About the "Accidental Shooting" of Aaron Thomas Bowden on 1 September 1894

   Aaron Thomas Bowden (who was also known as "Ary" or "Airy" and "Tom"), was the third of nine children born to Parker Bowden, Jr. and Mariah C. Birch; his grandparents were Reverend Parker Bowden, Mary Anna Russell, Thomas H. Birch, and Mary Crippen Conner.  He was born on 19 June 1861; and was a waterman, and, mostly, an oysterman; he was also in the US Life Saving Service for a time.   At the age of 21, on 2 January 1883, he married Mary Catherine Chandler on Chincoteague.

   Mary Catherine Chandler was the fifth and last child of Captain Joshua L. Chandler (he whose solitary grave is located at the old north Main turn-table) and Catherine Mary Lynch.  Her grandparents were William James Chandler, Ellen Parker, Joseph Jewell Lynch, and Mary W. Tubbs, all born and raised in Baltimore Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware.

   Altogether Tom Bowden and his wife had 8 children, the last daughter being born 8 months after Tom's death, and the first-born son having passed 6 years before his father.  Their children were:

  1.  Lloyd Thomas Bowden, born October 1883, died 4 September 1888.

  2.  Ebe Townsend Bowden, born 3 December 1884, died 17 October 1979; married Lula Hill (1887 -  1963)  and had 5 children.

  3.  Earnest Joshua Bowden, born 28 February 1886, died 1 April 1969; married Nettie Wyatt Lynch (1891 - 1947); no known children.

  4.  Paul Bowden (Sr.), born 27 February 1888, died 13 August 1960; married Eliza Reynolds (1887 - 1973) and had 8 children.

  5.  Irving Watkins Bowden, born 9 March 1890, died 12 January 1953; married Ammie Elizabeth Watson (1885 - 1949) and had 2 sons.

  6.  Charles Howard Bowden, born 8 March 1892, died 10 June 1929; married (1) Lillie May Daisey (1891 - 1913) and had one son, who died almost immediately, and wife passed 4 days later; married (2) Rachael F. Graham (1892 - 1960) and had 2 sons.

  7.  Lloyd Thomas Bowden, born 1 February 1894, died 14 March 1963; married Louise Magdalen Weamert (1895 - 1985) and had 3 children.

  8.  Mary Catherine Bowden, born 5 April 1895, died 29 July 1896.

   Aaron Thomas Bowden was buried in Holy Ridge Cemetery on Chincoteague Island.

   In the October Term of the County Court, L. Floyd Nock qualified as the guardian of 6 sons of Aaron Thomas Bowden, and placed in charge of their raising and inheritance; a woman was not qualified to do such a thing at that time.

    About The Group of Young Men Who Were Arrested...

   Irvin S. Sturgis confessed to firing the shot that killed Tom Bowden.  He was not a Teaguer; his parentage is obscure - there is no record of his birth or death.  He was born sometime during the years of 1870 or 1871.  The 1880 Census states he is 10 years old, and living in the household of his Uncle and Aunt, Levin J. Hyslop and his wife Elizabeth S. ("Betsy" Sturgis) Hyslop, along with his grandmother, Mary J. Sturgis, in Pungoteague.  Other than his name appearing in newspapers about this shooting, he only appears in the US Records in the 1880 Census, and in 1910, when he is working as a sailor in the Lee District of Accomack County.  There is no Death Certificate, nor a grave, to be found.  He was born after his only Aunt ("Betsy") married Levin Hyslop; so he must be the son of one of her 3 brothers - John Revell Sturgis, Elijah W. Sturgis, or Charles Hill Sturgis... but there are zero records.

   The other members of the group who were with Irvin S. Sturgis on that fateful night were:

   Oliver Hancil Jester, the son of Selby Jester and Mariah Daisey.  He was born 5 June 1873, and passed away on 9 January 1946; on 25 March 1900 he married Winnie Pruitt (1876 - 1927) and they had 6 children.

   Daniel John Beebe, the son of John Beebe and Nancy Howard.  He was born on 14 October 1869, and died on 22 March 1941; on 26 March 1892 he married Elizabeth Daisey (1875 - 1966), and they had 7 children.

