Founding Families
Ebenezer West | Waite Carr West | Increase Jones | Hannah Bowen Jones | William Hill | Elizabeth Hill
Edward Talbot | Sarah "Sally" Martin Talbot | Absalom P Morse | Lydia Tallman Morse
Alfred P White | Huldah Symonds White | Robert Shaw | Jane Talbot Stiles Shaw
Ebenezer West | Waite Carr West | Increase Jones | Hannah Bowen Jones | William Hill | Elizabeth Hill
Edward Talbot | Sarah "Sally" Martin Talbot | Absalom P Morse | Lydia Tallman Morse
Alfred P White | Huldah Symonds White | Robert Shaw | Jane Talbot Stiles Shaw
Hannah Bowen Jones
A story of movement, endurance and adaptation
 No portrait of Hannah Bowen Jones survives. This image represents the domestic spaces where women like her labored, adapted, and sustained families during the early settlement
of Minerva.
Early Years in Rehoboth
There is not much information to be had about Hannah (Bowen) Jones, wife of Increase Jones. The little we do know allows us to make only a few inferences about her life. Hannah was born on August 19, 1759, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, to Vinton and Mary Polly (Conner) Bowen. She was the oldest of twelve children, only two years old when her twin brothers were born and fifty-three when her last sister arrived. This final birth occurred when Hannah’s mother was seventy-three years old, which is a bit awe-inspiring. Marriage During Uncertain Times Hannah married Increase Jones in 1776, when she was sixteen and a half years old. At that time, she had four siblings living at home; the other seven had not yet been born. Increase’s parents died in 1777, and the two newlyweds moved to Vermont. Hannah and Increase’s first daughter, Deborah, was not born until five years into their marriage. While women marrying at such a young age was fairly common in those times, the first child arriving after five years was less so. Hannah went on to give birth to nine more children over the next twenty years, meaning infertility was not the issue. Timing, Movement, and Motherhood While formal contraception did not exist, married couples in the eighteenth century were not without means to delay pregnancy, relying on behavioral practices and situational abstinence when circumstances required. Hannah and Increase were married shortly after America declared independence. Times were both uncertain and filled with opportunity. It would not be inconceivable that the two wanted to delay having children until they were settled into a secure household. Between 1775 and the birth of their first child, the couple moved at least five times. They left Massachusetts after the death of Increase’s parents and settled somewhere in Vermont, most probably Putney, where Deborah was born in 1781. A Growing Family Across States Shortly after Deborah’s birth, the family moved to Granville, New York, where Deborah’s sister Patty was born in 1792. By 1784, the family was living in Putney, Vermont, where sons Increase (1784) and Charles (1786) were born. By 1789, the family was back in Granville, where Elijah arrived in 1789, followed by Elias in 1790, Hannah in 1794, Daniel in 1795, James in 1798, and Levi in 1800. The Move to Minerva When Levi was four, Increase moved the family to Minerva. According to the 1810 census, James, Daniel, Hannah, Elias, and Elijah made the move as well. Patty, Deborah, Increase, and Charles were all married by this time and had lives of their own. Faith, Fracture, and Legacy Records from the Baptist Church show that Hannah was baptized there in 1807, the day after the church was organized. Sadly, they also show that she was excluded in 1815 for neglect of the church. There is no indication that Increase was a member of the church, which may have impacted Hannah’s devotion. Ironically, Hannah’s son James moved west to Chautauqua County with Elder Ravlin and Alfred White in 1832, and her grandson, also named Increase, went on to receive a license to preach in the Baptist Church. Final Years Hannah died on May 25, 1830, at the age of seventy-one, five years after her husband Increase, and is buried next to him. Author’s Note There are some inconsistencies in the records regarding which children made the move to Minerva in 1804. Hannah is in question, and she did pass away in Granville, making it possible that she stayed behind. |
Timeline of Hannah (Bowen) Jones |
