General Notes

Part of what I found online concerning John Steel Gowen could be true, but the facts I found so far are that his mother is alive in 1880. She is the wife of George Staggers, father of Redden Staggers. Redden married Lemuel Linder Johnston, Jr., son of Lemuel Linder, Sr. Lem's brother, James Washinton Johnston married Annie F. Whitley.  Redden had a sister Susan who marred a Whitley and is widowed and living next door to George, wife Mary, step-son John Steel Gowen and dau. Redden.(1880)


From the Gowen Family Association online..

The sheriff of Ft. Bend County knew that John Steel Gowen was a member of an outlaw gang that roamed through the area in the turbulent days that followed the Civil War and sought an opportunity to arrest him..  He had fled to Texas riding a horse stolen in Arkansas and with the knowledge that he had killed a man there.  In a Fulshear saloon, he quickly joined up with the bushwhackers.  While still in his teens, Gowen was labeled a horsethief, a cattle rustler and a desperado.  He lived the life of a nightrider with the lawless group for six years, robbing and stealing--and did it successfully, according to some.  He was never caught. 

Then came word from Arkansas that he was not a murderer, that the victim, his uncle, had survived and that he was not charged with any crime--either in Arkansas or in Texas!.  Just as quickly as he had turned to a life of crime, he became respectable and law-abiding.  He moved to Houston, got a job with a large grocery concern and became a model member of the community, at the age of 21.
John Steel Gowen was born in a room in Kellum's Hotel in Searcy, Arkansas in August 1859, according to Glen Atmar Gowen, a grandson of Houston.  Having been abandoned by his father, they were enumerated there alone in the hotel in the 1860 census of White County:
Gowen, Mrs. M. 25, born in Arkansas, female
J.  1/12, born in Arkansas, male"

They were the only members of the Gowen family to appear in White County in 1860.  The father, name unknown, born in Ireland, was orphaned and worked as a cabinboy to pay for his passage to the United States.  Faced with the responsibility of a new baby and a sickly wife, he "went west."  When his mother  died, a reluctant uncle took John Steel Gowen in and loaded him with farm chores "to make a man out of him."

At 15, in an argument with the overbearing uncle, Gowen struck him on the temple with a large rock and left him in a pool of blood.  Convinced that he had killed his uncle instantly, he stole a horse from the lot and lit out for Texas, in his mind a fugitive from justice.  There he fell in with other desperadoes and became proficient in a life of crime, until it became apparent that he could quit and start over with a second chance.

"John S. Gowen," was listed in the 1881 city directory of Houston as a salesman for J. A. McKee Company which advertised "drygoods, groceries and beer."  He became a model citizen and lived in a respectable part of town "on the west side of Brewster Street, two blocks north of Sewell Street."  He was married in 1883 to Marion Jane Johnston, age 14, born in Texas in August 1869.
In the 1889-1890 city directory John Steel Gowen was a representative of Browne & Bollfross, Grocers and lived at 30 Spruce Street.  In 1891, John Steel Gowen went into business with William F. Ludtke as "Ludtke & Gowen, Butchers, on the west side of Liberty Street between Chestnut & Chapman." He owned a home "at the northeast corner of Donley & Gregg Streets."  In 1897, he removed his family to nearby Wharton County.

John Steel Gowen appeared as the head of the household in the 1900 census of Wharton County, Enumeration District 58, page 7, precinct 4:
"Gowen,John 40, born in Arkansas in August 1859
Marion 30, born in Texas in August 1869
Marie L. 15, born in Texas in October 1884
Mattie 13, born in Texas October 1886
John   9, born in Texas in November 1890
Ed 2, born in Texas in August 1897
Irene  10/12,