By Charlotte Jackson, Archival Consultant to the Bowne House and Ellen Spindler, Bowne House Collection Volunteer
One Bowne House artifact that always fascinates visitors—especially schoolchildren—is the wooden crutch with which John Bowne’s father Thomas allegedly killed a bear.
Thomas Bowne’s Crutch or “Staff”
The story of the crutch has been passed down through Bowne family tradition. This 1897 archival photograph of the Parlor reveals that it was already treated as a cherished family artifact in the 19th century, displayed in the same wood and glass case it occupies today.
The crutch on display in the Bowne House Parlor, 1897.
DOCUMENTATION OF THE CRUTCH STORY
An early Bowne House tour script found in the Bowne House Archives relates the crutch story. Although unsigned, it is in the hand of Mabel Parsons (1872-1964), daughter of the noted landscape architect Samuel Parsons, Jr. and herself a Bowne descendant. The script may belong to the days when the Parsons Sisters, Anna and Bertha, lived in the House and offered tours featuring first-hand family lore. Her notes read as follows:
“Cane in Case – Thomas Bowne’s – with which he killed a Bear in Woods on Bowne Street about 1650. Thomas Bowne was walking from the little house he had built on the site of the Flag Pole at the High School on Northern Boulevard to Bowne Street, when the Bear rushed out at him from the Woods and Thomas Bowne thrust his cane down the Bear’s throat and killed him. Thomas Bowne was the father of John Bowne who built the Bowne House and this story is absolutely true as it is told by Samuel Parsons in his Diary.”
Site marker from the Folklore Society. Photo: Stefan Dreisbach-Williams
The 1650 date must be approximate, as John Bowne first visited Flushing in 1651 and the family moved sometime between then and 1656. The original family cabin near the future Flushing High School, a five-minute walk from the Bowne House, would not have been built until that time. Thomas Bowne’s cabin remained standing until the 1830’s.
Another unattributed tour script from the early decades of the Museum describes the crutch as a “Staff,” and situates the bear attack “on the Turnpike, now Northern Boulevard.” The Turnpike occasionally crops up as a landmark in our 17th century Flushing land deeds, suggesting that present-day Northern Boulevard served as a major artery for the area as far back as the 1650’s. The crutch was also cataloged in record books where details of the Museum’s collection were kept in a time before computerized databases. Here we first hear of Thomas Bowne’s nickname:
Item Description: “John Bowne’s father was known as ‘Lame Thomas’ who walked with a limp and used this crutch to travel around. Family legend states that Thomas was walking through the forests of Queens when he was confronted by a black bear. His only defense was his crutch so he shoved it in the bear’s mouth and choked it to death.”
THOMAS BOWNE (1595-1677)
We know little of Thomas Bowne aside from this anecdote. He was born in “County Derby,” England in 1595 and died at Flushing in 1677 at the age of 82. His will describes him as a “Yeoman,” a freeholder or farmer who owned his own land. After his wife Mary died in 1647, Thomas lived for 30 years as a widower, which was unusual in the 17th century. Thomas emigrated from England to Boston in 1649 with his son John and daughter Dorothy. They continued to retain a share of Lime Tree Farm, the family property in their hometown of Matlock.
After a short time in Boston, the family relocated to Vlissingen (later Flushing), a settlement then part of New Netherland that had many English residents. Thomas built a cabin there and John resided with him until he married Hannah Winthrop Feake in 1656, building the Bowne House by 1661. In 1676 Thomas signed a deed of gift conferring his interest in the family farm at Matlock, England to John, from “natural affection and fatherly love,” but also “for divers other good causes and consideracions, mee thereunto especially moving.”
Thomas’s injury may have made it difficult to earn a livelihood as a farmer in the semi-wilderness of Long Island, let alone provide for a spouse; there is some documentation, including the above deed and his Will, that he relied on his son to support him in whole or part for some years. His limp notwithstanding, “Lame” Thomas Bowne evidently proved more than a match for the unlucky bear. Today, his crutch has been restored to its previous place in the Parlor, standing sentry outside what was formerly called the William Penn bedroom. His legend lives on for another generation of visitors.
HOW THE CRUTCH WAS PASSED DOWN IN THE FAMILY
Photo: Stefan Dreisbach-Williams
The following inscription appears above the crutch in its display case:
Staff of Thomas Bowne, émigré 1649 (with which he is said to have killed the bear). Presented by Jas: B. Parsons to Richard Hartshorne Bowne. By his daughter, Mrs. Isaac F. Wood, returned to the “Old Bowne House,” 1893
The inscription describes the crutch as “presented by” Jas B. Parsons. James Bowne Parsons (1809-1894) was the eldest son of Samuel Parsons and Mary Bowne, and brother to Mary, Samuel, Robert, William, and Jane Parsons. James was a merchant in New York City, unlike his brothers who were involved in the family horticulture business. Their father Samuel Parsons (1774-1841), whose diary is credited with recording the bear story, married John Bowne’s great-great-granddaughter, Mary Bowne.
James Bowne Parsons and Richard Hartshorne Bowne (1810-1881), the recipient of the crutch, were second cousins and also brothers-in-law through their marriage to sisters Eliza and Emily Cock. Their shared great-grandparent was John Bowne II, who resided in the house until 1757. Richard Hartshorne Bowne was also a grandson of the renowned Robert Bowne, founder of Bowne Printing Company and trustee of the New York Manumission Society.
Richard’s daughter Sarah E. Bowne (1844-1916), who returned the crutch to the Bowne House in 1893, married Isaac F. Wood. Wood was a founder and librarian of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society of New York and owned a historic medallion collection. Sarah herself became the first female member of the Society and was elected a “resident life member” in 1878. Given this background, she was well equipped to appreciate the artifactual value of the heirloom she inherited. Clearly the crutch was a cherished family object passed down from generation to generation until finally returned to its rightful home.