Daniel John Beebe   1869 - 1941   

   Isaac Henry Savage, son of Isaac James Savage and Patricia Ann Jones.  He was born 7 October 1872 and died 5 March 1947; on 8 March 1892 he married Mary Virginia Tarr (1875 - 1958; and sister of Sarah Elizabeth "Sadie" Tarr Collins), and they had 4 children.

   Daniel James Lewis, son of Joseph Washington Lewis, Sr. and Sarah A. Whealton.  He was born 25 May 1875, and died 13 February 1967; on 17 September 1896 he married Emma Elizabeth Brasure (1878 - 1963), and they had 4 daughters.

   William B. Mumford, son of Zachariah B. Mumford and Mary Ellen Timmons.  He was born in March 1870 and died in 1907; on 21 March 1900 he married Mattie Leah Davis (1882 - ?), and they had 3 sons.

   William B. Bloxom was the son of an unknown man and Comfort Bloxom.  He was born 14 August 1872, and his death date is unknown; on 17 April 1893 he married Ida V. Fisher (1875 - 1896); there is no record of any children.

   John H. Daisey was the son of William Parker Daisey and Mary Ann Steelman.  He was born 11 June 1872, and died 1 September 1951; on 20 December 1896 he married Annie M. Ingersoll (1872 - ?), and they had 2 daughters.

   Solomon Daisey was the son of James Daisey and Mary Wheeler.  He was born 23 November 1872 and died 20 August 1946; on 15 May 1898 he married Charlotte Mae Reed (1880 - 1970), and they had 3 children.

   Fred Fresh has only one record that I could find - he was born in 1872 in Pennsylvania; his father was born in Pennsylvania, and his mother in Virginia.  In 1898, he married Lizzie Troxell in Pennsylvania.  I am *just guessing* that he was a young sailor passing through, and joined in with this group of young men.

   Arthur C. Byrnes was a German-born sailor, who was born in 1869.  I am *guessing* that he, like Fred Fresh, was a sailor in port, and just joined in the group when they decided to head up the Neck.

   ...  And the Four Members of the "Sanctified Band" Who Were Later Prosecuted in Accomack County

   The newspapers of the time mention James Workman, who is described as a "preacher" with the "Sanctified Band," who lived in Salisbury, Maryland.  This is the person whom the mob went to catch and chastise on Saturday night, September 1st, 1894.  They didn't find him.  He is not mentioned in the Christ's Sanctified Holy Church history, even as a founding member.  There are several men who might be the correct "James Workman" - I *think* he was the James Workman who lived in both Wicomico County, Maryland, and in Snow Hill in 1880... but I cannot connect any man with that name directly to the "Sanctified Band."

John Bannard Lynch   1840 - 1900

   Then we have Joseph Bannard Lynch.  He was born in 1840 in Baltimore Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware to Joseph Jewell Lynch and Mary W. Tubbs, one of seven children.  He was a member of a farming family, and was a farmer himself.  He had a farm in Williamsville, Sussex, Delaware when he married Charlotte M. ("Nancy") Collins on 6 July 1859.  Charlotte was the daughter of James Collins and Maranda Powell, and she had several siblings.  Joseph and "Nancy" had 8 children, 6 of whom lived to adulthood and participated in his church.   Joseph served for 21 days in the Civil War in a local Delaware troop; in 1890, he claimed he had served 6 years and 6 months in the Civil War.  In 1869, he moved his family to Chincoteague, up the Neck, and became a farmer, waterman, oysterman, and eventually a merchant.  He joined the M. E. Church, and helped form the Goodwill Methodist Church.  According to the Christ's Sanctified Holy Church history, he was a class leader.  In 1887 he had a "vision" regarding Sanctification, and he began preaching it to those who would listen.  On 14 February 1892, he and his followers left the M. E. Church, and Goodwill Methodist Church, and set up their own church, Christ's Sanctified Holy Church.  -  The rest is history.  You can read the Church's history in a .pdf document, by clicking on this link to their website: https://sanctifiedchurch.org/about-us/who-we-are/  -  you will need to click on, or open, the "History of Christ's Sanctified Holy Church"  view pdf....   Joseph B. Lynch died on 3 September 1900 in Fernandina Beach, Nassau County, Florida.  He was originally buried in the Bosque Bello Cemetery in Fernandina Beach; his coffin was later moved to the Christ's Sanctified Holy Church Cemetery in Perry, Houston County, Georgia.

