NANCY JANE STRAIN
By James A. Strain, © 2004
Nancy Jane Strain, the 3rd child of Robert Strain and Mary (Polly) Wilson, was born in Abbeville, SC. It was her Bible, in possession of my family, which allowed me to factually connect my GGgrandfather, James Madison Strain, to Abbeville, SC. He was her younger brother. Family tradition states that she is buried at Air Mount, Yalobusha Co., MS, though no stone survives. As my GGgrandfather had her Bible, I am tempted to believe that near the end of her life, when all but one of her children had died and no immediate family was left in Abbeville, she made a decision to move to MS to be near him. This is conjecture but certainly explains her burial at Air Mount.
Nancy Jane Strain married William Bowie, a son of Major John Bowie and Rosa Reid, two of the most prominent families in the history of Abbeville. She was widowed early in life with three small children and never remarried, instead apparently maintaining her plantation, and then perhaps teaching, always a devout member of the Upper Long Cane Presbyterian Church, and then transferring her membership to the Town Church. The last record I have for her is her dismissal from this church to the Charleston Church, just prior to her death. I presume that is the Presbyterian Church in Charleston, but I’ve yet to be able to identify this church.
During the Civil War, she resided for a brief period of time in Spartanburg County where she was a teacher, I believe. Her cousin, Lemuel Reid, mentions a visit to her in his diary. It is possible that she taught at a school for the deaf and/or blind, based on a comment in Reid’s diary. She appears there with her minor son in the 1860 Federal Census (both regular and slave enumerations).
Nancy Jane Strain has several years of her life documented through the diaries of her husband, William Bowie. She seems to have kept a very close family relationship with her older sister, Elizabeth "Betsy" Ann Strain, and her older brother, Andrew Thompson Strain. They obviously both lived in the Bowie household, and Thompson was paid as an overseer for the plantation in the estate papers. In 1850, he is listed in the household as a Carpenter. Nancy Jane Strain seems to have become the de facto head of all her sibling’s interest after the death of both of her parents, up to the time James Madison and Mathew Harvey migrate to MS.
Most of this family is buried in the Upper Long Cane Cemetery in Abbeville.
William Bowie’s Estate Sale
Nancy Jane Bowie’s Plantation Sale
Descendants of NANCY JANE STRAIN and WILLIAM BOWIE
Generation No. 1
1. NANCY JANE STRAIN)1 was born January 26, 1818 in ABBEVILLE DIST., SC1, and died 18742. She married WILLIAM BOWIE3 May 01, 1834 in Abbeville, SC3, son of JOHN BOWIE and ROSA REID.
Notes for NANCY JANE STRAIN:
All Birth, Marriage, and Wedding information on Nancy Jane Strain and her family originally came from her family Bible in the possession of my uncle. -James A. Strain
Direct transcribed text of the Bowie Bible (includes different spellings of Thompson/Thomson and Augusta/Agusta):
Deaths:
William, son of Wm. & Nancy J. Bowie died the 18th of October 1841. 8/2? [8 1/2?] OC'lk P.M.
Elizabeth Ann Strain sister of Nancy Jane Bowie died the 11th of October 1839 in the 25 year of her age.
William Bowie--died 12th of March 1845 in the 65 year of his age. [62 is correct based on his birth record.]
Andrew Thompson Strain Brother of Nancy Jane Bowie died the 22nd of October 1856.
Louisa Agusta Bowie, died the 9th March 1852 Just Seventeen.
Andrew Thompson Bowie died the 22nd day of January 1863.
Births:
William Bowie
Born the 9th of August 1782
in Rowen County N. Carolina
Nancy Jane Strain
Born the 26th January 1818
in Abbeville Dist. So. Carolina
Their Issue were
----------------------
Louisa Augusta | Had the Whooping cough 1837
Born the 19th February 1835
Robert Edwin | Had Whooping cough in 1837
Born the 13th July 1836
William
Born the 24 July 1839
Andrew Thomson
Born the 9th September 1841
Marriages:
William Bowie and
Nancy Jane Strain were
Married by the Rev'd Dr. W. H.
Barr the first day of
May 1834.
[NOTE for William Hampden Barr: Booklet "Some Cemetery Records of Abbeville County South Carolina", p. 20: Long Canes Cemetery "Rev. Wm. H. Barr, D.D. d 1-9-1843 in 65th Year Pastor of Upper Long Cane Church 33 Years." Reference obtained online. Also, Howe "History of Pres. Church in SC" has full bio on Barr.]
Name: NANCY J. BOWIE
State: SC
County: Spartanburg District
Township: Southern Division
Year: 1860
Record Type: Slave schedule
Page: 177
Database: SC 1860 Slave Schedule
More About NANCY JANE STRAIN:
Burial: Airmount cemetery4
Notes for WILLIAM BOWIE:
Bowie, William - Box 13, Pack 272: Est. admr. 16 Apr 1845 by Saml. Reid, Robt. H. Wardlaw, Allen T. Miller, Jno. R. Wilson, Wm. A. Wardlaw bound unto David Lesly Ord. Abbeville Dist sum $50,000.00. He died about 12 Mar 1845 leaving wid. Nancy Jane and chn: Louisa A., Robt. E., Andrew Bowie. [Tricia Petitt's webpage.]
"The Bowies and Their Kindred, A Genealogical and Biographical History" by Walter Worthington Bowie, originally published in 1899. [lists children information regarding locations, jobs, death info., as well as relationship of Nancy Jane as sister to J. M. Strain in Pittsboro', MS.]
