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Note: f America to Canada.Before I start the history of the Bowen Family in Canada I first want to make a few comments and observations about the state of affairs in the early 1900's in Canada regarding Black American Immigrants.Blacks came to Canada to escape racism in the States,there can be no dispute regarding this fact.Over the years I have read several articles discussing the attitude and the official government reaction to the prospect of thousands of black Americans moving to this Country.Canada needed Pioneers and Settlers in Western Canada and the newspaper accounts that I read said that major advertisements were placed in American newspapers advertising free homestead land in Canada,and the Government hired official government agents to travel to the United states to stress the advantages and opportunities Canada could provide to Americans moving here.There was an abundance of rich fertile homestead land,in other words it was the land of opportunity.There was considerable interest from large numbers of Black Americans to move to Canada and it presented an unforeseen,unanticipated major problem for the Canadian Government,as well as the local Provincial Governments.There were major discussions and debate in the House of Commons and the Alberta Legislature and the main concensus or thrush of these discussions were that Canada did not want Black Americans in this Country,particularity not mass numbers.The headline of the Calgary Albertan in May 1911 said, and I quote( Negroes are not wanted in Alberta,many desirable white settlers have been deterred from settling in this country)(end of quote)..The Canadian government responding to prevailing anti black sentiments in the white population hired agents to travel to Oklahoma to discourage blacks from moving north.The land is unproductive and the climate harsh warned the agents," Go to Washington, Montana or Mexico".The Federal Government never went so far as to introduce legislation barring American Blacks,"that would have alienated both the U.S Government and black voters in eastern Canada" .Through various deterrent strategies including the implementation of tough medical and financial restrictions at the border kept other blacks from entering Canada..Legally black Americans had the same rights as anyone else,but the official policy which was approved and adopted was to quietly solve the black immigrant problem by limiting and controlling their numbers,but appear to be welcoming all who applied regardless of race.No doubt many more black Americans would have immigrated had Canada not made it difficult to move and actively discourage it.The plain,painful,true fact,is that Black Americans were not welcome and it was a disturbing,shameful time in the history of Canada,however the official record of era proves that Canada was" Racist", and did not want to import what it perceived to be major problems (Black People in Large Numbers) taking away from White Canadians.There was much hue and cry,that black Americans would take away land and jobs from White Canadians, thus the local and Federal Governments were committed to insuring that there be no mass influx of Black Americans.There efforts and actions were thus directed to keeping the numbers that were allowed in to Canada as low as politically possible.Canada was a haven and a safe place for blacks to come to escape the overt racism in the United States but the simple truth is that the Canadian Governments of the time and the Citizens of Canada in the late 1800's and the early 1900's were practically as racist as their white American neighbors.Even though this Country has a sad record in the early treatment of our people I believe firmly that those black immigrants who came made the correct decision to escape the racial climate in the United states..
In Alberta there were several black settlements,Breton,and Wildwood west of Edmonton,Campsie northwest of Edmonton approximately ten miles or so from Barrhead Alberta and Donaville(renamed Amber Valley in 1931} approximately one hundred miles north of Edmonton and 20 miles east of Athabasca Alberta.As near as I can determine the first black settler families to move to the Amber Valley area were the Sneed,Murphy,and Saunders families,and they moved as early as 1903 or there abouts.There was nothing but bush land, swamp land, and forest and I cannot even imagine the difficulties these families experienced building their log cabins, chopping trails thru the woods for roads etc.It is doubtful if any of these early pioneers had ever saw snow before coming to Canada,so it is even more amazing that they were able to establish a community in this harsh land.They built a school a church and one by one they pooled their labor and their community grew as more people arrived and eventually there were as many as one hundred or more black families in the Amber Valley area.My father Obadiah helped me compile a list of all the families he could recall and I was surprised at the number but the Calgary Herald in a recent article (Feb 21/1999) estimated that as many as 800 families moved to Alberta in the early 1900's.One thing which has always puzzled me is why Black Americans chose the wilderness of Northern Alberta?The answer to some extent may be that the Provincial Government deliberately steered them to out of the way, less than ideal land areas, and this is even documented in Newspaper articles that I have read.There is no doubt that there were more ideal, productive,available land closer to Edmonton and Calgary which was not heavy forest which was more fertile,and would have been easier to occupy,create and build a settlement.I think also that the Black Americans may have wanted to isolate themselves to a certain degree and may have deliberately chose to be as far away from mainstream settlements when they came to Canada.Their experiences in the United states living near,and among their white neighbors,had not been good so it is understandable if this was in fact the approach that they chose when deciding where to settle.No matter what, in my opinion,Canada was a wise choice and the Families that came and their descendants have prospered in this Country.The bottom line is,"nothing was made easy for our people", and it is a testimony to their character,determination,and courage,that they adapted,built their community and raised their families to be productive law abiding citizens in their adopted Country.
