Peleg Bowen, son of Peleg and Lenty Bowen, was born in Galway, Saratoga County, N. Y., May 26, 1790, and about 1811 came to Darien, then included in Batavia, and selected a home on the town line, where F. Timms now lives. He lived there till his death. He spent a year or two enclosing and building, and married Eleanor Green. He was one of the sturdy pioneers who cleared out of the forest a good farm and made himself a comfortable home. In the War of 1812 he was a militiaman, and went for the defense of Buffalo when that city was attacked and burned. He was always a farmer, and a man of strict integrity, industrious, honest, a good neighbor, and a reliable citizen. He died in March, 1861. Mrs. Bowen died in December, 1858. They had eight children: David, a farmer residing in Alexander; Rufus, a retired farmer residing in the village of Attica; Olive (Mrs. J. Dunbar), whose husband is a farmer residing in Attica; Florania, who married William Major, and is now a widow residing in Amsterdam, N. Y.; and Richard, who is the only one residing in Darien. Betsey M. married F. Curtis, is a widow, and resides in Wisconsin; Myra married Fernando Burk, and is a widow living in Meridian, Cayuga County; and George P. is a merchant in Batavia. Richard was born December 18, 1828, and has a good practical education, which he received, not in the common schools, but by a course of reading and observation. In October, 1853, he married Susan Curtis, of Alexander. They had three children, of whom Ellen and Flora are living and reside, unmarried, in Attica. Mrs. Bowen died December 9, 1864, and March 8, 1866, Mr. Bowen married Janette. M. Lathrop, by whom he has a son, Charles B., born June 3, 1868, and a daughter, Nettie E., born May 7, 1872. Mr. Bowen is a Democrat, but not an "offensive partisan." He is giving his attention to the cultivation of his large farm, and the breeding of pure blood Oxforddown sheep and imported and registered pure blood Durham cattle. He is well and favorably known throughout the County.

FROM: Gazetteer and Biographical Record of Genesee County, New York, Edited by: F. W. Beers, J.W. Vose & Co., Publishers, Syracuse, N. Y. 1890