James McGowan was born on Feb. 25, 1841 in White Co., Tennessee. About 1857, he moved with his parents and family to Saline Co., Illinois and worked with his father Wiley and brother John on their farm. The reason his father Wiley moved his family North is unknown, however his three sons, James, John and Henry all served in the Union Army. On Sept. 26, 1862 James and John enlisted in Co. H, 128th Regiment of Infantry of Illinois Volunteers. He was 21 years old, 5'7" tall, dark hair, gray eyes, fair complexion, single. Along with his brother John he was listed as a deserter from Feb. 6 to Mar. 15, 1863. If they were like a lot of other soldiers, North and South, they probably had returned home to help with the plowing and planting and then returned to their units. The regiment was stationed at Cairo, IL and then Columbus, KY. On Apr. 1, 1863, the 128th Regiment was disbanned due to mass desertion, only about 161 men remaining out of 860. Those who remained were finally consolidated with the 9th Regiment of Mounted Infantry of Illinois Volunteers. James was in Co. K. In Aug., 1863, they were stationed at Island No. 10, Tennessee. Then, on May 14, 1864, while engaged in the first major battle in Sherman's invasion of Georgia and the March to the Sea, at the Battle of Snake Creek Gap near Resaca, Georgia, James was captured and imprisoned at Richmond, Virginia, probably at Belle Isle Prison in the James River. James was parolled ten months later, on Feb. 25, 1865. From there he was sent to Annapolis, Maryland and then to Benton Barracks, Missouri. He was discharged on May 3, 1865 and received three months extra pay for his time of imprisonment.
After his return home, he married, on Jan. 18, 1866, to Amanda Melvina Martin in Saline Co. She was born about 1850 in Tennessee and died Dec. 10, 1874 in Saline Co. They were the parents of possibly two daughters. After Amanda's death, around 1875, James moved to Arkansas and on May 23 1876, he married for the second time to Eliza Ann Eaton. Little is known of this time in his life except that a few years later, on Jan. 15, 1878, Eliza Ann died in Conway Co., AR. It is not believed that they had any children. The next that is known of James is that he was in Kansas in 1883. There, on Nov. 7, 1886, he married Lilly Agnes Shannon at Sylvan Grove, Lincoln County. She had been born on Feb. 28, 1867 in Montpelier, Blackford Co., Indiana, the daughter of Thomas M. and Talitha Jane (Pace) Shannon. At the time of their marriage, Lilly was the mother of two small children, Clyde and Isa Ethel. James raised them as his own. James was a farmer, as the men of his family had been for many generations, and probably raised wheat on the west Kansas prarie. James & Lilly lived in several adjacent counties in North Central Kansas: Lincoln, Mitchell, Osborne, Russell and Rooks Counties. From 1918 to the mid 1920's they lived in Loup County, Nebraska, so that they could be near a doctor. James was in declining health in his later years; he was blind and had liver disease and other problems, much like his brother John, who also went blind. James died on July 22, 1927 at Webster in Rooks Co., KS. Lilly followed almost twenty years later, on Mar. 26, 1946 at Stockton, Rooks Co. They are buried in Webster Cemetery. When Webster Resevoir was constructed and the area was to be flooded, the graves from Webster Cemetery were moved to Stockton Cemetery. For children of James McGowan, see James McGowan Family.

McGowan Family History