Joseph Hopkinson Bowen

Joseph ( Joe ) Hopkinson Bowen, a prominent Bramwell business man, was born in St. Clair, PA on May 27, 1887. He was the third son of W. Harry Bowen (1860 - 1942) and Harriet Hopkinson Bowen ( Died in 1932 ). Joseph was an alumnus of the University of Virginia, class of 1910. When he graduated from UVA he went to work for the Booth-Bowen Coal and Coke Company that was founded by his grandfather , Jonathan Bowen, in 1884. Joe Bowen married Elizabeth Prichard in 1914 and they were parents of four children. Following a lingering illness, Joe Bowen died October 9, 1966, followed by his widows death in 1967.

Joe's father, W. Harry Bowen was one of the founders of the Pocahontas Fuel Company. Harry's son, Joe Bowen served as the Chairman of the Pocahontas Fuel Company until 1951. At that time, Joe Bowen and his associates purchased a controlling interest in the West Virginia Armature Company in which his son Joe Jr. ( born October 19,1915 ) was active in this company's management. Joe Bowen was also President of the Limestone Dust Corporation with his son William Henry Bowen serving as operating manager. At the time of Joe Bowen's death in 1966, he was a Director of many of the leading businesses in Southern WV. He was a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. The following is the Bowen family chain:

JONATHAN P. BOWEN (1830 - 1902) Co-founder of Booth - Bowen Coal & Coke Co. ( Wife - Hanna Evans Bowen ).

W. HARRY BOWEN (1860 - 1942) President of Booth - Bowen Coal & Coke Co. ( Wife - Harriet Hopkinson Bowen ).

JOSEPH H. BOWEN (1887 - 1966) Chairman - Pocahontas Fuel Co. ( Wife - Elizabeth Prichard Bowen ).

( Material furnished by Mary Clark Gross and Bill Gross & from Martha Jane Becker's Book, Bramwell...The Diary of a Millionaire Coal Town. )