Samuel Bownas 1677-1753

Samuel BOWNAS 1677-1753

Biographical Note

Born at Shap, Westmorland, second child of Anthony Bownas, shoemaker, and his wife Agnes. Apprenticed to his uncle, a blacksmith, and thereafter to Samuel Parat of Sedbergh, Yorkshire. Supporting himself before 1722 mainly in harvest-labouring and shoemaking, he travelled widely in the Quaker ministry, and was imprisoned at various stages. He travelled to Maryland, America in 1702, settling on his return in Lymington, Hampshire and from 1722 in Bridport, Dorset where he became a merchant. He continued his ministry work, travelling over five thousand miles in America again in 1726-8. Married 1. Joan Slade; 2. Elizabeth Nicholls, née Priest.

Books

His printed book-label (‘Samuel Bowmas His Book, 1703.’) is preserved on the front pastedown of a well-worn and damaged Bible of 1647, one also containing his annotations with details about his American travels.

Sources

• Maggs Bros. Catalogue 1447/30: Wing Books Printed in England 1641-1700 from the Library of James Stevens Cox (1910-1997) London, 2011.
• Skidmore, Gil. ‘Bownas, Samuel (1677–1753), Quaker minister and writer’. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.