There were two Joel Bowkers in Salem in this time period: a father & son, I cannot find any evidence of a third person with the same name in the same time and place.
At the time the tomb was purchased in 1830, The elder Bowker was 55 and the younger was 24. The younger seems to be too young to be purchasing a tomb. This would lead me to believe that it was the elder Bowker that purchased the tomb in 1830.
Both men lived long after the more fashionable nearby Harmony Grove Cemetery opened in 1840 and it happens that Joel the elder and his wife were buried there, along with other family members. I have not yet found evidence of a grave that is clearly for Joel the younger. He might be in this tomb, or the tomb may actually sit empty. There is no practical way to know.
There were two Joel Bowkers in Salem in this time period: a father & son, I cannot find any evidence of a third person with the same name in the same time and place.
At the time the tomb was purchased in 1830, The elder Bowker was 55 and the younger was 24. The younger seems to be too young to be purchasing a tomb. This would lead me to believe that it was the elder Bowker that purchased the tomb in 1830.
Both men lived long after the more fashionable nearby Harmony Grove Cemetery opened in 1840 and it happens that Joel the elder and his wife were buried there, along with other family members. I have not yet found evidence of a grave that is clearly for Joel the younger. He might be in this tomb, or the tomb may actually sit empty. There is no practical way to know.
Inscription
No. 6.
Joel Bowker
Tomb 1830
[The date listed here is the date of the tomb, and not necessarily the date of death for any interred within.
Ref: "Inscriptions from Howard Street Burying Ground, Salem, Mass.”, compiled by Mrs. Archambault and Mrs. Duren", pub. 1943(5?), found in the Peabody Essex Library, Peabody, MA.
The markers immediately on both sides of Joel's tomb are missing.
Note: Joel's tomb is engraved "No. 6", and is the sixth tomb as you count from left to right, when facing the cemetery from its north end.]
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