Descendants of the Gowen family are planning to restore this cemetery in Moore County, which contains the final resting place of a man who was lifelong friends with Davy Crockett, fought at the side of Gen. Andrew Jackson and was one of the first settlers of Bedford County. (Submitted photo) [Click to enlarge]

Sylvia Gowen Gilbert of Signal Mountain was bitten by the genealogy bug two years ago and for half of that time, she has been searching for an elusive family cemetery.

It was finally located recently in Moore County and contains the final resting place of a man who was lifelong friends with Davy Crockett, fought at the side of General Andrew Jackson and was one of the first settlers of Bedford County. Now the family is planning the cemetery's restoration.

Gilbert had been doing research on the Internet in the hunt for the spot and in the process, met a cousin she never knew she had.

Don Gowen of Decatur, Ala., had been searching for the site for 20 years, which he described in detail on his Gowen Research Foundation website. Gilbert wrote to Gowen and she and her brother were able to locate the cemetery this past summer.

"Even having Don's direction, we still had to enlist the help of some locals and after looking at three cemeteries, someone thought of one more place to look," Gilbert said.

They crawled through a fence, walked into a cattle catch-pen and climbed to the top of a tall hill where they found the cemetery among a clump of trees.

"I looked at this cemetery with great joy because I had finally found it, but great sadness because of the deplorable condition," Gilbert said. Along with the Gowen grave is also the final resting place of Eleanor "Nelly" Merrill Wiseman, reportedly one of Moore County's first residents.

James B. Gowen was born in Virginia in 1786 and was one of the original pioneers of this area. He, like many others of the time, turned their eyes to the vast hunting grounds in the West. While Gowen suffered "considerably from exposure" during his journey, he finally reached the fertile lands of Middle Tennessee, and camped upon the banks of the Harpeth River.

That's where he spent his first year in hunting and trapping, but then made his way south to Bedford County. According to a story written by his grandson, the Rev. George Gowen, pastor of the Vine Street Christian Church of Nashville and published in the Lynchburg Sentinel on May 21, 1880, Gowen followed an Indian trail, and passed over the present site of Shelbyville, killing a deer about where the courthouse now stands. 

He established his home first in Bedford County in 1808 and then headed 10 miles south to Moore County, where he bought a large tract of land at 12 1/2 cents per acre, where he lived until the time of his death in 1880. Many family members still reside in Bedford as well as Franklin, Giles, Lawrence, Lincoln and Moore counties as well as across north Alabama.

In 1810, Gowen built the first home ever constructed in Mulberry, and it remained standing until a year ago.

Gowen joined a company of volunteers in 1812 and served under General Jackson in the Creek war. He was engaged in the three principal battles, namely Tallasehatchie, Talladega and Thohopeka. 

Gowen's grandson wrote that he had a hand-to-hand contest with an Indian at Thohopeka, in which the Indian was killed. "He has ever regretted this affair, notwithstanding it was done in self defense," Rev. Gowen wrote.

"He was personally acquainted with Old Hickory, and was many times brought in personal contact with the old hero. In remuneration for these services he has drawn a pension ever since the passage of the pension act."

But it was the hunting days where Gowen and Davy Crockett were known as "boon companions."

"...many times they have pulled bones together from roasted bear ribs, seated over their camp fires, with no other covering save the branches of some forest oak, and no other companions except their trusty rifles and faithful dogs."

The Rev. Gowen claimed that his grandfather "was doubtless with Davy when the latter performed his great feat of 'splitting a limb with his only bullet, and thereby catching so many turkeys by their toes.'"

Gowen was described as a great sportsman of his time, and kept up his regular fishing days until a few weeks before his death. It was a hard life in those days and that probably had a lot to do with shaping his tough constitution, which led to him living to the age of 94 years and six months.

Descendants of James Burns Gowen and others buried in the old Gowen Cemetery are being asked to attend a meeting for the formation of The James Burns Gowen Cemetery Association, Inc., which will be a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization "for the restoration, enhancement, maintenance, and establishment of a perpetual care fund for the cemetery. 

This meeting will take place Saturday, Feb. 17, at noon at the Masonic Lodge #509, 101 Main St. in Lynchburg. For more information, e-mail DonGowen@gowencemetery.com or SylviaGilbert@gowencemetery.com.