them. But it war'nt much work, and we never minded that none.

"Of course I remember what he looked like," he said, in reply to a question. "He was about five feet-nine and he wore small clothes, in the old fashion. His pants came down to his knees and he wore stockings and shoes with big silver buckles in the tops. His hat, well, I don't seem to remember about his hat. But he always walked mighty stiff and erect and he was 'Col. Bowen' all right. We boys were always afraid of him.

"But he was a mighty good-hearted man. He had a lot of apple trees in front of the house, on the side nearest the road, and the barn was down near the road, what is now Fair Street, instead of being over to one side, as it is now. The yard was paved in back with cobblestones in the cracks between the stones.

"I remember, when we used to go up to the big house and knock on the door and ask for some apples, Mrs. Bowen would always come to the door and say, 'Now, boys, you can have the apples, but you must do a little work for them,' and then she'd give us a knife, and set us to digging up the grass growing in the cracks between them stones.

"But we never had to do that long, for pretty soon Col. Bowen would come along and say, boys have worked long enough,' and then we'd get all the apples we could eat. We never had to work longer than a few minutes at a time before we got the apples.

"He had an old chaise, I remember, one shaped like the pictures of the deacon's one-hoss shay that Holmes wrote about, that went all to pieces all at once. In the front of this shay he'd had the blacksmith put in a little iron three-legged stool, and his negro man driver used to sit on that when he drove him out. When it wasn't in use it folded back and when it was it looked ridiculous to see that negro man sitting there, way out in front of the dasher, on that little iron stool.

"Where did Col. Bowen get his fortune?" asked the listener.

"Now I can't tell you that," replied Mr. Slocum, waving a cheery greeting to a villager who stopped in passing to ask him how he was getting on. "He had a still-house," he continued, "and I suppose he made it in rum, like a lot of other first families of Rhode Island. Rum and the slave trade used to be mighty respectable occupations in them days. A number of the leading families in this State made the beginning of their money in trading rum for negroes.

"In front of Col. Bowen's place down at the water's edge there used to be when I was a boy, a big white building that was called Col. Bowen's stillhouse. I remember it mighty well, but it was never used at that time. There were great wooden vats there and it must have been used to make rum in, I suppose.

"And I suppose," he went on, "that the old Colonel must have made his money in that stillhouse long before I got old enough to understand much about it. He had it all by the time I grew old enough to know who he was.

"He must have had plenty of it, too, or else they wouldn't have been able to have that great house and all that land stretching down to the water that way. He was mightily respected around here, too, for everyone looked up to old Col. Bowen."

Col. Bowen died, full of years and honors, at his home, a very beautiful residence, both from its situation and from its furnishings. On the 29th of August, 1839, when he was in his 86th year, he prepared an account of the burning of the Gaspee, which is probably the best known narrative of that historic event.

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Ephraim Bowen's Account of the Burning of the Gaspee (Corrected)
Webmaster note: Ephraim Bowen was the last survivor of the crew that burned the Gaspee. He wrote the following account at the age of 86, two years before his death. The following text has been altered for internet use from the original written by Col. Bowen in that a.) Bowen wrongly fixed the date as being June 17th, 1772, b.) He misspelt Dudingston's name as Duddingston, c.) He misspelt Namquid Point as Namcut Point, and d.) He referred to Captain Benjamin Lindsey as Thomas Lindsey. He also referred in his original account to one Benjamin Dunn, though this was, in all probability, actually Samuel Dunn (see State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century, A History, edited by Edward Field, Boston, Mason Publishing Co., 1902 Vol. I, p. 467-468 for the discourse on Benjamin vs. Samuel Dunn).

"In the year 1772, the British Government has stationed at Newport, R.I. a sloop-of-war, with her tender, the schooner called the Gaspee, of eight guns, commanded by William Dudingston, a Lieutenant in the British Navy, for the purpose of preventing the clandestine landing of articles subject to the payment of duty. The captain of this schooner made it his practice to stop and board all vessels entering or leaving the ports of R.I., or leaving Newport for Providence.

