Margaret Ann Bowyer

Not the same as wife of Joseph Collard

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lewis-6901

Margaret Ann Lewis was born on July 5, 1751, in Augusta County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Thomas Lewis and Jane Strother and the granddaughter of Col. John Lewis.[1]

Margaret married John Breckenridge McClanahan on January 24, 1770, in Augusta County, Virginia.[2] He died young in June 1774, leaving behind his widow Margaret,

1. a son Thomas Lewis (who died soon after in November 1774), and
2. a second son, John, born after his death.[3][4]

Margaret remarried around 1775 to Col. William Bowyer, a widower and prominent Staunton merchant and Colonel in the Virginia Militia during the Revolutionary War.

William and Margaret had five children together -

1. William C.,
2. Strother,
3. Malinda A.,
4. Peter C., and
5. Luke Henry.

(See Research Notes)[5]

William died intestate some time before 1808, and his step-son, John McClanahan (Margaret's son with her first husband), administered his estate.[5]

Margaret died in Staunton, Augusta, Virginia around January 1834.

From American Boyers by Melville James Boyer and Donald Arthur Boyer. < Archive.Org >

(4) Colonel William Bowyer was bom in 1734 and died in 1805. His second wife, Margaret Anne Lewis, had been the widow of Thomas McClenahan of Staunton, Va. She was bom July 5, 1751; died 1834, the daughter of Thomas Lewis and wife Jane Strother (dau. of William Strother of Tidewater, Va.). Margaret Anne Lewis was the granddau. of John Lewis (bom 1678 in Ireland; died Feb. 1, 1762; founder of Staunton, Va.) and wife Margaret Lynn (bom July 3, 1693; died 1773), daughter of the Laird of Loch Lynn. The maiden name of Israel Christian’s wife was Elizabeth Stark. Priscilla (Mrs. John Miller) also had a son, Fleming Bowyer Miller. Staunton Court records show that bond papers of Colonel William were signed by his brother, General John.

Research Notes

• Frazier et al (1985) lists seven children for William and Margaret,[1] but says that daughter Priscilla married John Miller, which would seem to make her the daughter with his first wife who "married a Miller, ancestor of the late Fleming Bowyer Miller."[4]
• Moreover, a Christian family history asserts that daughter Mary Bowyer married her first cousin, Leonard Israel Fleming, indicating that Mary's mother was Elizabeth Christian (and Leonard's was her sister Anne). The history says "She [Mary] had resided in the family of Col. William Fleming for a number of years after the death of her mother, who was the first wife of Col. William Bowyer, of Staunton , Va."[6]
• So this would indicate that William had two daughters, Priscilla and Mary, with his first wife Elizabeth, and five children, William C., Strother, Luke Henry, Peter C., and Malinda, with his second wife, Margaret.
• Note that the DAR database lists William's birth year as 1738 and his death year as 1808. [3]

  ---

Peyton, John Lewis. History of Augusta County, Virginia. Page 287. < GoogleBooks >

AC. Thomas Lewis was short-sighted, and therefore did not figure so conspicuously as his brothers as an Indian warrior. He was a man of much learning and ability, a member of the House of Burgesses, and a member of the Virginia Convention of 1776. His library was one of the most extensive and well selected in the colony. Thomas Lewis m Jane, d of William Strother, of Staf ford county, Va., January 26, 1749, and left the following issue:

ACB. Margaret Ann Lewis [b. 1751] m McClenahan, of Staunton, Va., by whom she left one child. Her husband dying, she afterwards m Col. William Bowyer, of Staunton, by whom at her death, in 1834, she left five children. Her issue were:
acba. John McClenahan.
acbb. William C. Bowyer.
acbc. Strother Bowyer.
acbd. Luke Bowyer.
acbe. Peter G. Bowyer.
acbf. Malinda Bowyer.

Disputed children

Three of her children, mismatching duplicates, are incorrectly assigned as to parentage:

Peter G. Bowyer

Priscilla Miller

Lt. Henry Bowyer

I hope we can figure out where they belong before they become wrongly merged with the 'duplicate siblings'.

- detached 14 Sept 2024; all found their correct tree places

References

1. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Margaret_Lewis_%2834%29
2. http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full...
3. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Boyer-1095
4. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lewis-6901