[1] Bowen was born in Butler County, Alabama, and was one of a group of black Americans who moved from Oklahoma to Canada in 1911, filing for homesteads north of Edmonton and east of Athabasca Landing.
Their baby girl developed a common coastal bacterial infection, suffering severe diarrhea, and died in 1912.
He also worked on a ranch in Saskatchewan, in a packing plant in Edmonton, and on Alberta grain farms.
[3] His eldest daughters also contributed to the family income by working as domestic workers in Athabasca and Edmonton.
His original log cabin became a community meeting place, post office, and site of the first telephone.