Genealogy deserves accuracy, not repetition.

For years, online family trees have repeated the same mistake: they have merged two entirely different men named Thomas Fowler into one.

This article lays out the documented facts—census records, marriage records, probate filings, and burial locations—that prove beyond question that Thomas William Fowler, son of Gazaway Fowler and Elmira Smith married twice, had five children, was a respected policeman in Columbia, died in 1903, and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia.

The Thomas Fowler buried at Phillipi Cemetery in 1937 was the son of Morman Fowler and not the son of Gazaway Fowler.

This will set the record straight.

Thomas William Fowler and first wife Ida Allice Hart

MY RESEARCH: FACTS & SPECULATION

Gazaway Fowler was the son of Thomas Gillman Fowler (1798-1880), son of Godfrey Fowler, son of Henry Ellis Fowler.

Although a Union County native by birth, Gazaway Fowler and his wife Elmira Smith lived much of their married life in Fairfield County, South Carolina. Both Gazaway and Elmira died in Fairfield County and it is there where they rest in peace.

Gazaway and Elmira Fowler had a son named Thomas Fowler, born circa 1858 in Fairfield County.

I have seen many family trees on-line that have Thomas Fowler of the Philippi Cemetery as the son of Gazaway Fowler.

There is no evidence that any of the Gazaway Fowler family ever lived near the Philippi Cemetery, nor were any of them ever buried there.

The son of Gazaway Fowler was “William Thomas” Fowler, “Thomas” Fowler, and “Tom Fowler” in early census records, and later “Thomas William Fowler” in his marriage announcement of 1883.

1860 FAIRFIELD COUNTY SC CENSUS

1870 FAIRFIELD COUNTY SC CENSUS

1880 FAIRFIELD COUNTY SC CENSUS


A son and daughter of Gazaway Fowler married a son and daughter of William M. Hart:

Thomas William Fowler — son of Gazaway Fowler — married Ida Alice Hart, daughter of William M Hart.

Frances L. “Fannie” Fowler — daughter of Gazaway Fowler — married Thomas Charles Hart, son of William M. Hart.

Ida Allice Hart was born December 26, 1863, married Thomas William Fowler in 1883, and died March 17, 1886.

The paper trail seems to end for Thomas William Fowler after the death of his young wife.

Except……. something caught my eye……..

Previous Speculation:

Thomas W. Fowler was a policeman in Columbia SC. His illness and subsequent death were announced in The State newspaper in 1903.

Thomas W. Fowler, the policeman, was born in Fairfield County in 1858.

Thomas William Fowler, the son of Gazaway Fowler was also born in Fairfield County in 1858.

Jenkinsville in Fairfield County is located about thirty miles north of Columbia in Richland County. It was more than feasible that Thomas W. Fowler born in small-town Jenkinsville would have sought work in the big city of Columbia.

And there is more. Thomas W. Fowler, the policeman, married Carrie Louise Bagley, the daughter of Samuel J. Bagley (1814–aft 1880) and Rebecca Jane Croslin (1833– after 1910).

Carrie Louise Bagley was born in Fairfield County in 1873.

Carrie and Thomas W. Fowler had five children:

  • Iola L Fowler (1892–1921)
  • Julia Blanche Fowler (1894–1974)
  • Thomas Wales Fowler (1897–1938)
  • Maude Fowler (1899-1971)
  • Boliver Norman “Bob” Fowler (1901-1953)

And, finally. After his death in 1903, Thomas William Fowler, the policeman, was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia…

.. So was William Franklin “Frank” Fowler (1862-1892), born in Fairfield County, son of Gazaway Fowler and younger brother of Thomas William Fowler.

Call it speculation—good speculation, born of shadows, records, and the quiet logic of blood. I am willing to bet the farm that the boy born William Thomas Fowler in 1858, son of Gazaway Fowler and Elmira Smith, turned his name like a coin in his hand and stepped into manhood as Thomas William Fowler.

And now, DOCUMENTED ABSOLUTE TRUTH BASED ON FACTS:

The probate petition below concerns the estate of Elmira A. Fowler of Fairfield County, South Carolina, who died intestate in September in 1911. She left a modest estate and several adult children and grandchildren as heirs.

The petitioner, her son J. S. Fowler, requested administrative authority to settle her debts and distribute the estate. The document provides detailed intergenerational family relationships among the Fowler, Mayo, Sharpe, Kelly, Hart, Heron, and Reeves families.

A summary of the petition is below:

Elmira A. Fowler: deceased, mother of :

J. S. Fowler,
G. W. Fowler
Lela Kelly
Fannie Hart
Annie Heron
and deceased children:

Mary Mayo
Dora Sharpe
Thomas W. Fowler
Franklin Fowler
Pinkney Fowler:
and grandchildren:

Mary Mayo (deceased): daughter of Elmira A. Fowler, mother of David Mayo, Thomas Mayo, Mollie M. Ward, and the deceased Ella Mayo

Dora Sharpe (deceased): daughter of Elmira A. Fowler, mother of Thomas Sharpe, John D. Sharpe, Gassaway Sharpe, and Ella Sharpe

Thomas W. Fowler (deceased): son of Elmira A. Fowler, father of Iola Fowler, Blanche Fowler, Maude Fowler, Thomas Fowler, and Bolliver Fowler

Franklin Fowler (deceased): son of Elmira A. Fowler, father of Charley Fowler and William Fowler

Pinkney Fowler (deceased): son of Elmira A. Fowler, father of John Fowler and Bennie Fowler

Ella Mayo (deceased): granddaughter of Elmira A. Fowler, daughter of Mary Mayo, mother of Dewey Reeves and Clyde Reeves (the two Reeves boys were great grandsons of Elmira Fowler)

The petition to settle the estate of Elmira Smith Fowler is solid proof that Thomas William Fowler — son of Gazaway Fowler and Elmira Smith — did NOT die in 1937 and is NOT buried at Phillipi Cemetery in Union County.

In the end, the truth stands exactly where the records left it, steady as a gravestone in the Carolina light. Two men named Thomas Fowler walked through the nineteenth century, but they walked on different roads, in different counties, toward different destinies.

One rests beneath the oaks of Elmwood in Columbia; the other lies in the quiet earth of Philippi. Their stories were never one story at all. And now, with the evidence gathered and the lines restored, each man can return to his rightful place in the Fowler family history—separate, distinct, and finally seen for who he truly was.

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