April 19, 2025 - The Republic of Texas was still in its infancy in 1838 when cousins Jeremiah and James Bowlin were awarded adjacent land grants of 4,605 acres each in northwest Shelby County.
“Jeremiah came from Virginia and James came from Tennessee” said Johnnie Sue Bell Jones as she opened her presentation on Bowlin family history at the April monthly meeting of the Timpson Area Genealogical and Heritage Society. “The Republic of Texas had begun granting land in an effort to attract settlers, but only those who had arrived in Texas prior to the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836 qualified for a grant of a league and a labor of land, which is 4,605 acres. Jeremiah's grant was number fourteen issued by the Republic and James's was number fifteen, indicating that the applications were approved consecutively, and gave the Bowlin family a total of 9,210 acres,” Jones continued.
“James Bowlin was my great-great grandfather,” Mrs. Jones shared. “He lived from 1809 until 1871 and is buried at Buena Vista Cemetery. He eventually built an L shaped dog-run home on top of Solomon Hill, east of Buena Vista. He had eighteen children, nine by his first wife and nine by his second wife! My great-grandfather, George Washington Bowlin, was the eldest of the children born to James's second wife, Nancy, and he inherited the house and 640 acres of land. When each of his children married, he gave them a parcel of the land and the brothers built them a house on their land. Although the dog-run was later enclosed, that house was occupied by great-grandfather and my grandfather. I was born in the front bedroom of that house in 1943. George raised cattle and had the first Brahma bull in East Texas. He bought it in West Texas and had it shipped by rail to Timpson. At that point it was loaded into a wagon with side-boards attached to it and carried to Solomon Hill. How they got that wagon with that bull up Solomon Hill is a mystery to me! My great-grandfather had a stroke in later life which left him physically impaired for the last five years he lived, but he was able to walk by holding on to a chair and pushing it ahead of himself. George told his sons that he wanted a shed built over his grave to keep the rain from hitting him in the face. This was done and the little shed, about two and a half feet high, stood in the Buena Vista Cemetery for many years before it rotted away. The house had never had a kitchen inside of it for fear of fire. Cooking was done in a separate building behind the house. The first thing Alice, George's wife, did after he died was move the kitchen into the house."
“The Bowlin land grants were located in an area sometimes called 'Bucksnort,' just to the east of the town of Buena Vista, which was south of US 59 down FM 1645, but no longer exists. Although most of the land has been sold off over the years, the family still owns about 300 acres, part of which is the Lovell and Diamond Bowlin place, now owned by grandchildren Matt, Chris, and Brittany Bowlin. However, the the original holding was so large that, even to this day, there are few roads into it,” Jones explained.
“Buena Vista had been established in the early 1830s and the first store was opened in 1847. Bowlin family legend says that when John Morrison was stocking his new store prior to opening it, local male residents became aware that the inventory included a barrel of whiskey. Since the store was not yet open, Mr. Morrison refused to admit the men, so they began banging on the door. Finally, Mr. Morrison filled a bucket with whiskey and sat it along with a few tin cups on the store's back porch and directed the men to its location. Eventually, a drunken brawl ensued and the men had to be forcefully driven off the property. Buena Vista grew to a population of about 300 people after the Civil War and had a post office, school, several business, two horse race tracks, and two churches. Produce grown in the area was transported by wagon to market in Shreveport and then stock for the stores was brought back on the return trip, providing a source of income to some residents. Nathan Timms established a tannery, selling his leather in Shreveport, and later his son learned the shoemaker's craft, establishing a business in Buena Vista. George's sons built a syrup mill on the family property where they made syrup from sugar cane juice, was cooked down into syrup. They sold the syrup as well as processed sugar cane for others.”
“The construction of a rail line from Shreveport to Houston had begun in the late 1800s and the residents of Buena Vista expected it to come through their community. Word reached Buena Vista that the railroad preferred a route about two miles north of the town. Well aware of the negative impact being bypassed by the railroad would have, the residents formed a committee to try to persuade the railroad to come through Buena Vista,” Jones continued. “The railroad replied that they would only consider coming through Buena Vista if the town paid them to do so, although the amount is subject to dispute. When the townspeople refused, the rail line was built where it currently runs, the City of Timpson was established by the railroad, and Buena Vista slowly died.”
Tragedy struck the Bowlin family on Solomon Hill in 1952. “My grandmother was alone at the old homeplace and decided to burn some trash out back of the house. As she was tending the fire she caught the bottom of her long housecoat on fire. She didn't realize she was on fire until the flames reached her hair on the back of her head. 'Stop, drop, and roll' was unknown back then so she began walking toward the house, stopping all the way to stamp out the sparks on the ground from her burning clothes for fear the house would catch fire. Once she got into the house she interrupted a conversation on the party line telephone to tell neighbors what had happened and ask for help. All of her clothes had burned off of her so she wrapped herself in a sheet. The Hammers were the first to arrive, putting her into the cab of their pickup and driving to the clinic in Timpson. The doctor at the clinic immediately called an ambulance to transport her to the hospital in Shreveport. My father was working in Houston and when word reached him he was told that the house had burned with his whole family inside. He drove from Houston to Timpson in two hours, which seems impossible even today. When he arrived at the house he was amazed to see that it had not burned. He found me unharmed at my aunt's house. Exhausted, he spent the night at the house and went to see his mother in Shreveport the next morning, taking me with him. Upon entering her hospital room, we saw that she was wrapped from head to toe in bandages and in a great deal of pain. I was my grandmother's 'baby' and she called me to her bedside,” Mrs. Jones continued, tears welling in her eyes and her voice cracking. “Dont you worry, Sue, she said. I will go home. As a child, I thought she meant back to Solomon Hill. Later I realized she meant heaven. She died twelve days later. Although she and my grandfather had divorced some years before, he came to see her in the hospital and they talked at length. He paid her hospital bill and paid for her funeral. He still loved her. She was the first person buried in the Timpson Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery and my grandfather is buried beside her. My mother blamed herself for my grandmother's death and never got over it.”
TAGHS meets at 2PM on the third Wednesday of each month in the meeting room of the Timpson Public Library, located on the corner of Austin and Bremond Streets. The public is always welcome.
