Jonathan Bowman, 1704-1775
no. 23774
[Tomb 106.]
Rev. JONATHAN BOWMAN.
BOWMAN’S SEPULCHRE.
Rev. JONATHAN BOWMAN, Late Pastor of the Church
in Dorchester, died March 30, 1775, aged 71.
Madam ELIZABETH BOWMAN died Aug. 7, 1785, aged 80.
Miss MARY BOWMAN died Jan. 25, 1815, aged 78.
WILLIAM BOWMAN, Esq., died March 31, 1818, aged 73.
ELISHA TILESTONE, Esq., died Nov. 17, 1802, aged —.
Madam ELISAn, TILESTONE died Aug. 10, 1818, aged 86.
Miss LYDIA TILESTONE died 4 October, 1811, aged 11.
Mt. WILLIAM RICHARDS died July 10, 1819. aged 60.
- re. SARAH RICHARDS died March 25, 1803, aged 40.
Miss MARY C. RICHARDS died October 25, 1813, aged 26.
This Stone placed as a token of affectionate remembrance I by a Grand Son, to perpetuate the memory of I his ancestors and relatives, Sept. 1833.
Mrs. Elizabeth Tileston, Jan. 10, 1822, 53 y. (wife of Capt. Thomas).
Mrs. Charlotte Moses, Feb. 4, 1827, 30 y.
Child of Henry and Charlotte Moses, Mar. 27, 1827, 3 m.
Thomas Tileston, Apt. 14, 1827, 34 y.
Thomas Tileston, Apt. 28, 1840, 81 y.
The Rev. Samuel J. Barrows, minister of First Parish Church from 1876 to 1880, wrote in his chapter “Dorchester in the Provincial Period” in the second volume of the Memorial History of Boston:
The Rev. Jonathan Bowman, the next pastor, was called, in 1729, to be colleague to Mr. Danforth, about six months before the latter’s death. Mr. Bowman was a native of Lexington, and, like two of his predecessors, a graduate of Harvard College. His ministry was somewhat disturbed by the arrival of Rev. George Whitefield in Boston, in 1740. Blake, in his Annals, describes the great impression which the revivalist’s preaching made upon Boston and the surrounding towns. He records his opinion ?that things are by some Persons carried too far, contrary to ye design of ye Holy Spirit,–as in some places where Laymen go about Exhorting (as they call it), and people crowd in large Assemblies to hear them; and any cry out in ye Assembly, and are so struck (as they call it) that for a time they loose there Senses and Reason, and ye like.? Four years later Blake adds of Whitefield’s second visit: “But Ministers and People were generally Offended with his Conduct and manner of Preaching; but some were most firmly attached to him, and endeavored to defend all that he either said or did, which caused much Writing and Disputing.”
During this excitement seven male members of the church, ?for their separation and injurious treatment of the minister, were laid under censure and forbid to come to communion until repentance and reformation.? The disaffected members called for a council. The church consented; the council was held May 19, 1747; Mr. Bowman and the church were sustained, and the dissatisfied brethren were advised to submit and return to the church.
Some twenty-six years later Mr. Bowman came somewhat violently into collision with his parish, largely on account of a personal difficulty which he had with one of his neighbors. A bitter controversy ensued. Another council was called in 1773. It was charged that he refused baptism to a child; that his sermons were too short; that he preached old sermons; and that he did not insist upon the doctrines of original sin and self-denial, and that he acted arbitrarily as moderator of the church meeting.
The unhappy differences resulted in the dismission of Mr. Bowman after a pastorate of forty-three years. During his ministry the fourth meeting-house was built, in 1743, at a cost of 3,300 pounds.
Orcutt, in Good Old Dorchester, described the incident that caused the personal difficulty with Bowman’s neighbor. Bowman?s chickens trespassed on the property of ‘his neighbor, Paul Hall, who executed the chickens. Later when Mr. Hall brought a child for baptism, Mr. Bowman refused to perform the ceremony. In 1772 Mr. Hall preached a personal attack on some members of his congregation. Then a council was called, and he was dismissed as above. He died in 1775.