New Information on Rebecca Bowman Hite - Home and Grave
Rebecca F. W. Bowman Hite was born in 1821 and was the youngest child of Isaac and Mary (Chinn) Bowman.…also a Granddaughter of Valley pioneers George and Mary (Hite) Bowman. By age 9 she had lost both her parents and was subsequently cared for by family. She married Charles J. Hite in 1849 and gave birth to five children. Her life had it’s some ups and many downs: She lost two children early and they were buried on her farm, a Civil War battle was partially held on her farm, her husband disappeared after the war leaving her with three young surviving children to raise and henceforth she struggled to make a family life with her farm. Anecdotes were passed down about the burials of her two younger children whose desecrated graves were dug up, by the Yankee forces camping in the area, just to intimidate Rebecca for cooperation. Rebecca’s farm was located on Cedar Creek in the Warren County, Virginia, a key part of the old Fort Bowman plantation. It undoubtedly served the needs of both North and South troop actions during the 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek. It subsequently passed from her family through several successive owners and her original home remains intact today with some additions. Rebecca was buried on her farm in a small hill top family cemetery some distance from the home. Her history is profiled in the book, “Cedar Creek Bowmans …….”, which is available at the Belle Grove bookstore.
Family care originally placed a tombstone over Rebecca’s grave with small field stones for the two children. A small wire fence surrounded the few graves with near by memento evergreen trees giving condolence and shade. Today the graves are all but lost over the ravages of time, the fence is gone, and the trees are unkempt with her tombstone missing…. although an extant footstone and the ground level broken tombstone base is found. Hence Rebecca’s date of death sometime in the 1890’s remained unconfirmed.
The grave existence and location soon became forgotten, to all but the property owners and some neighboring families whose children roamed the immediate area. Over the years the writer visited the grave with interested local persons as guides. The writer talked with various persons, who as youngsters, knew of Rebecca’s tombstone existence….some remembered it as broken off. Others relate it had been carried off by vandals…..and when held accountable they returned it to the farm some distance from the grave….. only to be lost again.
Various people have continued searching for the missing tombstone and grave history. Recently, it has come to light that a neighboring Kehoe family took a photograph about 1968 of the broken tombstone. A copy of this photo was given to the writer by Sarah Kehoe Mauck. It clearly shows the broken tombstone of R. F. W. Hite with her birth as Jan 18, 1821 and her death (date now recognized) as May 14, 1892. Near the tombstone horizontal bottom break can be observed some indistinguishable lettering of an epitaph….. similar lettering was once observed by the writer on the upper side of the embedded tombstone base, although it was essentially below ground level.
Rebecca’s home site, with a few acres, now belongs to the National Park Service with it’s projected use as a park base center….thus her home will henceforth be acclaimed. The farm with the cemetery was acquired by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation as a land conservation and preservation within the authorized National Historic Park and dedicated for public appreciation. Unfortunately the tombstone remains missing but extended plans for preserving Rebecca’s cemetery are being considered with optimistic expectations.
Roquey Jobes / 26 Feb 2011
Update note from Sarah Kehoe Mauck July 28, 2016 I took the photo of Rebecca's tombstone in the front yard of her house in 1969 when Mrs Mary Kern lived there. "Ms Mary" and her hired hand, Tony Shanks, farmed about 150 acres of what was left of Rebecca's original estate-- The tombstone had been stolen from Rebecca's cemetery But someone returned the stone to Ms Mary. It had been broken during the vandalism.Tony was irate and that's why I took the pic. My brothers put it in our red wagon and returned it to the top of the hill and placed it against the cedar tree.
Rebecca F. W. Bowman Hite was born in 1821 and was the youngest child of Isaac and Mary (Chinn) Bowman.…also a Granddaughter of Valley pioneers George and Mary (Hite) Bowman. By age 9 she had lost both her parents and was subsequently cared for by family. She married Charles J. Hite in 1849 and gave birth to five children. Her life had it’s some ups and many downs: She lost two children early and they were buried on her farm, a Civil War battle was partially held on her farm, her husband disappeared after the war leaving her with three young surviving children to raise and henceforth she struggled to make a family life with her farm. Anecdotes were passed down about the burials of her two younger children whose desecrated graves were dug up, by the Yankee forces camping in the area, just to intimidate Rebecca for cooperation. Rebecca’s farm was located on Cedar Creek in the Warren County, Virginia, a key part of the old Fort Bowman plantation. It undoubtedly served the needs of both North and South troop actions during the 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek. It subsequently passed from her family through several successive owners and her original home remains intact today with some additions. Rebecca was buried on her farm in a small hill top family cemetery some distance from the home. Her history is profiled in the book, “Cedar Creek Bowmans …….”, which is available at the Belle Grove bookstore.
