Captain John W. Bowles

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Captain John W. Bowles (b. ~ 1812) was a Steamboat Captain (Master) of several steamships operating on the Mississippi River and along the coastal trade routes.

An excerpt from his obituary: Capt Bowles for some time before the war and for a few years after the war, commanded boats in the New Orleans and Teche trade as high up as St. Martinville. His profession naturally threw him in contact with people from all sections of the Attakapas country, and with the years grew their confidence and esteem for him as a steamboat captain, and their admiration and friendship for him as a true and kindhearted gentleman. Throughout the Attakapas country his name was as familiar as household words.

A family tree for the Bowles of Maryland found on ancestry.com states that the John W. Bowles who operated steamships on the Mississippi was born in Washington county, Maryland in about 1812 to parents Isaac Bowles and Mary Bagford. It also lists one of Isaac's brothers, Evan Bowles, whom we believe is the one who came out to Louisiana around 1805 to help survey the new US territory purchased from Napoleon in 1803 under the Louisiana Purchase. Evan stayed on, settled down and raised a family in St. Mary parish to the west of New Orleans.

John W. Bowles lived at 134 Conde in 1861 ref. and on Short St. near First St. in the City of Carrollton in 1867. ref.

John W. Bowles b. April or May 1812 Virginia (or less likely Maryland)

m. Nathalie LaBarthe Oct. 24, 1839 Franklin, St. Mary, Louisiana

1. Nathalie Bowles b. ~ 1840 d. Oct. 31, 1903 New Orleans ref.

John d. Aug. 31, 1890 (age 78 years 4 months in obit) Carrollton, New Orleans. ref. obit.

His obituary states that he was a native of Virginia which casts some doubt on the Maryland theory above. The 1891 Directory of New Orleans lists Nathalie LaBarthe Bowles as the widow of John W. Bowles. The 1900 Census of New Orleans lists Nathalie living with her daughter Nathalie Bowles (who also gives her father's place of birth as Virginia).

John W. Bowles, Master of the Naniope (Jan. 1852), the Trader (Sept. 1852), the Jean Webber (Dec. 1853) note, the W.P. Swiney (June 1855), the Montgomery (March 1858) note and the T. J. Emery (July 1867). There may have been more, these are only the notices I was able to find in a quick search of a newspaper archive.