Sarah Elizabeth ("Sister Sadie") Tarr Collins   1870 - 1943

   Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Tarr Collins (aka "Sister Sadie") was born on 5 September 1870 on Chincoteague to James Edward Tarr and Mary Cathryn Conner (my second-great-grandparents).  She was the oldest of 9 children born to that couple.  On 2 April 1887, Sadie gave birth to a son, named John Collins.  There are records of his birth and christening on that day.  Then son John disappears from all records. On 8 May 1887, Sadie marries John Collins, the father of her child.  They have a stillborn daughter on 2 April 1888.  On 5 March 1891, they have a daughter named Dora, who died 7 weeks later on 23 April 1891.  Sadie had 3 more daughters: Virginia Elizabeth Collins, 1892 - 1974; Lottie Missouri Collins,  1902 - 1989; and Clara Agnes Collins, 1905 - 1988.  Joseph B. Lynch had declared Sadie a "Deaconess" of Christ's Sanctified Holy Church at it's creation, and she was a leader in that Church until her death on 28 July 1943 in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina.  She was buried in Christ's Sanctified Holy Church Cemetery in Perry, Houston County, Georgia.

   John Edward Collins was born 9 April 1860 in Baltimore Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware to Charles C. Collins and Hester Bishop, one of 9 siblings.  The family moved to Chincoteague in early 1870.  In the 1880 Census, John listed his occupation as an oyster planter, he is missing from the 1900 Census; the 1910 Census shows him employed as a carpenter; and the 1920 Census, as a retail dealer of fish, oysters, etc.  The 1910 and 1920 Censi find John, Sadie, and daughters living in Pascagoula, Jackson County, Mississippi.  John E. Collins died on 23 October 1926 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama.  He is buried in Christ's Sanctified Holy Church Cemetery in Perry, Houston County, Georgia.

William James ("Uncle Billy") Chandler, Sr.   1852 - 1937

   William James Chandler, Sr. was the fourth person arrested and charged on Chincoteague from the "Sanctified Band."  He was born on 16 June 1852 in Pennsylvania, the oldest of five children of Captain Joshua L. Chandler and Catherine Mary Lynch.  The Chandler family moved from Roxanna, Sussex County, Delaware about 1872 to Chincoteague.  In 1873, Billy was working for the US Life Saving Service on Assateague; his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Benson (married 5 May 1871 in Sussex County, Delaware) and son William J., Jr. on Chincoteague.  Billy and Elizabeth had multiple children between 1872 and 1894,some records show 16; but in the 1900 Census it is stated she had borne 9 children, with 6 living.  Elizabeth's death date is not known.  Billy died 7 April 1937 in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina. He was originally buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina, but was moved and reinterred in Christ's Sanctified Holy Church Cemetery in Perry, Houston County, Georgia.

  .....  Relationships .....

     Joseph B. Lynch's relatives. -   His sister, Catherine Mary Lynch, was the wife of Captain Joshua L. Chandler, mother of (1) Mary Catherine Chandler Bowden, wife of Aaron Thomas Bowden, the man who was killed; and the mother of William James ("Uncle Billy") Chandler, Sr., one of  the four "Sanctified Band" arrested and charged.  

    -  His wife, Charlotte M. ("Nancy") Collins, is the Aunt of John Edward Collins (his father Charles C. Collin's sister), also making them Aunt & Uncle by marriage to Sarah Elizabeth ("Sister Sadie") Tarr Collins.  Both John and Sadie were arrested and charged in the County Court; the jury acquitted John, stating he was "too weak-minded" to be a leader in the Church.

   Most of Joseph B. Lynch's closest relatives, sons, daughters, and quite a few nieces and nephews were members and supporters of Christ's Sanctified Holy Church.

   **** I, personally, have no feelings, for or against Christ's Holy Sanctified Church.  - I have shared the Church's link, above, to their published history.   The newspapers wrote lurid stories for quite some time about the Church and its' members.    -    Tomorrow, I will publish a second blog, Part 1 (of 2), with newspaper articles from around the United States regarding the shooting on Chincoteague, the trial of 4 members of the Sanctified Band, and continuing coverage for several years. ****