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What More is Known About the Life of Charles Bowman? Charles Bowman may well be the "mystery man" of Upper Canada. Bowmanville was named in his honour because because he owned extensive property in the area and he laid out the first town plan. While documents exist related related to his business activities, little pr nothing is known about his personal life. In fact, we do not even know what he looked like! Nobody knows what Charles Bowman even looked like. The main reason for so little little information being available available is because Charles Bowman Bowman never lived in Bowmanville. He did purchase purchase the land where the town now stands, but he lived in Montreal, where he settled after immigrating from Scotland. Scotland. Charles probably arrived in Canada well before 1820. His first position was as a (law?) clerk for the Honourable James Leslie, where he stayed for a number of years. He attended the Scotch Presbyterian Presbyterian Church on St. Gabriel Gabriel Street and was elected a member of the Temporal Committee in 1819, rising to the position of Vice-President in 1820. From such information, information, one can assume that he was well-educated and reasonably reasonably well-to-do. Fie certainly certainly was a man of some influence influence as he was able, in 1824, to purchase the land on which Bowmanville now sits, including a grist mill and store. He was, by this time, the senior partner in the mer- chandle firm of "Bowman and Smith", with its head office office in Montreal, and business business holdings in Three Rivers, Rivers, Quebec; and Colborne and Port Hope in Ontario. Fie spent much of his time in Europe Europe and the British Isles purchasing purchasing goods for sale in his chain of stores. It is known that he was residing on the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel when he wrote his last will and testament in 1847. On February 11, 1830, Charles Bowman married Elizabeth Savage at York (Toronto). Her father was George Savage, the Collector of Customs for York. They had five children - Charles, Elizabeth, James, Ann and Victoria Sophia. All of their children died young, except for Elizabeth who grew up and married Robert Raynes. As an avid collector of art, Charles acquired a large collection collection of paintings. The fact that he did reside on Jersey, and, according to one source, died in Italy, may suggest that he became ill towards the end of his life and, as was the custom, sought a warmer climate climate in an attempt to recuperate. recuperate. He may even have been pursuing his interest in art at the same time. - ' Charles Bowman died in 1848, his place of burial is unknown. This article is written by Charles Taws, Curator, Bowmanville Bowmanville Museum. $500 Reward Offered For Identification Photo Of Bowmanville's Mystery Man The picture of the rather remarkable looking gentleman gentleman which appeared in our last issue was Mr. Joseph Bloore, after whom (without the "e"), the street in Toronto is named. Because no known portrait exists of Mr. Charles Bowman, after whom Bowmanville Bowmanville is named, a reward of $500 has been offered, on behalf of the Bowmanville Business Centre, by the philanthropic philanthropic firm of "Fieri tage Designs" of Bowmanville. This finn has agreed to pay the reward for information leading to the successful acquisition acquisition of a shoulders and face likeness of the Charles Bowman, of Bowman and Co., of Montreal (and after whom the Town of Bowmanville Bowmanville is named). Enquiries should be directed to Garth Gilpin, General Manager of the Bowmanville Business Centre, at 1-905-623-2997, or by writing to Box 365, Bowmanville, Bowmanville, Ontario, L1C 3LI. > ' -• GOULD CARDS AND CUSTOM FRAMING - PHOTOGRAPHY z . Y • World's Biggest Sidewalk Sale Turns Out To Be Hottest Sale Ever! This year's Annual Sidewalk Sale which was announced as the "Biggest in the World" (#2), was certainly the hottest in memory as the temperature climbed into the high 30's. But even the heat did not deter the bargain hunters who flocked to the Downtown during the three day event in mid-June. BOWMANVILLE APPLE FESTIVAL AND CRAFT SALE Saturday, October 15, 1994 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. in the Downtown Hot Apple Fritters Large Variety of Fresh Apples Apple Baked Goods Candy Apples Freshly pressed Apple Cider Apple Jelly and TFI fc"c ah BOWMANVILLE BUSINESS CENTItt Huge Tents filled with crafts FREE ADMITTANCE FREE PARKING