Bowyer
Genealogy Page

Index

Bowyer Family History
BOWYER-L Genealogy mailing list
Bowyer Study Group
Bowyers on the Web
Bowyer Email Addresses
Internet sites of Genealogical interest
Genealogy Programs & other utilities to convert Gedcom files to HTML
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This site is remains very much under construction but I hope to provide a site for those people interested in Bowyer Genealogy.
Click on here should you be foolish enough to want to see my picture!

Bowyer Genealogy

I am researching my branch of the Bowyer family and have traced them back to John Bowyer born approx 1805 in Warfield, Berkshire, UK who was a cordwainer (shoemaker) and lived in Winkfield, Berkshire, UK until his death 30/3/1892. His son Henry Bowyer (1838-64) also a shoemaker, moved to Petworth, West Sussex in the 1850's. His son Charles Henry Bowyer ( 1858-1920) was a Pharmacist in Midhurst, West Sussex as was my grandfather Charles Henry Edward Bowyer (1896-1989). Since starting this web page I have had communications from both Mrs Margaret P. Guest nee Bowyer in Canada and Mrs Jill Bowyer in Norfolk who are both distantly related and have very kindly provided me with information. I hope to be able to produce a descendant tree from Henry Bo(w)yer in html for this page shortly. I would be most interested to here from any Bowyers with details of their family history and to form a GOONS' type database of Bowyer family histories.

Family tree from Hen ry Bo(w)yer to John Bowyer.

								______Henry BO(W)YER
								|      d.   1713
  				   	      ______Edward BO(W)YER
					      |      c.  1673
  				 	      |      m.   5 Oct 1713
					      |      mp.  Warfield, Berkshire
					      |      d.   1743	
    					      | 			|_____Joan	
   					      |    			
      					      |            
 			 ______Edward BO(W)YER
 			 |      c.  24 May 1716
 			 |      cp. Warfield, Berkshire
			 |   		      |_____Marg(a)ret HARBER
 			 |		      							
   		Henry BOWYER		   
 		 |       b. 1753
 		 |       bp. Winfield, Berkshire
		 |       m.(1) 23 Nov 1791 (Susanna Narroway) 
		 |       m.(2) 1808 (Hester West)
		 |       d. 1838
		 |       Bur: 14 Oct 1838
		 |            |_____Elizabeth
  		 |
	John BOWYER
		c. 1806
		cp. Warfield, Berkshire
		Cordwainer
		d. 30 Mar 1892
		 bur. St. Mary's Church, Winkfield
 		 |_____Jane Green
			b. 1817
			bp. Hurst
			bur: 8 July 1851

Click on here if you want to see a picture of John Bowyer's grave in St. Mary's Churchyard,
Winkfield, Berkshire (182 KB)

The American Association of Boyers may be helpful to those searching for Boyer, Boyers, Bayer, Beyer, Byer, Byers, Beier, «Bowyer», Boii. For membership of the association and annual newsletter send $5 for a year and $50 for life membership to:

American Association of Boyers
C/O William L. Boyer
3435 Livingston Drive
Jefferson MD 21755

Leslie Charteris was born Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin in Singapore on 12th May 1907 and changed his name by deed-poll to Leslie Charteris in 1926. He died in Windsor (near Winkfield) on April 15th 1993 at the age of 85. His father was Dr SC Yin, a wealthy Chinese Surgeon and his mother was Lydia Florence Bowyer (born June 1876 in Peckham, London, UK). Does Anyone know of her ancestory?

Bowyers Pork Pies can be found in the Knowhere Guide to Trowbridge


The Bowyer family were of considerable consequence in Staffordshire. The information for this family chart is from "A History of the Wedgwood Family" by Josiah C. Wedgwood and Burkes Peerage(1970). The manor Knypersley in Staffordshire which was, for many years in the hands of the Bowyer family was inherited from the Knypersley family (a younger branch of the Biddulph Family of Biddulph) who had been in possession of the manor since the time of the Domesday Book, 1086, then represented by Orm de Darlaston. The Wedgwoods are descended from this family, as can be seen, through two lines Anne Bowyer (c.1495-1530) = John Wedgwood (c.1490-1555) & Margery Bowyer = William Ford of the Mosse (d.1584). The Bowyers of Kynpersley were created Baronets in 1660 - this line died out in the male line in 1703; the present Lord Denham, some time (Conservative) Government Chief Whip, (Sir Stanley Mitford Bowyer), in the House of Lords, is a representative of a younger branch of the Family. The details are from Wedgwood Family pages written by John Wedgwood Pound.


