A native of Illinois, Joseph T. Bowman was the son of Jesse B. Bowman, who died at the Alamo. Arriving in Texas in 1835, Joseph T. Bowman enlisted in a company known as U.S. Provisionals in Nacogdoches. In December 1835 he signed the Goliad Declaration of Independence, which resolved that Texas should become an independent Mexican state. Following the Texas Revolution, he served in the Republic of Texas Army. He and his family settled in this area about 1845. Married to the former Naphania Hardin, Joseph Bowman was the father of ten children.