Biographies   Anderson County - South Carolina Genealogy Trails WILLIAM H. BOWIE - Much that is worthy and estimable in human life has been the lot of William H. Bowie, of Armstrong county. As a Georgia boy he bore arms for the South. The end of the war found him with the years usually devoted to schooling otherwise spent, and a few years later he came to Texas to begin life in a country where native ability counts for more than, the polish of schools. Nearly forty-five years have been spent in this state, and during the greater part of this time he has lived in Armstrong county, where he is an honored old-timer. William H. Bowie was born in Anderson county, South Carolina, June 18, 1846, and his paternal grandfather was born, lived and died in South Carolina. The Bowie ancestors came from England to the United States about the middle of the seventeenth century, the little immigrant band consisting of three brothers, one of whom located in South Carolina, another in Maryland and the third took up his abode in Canada. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Bowie were William and Rebecca (Davis) Johnson, also from South Carolina. The parents of Mr. Bowie were Charles and Fannie (Johnson) Bowie, the former a native of South Carolina, where he spent a part of his life, afterwards removing to Georgia, where his death occurred in 1880, at the age of seventy- seven. The mother was reared and married in South Carolina, and she died in Georgia in 1879, at the age of seventy-three. Originally there were in this family six sons and two daughters, and of the former Theophilus G. Bowie was a member of Phillips Legion, Georgia Infantry, and was killed in the battle of the Wilderness in Virginia, May 6, 1864. Robert T. Bowie was an officer in the Thirteenth Georgia Infantry and was severely wounded at Sharpsburg, Maryland. William H., C. Lee and John W. Bowie were members of the Cobb (Georgia) Legion, of Cavalry of Northern Virginia, Company B. Johnson I. Bowie was married before the Civil War, and was not in the army. He enlisted, but the citizens of the town petitioned him to stay at home,  saying he "could do more good for the South by remaining at home and teaching school than by going to the war and fighting." After the Confederate Reunion at Little Rock, Arkansas, in June, 1911, Robert T. and C. Lee Bowie, of Atlanta, Georgia, and John W. Bowie, of Dalton, Georgia. visited their brother, Johnson I. Bowie, at Sentinel, Oklahoma, where they were joined by their brother,.W. H. Bowie, of Claude, Texas.' This was the first meeting of J. W. and C. L. Bowie with their brother, J. I. Bowie, in fifty-two years. They are second cousins of James Bowie, of Alamo fame. William H. Bowie was a boy when war was inaugurated between the states. He was enlisted from Georgia in Company "B" of Cobb's famous Georgia Legion of Cavalry, and went through the greater part of the war, being in the most of the important battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. On the battlefield he was calm, cool and brave—notably in one of the hottest cavalry battles of the war, comrades and horses falling on all sides; Bowie's horse was shot from under him; but as his horse fell, he mounted the horse of a fallen comrade, and almost in a moment was in the thickest of the battle. His last battle was the valedictory battle of the war, Bentonville, N. C. William H. Bowie's war record was clear, clean, and squareeut; but the diamond jewel of his character is his geniality. Bowie was the sunshine of his Company and the light of his Regiment, ever wearing a genial smile even on the field of battle, cheering and encouraging all around. About a year after the war he came to Texas, locating in Collin county, where he completed such schooling as he was able to obtain in preparation for his career, and then became connected with the mercantile business which he followed in Collin county for twenty years. In 1889 he moved to Claude, Armstrong county, then on the northwest Texas frontier, and opened a real estate office. As one of the early settlers he has been one of the foremost in the development and improvement of this town, and has been an influential factor in many public affairs. He has served as justice of the peace and is a Democrat in politics. Fraternally he is affiliated with Masonry, having been worshipful master of the Blue Lodge, scribe of the Royal Arch Chapter and also a member of the Eastern Star. His church is the Methodist. In February, 1872, in Collin county, Mr. Bowie married Miss M. E. Culwell, who died October 9, 1891, at Claude. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Culwell, who were among the first settlers of Collin county. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Bowie are Charles Wade Bowie, born in Collin county in 1875, and who died at Claude in 1904, and William A. Bowie, born in 1877, and died in Collin county in 1881.  A History of Texas and Texans by Francis White Johnson, Ernest William Winkler -1920, pg 1087 Back to Anderson County SC Genealogy Trails © all rights - reserved to the original submitter