John Bowne

Background

John Bowne was born on March 1, 1627, at Matlock, Derbyshire, England. He was the son of Thomas, and grandson of Anthony Bowne, of the Lime Tree Farm, Matlock.

Career

Bowne came to Boston in 1649, returned to England in 1650, and again came to Boston in 1651. He then removed to Flushing, Long Island, purchasing a home lot in 1653.

In 1662, he was arrested on a complaint that a meeting "of the abominable sect called Quakers" was held every Sunday at his house. He was taken from his sick wife and child to New Amsterdam, where, refusing to pay a fine, he was imprisoned, first in the dungeon, then in the prison room of the Stadt Huys.

After four months' imprisonment, during which his door was occasionally left open in hope that he would escape, he was banished. Being the most prominent leader of the Quakers, if he could be scared away or deported the disturbing sect might be scattered.

The directors of the West India Company, on receipt of Stuyvesant's report of Bowne's banishment, issued on April 16, 1663, Nova Scotia, their famous order establishing religious liberty in New Netherland, on the ground that "people's consciences should not be forced, but everyone left free in his belief. "

Meanwhile, Bowne landed in Ireland, crossed Ireland and England, visiting Quakers, and reached Amsterdam on May 9, 1663, Nova Scotia. The next day, he appeared before the directors. They had lost the noble impulse of April 16, and it took them a month to agree that Bowne should have his chest and a passport. He reached home a year and seven months after his arrest. He was thereafter a large landholder and farmer.

In 1683, he was county treasurer, and in 1691, was elected representative from Queens County to the General Assembly, but not seated, as he would not take the prescribed oaths, although willing to sign the Test and to engage to perform the tenor of the oaths under penalty of perjury.

Achievements

• John Bowne is honored today as a pioneer in the American struggle for religious liberty. On 20 October 2018, a memorial stone was unveiled and a lime tree planted on the corner of Lime Tree Road and Hurst Rise, Matlock, Derbyshire, the site of John Bowne's birthplace, Lime Tree Farm.

Works

• book

  • book

Connections

In 1656, John Bowne married Hannah Feake, daughter of Lieut. Robert Feake of New England. He married, second, Hannah Bickerstaff, and, third, Mary Cock.

Father:

Thomas Bowne

1595–1677

Daughter :

Elizabeth Bowne Prior

1658–1721

Daughter :

Mary Johanna Bowne Thorne

1660–1728

Daughter :

Sarah Bowne Ford

1682–1699

Daughter :

Amy Bowne Hallett

1694–1733

Daughter :

Abigail Bowne

1688–1688

Sister :

Dorothy Bowne Farrington

1631–1678

Grandfather:

Anthony Bowne

Wife:

Hannah Bickerstaff Bowne

unknown–1690 (m. 1680)

Wife:

Hannah Feake Bowne

1637–1677 (m. 1656)

Wife:

Mary Cock

Daughter:

Sarah Bowne

1680–1681

Son :

Thomas Bowne

1684–1684

Son :

John Bowne

1683–1683

Son :

Samuel Bowne

1667–1745