Jane Bowen (née Spencer; – 18 October 1781) was an English woman who became known for assisting overseas officers working in support of the American cause during the Revolutionary War. She also supervised the burial of Polish general Casimir Pulaski, who was killed in the 1779 siege of Savannah.
Early life Jane "Jeanie" Spencer was born 1737, probably in London,The American Genealogist, p. 199 to William Spencer (died 1776),The American Genealogist, p. 196 a customs collector in Savannah, Province of Georgia, and Elizabeth Spencer.The American Genealogist, p. 197 Her parents divorced; his father remarried, around January 1745, to a daughter of Joseph Avery.
Siege of Savannah Two years after the death of her husband, Bowen hosted two officers from the fleet of Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing, at Greenwich Plantation in Thunderbolt, Province of Georgia, during the 1779 siege of Savannah. She also supervised the burial of Polish general Casimir Pulaski, who was killed during the battle, "between her mansion and the river",Polish American Journal, 1996 although Pulaski's resting place is disputed (some claim he was buried at sea or in Charleston, South Carolina).Szczygielski 1986, p. 393.
Personal life On 30 March 1765, Spencer married English farmer and entrepreneur Samuel Bowen, who established Greenwich Plantation in 1765.Greenwich Cemetery - Forest City of the South After Bowen's death in 1777, she assumed control of the plantation. The couple had four children. Daughter Elizabeth Ann (1766–1816) married British army surgeon Samuel Beecroft, to whom Jane sold the plantation in 1797. Elizabeth placed flowers at Pulaski's grave until her death in 1816.
Death
Upon her death in 1781, aged 43 or 44, Bowen bequeathed her four children 26 slaves, 15 cows, and two oxen, along with a variety of machines for the processing of sago.
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