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 · Warren Debs Bowles
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationWarren Debs 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
- 9 August 1910
- Died
- 31 May 1999
- Parents
- William Anderson Bowles & Iona Belle Brock
- 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
Birth1910
Born
9 August 1910, Potosi, Texas; the son “Ward D.”, 9, born after the 1910 census, in the 1920 household
S188Military1940
🆕 His 1940 draft card gives his birth as 9 August 1910 at Abilene, and his address as 1606 Johnson, Amarillo, working for the Texas Co.
S505. In 1940 he lived there with his wife Opal, next to his brother T. L.
S506; in 1950 he was a dry cleaner at 3907 E. 12th, with wife Opal and four sons, two doors from his brother Robert A.
S507. added 25 September 2026.
Census1937
🆕 In 1937 he was a counterman for the Texas Co., at 1606 Johnson, Amarillo
S556. added 25 September 2026.
Record1910
🆕 The Texas birth index for 1910 lists his birth, on 9 August in Taylor County, as the unnamed infant of
W. A. Bowles, certificate 53667
Confirmed S1169. The certificate itself has not been read.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1930
🆕 His wife Opal's mother was probably
Lena L. Bethany Probable confirm or correct →: the 1930 census of Amarillo, read from the image, lists
Opal, 14, daughter, born Texas, at 1648 Johnson Street in the household of William H. Bethany, 38, and his wife Lena L., 39, both born Arkansas
S885; the three were together in Amarillo in 1920
S886. The Texas birth index records a son of Warren Debs Bowles, born in Potter County in 1944, with his mother entered as
Willie Opal Bethaney S887. What is weak: the census does not say Lena is Opal's mother, and a stepmother would be listed the same way; her maiden name, given in family trees as Stringer, and her dates are on no document read, and the trees' Texas birthplace for her conflicts with the census. Accepted by Earl on 28 September 2026 pending more evidence. added 28 September 2026.
In the record
Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents and their siblings
- S1881920 U.S. Federal Census — William A. Bowles household, Justice Precinct 7, Taylor County, Texas. Ancestry record 13175085; ED 272, sheet 15A, enumerated 27 January 1920. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. William A., 61; Iona B., 54; with a son Ward D., 9, born after the 1910 census. 🔑 The third census to give William an 1858 birth [S186]. ⚠ His mother's birthplace reads Tennessee here and Kentucky in 1880; not settled.
- S505U.S., WWII Draft Registration Cards, 1940: Warren Debs Bowles. Ancestry record 20532555. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Warren Debs Bowles, born 9 August 1910, Abilene, Texas; of 1606 Johnson, Amarillo; employed by the Texas Co.; contact V. E. Hancock, brother-in-law. His card has Potosi as his birthplace, a few miles from Abilene; both are recorded.
- S5061940 U.S. Federal Census — W. D. Bowles household, 1606 Johnson, Amarillo, Potter County, Texas. Ancestry record 159392591. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed W. D. Bowles, 29; wife Opal, 24; a son; nephew Dickson, 20. The next unit at the same address is T. L. Bowles, 38, from Taylor County.
- S5071950 U.S. Federal Census — Warren D. Bowles household, 3907 E. 12th, Amarillo. Ancestry record 193903606. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Warren D., 39, dry cleaner; wife Opal; four sons. At 3903, two doors away, Robert A. Bowles, 46, also in the cleaning trade.
- S556U.S., City Directories — Amarillo, Texas, 1937, p. 109. Ancestry record 386632927. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Bowles, W. Debs (Opal), counterman, Texas Co., h 1606 Johnson; his brothers Thos L. (Delphia) and Robt A., cleaners.
- S8851930 U.S. Federal Census — William H. Bethany household, 1648 Johnson Street, Amarillo, Potter County, Texas (ED 188-14, sheet 18B, lines 68–70). Ancestry record 61457066. Image examined, read 28 September 2026. Confirmed William H. Bethany, head, 38, married at 19, born Arkansas; Lena L., wife, 39, married at 20, born Arkansas; Opal, daughter, 14, born Texas, father and mother born Arkansas. Dwelling 335, family 344.
- S8861920 U.S. Federal Census — William H. Bethany household, Amarillo, Potter County, Texas (ED 117, sheet 14A, lines 13–15). Ancestry record 100645663. Read 25 September 2026. Confirmed William H. Bethany, Lena L., and Opal, about 4, born Texas.
- S887Texas birth index, 1944 births, p. 263 — Richard Howard Bowles. Ancestry record 303917103. Read from the index, read 28 September 2026. Probable Born 11 August 1944, Potter County; mother Bethaney, Willie Opal; father Bowles, Warren Debs. A state index, derived from the certificate.
- S1169Texas state birth index, 1910 volume, Bos–Bra, p. 16 (typed index). Ancestry record 150321798. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed “Bowles, W. A., Inf. of”, Taylor County, born 9 August (8–9), certificate no. 53667. “Inf. of” is the index’s form for an unnamed newborn: W. A. Bowles is the father, not the child. The year 1910 comes from the volume heading; the sheet notes “year not shown on certificate”. The certificate itself has not been read.