James H. Bowman

James H. Bowman gave the land under Mt. Hope Cemetery. In 1875 he offered 100 acres to the Rev. W. D. Lewis for a Methodist church at Mt. Hope and gave adjoining ground for a graveyard; Lewis accepted that November. The first burial was Margaret Hicks, wife of the farmer Jasper Hicks, who died the same month. When the railroad arrived in 1886 the church moved to nearby Wells. Bowman died that year and was buried in the cemetery he had given. The cemetery's marker says he fought in the Texas War for Independence and never married.

What the plaque says

James H. Bowman A soldier in the Army of Republic of Texas, 1836. Born in 1820. Died in February 1886.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 13 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• John Joseph Bowman — steps away
• Mt. Hope Cemetery — steps away
• Site of Kilraven — 2.1 mi
• Site of the Town of Mount Sterling — 6.1 mi