enry Franklin Bowman was the child of Scottish parents who had been among the earliest settlers in Virginia. His parents moved to Illinois, where Henry was born on May 12, 1857. Shortly after the Civil War, the family moved to Texas. At the age of nineteen, Henry became a cowboy and rode the range in Texas until the family moved to Idaho. In New Meadows, Idaho he started the famous “Bar B” Ranch. In 1899 he married Dolly Kingban. They had four children, one of whom was Fred Bowman, born in New Meadows on April 9, 1890.

In 1907, Henry Bowman came to Alaska and became involved in businesses with his son Fred. In 1912, Fred married Anna Almholm, who was born in Oulu, Finland in 1885. They operated the Golden Gate Hotel in Fairbanks prior to moving to Anchorage in 1921.

Anna and Fred Bowman’s chidren were Harry, born in 1915; Edward, born in 1917 and Howard; born in 1929. In 1930, Fred and his three sons established a homestead at what became the intersection of Bragaw Street and DeBarr Road in Anchorage. Fred later became secretary-treasurer of the Anchorage Commercial Company, predecessor to the Northern Commercial Company. From 1933 to 1936, he operated Bowman Airways, which is believed to be the first company to schedule charter flights from Anchorage to Seattle. After 1938, Fred lived at Lake Clark, Port Alsworth, where he operated a placer mine.

Henry Franklin Bowman died in 1935. His son, Fred, whose wife Anna had died in 1953, passed away in 1959. Their son Edward, who had become a pilot for Alaska Airlines, was killed in a plane crash in 1961. Henry and Fred Bowman are buried in the Elks Tract, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.