Contents
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Showing both families — every line on the page. Pick a side to hide the other
family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Thomas L. Bowles
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationThomas L. Bowles
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- 26 June 1902
- Died
- 9 August 1969
- Parents
- William Anderson Bowles & Iona Belle Brock
- Married
- Delphia Zella Kennedy
- Children
- Tom Leslie Bowles Jr.
- Sources
- 9
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED — added 24 September 2026 from a record that names the parents; entered in the family tree the same day.
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1902
Born
26 June 1902, Abilene, Texas
S186Death1969
Died 9 August 1969, Amarillo, Texas
Census1950
🆕 In 1950 he was a cleaner in Amarillo, aged 46, with his wife
Delphia Z., Tom L. Jr. and two daughters
S508. added 25 September 2026.
Military1942
🆕 His full name was
Tom Leslie Bowles: his 1942 draft card gives his birth as 26 June 1902 at Abilene, and he worked at Oriental Cleaners, Amarillo
S544. added 25 September 2026.
Census1942
🆕 The 1942 Amarillo directory has him with Delphia at
4008 East 11th Avenue, a cleaner at Oriental Cleaners
S589. added 25 September 2026.
Census1930
🆕 In 1930, at 26, he was a cook in a cafe in Amarillo, married to Delphia, 19; his sister Jean was the cafe manager in the same building
S615. added 26 September 2026.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1910
🆕 His wife was born
Delphia Zella Kennedy S669, on 8 August 1910 in
Stephens County, Texas, a daughter of W. W. Kennedy and Lula Spencer. She died at Amarillo on
7 September 1954, aged 44
S668. added 26 September 2026.
Children1931
🆕 His son
Tom Leslie Bowles Jr. was born on
22 January 1931 at 506½ East 10th Street, Amarillo. On the birth certificate Tom is 28, a cook, born at Abilene, and the mother is Delphia Kennedy, 20, born in Eastland County; it was her first child
Confirmed S1115. A daughter,
Sandra Lynn Bowles, was born in Potter County on
19 May 1946, to Tom Leslie Bowles and Zella Delphia Kennedy, according to the state birth index
S1116.
In the record
Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents and their siblings
- S1861910 U.S. Federal Census — William A. Bowles household, Justice Precinct 7, Taylor County, Texas. Ancestry record 123373807; ED 268, sheet 2A, enumerated 16 April 1910. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. William A., 52; Iona, mother of 18 children born, 15 living; twelve children at home. The farm is owned and mortgaged, on the Abilene–Potosi road. 🔑 18 children born, 15 living, in Iona's own answer. William's 52 supports 1858 over the death certificate's 1856. ⚠ Clara L. H., 18, born Arkansas, may be the L. Jean of 1940 [S185]; not assumed.
- S5081950 U.S. Federal Census — Tom L. Bowles household, Amarillo, Potter County, Texas. Ancestry record 193904088. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Tom L., 46, cleaner; wife Delphia Z., 39; Tom L. Jr., 19; two daughters; sister-in-law Wilma Hirshelman, 27.
- S544U.S., WWII Draft Registration Cards, 1942: Tom Leslie Bowles. Ancestry record 20532544. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Tom Leslie Bowles, 39, of 4008 East 11th, Amarillo; born 26 June 1902 at Abilene; working at Oriental Cleaners for Vernon Hancock.
- S589Amarillo, Texas, city directory, 1942, p. 102. Ancestry record 377629917. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Bowles Thos L (Delphia), cleaner, Oriental Cleaners, home 4008 East 11th Avenue; also Warren D. (Opal), clerk, Texas Co. refinery.
- S6151930 U.S. census — Amarillo, Potter County, Texas, ED 188-9, sheet 21B. Ancestry record 61430965. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Harry Julius, 48, head, cafe proprietor, a veteran, born Indiana; Jean, wife, 38, married at 34, born Texas, parents born Kentucky, cafe manager; Lilly Bowles, sister-in-law, 21, single, waitress in the cafe. Three lines up: Tom L. Bowles, 26, a cook in a cafe, and his wife Delphia, 19. The census gives Jean's birth as Texas about 1892; the tree's 4 May 1890, Arkansas, is kept.
- S668Texas death certificate, 1954, Potter County, state file 46366. Ancestry record 22574208. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Delphia Z. Bowles, born 8 August 1910, Stephens County, Texas; died 7 September 1954, Amarillo; parents W. W. Kennedy and Lula Spencer.
- S669Texas birth certificate, Amarillo, 1931 — amendment filed 1989. Ancestry record 120372824. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed The amendment to her son's birth record names the mother as Delphia Zella Kennedy. The son may be living; his details are kept off the site.
- S1115Texas Birth Certificate — Tom Leslie Bowles [Jr.], Potter County, 22 January 1931 (registrar’s no. 147, state file 7595). Ancestry record 105372823. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 25 September 2026. Confirmed Born 22 January 1931 at 5:30 p.m., 506½ East 10th Street, Amarillo; father Tom Bowles, 28, born “Abilina” [Abilene], Texas, a cook; mother Delphia Kennedy, 20, born Eastland, Texas; her first child. Filed 25 February 1931. Indexed under the father; the child on the certificate is the son, Tom Leslie Jr. The physician’s and registrar’s names are hard to read.
- S1116Texas Birth Index, 1946 births, p. 289 (Texas Department of Health) — Sandra Lynn Bowles. Ancestry record 159388441. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 25 September 2026. Confirmed “BOWLES, SANDRA LYNN”, county 188 [Potter], born 19 May 1946, female; mother Kennedy, Zella Delphia; father Bowles, Tom Leslie. An index line, not the certificate itself.