Willis Bowen was the only one of his family to come to Canada and stay as far as we know.He did have an older brother Charles Bowen come to Canada because of legal problems in the United States.Apparently this brother wrote back some time later stating he was in Saskatoon Saskatchewan working on building grain elevators and that there was much snow and 40 below zero temperatures.Willis Sr. came to Vancouver British Columbia went to Saskatoon but no further word or any other information as far as Willis Bowen knew was ever heard from Charles Bowen
other than the original letter.Many years later two of Willis Bowen's sons, Boadie and John met members of a Bowen family which originated in Regina Saskatchewan ,and there was speculation that this family could very likely have been offsprings of Charles Bowen.Uncle Boadie thought this probable because of the names of some of the Bowens from the Regina family.There was a John Bowen, Jean Bowen and an Ed Bowen ,and since these were the same names as children of Willis Bowen, it does indicate that perhaps the families were indeed related. Unable to locate or contact Charles Bowen,Willis returned to Alabama and decided to immigrate to Canada.He decided that the way black people were treated in Canada would be much better for his family.Willis came to Canada in 1910,lived in Vancouver B.C. for approximately three years and then moved and filed homestead rites on one quarter of land in Donaville Alberta,later renamed Amber Valley Alberta in 1931 where he lived until death in November 1975....................
He was my Grand Father.....My father Obadiah Bowen farmed Grandpa's land so I was in fact raised in my Grand Father's house.....No one,in my opinion could have had a better Grand father.....Grand Pa Bowen was a member of the Free Masons and the accepted Masons,he was also a man of wisdom and extra ordinary courage to leave his country of birth,relatives and friends to move thousands of miles to an unknown land.Grandpa's decision to move to Canada made it possible that his descendants,particularity his sons and daughters and their children did not have to endure and suffer the overt Racism, Discrimination,Intolerance and Prejudice against the black race that was the way of life in the United States until the last 20 years or so.I will forever be thankful that grandpa Bowen had the courage and will to make that journey so that his family and descendants would not be born and raised in the United States environment...........................................
Although Willis Bowen Sr. had no brothers or sister come to Canada his cousin Columbus homesteaded in Donaville and remained in Canada for the rest of his Life.Actually Columbus Bowen may well be responsible for Grandpa Bowen's decision to move from Vancouver where he had first settled and had purchased a home in White Rock B. C.Evidently Columbus who came to Canada with Willis originally, but who had left and moved to Alberta after a year or so upon the death of his wife kept writing Willis in Vancouver urging him to move to Alberta as there was a Colored settlement at what was then called Donaville and that they had their own school and church and that there was homestead land available for Willis and Sons to file homestead claims on. The legal description address of Grandpa Bowen's homestead is Southwest Quarter of section 23 Township 66 Range 20 West of the 4 the Meredian Athabasca County Alberta.The legal description of Willis Bowen's land is provided here as there may well be future Bowen descendants many years from now interested in determining where it was or visiting the location long after we who know are gone.
Grandpa Bowen was sixty five years old when I was born.My earliest memory of him would probably be my third,fourth or fifth year when he was approaching seventy years old. I remember him stooking grain, picking rocks when his land was cleared, picking roots, and burning brush. I remember him planting potatoes, weeding the garden, riding horse, and herding cattle out of his grain fields, He was an active,energetic,hard working focused man.,There was nothing Wishy Washy about Grandpa Bowen.He was a man of Integrity, with high moral values who believed strongly in truthfulness,honesty, and the rewards of diligent labor(..,And he Lived the way he Believed....I have always thought he made the right decision when he came to Canada. I don't believe he would have survived in the racial climate of the United states in the early 1900's.He adapted well to the rigorous demands and challenges of pioneering in northern Alberta and providing for his family.Building a log cabin, clearing land and adjusting to the harsher colder climate did not take away from the longevity of his life as he enjoyed his one hundred year birthday before passing in November of 1975.
Had Grandpa stayed in the states,some one ,some where would have provoked and pushed him too far, and I am convinced he would have risked Injury or death rather than tolerate and endure the injustice and indignities suffered by black Americans of that era. Willis made one trip back to the U,S. in 1947 and I can remember him saying he should have never went back, and that he would never go again.
In closing I must admit I am not an impartial writer when I write here these statements about this man of Character and Principle that I so greatly admired. May all Bowen descendants.........Forever Cherish the Memory of this extra Ordinary Man....Willis Reese Bowen.................................................................
Note: In 1910 My Grand father Willis Bowen Sr.moved from the United States o
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