Photo added by Rebecca M

Eli Bowen

Birth: 14 Oct 1842
Richland County, Ohio, USA
Death: 4 May 1924 (aged 81)
Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, USA
Burial: Lowell Memorial Cemetery

Lowell, Lake County, Indiana, USA Add to Map
Plot: Unmarked Grave
Memorial ID: 19947334 View Source

Suggest Edits

Suggest Edits
Report Duplicate

Memorial
Photos 11
Flowers 33

Memorials
Region
North America
USA
Indiana
Lake County
Lowell
Lowell Memorial Cemetery

Created by: Dawnette Ingersoll
Added: Jun 17, 2007
Find a Grave Memorial ID:
Source Hide citation
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19947334/eli-bowen: accessed ), memorial page for Eli Bowen (14 Oct 1842–4 May 1924), Find a Grave Memorial ID 19947334, citing Lowell Memorial Cemetery, Lowell, Lake County, Indiana, USA; Maintained by Dawnette Ingersoll (contributor 46832349).

Add Photos for Eli Bowen

Fulfill Photo Request for Eli Bowen

Photo Request Fulfilled

Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request

There is an open photo request for this memorial

Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?

Drag images here or select from
your computer for Eli Bowen memorial.

Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).

Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.

All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.

General photo guidelines:

Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
No post-mortem photos.

Read full guidelines

File Name

Request Grave Photo

Photo request failed. Try again later.

This memorial already has a grave photo. Please indicate why you think it needs another.

Note:

The note field is required.

Include my email in message to volunteers.

Leave a Flower

Choose a category:

Add to your scrapbook

Search by flower name

Clear

Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Add to your scrapbook

Leave a note (Optional)

NaN characters remaining

Flower left by

Display my name ()

Display alternate name

Don't display any name (Anonymous)

You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.

Memorial Photos

This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.

Now Showing 1 of 11

View original

Added by: Rebecca M on 06 Jan 2006

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 2 of 11

View original

Added by: Sarah Pullen on 14 Jan 2020

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 3 of 11

View original

This cabinet photo is not mine nor am I related, sorry. Please credit: Randy S. Gladstone

Added by: Randy Gladstone on 08 Apr 2018

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 4 of 11

View original

This cabinet photo is not mine nor am I related, sorry. Please credit: Randy S. Gladstone

Added by: Randy Gladstone on 08 Apr 2018

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 5 of 11

View original

Age 23

Added by: Ben G on 12 Mar 2015

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 6 of 11

View original

Added by: Grave Tag'r on 18 Jun 2011

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 7 of 11

View original

Eli Bowen was born in Ohio 14 October 1844 - one of ten children. His brothers and sisters were physically normal, Eli was born with his feet attached directly to his pelvis.

Billed as ‘The Legless Acrobat' he was known for his remarkable tumbling abilities. While Eli stood only twenty-four inches in height he had no reservations about climbing a thirteen foot pole in order to balance on a single hand at its peak. Griping the pole Eli would stretch his torso straight, parallel to the ground, and spin around the pole. Eli would then hold himself parallel to the pole using only his right arm. The routine not only displayed Bowen's strength, but was also unusually graceful. Soon, Eli Bowen was commanding a salary of over $100 a week.

Eli Bowen's good looks drew many female fans to his performances. At the age of 26 Eli married 15-year-old Mattie and he fathered 4 healthy sons. He took great pride in his family and the majority of the photos featuring Eli feature his family as well.

Bowen continued to perform into his 80's. His sons were prosperous, one became a merchant and another became a lawyer and judge and Eli owned property, specifically two farms in Michigan, and so money was never much of a concern. Eli simply loved life in the public eye and could not give up performing.

On May 2, 1924 Eli Bowen died of pneumonia days before a scheduled performance for The Dreamland Circus at Coney Island. During his long career he was regarded with great reverence by his fellow performers. They lovingly referred to him as ‘Captain Eli.'

Added by: Chris Yoder on 14 Apr 2009

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 8 of 11

View original

Marriage records for Eli Bowen...just click on image several times to enlarge to largest size.

Added by: S G Michael on 05 Mar 2018

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 9 of 11

View original

Added by: Bayart on 22 Apr 2012

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 10 of 11

View original

Added by: Faith on 05 May 2024

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Now Showing 11 of 11

View original

With His friend, Charles B. Tripp!!!

