Milford chronicle., 1933-04-14
DIR. BOWEN,
HISTORIAN, POET,
DIES AT BERLIN
[Coniinncd from Firn PagcI

ICOHiiHHed from Fird Pagel
because he was an ardent Souther-
ner and lover of the cause. He was
not aware the country's chief exec
utive had been shot the night before
he explained later.
DR.. Bowens fame rested, not In
the Lincoln incident of Civil War
days, nor in the fact that his accu-
mulated years have won for him
many age-old superlatiyes. but in
his prominence in the Presbyterian
history of this country. Having SER
we'd as pastor of the old Rehoboth
Church, at Rehoboth, Md, near Ber-
lin, the first Presbyterian Church
founded in this country, he has writ
ten and published several volumes
on Francis Mackenzie, the chief foun-
der of Presbytery and was the NOV
ing spirit in the erection of the
Mackenzie Memorial at Accomac, Va,
in Mackenzie Park.
He was a graduate of Princeton
in the class of 1862 and was the old
est living graduate prior to his
death His first pastorate was at Mil
ford where the Lincoln incident oc-
Cured
Dr. Bowen was the poet laureate
of the Eastern Shore. A number OF
his verses have been published in
magazines and newspapers, but the
greater part of them are included in
his volume "Makemieland Memoir
ials." One of his most popular
poems is "T. b. the Maryland Avia-
tor" few knowing that his humor-
Gus reference is to the Maryland
turkey buzzards, seen so frequently
on the Eastern Shore.
Dr. Bowen married a Berlin girl,
Miss Ellen Powell They have one
child, a daughter, named after Ten
nyson's Lillian" with whom he
made his home in Berlin. For many
years his duties led him through
other states, chiefly the South,
where he did evangelistic work and
was pastor for a while of a church
in Monroe, La, and in Marshall,
Mo-, where his wife now lies buried
and where his daughter was born. 1t
was there that he wanted TO be bur-
led.
After returning to the Eastern
Shore he again assumed other pas
torates, his last being at the Reho-
both Church, seven miles south of
PocomOke City, from 1908 to 1912,
after which he retired and came
back to Berlin. He had hoped to
take an active part in the two hum
dred and fiftieth anniversary pro-
gra moi that church, the church
having chosen June 5, 1888. as its
celebration date. because il is the
hundredth birthday of DR.. Bowen.
The Eastern Shore poet laureate
was never idle. He wrote incessant-
ly. usually verse or essay. Often the
young people went to him for help
in their essays for school work, and
received gracious and prompt assis-
tance.
DR.. Bowen was said to have re-
called twenty-three of the thirty
Presidents and had voted in sixteen
Presidential elections. He received
national notice in 1908 when he dis
covered the lost grave of Francis
founder of the Presbyter-
ian Church in America.
For thirty-One years he served
pastorates in the synod
of Missouri ami Presbytery of New
Castle.
He had four basic rules for living
Never impose upon your stomach.
Second: Love Gods outdoors, and
take daily exercise. Third; Do not
worry. Fourth; Boycott all doctors
and their miserable drugs.
Or. Bowen received his doctor of
divinity degree at Westminster Col
lege, Fulton, Mo, in 1884. Among
his published volumes are: Make
Memorials" THE Days of
THE Old Preachers
Story" THE Daughter of the Cove
nant," and The Borderland."