Bowers

The Bowers family of Wicken, (a small village South West of Soham, South of Ely) in Cambridgeshire feature once in my ancestry. They lived in Wicken during the mid 1800's. The earliest record that I have so far of their existance is an entry dated 27th October 1832 into the marriage register from St. Lawrence's Church at the East end of the village.

The marriage was of Henry Bowers and Ann Bailey, both of them being in their late teens at the time. This is followed by an entry in the baptism register of their daughter Emily Bowers in the following February of 1833. There are a further six more of their children recorded in the baptism records - the last in 1855 being of my Gt Gt Gt Grandmother - Ann Bowers. She is noted as being 12 yrs old when she was finally baptised. By that time her father had come to an untimely end and her mother had remarried in 1851 to Mr. Jackson Layton a widower of Wicken.

Ann Bowers married James Simpson Bishop of Wicken in 1860 and they had 15 known children. Tragically in 1889 when the youngest of the children was only 2 years old, Ann died leaving her husband James with the family. James was a labourer and would have worked exceptionally hard to try and support his family. This was made easier by the kind-heartedness of his sister-in-law and her husband. Ann's sister Sarah Bowers had married George Farby a farmer of Little Thetford, but they never had any children of their own. Instead they would spend their lives helping to look after their nieces and nephews. They eventually gained the affectionate title of 'Granny and Grandad Farby' by those they cared for including their neices and nephew's children as well.

By the time of the 1881 census, Ann's mother and Mr. Layton were living at Burwell at Guinea Hall. Ann was married to James Simpson Bishop and was living in Wicken High Street with 10 of their eventual 15 children.

'Granny' Farby is most fondly remembered by my Great Grandmother who recalls the great times that she and her sister would have when they visited them on their produce stall on the Cambridge market. 'Granny' Farby would make butter for the students and charge them 1d (1 penny) per inch. At lunch they would all sit down on upturned baskets and eat their lunch which was brought to them from 'The Temperance Hotel' and normally consisted of a meat pie.

Connected families include...

• Bailey of Wicken, Cambridgeshire.
• Bishop of Soham and Wicken, Cambridgeshire
• Layton of Burwell, Cambridgeshire.

My Bowers ancestors...

Gt Gt Gt Grandparents: Ann Bowers (1843-1889) & James Simpson Bishop (1842-1901)

Gt Gt Gt Gt Grandparents: Henry Bowers (1812-1847) & Ann Bailey (1810-?)

Bowers Place Names...

• Bower, Highlands, Scotland
• Bower's Row, West Yorkshire, England
• Bowers, Staffordshire, England
• Bowers Gifford, Essex, England

I have very little information on this branch, which was in decline in the 1800's. I have been unable to locate any other modern day descendants of the above people but hope to learn more about those that I can find. Any help here is most appreciated.

last updated: 28-Mar-1999

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