Bowman Cemetery - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

There are two signs here that give a little bit of background about the cemetery and its burials:

Bowman Cemetery
(1868-ca. 1921)

John D. Bowman established Bowman Cemetery with the burial of his daughter, Julia Ann Bowman Russell, who died on September 5, 1868. The cemetery contains two fenced family lots. The larger, more elaborate lot, with wrought iron fencing, contains the burials of several members of the John D. Bowman family and their immediate in-laws. Among these are Joseph Russell, a Peters Colony (Republic of Texas land grant given to investors led by William S. Peters) settler, and Dr. Henry Dye, an early frontier physician. The smaller, wire fenced lot contains members of the Brown family, who were related to the Bowman and Russell families through marriage. Several marked and unmarked burials of both early African American and European American residents of Plano surround these fenced lots. A variety of gravestone types are represented in Bowman Cemetery. These range from the prominent marble spire markers of many Bowman family members to simpler, marble tablet stones and a few modest, modern granite markers. Many of these stones are decorated with symbols that convey information such as fraternal organization affiliation and religious or philosophical beliefs typical of the time period. The most recent marked burial in the cemetery is for John D. Bowman's son, entrepreneur George W. Bowman, who died in June of 1921.

Funded by a grant from the City of Plano, TX.
Photographs by Angela Tiné, Geo-Marine, Inc., Plano, TX

Bowman Cemetery
(1868-ca. 1921)

Members of three related, historically prominent families comprise many of the interments of Bowman Cemetery. Cemetery founder John D. Bowman's family had marital ties to members of both the John D. Brown and Joseph Russell families. The Brown and Russell families, who had been close friends in Virginia, were also related through marriage. These two families traveled together to Texas in 1845 to settle in the Peters Colony (Republic of Texas land grant given to investors led by William S. Peters). Family patriarch Joseph Russell is buried at Bowman Cemetery with his wife, Elizabeth. His son and daughter-in-law, a Bowman, are also buried in the cemetery.

Although Peters Colony settler John D. Brown is not buried at Bowman Cemetery, several of his descendants are.

Another notable historic figure buried at Bowman Cemetery is Dr. Henry Dye, an early pioneer and frontier physician. He was also the primary founder of Plano Presbyterian Church and is credited with suggesting the name for the town of Plano. During the Civil War, Dye served as a surgeon for the Confederate Army. He died from tuberculosis in 1878. He is related to both the Bowman and Brown families through the marriages of two of his daughters into these families.

The last marked burial in the cemetery is that of George W. Bowman, John D. Bowman's son. He was a Confederate Army veteran, as well as an original organizer and investor in Plano's first bank. He also held interests in several other business ventures and served on the Plano School Board.

Inset text:

Dr. Henry Dye (1830-1878) is interred in the Bowman family lot.

Membership of the "44" Club consisted of Confederate Army veterans in the Plano area who were born in 1844. George W. Bowman (1844-1921), whose burial is the last marked grave in the cemetery, was a member and is pictured here standing in the second row, second from the left.

Thomas Finley Hughston was an early Plano civic leader. He and his wife Pernina Ann Beverly buried their infant son, Archie, in Bowman Cemetery. Loss of a child was a too common misfortune in the 1800s.

Funded by a grant from the City of Plano, TX
Photographs courtesy of Plano Public Library, Plano, TX

Marker Number: 17575 Marker Text: Bowman Cemetery Established 1868 Historic Texas Cemetery – 2008 Marker is property of the State of Texas

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Date Logged Log   12/17/2016 Crazy4horses visited it