Gravestone Project

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Bowen took photographs of over 70 gravestones in 1931-33. The negatives are in excellent condition and the quality of the images are near perfect. The pictures are stunning – – click on the two images in the header to see full size images of Samuel Peck’s gravestones (1672-1736). Another example of the clarity of the photographs can be seen in Caleb Miller (1768-1826) gravestone (note: this was a scan of a small photo, 2×4 inches, that was printed in 1930. We could increase quality by using the original negatives).

In addition to the negatives there are about 5 linear inches of research notes in manila folders. A detailed summary of the collection can be found here. An example of some of the research notes can be seen in a map of the old Newman Cemetery Bowen made in 1948 using compass bearings to locate stones. A jewel in this collection is a field notebook where he sketched and transcribed all the graves, described the stones and the locations and included references to the original Rehoboth vital records for pertinent information. An added value of the work is that he includes many “rough chiseled” gravestones from the 1600’s to early 1700’s. For example, here we have simple stones for RB & EB (this is a photograph of the negative) and the field notebook describes who these people were. An index of all the negatives can be found here (this is a multi-page PDF file).

Since many of these graves are either gone or in a state of deep decay I think this collection is worthy of publishing in a book. The book could include the genealogical information (Bowen completed detailed profiles of many of these families including Walker, Peck, Millard, Bowen and others). Once the book is published I would consider donating all the material to the appropriate historical society.

[last update: July 2019]