Born: Kentucky, 1811.Died: Illinois, 1863.
Born: Kentucky, 1811.
Died: Illinois, 1863.
This man was the most forceful and noted of this remarkable family. He was the son of Hughes and Ruth Prather Bowles. During his mature years he was called by nearly all of his acquaintances "Wattie Bowles."
He was physically a man of the finest type. Standing six feet and one inch in his stocking feet, his weight was 190 pounds. Rarely could any man follow him with ax, cradle or scythe. He could stand with both feet in a half-bushel measure and shoulder four bushels of wheat in one sack.
There was an admirable co-ordination between his physical forces and his mental energies. At about the age of twenty-two he was married to Miss Isabel Wallace, a daughter of Col. Andrew Wallace, who served in our army in the war of 1812. At that time Mr. Bowles could not read. His wife proved herself to be a fine teacher--her husband an unusually bright pupil. Five years thereafter he could quote nearly all of the New Testament from memory, and before the close of his life, most of the Old as well. His memory was extraordinary. He knew the map of Palestine better than most people know their own State.
Of course Mr. Bowles was a farmer, owning and cultivating his land. But shortly after his marriage he became a preacher. Those who heard him, testify that he was powerful and eloquent. His superior ability to sing and induce others to sing, added much to his efficiency. He was mighty in prayer as well. Sometimes he would stop in his discourse, drop down upon his knees, and passionately plead for the salvation of sinners.
In plowing-time he would work in his fields Saturdays till 11 o'clock A. M., then come to his house. Then he would whet his razor on his boot-leg, hone it on the palm of his left hand, and shave his face clean and smooth without the aid o f a mirror; then grease his boots, wash up and redress; after eating his dinner, he would saddle his horse and gallop away ten to thirty miles and preach Saturday night and Sunday in a residence or schoolhouse to fifteen or more people. For this work he received not a dollar. His reward was the sweet consciousness of duty well done and that God was pleased. Thus he traveled through DeWitt, Sangamon, Morgan, Logan and McLean Counties. At one time he held a "big meeting" in the barn of John Campbell, in Tazewell County, at which three hundred additions were received.
Mr. Bowles lived in a farmhouse in Turnbridge Township. He was a pronounced antislavery man and a lifelong friend of Abraham Lincoln, who was entertained a number of times in the hospitable home of Mr. Bowles. In the earlier period of Mr. Lincoln's life, on one of these occasions he said: "Watt, if I could preach like you, I would rather do that than be President."
Mr. Bowles was absolutely fearless. In one of his meetings in a schoolhouse two young men got to playing cards. He asked them to desist, urging that it was quite out of place. In a few minutes they were at it again. The preacher said they must stop it. When they started their game the third time he walked back to them, grasped each one by his collar with his vise-like hands, led them to the door, bumped their heads together and told them to go. They went.
At one time Mr. Bowles and his cousin, John G. Campbell, of McLean County, were driving together in some kind of a one-horse rig. At high noon they came to the home of a pioneer farmer, located not far from the present site of Waynesville. The farmer and his "hired man" had just come in from the field, when the following conversation took place:
"Hello, neighbor," called out Mr. Bowles; "we wish to go to New Jerusalem and have stopped to ask you about the way."
"To where?" asked the farmer.
"To New Jerusalem."
"Never heard of any such place. This road leads up to Bloomington."
"No," answered Bowles, "we are going to New Jerusalem. But we are hungry. Now, if you will give us our dinner and feed our horse I will tell you the way to New Jerusalem."
"The devil you will," answered the farmer. "I will give you your dinners and feed your horse for fifty cents."
When they had finished dinner, Mr. Bowles pushed back a little from the table and began to preach to them the way of the Lord. When they rose from their places it was to go to a near-by stream, where Mr. Bowles baptized the farmer, his wife and the hired man--the entire family.
His body sleeps in Old Union Cemetery, within six feet of the spot where stood the pulpit in which he had preached hundreds of times.
God always provides the man for the time, and Wattie Bowles was a child of Providence.