1987 (4) John Bowe (-1910) and Ellen Canavan (1861-1943)

Speakers: WJB — William J. Bowe; JC — John D. Casey. Transcribed from the recording; punctuation added and obvious mis-hearings corrected.

WJB: Do you have any memories of Gus and the Bowes as a boy?

JC: Oh, sure.

WJB: You were growing up in Momence?

JC: Oh, no, I didn’t grow up in Momence. I was born right here in Chicago, and my whole life was in Chicago — as were the Bowe boys —

WJB: Would you ever meet down in the summers?

JC: Oh, we’d meet them frequently. We would go over to call — we had a horse and buggy — and when I was, say, six years old, we’d ride over twice a week to see the Bowes, who lived on Albany Avenue. Do you remember Albany?

WJB: Well, I remember — was that the near west side? Because I remember Ashland Avenue — on Ashland, just north of North Avenue, was where Gus Bowe was born. And my father [William John Bowe, Sr.] was born just east of Ashland on Superior. And then I remember they lived over near Lake Street for a while. I’m not sure where the Albany period came in.

JC: Well, then they finally wound up in — after Grandfather [Moses] Bowe died, the money came due to each of his grandchildren. So there was money due to Bill and Gus and Anna.

JC: From?

WJB: From Grandfather Bowe.

JC: From Ellen’s side?

WJB: Grandfather Bowe, I’m talking about now.

JC: Oh, so this would’ve been John — John Joseph Bowe’s father.

WJB: John Bowe’s father, yeah. So he was the farmer in Peotone [Illinois, Will] County?

JC: Yeah. And he left a fair farm, I understand — I didn’t get any details about it. But they held up payment of that money until each of the three Bowe children came of age, for some reason. And with that money, that made them enough, I guess, to pay for the down payment on the two-flat building at 3320 Fulton Street.

WJB: Oh, yes.

JC: And before living there, they lived in a building at the corner of Albany and Fulton Street. Then John [Canavan] was the oldest — no, he wasn’t, he was the second oldest boy, and he was a farmer who went to live in Iowa, and he was married to a woman named Anne [Canavan] Doyle. Now, Anne Doyle was a cousin Canavan — she was the daughter of Anthony Canavan and his wife, Catherine Kirby and the sister to my grandmother [Ann Hughes].

WJB: Ellen.

JC: Yeah — Ellen was always called — so your Aunt Elle?

WJB: Aunt Ellie was always called — what was she called?

JC: Lib?

WJB: No, her children called her that. I think she was just called Ella — E-L-L-A.