Nancy Ann Overall was born 1794 in Shenandoah County, VA. - the daughter of John Froman Overall and Mary Ann (nee Markham) Earl. Ann (as she was called) also descends from the pioneer Froman-Hite line of Jost Hite fame also pioneer settlers of the Shenandoah Virginia Valley.

Nancy Ann Overall married 1816 to Abraham Bowman (1788-1825) in Shenandoah County, VA. He was the third child of Isaac and Elizabeth ("Betsy") Gatewood Bowman.

Soon after their marriage Abraham and Ann migrated to Kentucky, seeking a life in the new West as their Bowman and Hite uncles began during General Clark's "Conquest of the North West". Abrahams younger half-brother's Joseph & John H. followed him by 1819 as did older brother Philip in1825 . Their father Isaac had received Western land grants for his service during the war and the sons moved to care for valuable tracts of real-estate owned by Isaac and the Bowman extended family in the West. Abraham settled on a farm, located 14 miles above Louisville near the Ohio River in today's Oldham County. In the 1824 will of Isaac Bowman these three sons were each to receive legacies in the West. Abraham also received a separate inheritance in 1825 to 1/6th of John Bowman*Jr's lands in Henry County KY {*the son of Colonel John Bowman.

Abraham died at an early age of 37, in 1825, at his plantation residence in Oldham County, KY. An accounting of his death with Bowman family fidelity is found in an extant letter dated August 14 1825, from Ann Bowman of Oldham County, KY, to brother Joseph Bowman of Lexington KY. Ann is Nancy Ann Bowman (nee Overall) the wife of the Abraham Bowman just deceased:

Ann writes to "dearest brother" {Joseph} saying "Mr. Bowman {husband Abraham} left a will and requested me to live here and carry on the farm as he did and keep the family together ..... "... "he left Brother Johan Bowman {John H.) his executor .... and wants Brother John to come down and let them know" if he {John H.} wants other people already on this place to stay. Regards are passed to "sister Betsy and Children" {this Betsy is Mrs Joseph Bowman}. Widow Ann requests Joseph's help in getting someone to come to her aid in their Oldham County farm operation, etc.
[Letter owned by Mrs. Evelyn Hunter, descendant of John H. Bowman and repository for his papers - copy with writer and a descendant of this Joseph]
Civil records note that John H. Bowman of Kentucky was appointed guardian for:
"William and Isaac Bowman, orphans of Abraham Bowman, deceased - a Bond made by brother Joseph Bowman and secured $2,000 for each child.

Several years after Abraham's death, widow Ann Bowman married again to William ConneIl, 20 August 1828 in Oldham County, KY. The death of Ann is rather vague although a published historical note from her son Isaac G. Bowman during his declining years indicated his mother deceased in 1828, so likely her death was shortly after her marriage to William Connell.

There were four children born in Kentucky to Abraham and Nancy Ann, of which only two lived beyond infancy: John William bowman born Nov 17, 1816 and Isaac Gatewood Bowman in 1820. It is conjecture that these boys were orphans at ages 12 and 8 and likely came under the jurisdiction of their Bowman uncles John H. (Guardian) and Joseph (bondsman). Without a doubt they were educated somewhere and retained some family wealth as their later lives indicate. Perhaps they were even cared for through aid of Virginia grandparents but they married and continued early life near their birth state of Kentucky – later moving South.

Surviving Children:
1.) John William Bowman (1816KY-1887MO) born in Oldham Co., KY.
He married first, Oct 30, 1840, to. Caroline Gray who deceased early – they had one child Kitty that did not survive to adulthood. John William then relocated to Culvre, St Charles County, MO where he married second, 1851 to Polly Ann McGowan (1833VA- 1874MO). He was in the tobacco business
2.) Isaac Gatewood Bowman (1820KY-1907TX) born in Oldham Co., Kentucky.
He married in Oldham Co KY, 1840 to Mary Catherine Armstrong (1822-1899) a daughter of Joseph and Quirey Armstrong. He was a veteran of the Mexican War, removed to Texas about 1852 where they settled on a preemption survey in Tarrant County near Mansfield. The new Texas Republic awarded immigrant grants in various measures.

Thank you to Find A Grave contributor Toby, #47708070, for the above information.