Titanic Bowyer In the book Titanic Destination Disaster by John P. Eaton & Charles A Haas pages 83-84 (publisher Patrick Stephens Wellingborough, Northampshire) there is mention on 5 occasions to Pilot George BOWYER who led the Titanic out of Southampton Harbour and together with Captain Smith was able to avoid a collision with the "New York". Pilot BOWYER steered the Titanic out of the harbour, past the Isle of Wight disembarking close to the Nab Light Vessel. My thanks to Mrs Margaret P. Guest nee Bowyer for this information

Bowyers Downunder

I am interested in those Bowyers who left for Australia in the early years of this former colony; both those who went voluntarily and those transported. Below is a list of those individuals known to me.

  • William Charles Bowyer -Convict- dairyman, born Bristol 1800, stole a watch from John Honeywood in Britford, south of Salisbury, England on December 3rd, 1827 on the eve of his 4th wedding aniversary to Mary Ann Drew who had died earlier that year. He had a daughter called Eliza Frances who was baptised on the 9th January, 1825 in the Parish of Britford. Her fate is unknown. William was sentenced on the 8th March 1828 to transportation for life at the Wiltshire Assises and arrived in N.S.W. Australia aboard the "Claudine 2" on 6th December, 1829. He was sent to work long hours at the Government Stock Station, Wellington Valley, NSW some 238 miles from Sydney & 117 miles from Bathurst which had been established in 1823 for employment of the educated or better character convicts. The Wellington Establishment however proved to be a financial burden on the government and so was disbanded. The better behaved convicts were assigned to the f ree settlers of the district and so on the 3rd December, 1840, exactly 13 years after his felony, William received a ticket of leave Pass-port, allowing him to proceed to Port Phillip in the service of M. George & Henry Tingcomb for 12 months, on the recommendation of the Queanbeyan Bench. Four years later, he was working for Mr. William Davies who was managing an estate for the Palmers, a prominent local family. It was during this time whilst William worked as a shepherd that he applied to the Govenor to marry Margaret Magurahan, from Drumall, County Fermanagh, Ireland who had been transported for 7 years for stealing potatoes. They married on 26th February, 1844 at the Bachelors Quaters, Jerrabomberra, Parish of Queanbeyan, County of Murray, NSW and became well-respected members of the community. They had 6 children, Frederick who married Mary Jane Greary, George who married Mary Boyle, their third son Alfred who died as a todler in 1851, Emma who married Alexander Rankin, Elizabeth Jane who married George Greary and James who never married. They initially raised their children in an estate cottage along the Ginninderra Creek, the site of present day Canberra. Around 1860, when William's youngest son was born, they moved to Westwood, outside Rockhampton, Queensland to start a new life where William became a dairy farmer at a place called Sebastopol Creek. Here he died on 3rd May, 1872 and was buried in the grounds of Westwood School.

  • Thomas Bowyer (b.1821 Berkshire, England. d. 26th January, 1867) who arrived in Australia in October 1852 on the ship "Cossipore", landing at Port Phillip. He settled at Springfield, Now Woodend North where he was a dairy farmer and gardener. He met an early accidental death at the age of 46. Details from Bryan T Bowyer, PO Box 50, Lockhart 2656, NSW. Although from Berkshire where my family originate, I have not found any connection as yet with Thomas Bowyer or identified him in Berkshire census records.

  • Samuel Bowyer -Convict- passed a forged £2 Bank note for some butter and a pint of ale on Saturday 6th February, 1808. He was sentenced at Worcester Assizes, March 14 1808 to 14 years transportation beyond the seas. He left England aboard the transport ship "Indian" for Sydney NSW on July 18th, 1810. Samuel Bowyer was described as a labourer of Dudley, a convict in Sydney, New South Wales, and after his pardon, Samuel Bowyer was a brickmaker. This may indicate that he was, in his early days, a brickmaker at a pottery in either Worcestershire or Staffordshire. Details from Lynette Bowyer

  • The Maryborough Family Heritage Institute located in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, is an incorporated body which acts as the umbrella organisation for seven local history and geneological groups. Historically, Maryborough was chosen as the most appropriate location since it was an early immigrant port for european and other migration in the nineteenth century into Queensland, Australia. Consequently, the Institute holds many unique records compiled and collated for use by family historians about ancestors with connections to the Wide Bay Area, and many other records. Has a list of links for Australian Genealogy sites.

