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against the abomination of
American slavery" and to "destroying prejudice against color." According to Lewis, hearing Bowles preach "was enough to make abolitionists of a whole community." His race also drew crowds of Vermonters eager for the rare spectacle of a Black preacher. During his forty years of ministry, Bowles baptized many hundreds of converts and organized numerous churches in the towns through which he passed.
178:. He felt called to the ministry and began preaching in neighboring towns, but his "book education was nothing," according to Lewis, and he battled poverty and self-doubt. Frustrated, Bowles went to sea in service as a ship's cook. After three years at sea, he experienced a religious conversion and became a
234:
While living in New
Hampshire in 1784, Bowles married Mary Corliss (born 1768), whom Lewis reported to have been "his cousin, a granddaughter of the above named Col. Morgan." According to historians Anthony Parent and Glenn Knoblock, this familial connection is highly unlikely but does suggest that
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According to church elder John W. Lewis, who wrote Bowles's biography in 1852 without personal knowledge of his subject, Bowles's father was a Black "servant," while his mother was white and from a respected family, supposedly "a daughter of the celebrated Col. Morgan, an
Officer in the Rifle Corps
217:
Touring predominantly white and rural communities of
Vermont and New York, Bowles experienced racism and threats of physical violence but persisted in his vocation. He openly condemned slavery. Lewis remarked that his influence had contributed to "revolutionizing the public sentiment of the State,
202:, where families converted by Bowles constructed Huntington's first church building, which later became the first town hall and ultimately the first volunteer fire department. The former church is the oldest surviving building in Huntington. In 1837, at his son's behest, Bowles moved to the
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beginning in May 1775. In 1777, at the age of 16, he enlisted in the
Continental Army as a private. He served for the duration of the war, deploying to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Hampshire and completing his military service after a final three years in General
126:, on October 20, 1761, to a white woman of some social standing and an "African" father, according to biographer John W. Lewis. His father, a domestic servant who may have been enslaved, raised him as an infant before apprenticing him to a white man named Jones in
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186:. Bowles preached in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from 1808 to 1816, when he moved to north-central Vermont, which lacked Free Will churches. Ordained in November 1816, Bowles preached throughout Vermont, especially in the northern
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Corliss was a white woman. No documentation exists to corrobate any familial connection between Bowles, Corliss, and Daniel Morgan.
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414:"Fire, Brimstone, and Sacred Groves: The Life and Legacy of Charles Bowles, Huntington's Early 19th Century Black Preacher"
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of the
American army" during the Revolutionary War. Notwithstanding this claim, Bowles's grandfather could not have been
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late in life, though Bowles's biographer, Black abolitionist and
Millerite minister John W. Lewis, made no such claim.
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331:, Horizons anglophones, Montpellier: Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée, pp. 111–129,
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The
Bowleses had eleven children, one of whom, Charles Bowles II, became a Presbyterian pastor in
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region of upstate New York, where he continued to travel, preach, and form churches. According to
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273:"Disappearing from Abolitionism's Heartland: The Legacy of Slavery and Emancipation in Boston"
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The Life, Labors, and
Travels of Elder Charles Bowles, of the Free Will Baptist Denomination
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Diasporas, Cultures of
Mobilities, ‘Race’ 3 : African Americans and the Black Diaspora
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525:"Bordering Freedom but Unable to Cross into the Promised Land: Africans in Early Vermont"
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counties. He purchased farmland and formed a large congregation of ninety souls in
402:. Chicago: Printed by the Woman's Temperance Publication Association. p. 63.
325:"'Making Abolitionists of the Whole Community': Jeffrey Brace And Charles Bowles"
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Parent, Anthony (2016), Duboin, Corinne; Raynaud, Claudine (eds.),
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254:, with his daughter Eunice. He died on March 16, 1843, at age 81.
378:. Watertown, NY: Ingalls & Stowell's Steam Press – via
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Lewis, John W.; Burkett, Randall K.; Dearing, Arthur. (1852).
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In old age, Bowles purchased a small farm and settled down in
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19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States
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erupted two years later, Bowles ran away to join the
86:(October 20, 1761 – March 16, 1843) was an American
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642:People of Massachusetts in the American Revolution
170:, where he farmed, started a family, and joined a
154:'s brigade. He received an honorable discharge at
145:, serving as valet to an artillery officer at the
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421:Huntington Historical and Community Trust
607:Baptist ministers from the United States
174:congregation in the neighboring town of
166:After leaving the army, Bowles moved to
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182:, abandoning the Calvinist doctrine of
16:American itinerant preacher (1761–1843)
447:Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists
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451:Seventh-day Adventist World Church
441:Williams, DeWitt S. (2020-01-29).
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637:People from Warren, New Hampshire
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632:People from Huntington, Vermont
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114:Early life and military service
110:. Bowles was African American.
647:Religious leaders from Vermont
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443:"Bowles, Charles (1761–1843)"
240:St. Lawrence County, New York
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503:Vermont Historical Society
139:American Revolutionary War
108:American Revolutionary War
622:Continental Army soldiers
291:10.1017/S0020859020000176
77:minister, farmer, soldier
486:Baker, Benjamin (2022).
399:Free Baptist Cyclopaedia
128:Lunenburg, Massachusetts
210:, he may have become a
530:Historical Reflections
602:Baptists from Vermont
523:Winter, Kari (2006).
168:Warren, New Hampshire
597:American evangelists
246:Later life and death
162:Religious leadership
94:who preached across
222:Ancestry and family
200:Huntington, Vermont
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380:HathiTrust
344:2024-02-05
258:References
196:Washington
188:Chittenden
152:Enoch Poor
35:1761-10-20
543:0315-7997
505:: 47–49.
459:2690-8514
299:0020-8590
212:Millerite
176:Wentworth
137:When the
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132:Loyalist
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