The book was discovered tucked away inside of our “vault” room on the bottom shelf of an old steel book case. Someone, long ago, placed city tax books and contingencies on top of it – as if it was just as unsubstantial, in a contemporary sense, as the ledgers that cloaked it from the peering eyes of City Hall’s future archivists.
A Day in the Life: The Curious Discovery of Mr. Henry Bowen's Day Book at the Providence City Archives
The Providence City Archives houses in excess of 24,000 cubic feet of archival material, and only 75 percent of it has been accounted for thus far, so the possibility of finding something unique is likely in our collection of the accumulated textual history of Providence's 377 year old past. Case in point with our latest discovery: Henry Bowen's Day Book.
The book was discovered tucked away inside of our "vault" room on the bottom shelf of an old steel book case. Someone, long ago, placed city tax books and contingencies on top of it - as if it was just as unsubstantial, in a contemporary sense, as the ledgers that cloaked it from the peering eyes of City Hall's future archivists. That all changed one day when one of the archivist's assistants, Caleb Horton, began doing an inventory of the items shelved there. Caleb recalled seeing an antiquated brown vellum book cover, which, to him, seemed out of the ordinary.
It turned out to be a ledger book belonging to a Mr. Henry Bowen dating back to the period of the American Revolution. The Book's entries begin on February 5, 1775, and continued to May of 1807. The book contains a record of what items were being sold, who they were being sold to, and how much they cost in old British currency (pounds, sterlings, and pence). "It is an amazing piece of social history," said City Archivist Paul R. Campbell. "It is a record of what the common person or family from Providence County and the surrounding area was buying. It gives us a glimpse into what the supply and demand for goods were in the Town of Providence during the American Revolution and Early National Period."
Horton pointed out some of the items that Mr. Bowen sold: From common everyday commodities such as flower, brown sugar, tea, coffee, and rum to some not so everyday items such as "small wine glasses," "a silk handkerchief," and "one beaver [felt] hat" for a whopping 1 pound and six sterling. Mr. Bowen also appears to have sold items to Providence's most renowned early historical families, such as the Angells, Browns, Chafees, Thayers, Thurbers, and Vialls.
The entry above reveals that Mr. Bowen sold a "loaf" of granulated sugar to the famous French and Indian & Revolutionary War hero Simeon Thayer of Providence, whose military log the Journal of the Invasion of Canada in 1775, remains in print today. After retiring from his military career, Thayer bought property on "Stamper's Hill" (roughly around the area where the split in North Main Street resides between the Providence Center and the Whole Foods Market overlooking Moshassuk River) and opened up a tavern there called the Montgomery Hotel in 1784. The sugar and money must have been exchanged by one of his African American tavern workers, "Negro Jacob," and brought back to be used at the Hotel for food and drink. The hotel operated for several years until he purchased a farm in Cumberland, Rhode Island. He died in 1800 after being thrown from a horse. His remains reside at the North Burial Ground.
After a quick examination of the book, the Archivist pulled from the shelf a town atlas book and pulled from the shelf titled the Owners of Lots in Providence, R.I. 1798 compiled by Henry R. Chace. It revealed that Bowen owned two lots of land. One of which appears to be a house on High Street (now West Street). The other lot appears to be a warehouse and or storefront where he conducted his business dealings. It was sandwiched between Wickenden Lane, Front Street, Hill Street, and Shore Street on Providence's East Side near John Brown's Warf facing Salt Water Harbor (current day India Point). "This is prime real-estate for a merchant," said Caleb. "It's right near one of the Town of Providence's primary harbor, and this would also account for all of Mr. Bowen's business dealings in the towns of Barrington, Bristol, and Rehoboth that he recorded in his book. He must have freighted some of his wares on ships. "
The synergy of using the City Archive's plethora of sources came into full swing when Reference and Multimedia Administrator Nathan Lavigne suggested searching for any vital information on the man behind Henry Bowen's Day Book. Fortunately, the staff did find such information in one of their early bound volumes of birth, marriage, and death records. We know that Bowen was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, on July 26th, 1738 (no relation to the well-known Bowen family who emigrated from England to Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and became established in Providence) settled and made his livelihood in the Town of Providence as a merchant. When he moved and what his motivation was to leave Connecticut is lost to history, however, one extant account, a record of his marriage, remains at the City Archive. The information that lies within tells us that he married Mary Adams in Providence, November 1st, 1764. They had six children, "four of which died in their infancy." Their first living child was named Hannah Bowen and was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, the same birthplace of her father, in May of 1766. She died at the age of 21 in Providence in December of 1787. Their fifth child (second living child) Henry Bowen Jr. was born in Barrington in September of 1774 and "died very suddenly" in Rehoboth, Massachusetts in May of 1778; he was only 10 years old. Bowen's wife died five months later in Barrington. Her ailment is unknown, but one cannot help presume it was from a broken heart.
