Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-14
STORY OF AARON BURR'S WIFE
Interesting Facts Yet Unpublished
Related by Nathan E. Adams.
BETSEY BOWEN THE HEROINE
Narrative OF How Poor Girl Became
Madame JumeI, with wealth,
and Later wife of Vice
President.

nous men are told by Nathan Il. Adams,
2l24 Miami street. relative of Charles
Adams, former state treasurer OF Massa-
Chusetts, who made an exhaustive study
OF the origin of the Bowen family, =
member OF which was the wife of Stephet
Jumel and subsequently of Aaron Burr
vice president of the United states.
Charles Adams is a resident of North
Brookfield. Mass. The history he has
told concerning Betsey Bowen was Sc
cured not only from original sources, but
from Thomas Henry Edsall and Charles
O'Connor of New York City. who were
attorneys concerned in the settlement OF
the Jumel estate. when Betsey Bowen
was left n widow with the vast fortune
of the wealthy French merchant.
The story, as related by the Omahan.
rivals the romances of fiction, and the
story Is told infinitely, as Brookfield was
his former home as well as that OF the
late Mrs. Charlotte NJ. Il. Adams OF
Omaha In this village lived Betsey
Bowen, who became the wife of one OF
the most distinguished men OF American
history and a cellar in the old town marks
the site of the lowly girls home
sailor Lost at Sea.
about l77S a sailor named Bowen of
Providence, r. l., was lost at sea, and
left a widow and two daughters says
Mr.. Adams. THE girls we're Polly and
Betsey, both born probably between 1913
and IN. Ten or twelve years later the
widow married Captain Jonathan Clark
who served in the revolution. He was a
shoemaker by trade, poor and somewhat
dissipated. They resided In Providence
with Mrs. Clarke's two daughters for
several years and were then expelled
from the town, probably because the citi-
zens of the town feared they would be-
come a town charge.
"In February, 1888, they were in Reho-
both, an adjoining town across the See
konk river in Massachusetts; in Septem-
Der of that year in Taunton. and in Febru-
airy, 1894. they were residing in Brook
field. Their manner of life previously
may be inferred from what 1t was in
Rutland. There they lived in a small
one-story cabin, partly under ground,
and fifteen or twenty feet square, built
into the south side of a sandhill, called
Goose HILL in what is known as New
Boston 1t had but one room, which the
whole family occupied In common. with
a single chimney on one side; with two
doors, leading respectively to the road
and to the roof. Just within the front
door, opening upon a road now discon-
tinued, Clark used to sit at his bench
and work at his trade. His wife worked
out in the families of their neighbors, to
whom she not in~frequently complained of
the crossness of her husband. He had
become quite d~issipated, but retained his
taste for reading, to which he was much
given.
Did Not Go to Church.
1.-THE family did not go to meeting nor
the girls to school, nor did the girls visit
their neighbors and some Incidents related
by old people, who in 1884 recollected the
family, indicated that the reputation of the
,o,.- 49, -. - .A1,. -,.lat.-
"Mr. Edsall writes, July s, 1884: I had
fifteen receipts, which were given to Clark
in September, 1897, the last month, proba-
bly,. of his residence in Rutland, all except
one given for 81 in full of all demands,
which Indicated that he spent that month
in settling up with his neighbors.' II is not
impossible that their departure was made
in anticipation of a warning from the
town authorities. Some time that autumn
Q790 Clark and his family removed to
North Carolina, where both parents died
during an epidemic in 17SS. The two girls
managed in some way to get to Washing
ton and afterwards to New York, where
Betsey. who possessed great beauty and
an attractive manner, captivated the very
wealthy French merchant, Stephen Jumel.
and became his wife. The date of their
marriage cannot be accurately determined,
III was ABOUT lou4 UO lbUo. linus the lOWly
born, uneducated Betsey Bowen rose from
her obscurity and poverty and became the
wife OF one of the merchant princes Of
New York, the possessor of wealth and
everything that wealth could m
Leaves Wife Large Estate.
"They lived together until 1882. when
Jumel died, having settled upon his wife
a very large estate, and she was designated
as Madam Jumel.'
But she was destined TO fill a much
higher and more distinguished social posi-
ton. Late In the same year, 1882, she was
married to Aaron Burr. who had been vice
president of the United States from 1901 to
1905, the first term of President Jefferson's
administration
This was an ill-advised, unhappy and
brief union. He was then 20 and she about
So. They separated in 1888 and she. COM
menced a suit for divorce that year or the
next.
THE date of the decree of divorce is not
found on the records of New York, and 1t
is not impossible that none was obtained.
but by decree or without one they were
separated and she took the name OF her
first husband and was ever terward
known as Madam Jumel.'
Having unlimited means at her disposal
she spent much of her time in France. re-
siding alternately in the French capital
and in our own commercial metropolis.
She was for many years well known at Sar-
atoga Springs and Niagara Falls by most
OF the fashionable visitors at these fashion
able places and occasionally spent a winter
in New Orleans. The estate settled on her
by her first husband consisted largely in
real estate in New York City ON Broadway.
seventh avenue and other streets, and a
large tract Of land on Washington Heights.
including the historic mansion Of the Eng
lish colonel. Morris. overlooking Harlem
river, in which she resided until the time of
her death, which occurred at the Jumel
House in New York June IA, 1866. aged
over % years.
Bulk TO Episcopal Church.
After her death her win was admitted to
probate, giving the bulk of her estate to
the Episcopal church and its rector at
Washington Heights, and to various char
liable societies and institutions. The mem
bers OF her family. consisting of a nephew