The Bowman collection contains financial documents, correspondence, and essays related to the family of Samuel Bowman of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two early receipts, dated 1770 and 1771, pertain to the financial affairs of William Ledlie, Captain Samuel Bowman's father-in-law. Other receipts from the 1790s, indicate Bowman's purchase of "twenty Gallons of Whiskey and one Cask," and a transaction involving a horse; one later financial document records an order for schoolbooks in 1809 made by Jacob Morris, a Revolutionary War colonel.
Several legal documents throughout the collection document land holdings of the Bowman family, as well as additional fiscal matters; these include a sworn statement about Ebenezer Bowman's debts (November 10, 1821), a deed for land owned by the estate of Jesse Fell near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania [1831], and a notice of a pending lawsuit against William Ledlie Bowman (February 20, 1837).
The collection also holds personal correspondence, including, among other material, one anonymous, religious letter (May 29, 1797), and an item about local military recruitment efforts (February 4, 1800). Among the additional materials are a celebratory essay written on July 4, 1825; an article about local lawyer Mr. Phillips, addressed to the editor of the Wyoming Herald; and an essay composed "On Nothing."
Samuel Bowman (b. December 2, 1753), became a Continental Army captain during the American Revolution. On November 3, 1784, he married Eleanor Ledlie, and in 1789 the couple moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where Samuel became a farmer. Among their children were Mary (b. 1791), Eliza (1793-1848), William Ledlie (1798-1848), Samuel (b. 1800), Alexander Hamilton (b. 1803), and Ellen Stuart (b. 1805). Samuel Bowman died on June 25, 1818.
Samuel's brother Ebenezer (1757-1829) served in the Continental Army during the battles of Lexington and Concord, graduated from Harvard in 1782, and lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and in New York City.
