John Joseph Bowman

The cemetery's own marker traces the family's route: Joseph and Mary Bowman married in Tennessee in the early 1800s, then moved to Missouri, Mississippi and finally Texas with Stephen F. Austin's colony. Joseph, John J. (1807-1890) and James H. (1820-1886) Bowman all fought in the Texas War for Independence. By the early 2000s Mt. Hope Cemetery held more than 1,800 graves on 13.2 acres, including over 200 veterans, eight of them Confederate. Early families buried there include the Baileys, Beasleys, Chapmons, Creekmores, Cravens, Hickses, Lewises and Tyras.

What the plaque says

John Joseph Bowman (Aug. 15, 1807-Mar. 30, 1890) Tennessee native John Joseph Bowman came to Texas with his family in 1822 and settled in Stephen F. Austin's colony on the Colorado. He later resided in Matagorda County, where, in 1835, he enlisted in the Texian Army, and served in the Texas War for Independence with his father, Joseph, and his brother James, who also is buried here. After the war, Bowman lived in Nacogdoches County before making a permanent home in Cherokee County. (1983)

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

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