Winn (or Wynn) B. Gowen (b. ca. 1840) of Alabama, paternal ancestor of Mary Gowen, was captured at the Battle of Champion Hill in Mississippi, and sent to the prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate soldiers in May 1863 on Johnson’s Island, Sandusky Bay, Ohio.
Frederick Jacob Rothaas (or Rothhass), architect and engineer, was employed with the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Rail Road Company as principle draughtsman. He settled in New Orleans after winning a contest that brought him to America. He was a maternal ancestor of Mary Gowen.
Mary Gowen from Austin, Texas donated this collection on August 11, 2011.
A diary, with partial transcript, correspondence, marriage license, inaugural address, Bible, genealogy, and a hand painted photograph inside a union case comprise the Mary Gowen Papers, 1838-1869, documenting Mary Gowen’s ancestry, and a personal account of being a prisoner-of-war. Winn Gowen’s diary narrates his experience as a prisoner on Johnson’s Island, and contains the signatures and units of other officers being held there. Correspondence is composed of a letter of recommendation for Frederick Jacob Rothaas written on New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Rail Road Company Letterhead (1860), and one letter dated June 21 1838 to Rothaas from Sam Houston. A marriage license (1869) is for George Gray and Victoria Rothaas, a descendent of Frederick Jacob Rothaas. Additionally, the collection includes a copy of Governor Henry W. Allen’s inaugural address to the Louisiana legislature at Shreveport, January 23, 1864; the Gowen family Bible; small notes containing genealogical information of Mary Gowen’s ancestry; and a cased image of Victoria Rothaas.
This collection is open for research use.
Mary Gowen Papers, 1838-1869, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This collection was processed by Maria Soscia, October 2011.