In May of 1779, Mr. Bowen married his second wife, Elizabeth Harding from Barrington. They had three children together: Mary Bowen (March 1780), Elizabeth Bowen (October 1781), and another child named Henry Bowen (August 1791). Henry Bowen died in Providence in September of 1807 at the age of 69. The exact day of his death is unknown, but his estate was bequeathed to his children on the 22nd of the same month and year according to his will - also housed at the City Archives.
Mr. Bowen never made the annals of history. He was an average middle class merchant, and until now was relatively forgotten. However, this makes him interesting. By some kind of happy accident his book survived the ravages of age. In the hands of the archives staff it became a rediscovered time machine, providing not only a bridge to his past, but to the people and places he interacted with.
Mr. Bowen did not have any aspirations to leave behind a monument to his life, nor cared to become immortalized in the pages of a biography. The record he left behind is an honest and pure representation of the day to day business transactions of himself and his customers in the Town of Providence during the late 18th century. In his day it served him as a tool for managing his business. Rediscovered, it can now serve as a tool for researchers, a primary source document that helps us better understand our city's past.
After a quick examination of the book, the Archivist pulled from the shelf a town atlas book and pulled from the shelf titled the Owners of Lots in Providence, R.I. 1798 compiled by Henry R. Chace. It revealed that Bowen owned two lots of land. One of which appears to be a house on High Street (now West Street). The other lot appears to be a warehouse and or storefront where he conducted his business dealings. It was sandwiched between Wickenden Lane, Front Street, Hill Street, and Shore Street on Providence's East Side near John Brown's Warf facing Salt Water Harbor (current day India Point). "This is prime real-estate for a merchant," said Caleb. "It's right near one of the Town of Providence's primary harbor, and this would also account for all of Mr. Bowen's business dealings in the towns of Barrington, Bristol, and Rehoboth that he recorded in his book. He must have freighted some of his wares on ships. "
The synergy of using the City Archive's plethora of sources came into full swing when Reference and Multimedia Administrator Nathan Lavigne suggested searching for any vital information on the man behind Henry Bowen's Day Book. Fortunately, the staff did find such information in one of their early bound volumes of birth, marriage, and death records. We know that Bowen was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, on July 26th, 1738 (no relation to the well-known Bowen family who emigrated from England to Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and became established in Providence) settled and made his livelihood in the Town of Providence as a merchant. When he moved and what his motivation was to leave Connecticut is lost to history, however, one extant account, a record of his marriage, remains at the City Archive. The information that lies within tells us that he married Mary Adams in Providence, November 1st, 1764. They had six children, "four of which died in their infancy." Their first living child was named Hannah Bowen and was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, the same birthplace of her father, in May of 1766. She died at the age of 21 in Providence in December of 1787. Their fifth child (second living child) Henry Bowen Jr. was born in Barrington in September of 1774 and "died very suddenly" in Rehoboth, Massachusetts in May of 1778; he was only 10 years old. Bowen's wife died five months later in Barrington. Her ailment is unknown, but one cannot help presume it was from a broken heart.
In May of 1779, Mr. Bowen married his second wife, Elizabeth Harding from Barrington. They had three children together: Mary Bowen (March 1780), Elizabeth Bowen (October 1781), and another child named Henry Bowen (August 1791). Henry Bowen died in Providence in September of 1807 at the age of 69. The exact day of his death is unknown, but his estate was bequeathed to his children on the 22nd of the same month and year according to his will - also housed at the City Archives.
Mr. Bowen never made the annals of history. He was an average middle class merchant, and until now was relatively forgotten. However, this makes him interesting. By some kind of happy accident his book survived the ravages of age. In the hands of the archives staff it became a rediscovered time machine, providing not only a bridge to his past, but to the people and places he interacted with.
Mr. Bowen did not have any aspirations to leave behind a monument to his life, nor cared to become immortalized in the pages of a biography. The record he left behind is an honest and pure representation of the day to day business transactions of himself and his customers in the Town of Providence during the late 18th century. In his day it served him as a tool for managing his business. Rediscovered, it can now serve as a tool for researchers, a primary source document that helps us better understand our city's past.