15 - The Bowden Family

Living at household 15 in 1871 were Thomas and Hannah Bowden, both 53 years of age, and their 18 year old daughter Hannah. The only worker in the family was Thomas, who had been a warehouseman for most of his life and was then employed at the hatworks in the same role.

The Bowden family were likely one of the reasons for the Leigh family (Household 14) emigrating to the US, and the Bowdens took the same ship, the SS City of Richmond, back to America where their other children were living.

The Bowdens were from Stockport, living in the centre on Wellington Road and in Offerton. They had 4 children when around 1857 they emigrated to the midwest, settling in Seward Township, Kendall County, Illinois. Leaving their 3 eldest in America, they then returned and lived on Romiley Road for a few years. It is unclear why they came back to the UK but after the voyage in 1873 they remained in the US.

Unlike the Leighs, who used their dyer skills to make a living in Staten Island, the Bowdens took to the farming life. Some remained in Kendall County for their whole lives, farming the relatively cheap land there.

Hannah (junior) moved to Nebraska where she lived in Custer County. There she brought up 4 children with her husband James Summerville in a "sod house" built from sods of soil and grass. They later moved to California where Hannah passed away in 1935 aged 82.

You can find out more about the Bowden family in the book "Residents of Romiley Road" which will be coming soon.