Ozias Bowen

Ozias Bowen (July 21, 1805 – September 26, 1871) was a Republican politician in the U.S. State of Ohio who was an Ohio Supreme Court Judge 1856–1858.

Biography Bowen was born at Augusta, Oneida County, New York. He lived in Fredonia, New York, until age 15, when he was moved to Ashtabula County, Ohio. He studied law in Canton, Ohio, was admitted to the bar there, and began practice at Marion, Ohio.

Bowen taught school and was a merchant as well as a lawyer. On February 7, 1838, the Legislature elected him Presiding Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit for seven years, to which he was re-elected. In this capacity, Judge Bowen was most famous for delivering a decision on August 27, 1839, that freed a fugitive slave named Bill Mitchell, sparking a battle between proslavery and anti-slavery forces known as The Marion Riot.

In 1856, Charles Cleveland Convers resigned from the Ohio Supreme Court due to poor health. Governor Chase appointed Bowen to the judgeship.

He was a presidential elector for Lincoln/Johnson in 1864. He died September 26, 1871, at Marion Ohio. Bowen married Eliza M. McIntire on March 15, 1848, in Marion. She had two children. Following Eliza's death, he later married Emmalie M. Wilson on April 20, 1871, in Branch, Michigan. They had no children.