Thomas Jefferson Gowen Got
A Second Chance in Texas
After killing two men in an 1887 dancehall shootout in Green
County, Kentucky, Thomas Jefferson Gowen kissed his wife
and children goodbye and lit out for St. Louis. The sheriff,
meanwhile, was searching for his twin brother, Henry Clay
Gowen who was originally suspected in the crime. In St. Louis
the 31-year-old fugitive bought a ticket on the St. Louis, San
Francisco & Texas Railway. At Frisco, Texas, he stepped off
the train to an uncertain freedom, according to Jessie Morgan
Gowen, his daughter-in-law.
The twins were born June 12, 1855 to Jonathan Henry Gowen
and Hannah J. Beasley Gowen in Stokes County, North
Carolina. The father, a native of Patrick County, Virginia, had
brought his family to Adair County, Kentucky about 1856.
At Frisco, Thomas Jefferson Gowen got a job on a farm, stayed
out of town and kept a low profile. Months later, when he
thought it was safe, he got word to his older brother, Andrew
Jackson Gowen of his whereabouts. He requested him to bring
his wife, Lucinda Margaret Floyd Gowen and their three children
to Frisco.
By 1903 they had removed 20 miles south to Dallas where both
brothers were employed as “trunkmakers” by Henry Pollock
Trunk Company, according to the city directory. Andrew
Jackson Gowen returned to Kentucky, but Thomas Jefferson
Gowen remained in Dallas, opened a grocery in 1911 and
became a successful merchant. He never went back to
Kentucky, and many of his Gowen family had no inkling of his
whereabouts.
He died in November 26, 1935 at age 81 leaving the widow the
grocery, two delivery trucks and an impressive $1,030 in the
bank. Lucinda Margaret Floyd Gowen died October 22, 1941 at
age 83, according to Dallas County Death Book 7, page 526.
Children born to them include:
Mary Alice Gowen born October 31, 1878
John Lemuel Gowen born February 3, 1880
Pearl Elmore Gowen born December 29, 1881
Goyen Family Tree 