Alice Mary Williams Bowden
Springfield, , Massachusetts, USA
Canadian, born in USA, 1911 - 1992
Canadian, born in USA, 1911 - 1992
| Death Place: | Fox Hill |
| Death County: | Kings County |
| Death Province: | New Brunswick |
| Death Country: | Canada |
| Biography: | Alice Mary Williams Bowden met William Bowden, from Parrsboro, NS, in Connecticut when he and his three brothers moved there to find work. They married in 1928, and son, Howard, was born in 1929. They had at least one more son named Malcolm. They would visit relatives in Parrsboro in the summer. This is where she was taught how to hook rugs, in the 1930s, using a punch needle shuttle. When she returned to the US, she looked into hooking groups in her area. She began doing traditional hooking and personally knew both Pearl McGown and Joan Moshimer. The family moved to New Brunswick in 1953 when William became homesick for the Maritimes. They bought the Fox Hill Farm in King's County,where they carried on a dairy operation with their two sons, Malcolm and Howard. She did all the cooking and housekeeping on the farm. She hooked the seven mats owned by Howard in New Brunswick sometime during the 1950s. She would go to Springfield, Massachusetts, to visit family and would get barrels of fabric sent home to make the mats. Howard would help his mother find patterns. They would look through magazines, and when they found a picture they liked, they would cut up the photo into 1/4 inch squares. These would then be placed on graph paper and a large pattern created. The pattern was then transferred onto feed bags, and his mother would start hooking. She would often dye her fabric and owned two cutting wheels. She was a member of a club in the Sussex area who would work together hookinng. She was a member of the Tea Room Hookers of Sussex, NB, as well as, a member of the Association of Traditional Hooking Artists (ATHA). After she died, Howard took seven barrels full of wool cloth plus her two cutters to the Sussex group of women with whom she had hooked. They were delighted! In 2000, Fox Hill Farm was sold to Dr. Allaby and the two sons moved to a family property in St. Martins, NB. Malcolm died of leukemia; Howard lived there until his death in 2015. |
If you need more information, please contact us at NBMR.RTNB@gmail.com.
