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Archiver > GenChat > 1997-08 > 0870571692
From: <>
Subject: Re: BOWDEN family historians
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 1997 18:28:12 -0700
wrote:
>
> HI-- I have a real interest in trying to piece together how the
> BOWDEN families and the different spellings of the name have evolved
> in New England.
> My mother is a BOWDEN from Orrington, ME. There is a large clan
> of them up there and there has been an interest in tracing the name and
> preserving the 'roots' for many years. I have been involved as an amateur
> for about 6 years. A lot of data has been collected, but there are still
> many empty spaces on the chart.
> In the early genealogy dictionaries of the N.E. area there are
> about 4 Bowdens mentioned. Also a BOYDEN was an early settler. The
> variations of the name that seem to pertain are Bauden,Boaden,Boden,
> Bodin, Booden,Bouden, Boudden, Bourden, Bowden, and Bowdoin. Also
> in my research I have found a couple instances where a Boyden birth was
> recorded as Bowden.
> As I mentioned earlier the many variations of this name intrigue
> me. As most of you know, in early N.E. the common folk could not read or
> write. Their names were recorded by town clerks with only a little more
> education. Since many of the clerk's customers couldn't spell, he would
> record their name phonetically. An Irish, Scottish, English,French, or
> German [BOWDEN} might have a totally different pronunciation for his name
>
> according to his accent. These people may have come from totally separate
> families, but in this country, the names were mixed up. Boudden may look
> like a French name, but phonetically it may be the way a Scotsman (or
> Scotswoman) would say [BOWDEN] or Boden may have been the way an Irishman
> (or Irishwoman) said it.
> Anyway back to the point of this note -- I would like to collect
> your [BOWDEN] genealogy irregardless of the way it is spelled. If you
> have ancestors with this name (or variation) that lived in N.E. from 1600
> onward I would like to collect it. Regretfully I am not on the Web yet
> and I am not very good yet at the various methods of files compression
> /uncompression.
> What I would like to do is just start a database of BOWDEN family
> historians with the hopes that in the near future we can start a web-site
> for this family. Maybe there is already one out there. If so I would
> appreciate someone turning me on to it so that I can get involved.
> Thank you for your attention and interest.
> Joe
>
> 34 Birch Road
> Deerfield, NH USA 03037-1707
> 603 (463-8834)
> Researching BOWDENSs of Orrington, ME and BURKES of Milbridge, ME
I have a similar problem with the surname I am researching--Bradsher.
Is it a variant of Brashear or Bradshaw. Still puzzling over it after
more than 20 years.
Martha Spencer
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