BOWLES MYSTERY
Mary Anne Law 1827-1904 the wife of John James Styles 1825-1904, told the story below as if it were her family, we now believe the link may have come into the Styles Family far earlier during the 1700's.
Mary Anne Law was born in Epping, her father was James Law , mother unknown. From the 1851 census we know she had a sister Jane who was 21 and was staying with her during the census.
Whilst the Bowles family appears to relate to the Epping area it could be Latton or some distance away (now known to be Theydon Bois).
The story
The daughter of a Lord & Lady Bowles ran off with the son of the gardener, his name was Hampton, on returning to the family home after marrying him she was shown the door, told never to return and disowned.
This story passed down my family line, was it fact or fiction? We could not be sure of the name, who were the Bowles, were they self titled or Lords of the Manor, we are still looking.
The cousin I found in 2001 had a slip of paper in the family Bible which had been handed down through their branch of the family and confirm the name existed.
The names on the slip
Daniel Linsell Ingleton b. February 24th 1783, Monday night at 9pm
Arabella Bowles b. August 3rd 1788
Charles Bowles b. December 15th 1790
James Bowles b. February 26th 1793
William Bowles b. March 2nd 1795
Harriet Bowles b. December 28th 1797
John Styles b. February 23rd 1803
We note that John Styles, son of Thomas & Sarah of Latton is on the bottom of the slip of paper, this appears to put the date well before Mary Anne Law married in to the Styles Family. Could they be cousins?
Update
We have now found the Bowles family from Theydon Bois, Elizabeth Bowles married John Styles in 1823, but who were her parents John and Sarah Bowles (see family trees).
No trace has been found of the Ingleton family.
Does anyone have the clue!