Early Life
Bowman was the son of George Bowman and Mary Hite Bowman. His maternal grandfather was Jost Hite, a German immigrant credited as the first European colonist to settle west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 1732, Hite led his extended family, including daughter Mary and her husband George Bowman, to the Shenandoah Valley, near present Winchester, Virginia. Hite distributed land to his family and to other settlers—claims which would later be contested in Hite v. Fairfax, a landmark Virginia land case. Joseph Bowman was born at his parents' house near what is now Strasburg, Virginia.
In 1774, Bowman served in the Virginia militia during Dunmore's War. Other Virginians in the war who would be important in Bowman's activities in the next several years included George Rogers Clark and Leonard Helm. Soon after Dunmore's War, Bowman moved to Kentucky with other British colonists who were seeking to settle there. He was living in Harrodstown in Kentucky by 1777. On 11 September 1777, 37 men from the area gathered at Bowman's property to shell corn and were attacked by Indians. One settler was killed and six others were wounded before the attackers were driven off.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)