See letters from William's brother Andrew to Robt. Wardlaw regarding notification of his death and settlement of his estate, as well as his diary entry regarding his marriage to Nancy Jane Strain.
William was in a Mercantile business with his Wardlaw relatives, first in Augusta GA, then was a plantation owner during the time of his marriage, in Abbeville.
Children of NANCY STRAIN and WILLIAM BOWIE are:
i. LOUISA AUGUSTA6 BOWIE5, b. February 19, 1835, Abbeville, SC5; d. March 09, 1852, Charleston, SC5.
More About LOUISA AUGUSTA BOWIE:
Burial: Upper Long Cane Cemetery, Abbeville, SC
ii. ROBERT EDWIN BOWIE5, b. July 13, 1836, Abbeville, SC5,6; d. December 1892, Williamsburg, MS7.
Notes for ROBERT EDWIN BOWIE:
Robert E. Bowie
2nd Regiment, South Carolina Rifles
2nd Regiment Rifles was organized during the spring of 1862 using the 5th South Carolina Battalion Rifles as its nucleus. The unit served in South Carolina, then was ordered to Virginia and assigned to General Jenkins' and Bratton's Brigade. It participated in the Seven Days' Battles and the conflicts at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg. Later the regiment was with Longstreet at Suffolk and D.H. Hill in North Carolina. It moved again with Longstreet but did not take part in the Battle of Chickamauga. The unit was involved in the Knoxville operations, returned to Virginia, and saw action at The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. After enduring the hardships of the Petersburg siege south and north of the James River, it ended the war at Appomattox. This regiment sustained 149 casualties at Gaines' Mill and Frayser's Farm, 58 at Second Manassas, 18 at Sharpsburg, and 64 at Wauhatchie. During 1864 from May 4 to June 12, it lost 14 killed, 93 wounded, and 2 missing, and from June 13 to December 31, there were 16 killed, 90 wounded, and 11 missing. The unit surrendered 22 officers and 274 men. Its commanders were Colonels Robert E. Bowen, John V. Moore, and Thomas Thomson; Lieutenant Colonels Thomas H. Boggs, David L. Donald, and Robert A. Thompson; and Majors Daniel L. Cox and Stiles P. Dendy.
R. E. Bowie
1st Regiment, South Carolina Infantry (6 months, 1861)
More About ROBERT EDWIN BOWIE:
Military service: 2nd Regiment, SC Rifles, entered as a Corporal, exits as a 2nd Lieutenant8
iii. WILLIAM BOWIE9, b. July 24, 1839, Abbeville, SC9; d. October 18, 1841, Abbeville, SC9.
More About WILLIAM BOWIE:
Burial: Upper Long Cane Cemetery, Abbeville, SC
iv. ANDREW THOMPSON BOWIE9, b. September 09, 1841, Abbeville, SC9; d. January 22, 1863, Fredericksburg, VA9.
Notes for ANDREW THOMPSON BOWIE:
The State of S. Ca, Abbeville District} To William Hill Ordinary. The Petition of Robert E Bowie, Respectfuly Sheweth That his Brother A T Bowie has departed this life Intestate. He was a Soldier of Compy K. Palmetto Sharpshooters -- He died on the 23 Jany 1863 at Fredrickberg, Va -- He left as his Heirs at law, a mother, and your petitioner - circumstances require that his Estate should be administered and for that object your pet now prays that Letters of Adm may be granted him. 12 Sept 1864. R. E. Bowie.
The bond was $50,000, by R. E. Bowie, N. J. Bowie, and John C. Wilson.
From Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System:
Andrew T. Bowie, Co. K. (Confederate Sharpshooters)
Palmetto Sharpshooters Regiment, South Carolina (Jenkins') (1st Palmetto)
Palmetto Regiment Sharpshooters was organized in April, 1862, with transfers from the 2nd, 5th, and 9th South Carolina Infantry Regiments. Send to Virginia, the unit was assigned to General R.H. Anderson's, Jenkins', and Bratton's Brigade. It fought with the army from Williamsburg to Fredericksburg, served at Suffolk and in North Carolina, then saw action at Chickamauga and Knoxville. Returning to Virginia, it continued the fight at The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, endured the hardships of the Petersburg trenches, and ended the war at Appomattox. It lost 9 killed and 74 wounded at Gaines' Mill and sixty-eight percent of the 375 engaged at Frayser's Farm. The regiment reported 2 casualties at South Mountain, 65 at Sharpsburg, 4 at Fredericksburg, and 44 at Wauhatchie. It surrendered 29 officers and 356 men. The field officers were Colonels Micah Jenkins and Joseph Walker; Lieutenant Colonel John W. Goss; and Majors William Anderson, William W. Humphreys, and Franklin W. Kilpatrick.
The Bowie book states that he died of pneumonia.
More About ANDREW THOMPSON BOWIE:
Military service: Palmetto Sharpshooters
Endnotes
1. JAS.GED, Date of Import: Jun 14, 2001.
2. Family Group Sheet from Edith (Uncle Joe?, or from Strain Bible?).
3. JAS.GED, Date of Import: Jun 14, 2001.
4. Family Group Sheet from Edith (Uncle Joe?, or from Strain Bible?).
5. JAS.GED, Date of Import: Jun 14, 2001.
6. Bowie Family Bible.
7. Bowies and Their Kindred by W. W. Bowie, p. 317.
8. Soldiers and Sailors System of the NPS, online, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.htm.
9. JAS.GED, Date of Import: Jun 14, 2001.
