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Below is a family biography included in The History of Greene County, Illinois published by Donnelley, Gassette & Loyd in 1879.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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BOWMAN, JACOB, agriculturist, and for many years prominent as such in Greene County; is a native of Ohio, and became a cotemporary settler with Samuel Thomas and others identified with the growth and prosperity of Greene County; and long before a railroad ran through the State of Illinois he became largely engaged as a stock buyer and shipper; in his twenty-seventh year he was married to Miss Letitia Fry, a daughter of John Fry, and niece of General Jacob Fry, one of the most upright and honorable men in Uncle Sam’s dominions. Passing briefly by the pioneer days of Jacob Bowman, spent upon the unbroken prairies of Illinois, where he roughed it in common with his neighbors, often proceeding to Alton where he awaited his time in the grinding of grist. In subsequent years he became more than ordinarily successful as a farmer, and held numerous offices of trust and responsibility, in 1860 becoming the popular sheriff of Greene County; for the past three years Mr. B. has been a resident of Kansas. Of the marriage above mentioned seven children were born: Samuel, who married Miss Rosalie Curtius; George, John, who married Miss Angeline Black, a daughter of David Black; Julia, who married Thomas E. Evans; Catherine, who married E. M. Prindle; Rosie, who married W. H. Fry; and Alice.

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This family biography is one of 744 biographies included in The History of Greene County, Illinois published in 1879.  View the complete description here: The History of Greene County, Illinois

View additional Greene County, Illinois family biographies here: Greene County, Illinois Biographies

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