The Bowden's of Popes Creek: The Washington and Monroe Connection

 Pieces of the Quilt: The Mosaic of An African American Family, expands on the lines of Mary Bowden. We now know that she was born on February 20, 1730, the child of William and Mary Monroe. Her Grandmother was a white woman, Lydia Hilliard (born 1690), the servant of William Monroe (Senior). Lydia had a daughter Mary, who was born in 1710. The father of the child was an an unidentified Negro man. Mulatto Children were a problem in Colonial Virginia, especially the white males, who held sway and power.  There were laws on the book against the union of Whites and People of Color.  In setting up a Patriarchy based on White males, the laws were written to exclude them from punishment.  The mothers' and children were dealt with severaly by the courts. This included the Mulatto child's Indenture, and the mother being jailed and/or fined.  The Children were Indentured Servants, and served twenty years (males), and thirty years (female). William Monroe Senior was awarded the Indenture for Lydia  child. However the child was in the possession of a Reverend St. Shropshire. William went to court against the good Reverend, and demanded that Shropshire release turn her over. The courts agreed and the child was returned to William Monroe's house, where her mother was a live in Servant. As a white woman, Lydia was probably serving a seven year Indenture. However, her Indenture may have had years added on after the birth of her child.

After Mary Bowden's birth in 1730, there was another court case, this time against Mary Monroe. She was charged with Bastardy (having a child outside of marriage), and summoned to appear before the Westmoreland County Grand Jury. The case against Mary was thrown out by the Judge who cited the ambiguities of the laws, which did not allow Whites and Mulattoes to marry. It is possible that William Monroe Senior was behind the dismissal.

In 1737 William Monroe Senior died, as did Mary Monroe. It is not clear where William Monroe Junior was at that time. Mary Bowden was now living with Thomas and Jemima Cook-Chilton. They were relatives of the Monroe's, and took the child in. The Westmoreland County Court intervened and the child was determined to be a Mulatto, and sentenced to a thirty-year Indenture. She was seven years old, when taken to Popes Creek, the Washington Family Plantation. It was not that far from the Monroe house, but the main players in the child's life were no longer there. Mary spent nearly forty years at the Washington Family Home, due to her frequent attempts to escape. At one point, she spent four years in Essex County, before the Washington's located her. When her daughter Patty was born in 1750, the Washington's immediately received her Indenture. When Mary escaped in 1752 she did not take Patty, since she had no legal rights as a mother.

The laws Mary Monroe, Mary Bowden, and Patty Bowden were under, were aimed at the Mulatto children. The Washington Plantation also housed about seventy-five slaves. Like slavery, Mary and Patty's indentures were forced, therefor different from the voluntary Indentures served by Europeans.

John Washington, the Great Grandfather of George Washington was the first Washington at Popes Creek Plantation. Although the work of building Plantations is credited to the owners, they did none of the physical labor. The slaves dug the foundations, and built the and maintained the Plantations.

In 1999 when I visited George Washington Birthplace, we visited a Grave out in the woods. That is where the slaves of George Washington Birthplace were buried. No Markers, no fence, nothing to mark their lives or passing. Males and females, young and old are laying in that graveyard. I believe Patty Bowden's father, and some of her paternal relatives are in that grave. He would be my ancestor through Patty, and his parents may be there as well. However, access to that Grave has been denied by the owner of the property, a descendant of the Washington's. It is as if they are still slaves, and still owned by the Washington Family.

The home that George Washington was born in was built by slaves. The slaves also worked the tobacco fields, and mines owned by the Washington's. George Washington was born at Popes Creek February 22, 1732, two years after Mary Bowden was born. Patty Bowden was a Personal Servant to George Washingtons' niece, Elizabeth Washington-Spotswood (the daughter of Augustine Washington Junior, and his wife, Ann Aylett). Patty's indenture ended when she turned thirty-one, and she was living with the Spotswoods in Fredericksburg. After completing their Indentures, Mary and Patty settled in Fredericksburg, and remained there the rest of their lives.

Patty had several children before marrying James Jackson, the father of James Junior, William, and Samuel Jackson. They purchased a house in Fredericksburg, where generations of the family lived. Mary had several children besides Patty, one of whom was named Dominic Tapscot-Bowden. They lived on Barton Street in Fredericksburg, not too far from Patty and James Jackson. Both lived well into their eighties, and are buried in Fredericksburg.