Emerson Bowerman

We know very little about Emerson Bowerman, father of my great-great-grandmother Ella Bowerman Southmayd.

The son of Stephen and Phoebe (Garratt) Bowerman, Emerson was born Jan. 13, 1820, in Wellington, Hillier Township, Prince Edward Co., Ontario, Canada. He married Fanny Chope on Jan. 13, 1848 and worked, at least for a time, as a carpenter.

Emerson and Fanny had three children: Orilla Agnes, born Oct. 29, 1848 - died Nov. 18, 1848; Ella Augusta, born July 26, 1850 - died Jan. 9, 1916; and William Emerson, born Oct. 21, 1854 - died Aug. 15, 1855.

Emerson died Aug. 12, 1855, in Detroit, Mich. His ten-month-old son followed him in death just three days later.

Ella Bowerman Southmayd

Ella Augusta Bowerman was born July 26, 1850 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. She was the daughter of Emerson Bowerman and Fanny Chope. Ella was the
second child of three. Her sister, Orilla, was born Oct. 28, 1848, and died Dec. 18, 1848. Her brother, William, was born Oct. 21, 1854, and died Aug. 15, 1855. Their father, Emerson, died three days before William on Aug. 12, 1855.

Ella was baptized into the Swedenbergean Church in Detroit in 1852 and joined the church in 1864. She was educated in Detroit and later finished her education in Chicago. Ella began giving piano lessons in 1866 and continued with it most of her life. She moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1862, to Omaha, Neb, in 1868, and then back to Chicago in 1872, where she remained until 1875.

Ella was a skilled writer and, under the pen name Nellie Wildwood, contributed articles to the West Coast Signal in 1876 and 1877. (Note: Ella kept several scrapbooks of newspaper clippings that were of interest to her. Amongst those articles were columns and letters to the editor she had written. We have scanned those articles and can provide PDF documents to anyone interested in seeing them).

On June 18, 1876, Ella traveled with the prominent Russ family of Humboldt County, for whom she was a governess, to attend the Centennial Exposition in Chicago. Her detailed account of the journey is an interesting read. (Note: I have transcribed Ella's account of the journey and it is available as a PDF document to anyone interested - just post a comment and request it).

As were many women during the Victorian era, Ella was a successful taxidermist and had over 25 specimens. After her marriage to Charles Henry Southmayd on August 27, 1876, the couple lived in several towns in Humboldt County, California. They were known for having one of the most complete and best selected libraries in the county. Also an accomplished artist, Ella taught oil painting to ladies from Grizzly Bluff. The extended family possesses many pieces of her art, including portraits she painted of herself, Charles and her sons.

Ella and Charles had two sons, Charles Irving, who was born on Jan. 27, 1879, on Eel River Island near Ferndale, Calif., and Frank Edward (my father's grandfather) who was born on May 1, 1881, in Ferndale.

In 1880 Charles went back to his childhood home, New Hampshire, for six months to look for a home. Finding nothing better than what they had in Humboldt County, he returned to California. He then took up dairying on a larger scale than ever before, milking 127 cows on Bear River. In 1885 the family purchased a home five miles east of Ferndale at Grizzly Bluff. In 1890 they joined the Grizzly Bluff Presbyterian Church. In 1897 Charles Irving died in Grizzly Bluff, and in 1900 the family moved to a ranch in Echo Valley near Myrtle Point, Coos County, Oregon.

Their homestead near Ferndale still bears the title of Southmayd Ranch. My family visited there many years ago and toured the very home which Ella and her family lived in. What an amazing experience to walk the same worn floorboards and touch the rough plaster walls that Ella herself had lovingly maintained for her family over 100 years ago!

Left to right: Frank, Irving, Ella and Charles Southmayd.