    • Berkshire Census 1851

    Below is a list of the only Bowyer families in Berkshire mentioned in the 2% sample of the 1851 UK Census. None are my known relatives. This link has unfortunately been withdrawn.

    @Berkshire -A Winkfield
    #1851
    $
    Z/11/28/
    J/JONATHAN/BOWYER/HEAD/MAR/33//AG LAB/BRK/WARFIELD/
    J/E/BOWYER/W/MAR//33//SRY/WINDLESHAM/
    J/E/BOWYER/D///11/SCHOLAR/BRK/WINKFIELD/
    J/G/BOWYER/SON//7//SCHOLAR/BRK/WINKFIELD/
    J/J/BOWYER/SON//4//SCHOLAR/BRK/WINKFIELD/
    J/M A/BOWYER/D///2//BRK/WINKFIELD/
    J/S/BOWYER/D///.333//BRK/WINKFIELD/

    $
    Z/11/50/
    J/JOHN/COLE/HEAD/MAR/35//GARDENER/BRK/WRAYSBURY/
    J/E/COLE/W/MAR//35//N K/
    J/E/COLE/D///13/SCHOLAR/BRK/EASTHAMSTEAD/
    J/E/COLE/D///10/SCHOLAR/BRK/EASTHAMSTEAD/
    J/E/COLE/D///8/SCHOLAR/BRK/EASTHAMSTEAD/
    J/H/COLE/SON//4///BRK/EASTHAMSTEAD/
    J/E/COLE/D///2//BRK/WINKFIELD/
    J/S/BOWYER/VISITOR/U//36/SERV/SRY/SHRUBBSHILL/
    J/J/MORTON/VISITOR/U/20//AG LAB/BRK/WINKFIELD/

    Please e-mail me at richard@bowyer.org.uk if you wish to contact me about Bowyer Genealogy

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    BOWYER-L Genealogy Mailing List

    The old BOWYER-L has changed. It is now run through Yahoo! Groups. Although not run specifically for those interested in Boyer, Boyers,Bayer, Beyer, Byer, Byers, Beier, Boii etc Genealogy, postings concerning these names will also be accepted. To subscribe go to Bowyer-L at Yahoo! groups.

    Bowyer Study Group

     I am sorry to report that Mr Denis A. Bowyer who ran the Bowyer One Name Study Group sadly died in October 1998. He used to send out a biannual newsletter and run queries having lots of data. It is at present uncertain what will happen to this information unless a volunteer is found to manage the achive. By kind permission, the Newsletters & Worksheets are republished by clicking on the links below.
    Newsletters #11 to #19 are presently available:-

  • Newsletter 6 - January 1991
  • Newsletter 7 - January 1992
  • Newsletter 8 - August 1992
  • Newsletter 9 - January 1993
  • Newsletter 10 - June 1993
  • Newsletter 11 - January 1994
  • Newsletter 12 - July 1994
  • Newsletter 13 - January 1995
  • Newsletter 14 - July 1995
  • Newsletter 15 - August 1995
  • Newsletter 16 - December 1995
  • Newsletter 17 - July 1996
  • Newsletter 18 - 1997
  • Newsletter 19 - January 1998

  • Worksheet 7 - December 1991 with Newsletter #7
  • Worksheets 8 & 9 - January 1993 with Newsletter #9
  • Worksheets 10 & 11 - January 1994 with Newsletters #10 & #11
  • Worksheets 12 & 13 - January 1995 with Newsletters #12 & #13

