The Bowens Family

The Critical Role of Oral History

Richmond Bowens, Sr.

Caesar's son Richmond was born at Drayton Hall and by 1900, he was working for Charles H. Drayton & Co., mining phosphate at Drayton Hall. Richmond married Anna Bryant, and they had seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood. He later worked as a gardener on the property and served as a barber in the African-American community that developed along the entry drive to Drayton Hall, near its intersection with Ashley River Road. When he died, his son Richmond explained that "some of his barbering things were put around his grave," as it was custom for family members to decorate the graves of their loved ones with special things that had belonged to the deceased.