I've put the info from the NC warrant I obtained for John Bowers of Davidson Co., TN which I wrote up way back when. If it's military service, it will appear as below. State of North Carolina No. 542 Know that we have given and granted unto John Bowers a private in the Continental line of the State a tract of land containing two hundred and twenty eight acres lying and being in the County of Davidson on the waters of Sulfur Fork of Red River Beginning at a cherry tree and poplar eighty poles east of Browns line on Norris's South boundary running East one hundred and sixty poles to a black oak and white oak said Norris's South East corner thence South two hundred and twenty poles to a red oak thence West one hundred and twenty eight poles to the Beginning To hold to the said John Bowers his heirs and assigns forever dated the 15th day of September 1787. J. Glasgow Secretary Wit: __________ Wit: Wm Caswell Warrant No 94 - R. Nelson DP Thomas Thompson, Sr. Thomas Norris, Jr. C.C. It appears as though the 228 acres is situated today in Robertson County just north of Nashville. Sulphur Fork comes off the Red River at Port Royal flowing in a southeasterly direction passing through Springfield, continuing east and then southeasterly toward Sumner County where Jeremiah Bowers resided in 1820. The city of Port Royal dates back to the 1700's with one of the oldest churches in the area, Sulphur Fork Baptist Church, beginning about 1786. Histories of the area say that there were 33 members of the church. However, their identities are unknown. The Port Royal area is now a state historic site. Unfortunately, no military or pension files have been found for John. The National Archives shows five military files for individuals named John Bowers but has not identified any of them from the North Carolina Continental Line. It is possible that no pension records can be found for two reasons: (1) Those pensions filed prior to 1800 which were for handicaps caused by the war were burned in the War Department fire of 1800; (2) John died in 1803 before the date requirements were relaxed which would have made him eligible, and his widow probably did not file at a later date since she remarried. Note, the above was the write-up I did for this particular John Bowers. Now, I have no proof as to whether this is my John and I have seen another researcher claim their John rec'd this grant of land. I have circumstantial evidence based on the fact that John Bowers of Nash Co. NC sold his land there and then appears in Davidson Co., TN. The land in the grant was later listed for nonpayment of taxes by John Bowers. John (same John?) died in Davidson Co. in 1803 and my gggg-grandfather Jeremiah Bowers proved his will in court. I cannot say what the relationship of John is to Jeremiah. I think father but could be brother. I can only say what I think might have been with the caveat that we may never know without finding more records. Too many records are lost or burned! My motto is to leave no stone unturned so if I were Dennis, I would see if I could obtain of anything I could. I pulled my copies out and it was so long ago....you know how we think we're making good notes but then find we didn't do as good for 10 years later. The warrant paper I typed in above has stamped on the back Davidson Co, Roll 2, Book A-2, Pge 273, Tennesee State Library & Archives. The microfilm they copied was not in the best of condition either. So, I believe the papers I have from NC Archives is the survey of this land. You might look in Index books for the info on Kezia and see if it gives you more than what I posted. I'm sorry if I confused the issue moreso by posting the "S" info. My papers show Grant #542 and is on both the warrant and the survey (even though the papers are in two different places! Besides having a grant number, the survey shows Warrant # 94. I think having both papers is helpful. But, it looks like after looking over my papers more closely, you may want to get the paperwork from TN first. Both papers show service, at least in my case. Ages ago, the TN Archives said some of their microfilm could be ordered on Interlibrary loan. I have never done this but, Dennis, you might check on it. If you have an index to the grants in the TN Archives, you might be able to simply request the copy without the research fee. I hope this helps. Sorry it's so long. Peggy K. Reeves wrote: > If Kezia is the widow of James Bowers in Greene Co., then the listing > for land in Greene county could be her. What we don't know is if it was > a military land warrant or not. You would have to order the warrant to > find out, or consult one of the land record abstract books, which can be > found at various research libraries. I believe the author is A. B. Pruitt. > > Warrants for land that is now part of TN (any part of TN) was given out > by the state of NC up until 1796, even if it wasn't a military warrant. > Military warrants were good for land in the military district, which was > in middle TN, bordering the KY state line. Greene County, TN, was not > part of the military district. > > According to Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck's book: "Revolutionary War Bounty > Land Grants Awarded by State Governments", the bounty land district was > eventually exhausted, and bounty warrants were then located elsewhere in > TN. No military bounty land warrants were located within the > present-day boundaries of NC. Finding an entry to a military warrant in > the index of the records of the NC land office does not equate to > military service for the individual. Land warrants were frequently > sold, and some of them actually changed hands a