Family care originally placed a tombstone over Rebecca’s grave with small field stones for the two children. A small wire fence surrounded the few graves with near by memento evergreen trees giving condolence and shade. Today the graves are all but lost over the ravages of time, the fence is gone, and the trees are unkempt with her tombstone missing…. although an extant footstone and the ground level broken tombstone base is found. Hence Rebecca’s date of death sometime in the 1890’s remained unconfirmed.
The grave existence and location soon became forgotten, to all but the property owners and some neighboring families whose children roamed the immediate area. Over the years the writer visited the grave with interested local persons as guides. The writer talked with various persons, who as youngsters, knew of Rebecca’s tombstone existence….some remembered it as broken off. Others relate it had been carried off by vandals…..and when held accountable they returned it to the farm some distance from the grave….. only to be lost again.
Various people have continued searching for the missing tombstone and grave history. Recently, it has come to light that a neighboring Kehoe family took a photograph about 1968 of the broken tombstone. A copy of this photo was given to the writer by Sarah Kehoe Mauck. It clearly shows the broken tombstone of R. F. W. Hite with her birth as Jan 18, 1821 and her death (date now recognized) as May 14, 1892. Near the tombstone horizontal bottom break can be observed some indistinguishable lettering of an epitaph….. similar lettering was once observed by the writer on the upper side of the embedded tombstone base, although it was essentially below ground level.
Rebecca’s home site, with a few acres, now belongs to the National Park Service with it’s projected use as a park base center….thus her home will henceforth be acclaimed. The farm with the cemetery was acquired by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation as a land conservation and preservation within the authorized National Historic Park and dedicated for public appreciation. Unfortunately the tombstone remains missing but extended plans for preserving Rebecca’s cemetery are being considered with optimistic expectations.
Roquey Jobes / 26 Feb 2011
Update note from Sarah Kehoe Mauck July 28, 2016 I took the photo of Rebecca's tombstone in the front yard of her house in 1969 when Mrs Mary Kern lived there. "Ms Mary" and her hired hand, Tony Shanks, farmed about 150 acres of what was left of Rebecca's original estate-- The tombstone had been stolen from Rebecca's cemetery But someone returned the stone to Ms Mary. It had been broken during the vandalism.Tony was irate and that's why I took the pic. My brothers put it in our red wagon and returned it to the top of the hill and placed it against the cedar tree.
New Information on Rebecca Bowman Hite - Home and Grave
Rebecca F. W. Bowman Hite was born in 1821 and was the youngest child of Isaac and Mary (Chinn) Bowman.…also a Granddaughter of Valley pioneers George and Mary (Hite) Bowman. By age 9 she had lost both her parents and was subsequently cared for by family. She married Charles J. Hite in 1849 and gave birth to five children. Her life had it’s some ups and many downs: She lost two children early and they were buried on her farm, a Civil War battle was partially held on her farm, her husband disappeared after the war leaving her with three young surviving children to raise and henceforth she struggled to make a family life with her farm. Anecdotes were passed down about the burials of her two younger children whose desecrated graves were dug up, by the Yankee forces camping in the area, just to intimidate Rebecca for cooperation. Rebecca’s farm was located on Cedar Creek in the Warren County, Virginia, a key part of the old Fort Bowman plantation. It undoubtedly served the needs of both North and South troop actions during the 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek. It subsequently passed from her family through several successive owners and her original home remains intact today with some additions. Rebecca was buried on her farm in a small hill top family cemetery some distance from the home. Her history is profiled in the book, “Cedar Creek Bowmans …….”, which is available at the Belle Grove bookstore.
Family care originally placed a tombstone over Rebecca’s grave with small field stones for the two children. A small wire fence surrounded the few graves with near by memento evergreen trees giving condolence and shade. Today the graves are all but lost over the ravages of time, the fence is gone, and the trees are unkempt with her tombstone missing…. although an extant footstone and the ground level broken tombstone base is found. Hence Rebecca’s date of death sometime in the 1890’s remained unconfirmed.
The grave existence and location soon became forgotten, to all but the property owners and some neighboring families whose children roamed the immediate area. Over the years the writer visited the grave with interested local persons as guides. The writer talked with various persons, who as youngsters, knew of Rebecca’s tombstone existence….some remembered it as broken off. Others relate it had been carried off by vandals…..and when held accountable they returned it to the farm some distance from the grave….. only to be lost again.
Various people have continued searching for the missing tombstone and grave history. Recently, it has come to light that a neighboring Kehoe family took a photograph about 1968 of the broken tombstone. A copy of this photo was given to the writer by Sarah Kehoe Mauck. It clearly shows the broken tombstone of R. F. W. Hite with her birth as Jan 18, 1821 and her death (date now recognized) as May 14, 1892. Near the tombstone horizontal bottom break can be observed some indistinguishable lettering of an epitaph….. similar lettering was once observed by the writer on the upper side of the embedded tombstone base, although it was essentially below ground level.
