Thomas Bowman (July 15, 1817 – March 3, 1914)[1] was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872.

[4] His maternal grandfather, Samuel Brittain, fought in the American Revolutionary War as a private in Captain McCalla's Company from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

While he was president of Indiana Asbury College, he also served as the chaplain of the United States Senate from May 1864 until March 1865 during the administration of his friend, Abraham Lincoln.

[1] Just five days before Lincoln's assassination, Bowman warned Lincoln that he was in danger of being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth as he saw Booth "prowling about the Capitol buildings and White House, and became convinced that his presence there boded ill for Mr.

"[7] During his time at DePauw, Bowman presided over such significant events as the first admissions of women students and of the initial planning (and laying of the cornerstone) of East College.