Rebecca Bowe Ragland was a courageous, self-sufficient woman, well-respected by her family. About five years before the American Revolution, Nathaniel Bowe and Mary Ragland in Hanover Co., VA, had their last child Rebecca Bowe. At age eight Rebecca lost her mother; at fifteen her father. She married her first cousin Beverley Ragland when she turned nineteen. In twelve brief years of marriage, they had four children--Mary Ann "Polly", Frances Bowe "Fanny", Nathaniel, and Malinda Ann Dudley Ragland.  Rebecca was carrying their fifth child William Beverley Ragland when her husband Beverley died in 1803 from a lingering illness.

Rebecca with the help of slaves continued to farm their land and support her family. She sent her son Nathaniel, who served in the War of 1812, to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. In 1811 Mary Ann married her first cousin John Stephen Davis; two years later Frances married her second cousin Tinsley Davis (first cousin of John Stephen Davis). The Davis families migrated first to Kentucky and then in 1817 to Limestone County, Alabama. Meanwhile, Nathaniel set up medical practice and married Betsy Love in Louisville, KY. Rebecca remained in Virginia farming her land with her two younger children.

Rebecca lost three children in five years. Fanny died in 1822 in Alabama, leaving husband Tinsley Davis with five young children. The following year Fanny's brother William Beverley died at school in Cumberland County, VA, (probably Hampden-Sydney College). In 1824 Malinda married Dr. Meredith Fox, had two children and died in 1827. Meanwhile in 1824 Rebecca's son Dr. Nathaniel Ragland and his growing family migrated to Memphis on flatboats down the Ohio River to the Mississippi. He established the first pharmacy in Memphis, TN, then, quickly moved to LaGrange, TN, because of the mosquitoes in Memphis.

Although her children were either dead or far west of Virginia, Rebecca remained farming her tired Virginia land and supporting herself. In 1836 Nathaniel (by then back in Memphis) moved his 66 year old mother from Virginia to Memphis, where she began to farm Nathaniel's fertile land across the border in DeSoto County, MS. In 1839 Rebecca's niece Martha Davis Bowe Davis wrote to her sister Harriet, "We hear from our much esteemed Aunt Ragland, she was well when last heard from, says if nothing happens to her crop, she will make more money this year than she has the last seven in Virginia."
(Rebecca's remaining daughter Mary Ann and her husband John Stephen Davis were living in Alabama at this time. They later moved to DeSoto County around the time of Rebecca's death.)

The 1840 Census finds Rebecca, age 70, living by herself with seven slaves in DeSoto County, MS. In 1842 her funeral was held at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis. The inventory of her goods at her death shows a woman of education, who could also provide for all her own needs. Some of the things of interest were Greek and algebra books, a dictionary, candle moulds, a loom and farming implements.

She is buried in her son-in-law Tinsley Davis' Cemetery in Shelby Co., TN among her many descendants and relatives.

This summary of Rebecca's life was written from research conducted by Rebecca's third great-grandson David Ragland Davis and her fourth great-granddaughter Jean Rawlings Meaney.  A copy of the book Rebecca Bowe Ragland, A Sketch of Her Life can be ordered from David R. Davis: drdavis@midsouth.rr.com .