Jacob & Eve Bowerman Tombstones
in the Bowerman Cemetery
Randolph County, Illinois

 The tombstones of Jacob and Eve Bowerman.  Click on each picture to see a larger view. 



Jacob Bowerman, (George Bowerman2 (1752 Lehigh Co., PA; d. 1850 TN), Michael Bauerman/Bowerman1 (1711; d. 1795 Weisenberg Twp., Northampton Co., PA) came to Randolph County in the year of 1808.  His wife Eve and several sons came with him. He settled first 3 miles South of Steeleville, then he moved on a farm West of Steeleville known as the "Old Bowerman Place." Jacob was a man of great decision of character.  He was remarkably ingenious, and could work at almost any trade, even making good guns without previous instructions. As a marksman with the rifle he had no superior. Jacob built a blockhouse in Steeleville and it became an important place on the Shawneetown-Kaskaskia Road. During the unrest of 1811-13 the blockhouse was a place of safety for near-by settlers and travelers.

In 1790 Jacob married Eve Clark, the daughter of Jonathan Clark.  Together they had eight children:

  i. Jonathan Bowerman, born 1793 in Tennessee.  He married Margaret (Peggy) Elizabet Lively in 1823.
  ii. Jessie Bowerman, born 18 March 1795 in Tennessee; died 8 June 1846.  He married Margaret _?_.
  iii. Susannah Bower, born 23 March 1797 in Tennessee; died 5 February 1889.  She married Shadrack Lively in 1819.
  iv. Michael Bowerman, born 9 April 1799 in Tennessee; died 1 April 1875 in Lawrence County, Missouri.  He married Jane Thomas in 1828.
  v. Eve Elizabeth Bowerman, born 17 March 1801 in Tennessee; died 11 August 1868.  She married William Robinson in 1828.
  vi. Mary Polly Bowerman, born 1802 in Tennessee.  She married Enoch Lively in 1823.
  vii. William Bowerman, born 30 May 1805; died 31 January 1876.  He married Catherine Thomas in 1829.
  viii. Eve Bowerman, born 1807 in Tennessee; died 4 August 1890.  She married David Duncan in 1834.

Submitted by Edna Franklin (08Apr03)