"On the 9th day of June, 1772, Captain Benjamin Lindsey left Newport in his packet for Providence about noon, with the wind at the north, and soon after the Gaspee was under sail in pursuit of Lindsey and continued the chase as far as Namquid Point. Lindsey was standing easterly with the tide on ebb about two hours, when he hove about at the end of Namquid Point and stood to the westward, and Dudingston, in close chase, changed his course and ran on the point near its end and grounded. Lindsey continued on his course up the river and arrived at Providence about sunset, when he immediately informed Mr. John Brown, one of our first and most respectable merchants of the situation of the Gaspee.

"He immediately concluded that she would remain immovable until after midnight, and that now an opportunity offered of putting an end to the trouble and vexation she daily caused. Mr. Brown immediately resolved on her destruction and he forthwith directed one of his trusty shipmasters to collect eight of the largest longboats in the harbor, with five oars to each, to have the oars and rowlocks muffled to prevent noise and to place them at Fenner's Wharf, directly opposite the dwelling of Mr. James Sabin.

"About the time of the shutting of the shops, soon after sunset, a man passed along the main street, beating a drum and informing the inhabitants of the fact that the Gaspee was aground on Namquid Point and would not float until 3 o'clock the next morning and inviting those persons who felt a disposition to go and destroy that troublesome vessel to repair in the even to Mr. James Sabin's house. About 9 o'clock, I took my father's gun and my powderhorn and bullets and went to Mr. Sabin's and found the southeast room full of people where I loaded my gun and all remained there until about 10 o'clock, some casting bullets in the kitchen and others making arrangements for the departure. When orders were given to cross the street to Fenner's Wharf ... and there embark ... A sea captain acted as steersman of each boat, of whom I recollect Captain Abraham Whipple, Captain John B. Hopkins (with whom I embarked) and Captain Benjamin Dunn. A line from right to left was soon formed, with Captain Whipple on the right and Captain Hopkins on the right of the left wing.

"The party proceeded until about 60 yards of the Gaspee, when a sentinel hailed, "Who comes there?" No answer. He hailed again, and no answer. He hailed again, when Captain Whipple answered as follows: "I am the sheriff of the County of Kent, G-d d-n you. I have a warrant to apprehend you G-d d-n you, so surrender, G-d d-n you!"

"I took a seat on the main thwart, near the starboard rowlock, with my gun by my right side facing forward. As soon as Dudingston began to hail, Joseph Bucklin, who was standing by my right side, said to me, "Eph, reach me your gun, I can kill that fellow." I reached it to him, when during Captain Whipple's replying, Bucklin fired and Dudingston fell and Bucklin exclaimed, "I have killed the rascal."

"In less time than a minute after Captain Whipple's answer the boats were along side of the Gaspee and she was boarded without opposition. The men on deck retreated below as Dudingston entered the cabin. Dudingston called for Mr. Dickinson to produce bandages and other necessaries for dressing the wound, and when finished orders were given to the schooner's company to collect their clothing and everything belonging to them and put into their boats, as all of them were to be sent on shore ... They departed and landed Dudingston at the old still house wharf at Pawtuxet, and put the chief into the house of James Rhodes. Soon the landers of the expedition, who soon set the vessel on fire, which consumed her to the water's edge.

"The names of the most conspicuous are Mr. John Brown Captain Abraham Whipple, John R. Hopkins, Samuel Dunn, and five others whose names I have forgotten and John Mawney, Benjamin Page, Joseph Bucklin and Turpin Smith, my youthful companions, all of whom are dead. I believe, every man of the party excepting myself, and my age is 86 years this 29th day of August, 1839. Ephraim Bowen."
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In March, 1766, eighteen "daughters of liberty" met at the house of Ephraim Bowen in Providence, Rhode Island, to spin, dine without the pleasure of tea, and declare as a body that the Stamp Act was unconstitutional, that they would purchase no more British manufactures until it was repealed, and that they would spurn any suitor who refused to oppose it. [p. 176 - The Age of Homespun, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Vintage Books, 2002. Her reference - Providence Gazette 12 March 1766. For political activities of Ephraim Bowen see "Staples - Annuals of the Town of Providence (Providence 1843) p. 201-226.
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Bowen was a young boy in 1766, so this must have been his father's house.
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Father was Dr. Ephraim Bowen, mother Lydia Mawney.

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