Peninsula In Passage

James Bowser Two local heroes who shared the last name “Bowser” played important roles in the community - two centuries apart. James Bowser was a Revolutionary War soldier serving in the 1st Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line under Col. William Davies in Shenandoah County. A free African American, Bowser enlisted in 1782 and when the war ended he returned to Nansemond County to marry and raise a large family – all free born. In 1834 James Bowser’s descendants petitioned the federal government and were granted the free land entitlement that rewarded veterans of the war. Bowser may very well have been descended from African-American Anthony Bowser who was born about 1650 and served as a slave or indentured servant to Major General Richard Bennett. Anthony Bower gained his freedom in March 1676, at a cost of 800 pounds of tobacco annually. Florence Bowser

Fast forward to 1920 when the Florence Graded School was built to educate African-American children in the county thanks

to the efforts of another African American hero, Florence Bowser. The school was partially funded by a grant from the Rosenwald Fund, philanthropy of Julius Rosenwald, founder of Sears and Roebuck, to build elementary schools with matching community grants for African-American children in 15 states. Florence Brickhouse Bowser, originally from Norfolk, attended what is now Virginia State University and taught in Nansemond County. Besides being a dedicated educator, Bowser was also a community activist and pushed the local residents into raising money to match the Rosenwald grant and build a new school In 1963 the new, brick Florence Bowser Elementary was built to incorporate elements of the original school.

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