Katherine BOWERS ²

Born: 6 Apr 1827, Grainger County, Tennessee ³
Marriage: James SELLERS on 28 Feb 1847 in Grainger County, Tennessee ¹
Died: Bef 1878, Dent County, Missouri ⁴
Buried: Maple Grove Cemetery, Dillard, Crawford County, Missouri ⁵

bullet Research Notes:

Ken Fiebelman shows her name as Catherine and her date of birth as 9 Apr 1827. It does appear as if the spelling evolved from Katherine to Catherine. Even though Ken is a direct descendant and I generally defer to the records of a direct descendant, as a matter of consistency the date of birth entered is that found in the Andrew Bowers Family Bible. ⁵

bullet Noted events in her life were:

1. Estate Administration: 1850-1852, Grainger County, Tennessee. ⁶ ⁷ ⁸

A. James Sellers was one of the family members who purchased property at the sale of the personal property of Andrew Bowers, Dec'd, on 25 Jan 1850.

B. By Deed dated 1 Nov 1850, James Sellers and Catherine Sellers, formerly Catherine Bowers, were among those who sold their interest in the land of Andrew Bowers, Dec'd.

C. Catherine and James Sellers are named as heirs in the 30 Mar 1852 settlement of the Estate of Andrew Bowers, Dec'd.

Katherine married James SELLERS on 28 Feb 1847 in Grainger County, Tennessee.¹ (James SELLERS was born on 8 May 1824 in Grainger County, Tennessee,⁵ died on 5 Apr 1900 in Crawford County, Missouri ⁵ and was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, Dillard, Crawford County, Missouri ⁵.)

bullet Marriage Notes:

The FHL film source shows James Sellard to Katherine Bowers. Marriage license issued 26 Feb 1847. Marriage performed by Joseph Clark, J. P., on 28 Feb 1847.

1 Porter H. McCarty, Miss Lucille Renean and Mrs. Ellen H. Wilson, Compilers, Marriage Records 1838-1857, Grainger County, Tennessee, (The Historical Records Survey, 22 Feb 1939), FHL Film No. 024,657, Item 3, Page 136 of Record, Page 34 of Film.

2 Andrew Bowers Family Bible. The whereabouts or even continued existence of the Andrew Bowers Family Bible is unknown. However, there are two known transcriptions of the family information contained in the bible: first, a 1978 transcription by Ruth Bowers Dommestrup, at which time the bible was in the possession of Rector Bowers (William Rosecrans Bowers, Thomas Bowers, Andrew Bowers); and second, a transcription of unknown date and authorship that was obtained from collateral Howeth descendants and which contains the following note at the bottom of the transcription, "this is copied from the old record. the only one any of us knows of anywhere. this record is very fraile and looks to be written with pokeberry ink." The transcriptions are nearly identical, but do have differences: Ruth's has Grainger Co., TN as the place of marriage for Andrew and Katharine, while the Howeth version has nothing in that respect; Ruth's has daughter Katharine being born 6 Apr 1827, while the Howeth version spells her name Kathrine and has her date of birth as 16 Apr 1827; and Ruth's has son Andrew being born 9 Jun 1829, while the Howeth version adds his middle initial "J." and has the date of birth as 19 Jun 1829. Neither transcription provides places of birth nor dates of death. The dates for which this source is cited are from Ruth's transcription.

4 Family Records of Ken Fiebelman. Ken Fiebelman is a descendant of Andrew and Katherine (Howeth) Bowers as follows: Lawrence Fiebelman, Letie Sellers, William Sellers, Catherine Bowers, Andrew and Katherine (Howeth) Bowers. His home address is 1202 Gertrude St., Salem, MO 65560. He can also be reached at Ken Fiebelman's Antiques, Ozark Museum & Information Center on State Highway 19 South in Salem, MO (tel: 573-729-5707). Ken is a recognized authority on the history of the Central Missouri Ozarks, a vocation he began when he was about 10 years old when he became the caretaker for the Rocky Ford Cemetery located on the Fiebelman farm. As a teenager, he assisted a local Salem historian in gathering cemetery data, which further sparked his interest in local history. He was elected as the first president of the Dent County Historical Society in 1966. In 1991, he was awarded the Award of Merit by the Missouri State Genealogy Society. As President of the Dent County Historical Society, he directed and produced the three volume Ozark Heritage series of Dent County Histories, published by the Dent County Historical Society (Vol. 1, 1978; Vol 2., 1980 and Vol. 3, 1994). He also assisted in the preparation of the history of Crawford County, Missouri, published by the Crawford County History Book Committee in 1987. Considerable information on our Bowers, including but not limited to the information for which this source is cited, is included in these books. I've included source citations for the books, if the volume and page number were known to me. Contact Ken for the current availability of these books. One of the sources of Bowers family information for Ken's work has been the Wiley and Mary (Bowers) Dyer Family Bible, which is in his possession. It had previously been in the possession of Nick Dyer, a son of Wiley and Mary. Ken obtained the bible from Nick's last wife's family. Besides the information it contains on Wiley and Mary's family, it is also the source for the death dates of Andrew and Katherine (Howeth) Bowers. Ken has provided the author with xerographic copies of the family pages from this bible.

6 Inventories of Estates & Wills, June 1847 to May 1852, Grainger County, Tennesee, FHL Film No. 968,594, Item 2, Page 215 (source for note A).

7 Grainger County, Tennessee, Deeds, 1846-1852, FHL Film No. 968,601, Book L, Page 359 (source for note B).

8 Inventories of Estates and Wills, March 1852 - May 1860, Grainger County, Tennessee, FHL Film No. 580,849, Page 28 (source for note C).

Katherine BOWERS 2

Sources

Katherine BOWERS ²