Henry Bowen was born on 9 March 1749, in Woodstock, Windham County, Connecticut, as the son of Silas and Dorothy (Lyon) Bowen. He is listed in records as being baptized on 16 April 1749, in Woodstock, Connecticut.¹

Henry married Lydia Fowler about 1768.² Together, they had the following known children:

• Levi was born on 28 September 1769 and married Anna Skinner.
• Isaac was born on 9 April 1771 and married Anna Smith Wight.
• Silas was born on 6 September 1774 and married Polly Chandler.
• Dijah was born on 27 May 1777 and married Elizabeth Flint.
• Dinah was born on 27 May 1777 [twin of Dihah].
• Elisha was born on 20 February 1779 and married Fanny Chandler Morris.
• Henry was born on 11 October 1780 and married Cynthia Wood.
• Daniel was born on 20 July 1783 and married Lucy North.
• Hannah was born on 21 January 1793 and married Charles Sampson.
• John was born on 28 November 1795 and married Eleanor Coleman Smartt.
• Samuel was born on 11 December 1797 and married Mary Sumner.

Henry served in Captain Ephraim Manning's 7th Company, General Israel Putnam's 3rd Regiment at Bunker Hill. The regiment was raised on the first call for troops by the Legislature, at special session, April-May 1775. It was recruited from Windham County, with one other company from New London County, marching in May, by companies, to the camps forming around Boston, and was stationed during the siege in Putnam's center division at Cambridge, until the expiration of service on 10 December 1775.²

In a letter from Henry Bowen's granddaughter, Maria Marsh, says, "Henry and Daniel Bowen were in General Putnam's Regiment on the 17th of June 1775. They were on duty guarding the camp and military stores at Roxbury and, consequently, did not succeed in reaching the battlefield in time to participate. They, with the rest of their regiment, had been ordered down near the Neck, and the passage across was constantly raked by the guns of the English Frigate Glasgow and also by the floating batteries placed there for that purpose. Although detachments from time to time were marched over, my grandfather was not of the number. He remained in Putnam's Regiment until the dysentery became an epidemic among them, and he was very sick with it. As soon as it was considered safe, he was laid on some straw in a baggage wagon which was going within 10-15 miles of his own home for supplies. He reached home in a very feeble condition, and remained so for so long a time, that he did not enter the army again."³

After his service, Henry became a Deacon in the West Woodstock Church in Woodstock, Connecticut.³

Dr. Aurelius Bowen, grandson to Henry Bowen and SAR member,⁶ "Tradition has it that Henry served two years under General Putnam; but, a year and a half after the war broke out, he is found at home in West Woodstock, with five little children." To quote from the eulogy of Dr. Silas Bowen" (Dr. Aurelius Bowen's father and son of Henry Bowen), "In the summer of 1777, the advance of Burgoyne's Army caused serious apprehensions. His progress had been checked at Bennington, and a ray of hope tinged a cloud of anxiety. October followed August - Saratoga was ours! The news spread. One express rider caught it from the lips of another, and every town that could boast a gun swelled an echo to the towns beyond. It so happened that when news of the victory reached Woodstock, the physician and clergyman of the parish were at the home of Deacon Bowen. The children were out on a little eminence at play [Levi, Isaac, and Silas]. They heard the distant gun - listened, and another came booming along. The older boys said there had been a battle, and kept on their play; but Silas, then three years old, ran into the house to tell Mother. The men rushed out of doors, and the air was reverberating with the distant, though rapid discharges. The whole part grew hilarious. The Deacon, Doctor, and Minister all shook hands, shouted, and hurrahed!"⁴

The Patriot died on 8 December 1830, in Windham County, Connecticut, and was buried in the Old Cemetery, Eastford, Windham County, Connecticut.⁵

Sources:

1. Connecticut, U.S., Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920, Vol. 132, Woodstock, CT, page 14
2. Sons of the American Revolution, Original Application for Lucien Waterson Moore (Nat #50524, FR #54), Society in France, Jan 22, 1930
3. Bowen, Edward Augustus, "Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut", Riverside Press, Cambridge, MA, 1897.
4. Bowen, Daniel, "The Family of Griffith Bowen, Gentleman, Welsh Puritan Immigrant, Boston, Mass. 1638-9, Especially the Branch of Esquire Silas Bowen, born in Woodstock, CT., 1722", DaCosta Printing Co., Jacksonville, FL, 1893, page 201
5. Find-a-Grave, Memorial #58867426, Henry Bowen.
6. Sons of the American Revolution Compatriot Aurelius Bowen, National Member Number 4608