Added by: elizabeth meyer on 26 Apr 2024

Photo Updated

Photo Failed to Update

Cover Photo Change Saved.

Oops, we were unable to send the email.

Oops, we were unable to send the email. Try again

Friend's email:

The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Verify and try again.

Add another email

Your email:

The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Verify and try again.

Message:

I thought you might like to see a memorial for Eli Bowen I found on Findagrave.com.

Sending...

Save To

This memorial has been copied to your clipboard.

Failed to copy

Ancestry
Virtual Cemetery
Copy to clipboard
Print

Your Virtual Cemeteries

Select to include on a virtual cemetery:

Loading…

Type new virtual cemetery name

Manage Virtual Cemeteries

Report Abuse

Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive?

This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review.

Failed to report flower. Try again later.

Delete Flower

Are you sure that you want to delete this flower?

Failed to delete flower. Try again later.

Delete Memorial

Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial?

Failed to delete memorial. Try again later.

Reported Problems

Problem #index#:
Details:
Reported By:
Reported On:

There was an error deleting this problem. Try again later.

Report a problem

Problem:

Please select a problem

Details:

Recently Deceased

Report a Duplicate Memorial

Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Eli Bowen (19947334)?

We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Learn more about merges.

Memorial ID

Invalid memorial

Please enter a valid Memorial ID

You cannot merge a memorial into itself

Memorial has already been merged

Memorial has already been removed

Delete Photo

Are you sure that you want to delete this photo?

Failed to delete photo. Try again later.

Welcome to a Find a Grave Memorial Page

Learn about how to make the most of a memorial.

or don't show this again—I am good at figuring things out

Cover photo and vital information

Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.

Show Map

If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.

Photos

For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.

Photos Tab

All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.

Flowers

Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.

Family Members

Family members linked to this person will appear here.

Sponsor This Memorial

Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.

Share this memorial using social media sites or email.

Save to

Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.

Edit or Suggest Edit

Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.

Have Feedback

Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.

Leave feedback

1 photo picked...

2 photos picked...

Size exceeded

You may not upload any more photos to this memorial

"Unsupported file type"

Uploading...

Waiting...

Success

Failed

This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos

This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial

This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos

This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial

Invalid File Type

Uploading 1 Photo

Uploading 2 Photos

1 Photo Uploaded

2 Photos Uploaded

Added by

GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.

Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.

Enter numeric value

Enter memorial Id

Year should not be greater than current year

Invalid memorial

Duplicate entry for memorial

You have chosen this person to be their own family member.

Reported!

This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.

0% Complete

Add a caption Saved

Select a photo type

Grave

Person

Family

Other

Saved

Memorial updated successfully.

Yeah, no more ads! Memorial has been sponsored successfully.

Your suggestions have been submitted and will be reviewed by the memorial manager.

Your edit did not contain any changes from the original.

Thank you! Your suggested merge has been submitted for review.

You are now the manager of this memorial.
Thanks for helping with Find a Grave!

You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. more details

You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. more details

Photo request sent successfully.

Photo Request successfully deleted.

Failed to delete photo request. Try again later.

Memorial Transfer Successful

The Photo Request has been fulfilled.

Eli Bowen

File Name

Welcome to a Find a Grave Memorial Page

Cover photo and vital information

Show Map

Photos

Photos Tab

Flowers

Family Members

Related searches

Sponsor This Memorial

Share

Save to

Edit or Suggest Edit

Have Feedback

Memorial updated successfully.

Yeah, no more ads! Memorial has been sponsored successfully.

Your suggestions have been submitted and will be reviewed by the memorial manager.

Your edit did not contain any changes from the original.

Thank you! Your suggested merge has been submitted for review.

You are now the manager of this memorial. Thanks for helping with Find a Grave!

You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. more details

You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. more details

Photo request sent successfully.

Photo Request successfully deleted.

Failed to delete photo request. Try again later.

Memorial Transfer Successful

The Photo Request has been fulfilled.

Eli Bowen

File Name ·

Welcome to a Find a Grave Memorial Page

Cover photo and vital information

Show Map

Photos

Photos Tab

Flowers

Family Members

Related searches

Sponsor This Memorial

Share

Save to

Edit or Suggest Edit

Have Feedback

You are now the manager of this memorial.
Thanks for helping with Find a Grave!

File Name