    • Bowyers on the Web
  • Kevin W Bowyer's page of personal details and visit to Vietnam
  • The Bruce Bowyer Foundation The Bruce Bowyer Foundation is a private, not for profit organization created in honor of the late Bruce H. Bowyer.
  • Dan Bowyer's page
  • Mark R Bowyer - Moredhel's Mediatron. What we have here is a long list of links, made up to look like the Young Ladies Illustrated Primer from Neal Stephenson's book The Diamond Age. Finger him to see if he's at work!
  • Julius Bowyer - Julius' home page
  • John Bowyer - Beutiful MG TC
  • Dr. Adrian Bowyer at Bath University's Mechanical Engineering School
  • Rob Bowyer - at Trinity College, Oxford
  • Martin H Bowyer - is a bass playing engineering student at Durham University
  • Professor C. Stuart Bowyer Professor of Astronomy, Director Center For Euv Astrophysics at Berkeley University
  • Jill K Bowyer - The [ryptic [ollection
  • Jim Bowyer - Mountain View Software
  • John Charles Bowyer an information systems analyst consultant
  • Judy Bowyer
  • Kathryn M. Bowyer - Resume
  • Phillip E. Bowyer - Pagecrafter
  • Ray Bowyer at " Innovative Micro Assistance"
  • Professor Kevin W Bowyer at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Florida.
  • Robert Andrew Bowyer
  • Jeff Bowyer Home page at Masarykovy Univerzity, Buresova, Czech Republic
  • Theodore W Bowyer - resume at Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
  • Terry Bowyer at TerryScope Productions Web Site
  • Professor R. Terry Bowyer Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Institute of Arctic Biology, Dept. of Biology & Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska
  • Marc Bowyer with Bowyer's online & his own home page

    • Please e-mail me at richard@bowyer.org.uk if you know of other Bowyers on the WWW

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    Internet sites of Genealogical interest
  • The Canadian-American Genealogical Digest - "THE source for Canadian research material and the Canadian-American connection".
  • Palatine & Pennsylvania-Dutch Genealogy
  • Global Genealogical Supply - "Everything For the Family Historian. Global is a retailer and mail order service for genealogical and historiacal books, genealogical software, CD ROM reference materials, maps and archival supplies. Order online or by 800 telephone service from anywhere in North America."
  • Everton's Genealogical Helper: online editionis a free e-zine focusing on genealogy in the online world, published by Everton Publishers. (Please note: this online edition is NOT the same as their print magazine.)
  • Beginning to research your family history - a tutorial document held on the GENUKI web server.
  • Irish Family History Foundation Home Page
  • Genealogy Toolbox World Wide Web home page was a year old on 21st February 1996 and has now been permanently moved to its own server.
  • Lacy Family Home Page
  • Mark and Cyndi's Family Tree - Their many resources include: Civil War research articles, UK research articles. Genealogy Terms and Phrases, and a new page for the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society
  • Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet - A categorized & cross-referenced list of over 3,600 links to genealogy sites in over 45 different categories.
  • WWW Genealogical Dictionary
  • PAF Review - Home Page A Newsletter for Genealogists Who Use PAF which has extensive information specific to PAF.
  • Genealogy Listservers, Newsgroups & Special Homepages - a list on Vicki's Home Page of groups on the Internet that may be of value to genealogists.
  • GENNAM-L Archive - Folio Infobase
  • ROOTS-L Archive - Folio Infobase
  • Roots-L Web Page
  • The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) home page
  • GenDex - an enterprise devoted to advancing the progress of family history and genealogy research on the World Wide Web.
  • GenDex WWW genealogical index currently indexes over one million names, and which is available for online searching. Some Bowyers here!
  • Brian Mavrogeorge's Hotlist of 951 genealogy WWW pages.
  • The St. Catherine's Marriage Index - A number of files of transcriptions of entries from the General Register Office (St Catherine's House) Marriage Index have just been added to the GENUKI Web server, with the kind permission of Mike Foster, the transcriber.
  • The Public Record Office (or PRO) is the repository of the national archives for England and Wales. Information on use of their records for searching for genealogical information. Includes opening hours and details of how to obtain access.
  • Genealogy Home Page - comprehensive guide to genealogy resources on & off the internet.
  • Genealogy Netguide Homepage
  • UK+Ireland Genealogy Home Page
  • The Genealogical Server (GenServ) is a project to share GEDCOM files over internet. Over 3,353,000 names have now been donated to the project and include my own researches into the Bowyer family. To access this database you must contribute your own research data as a GEDCOM file and pay a subscription of $12 or £8 per year. You get a 2 month trial free once you have submitted your gedcom. There is a one off free search per email address from this page.
  • The Roots Surname List is a list of surnames that other researchers are working on. You can search through these lists for surnames that you are working on and then contact the corresponding researchers. You can also submit information on the surnames for which you have information to be included in the next update of the list. Only one Bowyer researcher listed at present.
  • The Roots Location List can similarily be searched.
  • ROOTSBOOK web site helps people who are interested in genealogy look at some of the information found by other genealogists. It's a big database made up of a lot of little databases - each one made by people who are working on their own families. Most of them come from places like CompuServe. The addition of new material is an on-going project. The server contains 741,532 individuals using 50,091 surnames.
  • Janyce's Roots Diggin' Dept. Huge site where you can instantly look up Genealogy Home pages as well as link your own. It also provides links to a wide range of sites with genealogy information. Worth a visit.!
  • Kansas Interactive Genealogy

