Frances Fayette (nee Cilley) Bowker, 1833-1881
Headstone GPS Coordinates: location unknown
Birth: 28 Aug 1833, Machias, Washington County, Maine, USA
Death: 15 Oct 1881, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington, USA
Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Samuel Bowker
American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Ichabod Bonney, Jr. of Massachusetts (A012028), and William Cilley of Massachusetts (A021979).
Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards.
Frances Fayette (Cilley) Bowker was born on August 28, 1833, in Machias, Washington County, Maine, to Joseph Bonney Cilley and Mary Stickney. She was the youngest of their seven children. Her father, Joseph, supported the family by working as a shoemaker.
On December 7, 1853, Frances married Simeon Crocker Bowker in Machias. Together they had six children: Mary Lizzie (1855), Nellie M. (1858), Martha Grace (1862), Joseph S. (1866), Samuel (1868), and Frank (1878). Their first five children were born in Maine, while their youngest, Frank, was born in Seabeck, Washington. Their eldest daughter, Mary Lizzie, born on April 8, 1855, died on January 31, 1857, just shy of her second birthday.
Simeon supported his family through work in the lumber industry. In addition, he owned land valued at $1,200 and personal property valued at $100. In the 1870 census, Simeon and his family were enumerated in Machias, Maine. That same year, Simeon appeared a second time in the U.S. Federal Census, listed as living in Union, Mason County, Washington, where he was employed as a head lumberman. By 1872, he was working for the Washington Mill Company as a bull puncher, driving oxen and hauling logs to tidewater via skid road.
Company ledgers record Simeon’s purchases from the mill store, which included a pair of shoes, butter, a bottle of “pain killers,” and two bottles of “spices.” In 1873, additional purchases were noted, including cheese, coffee, herring, silk, silesia (a fabric sometimes used as window coverings or clothing linings), a box of soap, lard, and clothespins. These household items suggest that Frances and the children had either arrived in Seabeck or were expected to arrive around that time. Simeon’s repeated purchases of painkillers and liniment provide insight into the physically demanding nature of his work.
As 1873 progressed, Simeon occasionally spent more than his account balance, with notations indicating that he later paid off outstanding amounts; shoes were one such example. Research conducted by a University of Washington graduate student in a 1966 thesis revealed that “S. Bowker” had spent nearly $500 more than he had earned.
On January 9, 1875, Frances and Simeon’s daughter Nellie married William Chillman. On October 14, 1878, their daughter Martha (“Mattie”) married Ensley Doncaster in Port Madison. The marriage record notes that an affidavit was required to obtain parental permission, as Mattie was only sixteen years old. That same year, Frances and Simeon welcomed their youngest child, Frank, who was born in Seabeck.
In the 1880 U.S. census, Simeon and Frances, along with their three sons—Joseph, age 14; Samuel, age 10; and Frank, age 2—were living in the household of their daughter Martha and her husband, Ensley Doncaster.
Frances Bowker died on October 15, 1881, from unknown causes, at the age of forty-eight. Jacob Hauptly, who managed the Seabeck Cemetery at the time, noted in his diary that there was “a large turnout” at her burial.
A Washington Territorial Census was conducted in 1883, though it contains several inconsistencies. It appears that the census taker—likely county assessor Joseph Comstock—may have relied on earlier records, possibly from the 1880 census, when compiling the document. One family entry lists the household of Simeon Bowker as follows:
- Simeon Bowker, age 59
- Frances Bowker, age 49 (despite records indicating her death in 1881)
- Joseph Bowker, age 16
- Samuel Bowker, age 7 (though he should have been approximately 14–15)
- Frank Bowker, age 5
Six pages earlier in the same census, “Sam’l Bowker,” age 14, born in Maine and listed as a “mill man,” appears among other workers at “P. Seabeck” (Port of Seabeck).
On June 8, 1883, fifteen-year-old Samuel Bowker died in a mill accident. Jacob Hauptly recorded that he was buried two days later. According to notes by historian Fred Just, Samuel was marked with a cedar grave marker that has since disappeared from the cemetery.
In her book Tide’s Out, Table’s Set, Fredi Perry stated that Simeon Bowker was the individual killed in the mill accident; however, this is inaccurate. Simeon was enumerated in the 1887 Washington Territorial Census as living in Seabeck. By that time, his son Frank, then eight years old, was living with the Doncasters, who also had a two-year-old son of their own.
It remains unknown whether Simeon Bowker was buried in Seabeck alongside his wife and son. No death record has been located for him. He last appears in the 1900 census, living in Port Hadlock near his son Frank. The burial locations of Frances and Samuel Bowker within Seabeck Cemetery are also currently unknown.
The Elizabeth Ellington Chapter wishes to acknowledge the Revolutionary War ancestors of Frances (Cilley) Bowker and Samuel Bowker: Ichabod Bonney, Jr. of Massachusetts (A012028), and William Cilley of Massachusetts (A021979). Samuel is also related to Major Levi B. Bowker of Massachusetts (A012833).