BOWMAN, JESSE (1785–1836). Jesse Bowman, Alamo defender, was born in Tennessee in 1785. By 1811 he was in Illinois, where he made his living as a trapper and hunter. His son Joseph was born in Illinois. Bowman, his wife, and three children became the first known settlers of Camden, Ouachita County, Arkansas, in 1824. Four years later they moved to Hempstead, Arkansas. In the 1830s Bowman, his son, and his brother and nephews immigrated to Texas and received land in Red River County. Bowman and his son served in the Texas army during the Texas Revolution. As a member of the Alamo garrison, Bowman died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio, 1976). Files, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio. Bill Groneman, Alamo Defenders (Austin: Eakin, 1990).