half-dozen times. North > Carolina issued bounty land warrants from 1783 to 1841 in two series. > The first series, numbers 1 to 5312, were issued from 1783 to 1797, and > were located by NC agents in the military district in TN. The second > series of warrants, numbers 1 through 1242, were issued from 1799 to > 1841 by NC, but TN officials located and granted the patents (since this > was after TN got statehood). > > In 1796, TN became a state, and handled it's own land matters. So a > good rule of thumb is that if it's before 1796, NC will probably have > the records, if it's after that, records should be in TN. > > That's the tricky part of looking for early records, you have to look in > the right place. NC would have all pre-1796 TN records, because TN was > considered to be part of NC prior to 1796. Maddening sometimes, isn't > it?! This also means that if you find someone who was born in TN prior > to 1796, their later census listings will show them b. in NC, even > though they were actually born in the place that we now call TN! > > By the way, the same things happens with VA and KY. VA gave out bounty > land to their Rev. soldiers in the military district in KY...because KY > used to be part of VA. > > I hope this helps, but maybe it is just more confusion! I hope I get > "points" for trying. > > Peggy Reeves > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: BOWER Digest, Vol 3, Issue 53 > From: bower-request@rootsweb.com > To: bower@rootsweb.com > Date: Sunday, September 07, 2008 3:00:47 AM > >> Today's Topics: >> >> 1. Re: Bowers in Index of TN Land Warrants from NC (Bowers Family) >> 2. Betty Risk (Leola Ripperger) >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> Message: 1 >> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 11:49:28 -0500 >> From: "Bowers Family" <bowers@ecarthage.com> >> Subject: Re: [BOWER] Bowers in Index of TN Land Warrants from NC >> To: <bower@rootsweb.com> >> Message-ID: <001b01c91040$877912e0$6701a8c0@BOWERS> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >> >> I am interested in this discussion between Donna and Peggy. Perhaps the two of you could help put some of this in a better perspective for me. >> >> I have a will of James Bowers filed in early Greene County records that has his wife "Kissa" as executor. James was born about 1745 (a good age for revolutionary service) and died in 1789. >> >> Could this relate to "Kezia" that Donna shows in the warrant index with a Greene County listing? >> >> Does this mean that someone named Kezia Bowers recieved a warrant for land in Greene County? Would that likely be a widow? Does frame 388-392 mean there would be 5 pages copied related to this grant? What type of information would be included? >> >> Where would I find reel S.108.371 ? Could my local library obtain them on loan from NARA or other library? >> >> Thanks for any information in advance. >> >> Dennis Bowers >> >> Carthage, MO 64836 >> >> 417-358-8207 >> >> bowers@ecarthage.com >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Donna (Bowers) Hinson" <dhinson@suddenlink.net> >> To: <BOWERS-L@rootsweb.com>; <BOWER-L@rootsweb.com> >> Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 9:44 AM >> Subject: [BOWER] Bowers in Index of TN Land Warrants from NC >> >> >> >> >>> Here is a list of Bowers on the index to the TN Land Warrants (grants) >>> from NC for their Revolutionary War service to NC. >>> >>> Included are the Reel Number and Frame Number. The grants are on a >>> separate microfilm reel from the index. Some large libraries have the >>> microfilm. I know Clayton Library in Houston has the index reel and the >>> grants reel because I obtained a copy from NC for them. The NC Archives >>> in Raleigh has both index and grants but I'm not sure if the TN Archives >>> in Nashville has them or not. When I visited them some years ago, they >>> only had a card file of the soldiers. Hope this is of some help to >>> someone. >>> >>> >>> Giles Bowers, S.108.350, frame 529-533, Davidson Co., TN >>> John Bowers, S.108.353, frame 139--142, Davidson Co., TN >>> John Bowers, S.108.372, frame 180-184, Greene Co., TN >>> John Bowers, S.108.371, frame 1033, Greene Co, TN >>> John Bowers, S.108.362, frame 727-731, Eastern District, TN >>> Kezia Bowers, S.108.371, frame 388-392, Greene Co., TN >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BOWER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >>> >>> >>> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 2 >> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 14:58:47 -0500 >> From: "Leola Ripperger" <leeripp@iland.net> >> Subject: [BOWER] Betty Risk >> To: <bower@rootsweb.com> >> Message-ID: <000601c9105a$fb3c8bc0$0400000a@Leola> >> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; >> reply-type=original >> >> I have lost the e-mail Betty Risk wrote and would like for >> her to get in touch with me please. I have lost her e-mail >> address and would like to contact her again regarding the >> Bowers lineage. >> >> Lee Ripperger >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> To contact the BOWER list administrator, send an email to >> BOWER-admin@rootsweb.com. >> >> To post a message to the BOWER mailing list, send an email to BOWER@rootsweb.com. >> >> __________________________________________________________ >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BOWER-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the >> email with no additional text. >> >> >> End of BOWER Digest, Vol 3, Issue 53 >> ************************************ >> >> >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BOWER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >