[1][2] He and his three siblings were raised by his single mother Mattie (or Marta) Bowman, who was widowed, and worked as a maid in Vicksburg.

[2] After graduation he became a director of the newly created industrial department known as Quindaro Industrial School at the Western University a historically black college (HBCU) in Quindaro, Kansas.

[1] Bowman worked for Western University from 1898 until 1902, followed by opening his own architecture firm in Kansas City.

[1] Bowman was married to Etta B. Buford for less than one year, she had been a student at Western University.

[1] Many of the biographical details of Bowman's life are unknown, including his circumstances in death, which was sometime during or after 1925.