Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Bowen, James Rumsey 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 5, 2007, 2:13 pm

Author: Biographical Publishing Company

JAMES RUMSEY BOWEN was born near Ithaca, N. Y., June 2, 1842, the youngest of 
a family of two sons and two daughters, all deceased except himself. His 
father, George, was a native of Enfield, Tompkins County, N. Y., and by trade 
a carpenter and builder; and his mother, Pernulla, was born in Enfield, 
Tompkins County, where her father, James Rumsey, engaged in farm pursuits. Mr. 
Bowen died when a young man, but his wife lived to be seventy-two years of 
age. Their son, our subject, was employed on farms from an early age, and 
saved his earnings until he was able to buy ninety acres of land.

August 11, 1862, Mr. Bowen enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Ninth New 
York Infantry, and from Binghamton, the point of muster in, was sent south to 
Bladensburg, Md., six miles from Washington, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 
where his company engaged in guard duty and captured more than three thousand 
deserters. He won distinction by personally capturing McCarthy, clerk to the 
paymaster, who had stolen $40,000 from the paymaster and absconded with the 
money.  Later he was detailed with six men to guard Beltsville, on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, where he remained during the winter. During his 
last day at that point, he  and his comrades captured three bounty jumpers, 
who tried to bribe them in order to secure freedom, but all offers were 
refused by their captors. When Burnside reorganized the army at Annapolis, 
Md., to make the last campaign against Petersburg, Mr. Bowen joined him and 
took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold 
Harbor, Gaines' Farm, and the battles before Petersburg. Enlisting as a 
private, he was commissioned corporal and sergeant, and in  1864 was made 
second lieutenant of Company G. After the battle of Mine Explosion, in front 
of Petersburg, he commanded the company. In the engagement that followed, so 
many of his men were killed or captured that only eight of the company 
responded to roll call the next morning. After the grand review in Washington 
he was honorably discharged in Binghamton, N. Y.

Returning to Ithaca, Mr. Bowen engaged in the grocery business. Two years 
later he went to Enfield, where he was proprietor of the Falls hotel, a summer 
resort, for four years. Two years were then spent in Ithaca, after which, in 
1879, he came to Joliet, where he carried on a hotel business for three years. 
In 1882 he became superintendent for Jefferson Hodgkins, of Chicago, but the 
following year started in the gravel business for himself. After a short time 
at Rowell's pit, he had  charge of the Woodruff pit for ten years, but in 1897 
removed to the Mound, where the best gravel in the country is secured. He owns 
one No. 3 crusher, of one hundred yards per day capacity, and one No. 6 
crusher, with a capacity of four hundred yards per day. Since 1897 he has had 
contracts to furnish gravel to the Rock Island Railroad, besides which he 
makes shipments to Chicago and neighboring towns. He has had the contract to 
furnish macadam for many streets, both in Joliet and  elsewhere, and his work 
of this kind is as fine as any in Joliet. To facilitate shipments, a double 
switch is connected with the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, and power is 
furnished by an engine of one hundred and ten horse-power.

During his residence in his native town, Mr. Bowen married Miss Augusta 
Kellogg, daughter of Joseph Kellogg, a tobacco manufacturer of Ithaca, N. Y.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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