Based on the census records for 1850 and 1860, Henry P. Bowles was probably born in 1820 in Barren County, the fourth child born to John and Celia (Sally) Bowles. He is positively identified as a son of John Bowles in depositions taken in the settlement of the estate of his brother, Obadiah Bowles.
Henry married Mary Catherine Pedigo on 7 Feb 1844 according to Barren County marriage records. According to Pedigo researchers, Mary Catherine was born 23 Jan 1827 to John and Sarah (Oldham) Pedigo.
It is difficult to get a handle on where Henry and his family lived. In 1850, they appear to be fairly close to Mary Catherine's folks in the census [1850 Federal Census: Kentucky, Barren County, ED 2, page 416A]. In 1860 they were next door to Henry's father on Fallen Timber Creek. While an exhaustive search has not been made in the Barren and Metcalfe tax records, the 1857 Barren records show him with no land. The first land that he appears to own is what he inherited from his father. By 1870 his family is living in the Fairview precinct of Metcalfe County, and is the third household to be enumerated. This suggests that he had moved to northern Metcalfe County by this time.
A Henry L. Boles is listed in the 1880 Barren County census, living at Glasgow Junction [1880 Federal Census: Kentucky, Barren County, Glasgow Junction, page 35A]. With him is his wife Mary C., and two daughters: Belle and Cora. I am not completely satisfied that this is the same Henry and family. Henry and Mary C.'s ages are slightly off, and their older daughter while the right age, is named Belle, not Harriet. The main consistency is with the younger daughter Cora P., whose age is almost exactly right.
After that, Henry and Mary Catherine disappear from view (at least so far).
According to census records, Henry and Mary Catherine Bowles had eight children. I will briefly discuss each one below.
Children
Sarah Elizabeth Bowles was apparently born about 1845. Census records give her age as 5 in 1850 and 15 in 1860. No further census data has been found for her. Pedigo researchers indicate that she married William Riley Pedigo and had four children by him before dying. However, I have not been able to verify that with any sustainable documentation.
Lou Ann S. Bowles was born in September 1846 according to the 1900 census record [1900 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville Ward 11, ED 101, sheet 5A]. Pedigo reseachers have indicated that Lou Ann was the second wife of William Riley Pedigo. According to Metcalfe County marriage records a W. R. Pedigo married L. S. J. Bowles on 1 Oct 1871. He was 22; she was 24. It has been suggested by Pedigo researchers that this was actually the marriage between William Riley Pedigo and Sarah Elizabeth Bowles, Lou Ann's sister. However, neither the bride's initials nor her age match those of Sarah Elizabeth. They do however tend to match those of Lou Ann.
I believe that the available evidence supports the conclusion that all six of the children fathered by William Riley Pedigo were Lou Ann's. However, there are inconsistencies in the record, and I may be mistaken.
One important inconsistency lies in the fact that before she married William Pedigo, Lou Ann first married Jesse Salmon. This is born out by a Metcalfe County KY marriage record in which Jesse and Lou Ann married on 27 Dec 1868. However, the marriage was apparently short-lived for she was listed at home with her parents in the 1870 census [Luan Salmon, age 23]. Perhaps Jesse was dead; I have no documentation on him after the marriage.
The question is, why was she not identified as L. S. J. Salmon in the 1871 marriage record? I can only speculate that the minister knew her as the daughter of Henry Bowles, and wrote Bowles rather than Salmon for her name.
In the combined censuses, William R. Pedigo is shown with six children: William (Jun 1874), Claude (Dec 1876), Myrtle (abt 1878), Ruby (Jan 1882) and Bonnie (Dec 1883). In addition, Pedigo researchers indicate an older daughter, Alice, born about 1872.
In the 1900 census record, Lou Ann is shown as the mother of six children, with five of them still living. That would seen to support the idea that all of these children listed above were her's.
William had died by 1910 when Lou Ann was living with her daughter Bonnie, and Bonnie's husband, Edward E. Baker in Louisville [1910 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville 11th Ward, ED 180, page 10B]. She continued to live with them at least through 1920 [1920 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson, Louisville, ED 227, page 16A]. According to the Kentucky Death Index, Lou Ann died in Louisville on 9 Apr 1930 at the age of 83.
William Bowles, Henry and Mary Catherine's third child, has left a meager trail to follow. He appears in the 1850 census as 2 years old; in the 1860 census still at home and 12 years old; and in the 1870 Metcalfe County census as a 22 year old farm laborer apparently working for Alfred Tyler. He has not been located elsewhere as yet. There are inconsistencies in his middle initial for the three census records, but each one appears to be the same person.
The next child, Obediah W. Bowles, was still living at home and working as a farm laborer in 1870. Sometime after 1870 he moved to the Louisville KY area. On 6 Nov 1878 he married Emma D. Coleman in Clark County IN, just across the river from Louisville. By 1880 he had moved to Louisville and was a street car driver. The 1900 census record [1900 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson County, ED 79, page 5B] showed that he was born in March 1852, and that he and Emma had six children.
John T. Bowles, the next child, was identified as John K. Bowles in the 1870 census where he was 14. It is not certain what became of him, although there is a John Bowles, age 23, living in Jefferson County KY, that might be him. If that is him, then he had a wife named Lizzie, and a son named John. [1880 Census, Spring Garden, Jefferson County KY, page 129A] Hopefully additional research will determine if this is the same person.
Mary Susan Bowles was born about 1863 according to the 1870 census that lists her as 7 years old. Pedigo researchers indicate that she married William Herbert Pedigo as his first wife and had children by him; however, I can find no evidence of this marriage, nor of Mr. Pedigo after the 1880 census when he is still at home with his parents. No additional record for Mary Susan has been located at this time.
Henry and Mary Catherine's next child, a daughter, was Harriet R. Bowles. We know that she was at home with her parents in 1870 at the age of six. If she is also the Belle, reported with Henry Boles in Glasgow Junction in 1880, then she was still home then. After that she disappears without a trace (so far).
Their last child was Cora P. Bowles who married Henry Buford Pedigo, son of James Riley Pedigo and Malinda Bush Eubank. Henry Buford was born in May 1866. He and Cora married on 26 Apr 1888 in Barren County. They had eight children who are listed below. Henry Buford Pedigo died in 1906. Cora lived until 17 Jan 1930 when she died in Los Angeles County CA. Apparently after their father's death most of the family moved to California.
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