The Bownes

John Bowne (1627-1695)

Bowne House takes its name from John Bowne, who emigrated from England in 1649 with his father Thomas and sister Dorothy.  Their reasons for leaving England are uncertain.  Some family members remained behind, and they continued to retain property in their hometown, Matlock. John made many trips back to England, perhaps to see to business interests there.

After a short time in the Boston area, the family relocated to Vlissingen (later Flushing), a settlement then part of New  Netherland, but which had many English residents. By the mid-1650’s, John had acquired land from the Matinecock in the area. It was there that he met Hannah Feake, who became his first wife and the mother of eight of his children,  Hannah was the daughter of Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake, a niece of Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts and cousin of Governor Robert Winthrop of Connecticut. 

By 1661, John and Hannah had built the house we now know as Bowne House. The family was expanding, and more space was needed. Bowne House began as a single room (now called the Hall or dining room), but by 1669 a large addition (now used as a parlor) was added  to the western, street facing side. Later additions followed as the family grew in size and became more prosperous.

John Bowne is best known for his courageous stand for liberty of conscience. This unique principle had been guaranteed in the 1645 Charter of the Town of Flushing, granted by the Dutch West India Company. It was the language of this Charter that John Bowne utilized in 1662-1664, when he challenged the edict of Governor Peter Stuyvesant which forbade the practice of religions other than the Dutch Reformed Church.

Bowne’s non-violent protest against Stuyvesant’s edict was the first to succeed. The 1657 Flushing Remonstrance, a document signed by 30 local Flushing residents, was ignored by Stuyvesant, who punished a few of the signers, but his ban on religious diversity remained in effect.  It was John Bowne who forced the issue by allowing Quakers to gather in his home for worship. John’s wife Hannah had joined the Society of Friends (as they were known) and became a minister. Family lore is that Bowne was converted by Hannah and there is evidence he was a Quaker by 1661 when they attended out-of-state Friends meetings together, as well as hosting Quaker meetings in their house.

Punishment was swift. In 1662, Stuyvesant sent his Schout (sheriff) Waldron to arrest Bowne in and take him to jail in New Amsterdam (Manhattan). Bowne remained there for several months. When it became clear that Bowne would not recant, repent, or pay the fine demanded,  Stuyvesant had him deported.  Bowne made his way to England, and then to Holland, where, citing the language of the Charter which guaranteed “ Liberty of Conscience”, he testified at his trial before the Dutch West India Company. The Company agreed  and ordered Stuyvesant to permit freedom of religion in the colony.

This freedom evolved over 100 years later into the guarantees in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Also guaranteed there are the rights of assembly and freedom of speech- all principles advanced by John Bowne in 1662 when he welcomed Quakers into his home. 

Bowne returned  home in 1664. He continued to farm, acquired extensive land holdings in Queens and in Pennsylvania, and had a successful business selling books and engaging in other commercial ventures. After Hannah’s death, he remarried twice and had a total of sixteen children of whom eight survived. He helped to acquire the land for the Flushing Quaker Meeting House and burial ground on Northern  Boulevard. The Meeting House still stands and is one of the oldest  Meetings in America. The site is a National Historic Landmark. John Bowne died in 1695 and was buried in the Meeting Burial Ground.

Robert Bowne (1744-1818)

Robert Bowne founded Bowne & Co., financial printers, now the country’s oldest public company. In addition, he was a founding director, in 1785, of the Bank of New York and in 1787 of the Mutual Assurance Co., the city’s first fire insurance company. He was also a founder of the New York Hospital and the American Chamber of Commerce.

Like many Quakers, he was opposed to slavery and was active in the anti-slavery movement. In 1785, he joined with Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Eddy and George Clinton (who was married to Robert’s cousin Hannah Bowne Franklin) to form the Manumission Society of New York. The Manumission Society, in turn, formed the African Free School in 1787. In 1805, Bowne, along with others, formed The Society for Establishing a Free School in the City of New York which led to the incorporation of the New York Free School Society.A man of vision, Robert Bowne was intrigued by the possibilities of improved commerce with newly settled land to the west. In 1791, he helped organize an inland navigation company, paving the way for the Erie Canal, which was completed in 1825 during the administration of Governor DeWitt Clinton.

Robert Bowne Minturn (1805-1866)

Robert Bowne Minturn was a founder of the shipping line Grinnell, Minturn & Co., notable for its ownership of the famous clipper ship “Flying Cloud,” which captured the record as the fastest ship sailing the 16,000 mile route from New York to San Francisco in 1851. That record remained unbroken for 23 years. Robert Bowne Minturn and his wife donated land for the establishment of Central Park, and, like his Quaker forebears, he was opposed to slavery. In fact, he helped organize and was the first president of the Union League Club, formed when the Union Club membership was divided over support for President Lincoln and the Civil War. He was a prominent merchant, philanthropist and patriot of the Civil War period.

Robert Bowne Minturn Reproduced from Of Men and Dreams, by Edmund A. Stanley (Bowne of New York City, Inc., 1975) with permission of Bowne & Co., Inc.

Ann Bowne (1785-1863); Eliza Bowne (1787-1852); Catharine Bowne (1789-1830)

The three sisters of Mary Bowne Parsons - Ann, Elizabeth “Eliza”, and Catharine Bowne- remained unmarried and lived in Bowne House throughout their lives. In 1814 Ann and Catharine became founding members of the Flushing Female Association, whose mission was to provide education to the poor (primarily children in the African-American community) since Flushing had no free public schools at the time. Though not a founder, Eliza later became involved. Initially, the school was racially integrated and open to all who had insufficient means for a private education. In 1837, the Association received two of its largest gifts, including one fund established by a Quaker donor for the schooling of poor African-American children whose parents had been held in slavery by Quakers. After about 1847, the school offered schooling solely to African-American students, with some public funds contributed, after Flushing commenced free segregated public schools.

The Association held regular meetings at the Bowne House. In addition to Ann, Eliza, and Catharine Bowne, their niece Miss Mary B. Parsons, (daughter of the elder Mary Bowne Parsons) served as Treasurer of the Association for forty years, from 1838 to her death in 1878. Her own niece Anna H. Parsons, daughter of Robert Bowne Parsons of the Parsons Nursery, was also an officer of the Association in 1914, and served at one time as Vice-President

Catharine died in 1830, but Ann and Eliza both lived at Bowne House in 1850 with their unmarried nephews Robert Bowne Parsons and William Bowne Parsons, at the time when both men were involved in the Underground Railroad. While the sisters’ exact involvement with the Underground Railroad is not documented, it seems likely that their young relatives acted with their knowledge and consent, and possibly their active cooperation. 

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Translated by Asian/American Center of Queens College