Born at "Maiden Spring," near Tazewell, Tazewell County, Virginia, Bowen was the son of Democratic Congressman Rees Bowen, nephew of Senator John Warfield Johnston (a postwar member of the Conservative Party of Virginia, and cousin of Tennessee's last Whig governor William Bowen Campbell.
Born in Maiden Spring, near Tazewell, Tazewell County, Virginia, Bowen was the son of Democratic Congressman Rees Bowen, nephew of Senator John Warfield Johnston (a postwar member of the Conservative Party of Virginia, and cousin of Tennessee's last Whig governor William Bowen Campbell.