Rebecca’s home site, with a few acres, now belongs to the National Park Service with it’s projected use as a park base center….thus her home will henceforth be acclaimed. The farm with the cemetery was acquired by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation as a land conservation and preservation within the authorized National Historic Park and dedicated for public appreciation. Unfortunately the tombstone remains missing but extended plans for preserving Rebecca’s cemetery are being considered with optimistic expectations.
Roquey Jobes / 26 Feb 2011
Update note from Sarah Kehoe Mauck July 28, 2016 I took the photo of Rebecca's tombstone in the front yard of her house in 1969 when Mrs Mary Kern lived there. "Ms Mary" and her hired hand, Tony Shanks, farmed about 150 acres of what was left of Rebecca's original estate-- The tombstone had been stolen from Rebecca's cemetery But someone returned the stone to Ms Mary. It had been broken during the vandalism.Tony was irate and that's why I took the pic. My brothers put it in our red wagon and returned it to the top of the hill and placed it against the cedar tree.
Rebecca F. W. Bowman Hite was born in 1821 and was the youngest child of Isaac and Mary (Chinn) Bowman.…also a Granddaughter of Valley pioneers George and Mary (Hite) Bowman. By age 9 she had lost both her parents and was subsequently cared for by family. She married Charles J. Hite in 1849 and gave birth to five children. Her life had it’s some ups and many downs: She lost two children early and they were buried on her farm, a Civil War battle was partially held on her farm, her husband disappeared after the war leaving her with three young surviving children to raise and henceforth she struggled to make a family life with her farm. Anecdotes were passed down about the burials of her two younger children whose desecrated graves were dug up, by the Yankee forces camping in the area, just to intimidate Rebecca for cooperation. Rebecca’s farm was located on Cedar Creek in the Warren County, Virginia, a key part of the old Fort Bowman plantation. It undoubtedly served the needs of both North and South troop actions during the 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek. It subsequently passed from her family through several successive owners and her original home remains intact today with some additions. Rebecca was buried on her farm in a small hill top family cemetery some distance from the home. Her history is profiled in the book, “Cedar Creek Bowmans …….”, which is available at the Belle Grove bookstore.
Family care originally placed a tombstone over Rebecca’s grave with small field stones for the two children. A small wire fence surrounded the few graves with near by memento evergreen trees giving condolence and shade. Today the graves are all but lost over the ravages of time, the fence is gone, and the trees are unkempt with her tombstone missing…. although an extant footstone and the ground level broken tombstone base is found. Hence Rebecca’s date of death sometime in the 1890’s remained unconfirmed.
The grave existence and location soon became forgotten, to all but the property owners and some neighboring families whose children roamed the immediate area. Over the years the writer visited the grave with interested local persons as guides. The writer talked with various persons, who as youngsters, knew of Rebecca’s tombstone existence….some remembered it as broken off. Others relate it had been carried off by vandals…..and when held accountable they returned it to the farm some distance from the grave….. only to be lost again.
Various people have continued searching for the missing tombstone and grave history. Recently, it has come to light that a neighboring Kehoe family took a photograph about 1968 of the broken tombstone. A copy of this photo was given to the writer by Sarah Kehoe Mauck. It clearly shows the broken tombstone of R. F. W. Hite with her birth as Jan 18, 1821 and her death (date now recognized) as May 14, 1892. Near the tombstone horizontal bottom break can be observed some indistinguishable lettering of an epitaph….. similar lettering was once observed by the writer on the upper side of the embedded tombstone base, although it was essentially below ground level.
Rebecca’s home site, with a few acres, now belongs to the National Park Service with it’s projected use as a park base center….thus her home will henceforth be acclaimed. The farm with the cemetery was acquired by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation as a land conservation and preservation within the authorized National Historic Park and dedicated for public appreciation. Unfortunately the tombstone remains missing but extended plans for preserving Rebecca’s cemetery are being considered with optimistic expectations.
Roquey Jobes / 26 Feb 2011
Update note from Sarah Kehoe Mauck July 28, 2016 I took the photo of Rebecca's tombstone in the front yard of her house in 1969 when Mrs Mary Kern lived there. "Ms Mary" and her hired hand, Tony Shanks, farmed about 150 acres of what was left of Rebecca's original estate-- The tombstone had been stolen from Rebecca's cemetery But someone returned the stone to Ms Mary. It had been broken during the vandalism.Tony was irate and that's why I took the pic. My brothers put it in our red wagon and returned it to the top of the hill and placed it against the cedar tree.
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