6. Discussion and Conclusions

(a) The genesis of the Matthias Lampman marriage story:

The earliest mention found of the Matthias Lampman marriage comes from the 1954 publication of “The Annals of the Forty” from the Grimsby (Ont.) Historical Society. The entry states simply that “Matthias .... married Eve Bowman and settled at Ancaster.”. It further states that Matthias had four children: John, Christina, P. Lampman and Phoebe. No sources were given for this information.

The next mention of Matthias’ marriage comes from the Ancaster Historical Society’s “Ancaster’s Heritage” published in 1970. It states that Matthew Lampman came to Stamford Township in 1784 and in 1789 squatted in Ancaster Township. The note from their files indicates that Matthias married before he went to Ancaster. The book goes on to say he married Eve Bowman, sister of Abraham and Peter and that Matthias had at least six children: Catherine, Frederick, Christina, Peter, John and Phoebe. No sources exist for these assertions in the extensive files created by the authors of this book when it was written.

This connection of Matthias’ wife to Abraham and Peter Bowman is the earliest statement found connecting Matthias Lampman to Jacob Bowman of Stamford. All subsequent links between the two men stem from this single unsubstantiated statement.

In 1977, Marylys Penrose published her respected volume on “Baumann/Bowman Families of the Mohawk, Susquehanna and Niagara Rivers’. Penrose offers a full two pages about Eve Bowman including, for the first time, her birthdate: 20 Dec 1777.

Penrose made the following statement about Eve’s marriage: “Eve Bowman married Matthew Lampman, circa 1792, in the District of Niagara.” (p. 141). She offered, as her only source for this statement, the Ancaster’s Heritage volume cited above and she added the dates of birth and marriage for Eve Bowman with no further substantiation.

Penrose went on to say: “Following their marriage, Eve and Matthew established their permanent home in Ancaster Township.” But we know from his brother’s own hand that Matthias went to Ancaster as early as 1786, not after 1792. In 1786, Eve Bowman of Stamford was just 9 years old. Therefore, Penrose had to find a rationale for setting the marriage date well after 1786.

Penrose (p. 142) listed the six children of Matthias and Eve as Catherine, Frederick, Christina, Peter, John and Phoebe as they were listed in the Ancaster Historical Society volume.  She added an inconvenient fact she found in “Early Records of St. Mark’s and St. Andrew’s Churches” by Janet Carnochan: Catherine was baptized 27 Apr 1793 when Eve Bowman was 15 years old. This record meant that Penrose had to set Eve’s marriage date before 1793. Hence, “circa 1792” was selected as the latest possible year of marriage for Matthias and Eve.

Finally we come to the 1997 5^th Edition of “Imprints on the Sands of Time” – a volume concerning the Lampman family’s genealogy. It stated (p. 163) that “Matthys Lampman .... married Eve Bowman with issue: John, Catherine, Christina, Frederick and Peter.” It cited Penrose for this but it did not list Eve Bowman’s birth date nor her marriage date.

It went on to say: “However there is absolutely no proof Mattys first lived in Stamford township and then removed to Ancaster township.” The proof that Matthias was indeed in Stamford for about two years is provided by accounts from both Matthias himself and his brother Frederick.

The matter of the marriage of Eve Bowman b. 1777 to Matthias Lampman has no basis in fact. An elaborate fiction has been developed based only on an unsubstantiated sibling link between the wife of Matthias Lampman and brothers Abraham and Peter Bowman.

Writing in 2002, Marjorie Van Damme, in her book “John Morden and Eve Bowman of the Bay of Quinte and Their Eight Children”, found the petition identifying the wife of John Morden as the very same Eve Bowman claimed in the Penrose book to be the wife of Matthias Lampman. Apparently she was unwilling to challenge the Penrose book. She chose to defer to Penrose on the basis of her respect for Penrose’s work.