Columnist

We are coming to the end of the Albert and Rodney Bowen story; last time we learned that Rodney had died at the battle of Franklin in December of 1864. Let's go back to that date and resume our sad tale.

Although we think of Braidwood as the city that started the “Coal Rush” in this area, the truth is that Braidwood and Coal City are the late comers to the area. The first of the coal towns was Gardner.
When Illinois became a state most of the population was in the southern part. Our area did not see the first white settler until 20 years later. The towns on the I & M Canal were the first to prosper, then other towns that had some connection with the Canal started to grow. One of these towns was Wilmington.

Before there was a Will County, there were pioneers here, purchasing land, dividing the land, selling the land, using the land as collateral for buying more land, and in general trying to get rich in the land speculation business. It is not clear that Albert Bowen started out as a speculator, but it is clear that he ended up as one.
Albert Bowen was born in 1803 in Massachusetts, but his family moved to Herkimer, N. Y. when he was very young. At the age of 24 he graduated from Western College of Physicians and Surgeons at Fairfield, N. Y.