    • If you know of any other sites of genealogical interest please e-mail me at richard@bowyer.org.uk

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    Genealogy Programs

    The "Best " genealogy programs

  • SpanSoft was a 1995 Shareware Industry Award Nominee with their excellent Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 ready shareware programs for documenting, storing & printing family trees. Kith & Kin v3.03 has a simple, intuitive graphic interface with timeline and zoom. It has statistics and relationships reporting and allows pictures, maps, diagrams & sounds to be embedded in or linked to a person or family. Importing and exporting PAF Gedcom files is straightforward and accurate. I can personally thoroughly recommend this program as well as Treedraw v1.1.1 which is the advanced family tree printing program from the same stable. The shareware version of Kith & Kin can be downloaded either in the CompuServe Genealogy Forum - GO ROOTS or from the Spansoft home page. SpanSoft can be contacted at nick.hunter@almac.co.uk or 100101.1155@compuserve.com. Kith & Kin is known as "Of that Ilk" in Australia & New Zealand where another program of the same name is produced by a different software company.

    • Gedcom file to HTML converters

  • HTMFGS - HTML Family Group Sheets ( 14.7 Kb). Initial freeware version of a program to produce HTML files from a GEDCOM file from Steve Martonak

  • GED2HTML.EXE - Shareware GEDCOM to HTML translator v. 2.4a from Gene Stark

  • GED2HTM.EXE - Freeware GEDCOM to HTML & PAF to HTML converter from John Smith

  • uFTi GEDCOM to HTML - This Windows program (zipfile:1.61 MB) allows you to convert your GEDCOM data file into a structured World Wide Web site or to export it to a Psion Organiser, allowing the genealogist to take the database wherever they go - particularly useful in record offices. Click here for an example HTML output. Initial version is free but please register with Oughtibridge Ltd if you use the program or to send your feedback. Currently uFTi is only available from CompuServe's Genealogy Forum - GO ROOTS in the file uftisup.zip. They are looking for a FTP site so the program can be accessed by others. You will need the VBRUN300.DLL file to run the program which is widely available elsewhere and may be on your system already.

    •

    Psion genealogy programs

    There are three Psion genealogy programs that are currently available via the Web: try them and see which suits you the best. The first two listed are freeware and the last is shareware.

  • Gedfried a postcardware GEDCOM Family Tree Reader by Rolf Aeschbacher now in version 1.01. This is a simple reader for standard GEDCOM files. It can handle files of up to 64k bytes length. The GEDCOM source is only read - so your GEDCOM file can not be edited on the Psion.

  • KGene by Kevin Groves. Presently in version 1.07. This program is highly recommend - as reviewed in Palmtop Magazine.

  • Geni written by Martin N Dunstan. This excellant shareware program allows you to browse to 50 individuals whilst unregistered. Version 1.2 has just been released. Registration costs GBP 15. Geni 1.20 can be obtained from the following sources: http://www-theory.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~mnd/export/geni/ or http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/psion/icdoc/misc/geni-120.zip or finally ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/psion/icdoc/misc/geni-120.zip

    The new features of Geni 1.20 include:
    * Zooming in/out of ancestral tree display, adding an extra generation
    * Status window showing clock etc. This can be turned off with Control-Menu
    * Reduced memory usage, both when running and in size of installation files
    * Geni can now be installed on a flash disk or even spread over multiple disks
    * Slightly clearer documentation (to be improved drastically in version 2.0)
    * Geni now uses the inbuilt Psion Help system

    The author is currently designing the next version of Geni (v2.0). This will allow users to specify GEDCOM tags that they are interested in viewing inside Geni. This will be purely optional so that people with large numbers of people don't end up with massive databases. Other features will be that the new version should run on the Siena and will include a plug-in facility for report programs (written by the user or author). Editing of short notes may also be added for those times when you are in a library/record office and want to jot something down for uploading to your desktop machine later.

    • If you know of any other sites to download genealogy programs please e-mail me at richard@bowyer.org.uk

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    Last updated: 21 May 2006
    Number of visits from 1/7/1995 -17/10/1996 was 9406
    Number of visits from18/10/1966 -11/4/2001 was 4444
    Author: Richard C Bowyer.

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