THE WONDERFUL MAN WITH FEET BUT NO LEGS

ELI BOWEN

Eli was born in Ohio, U.S.A around 1841, the sixth of eight children of Robert and Sarah Bowen. As far as we know he was the only one of the Bowen kids to be born this way - with feet and ankles but no legs. Eli grew up attending school like the rest of his siblings but when the American Civil War broke out in 1861 it is probable his three brothers answered the call to bear arms.  History records that Ohio ranked third among all the Northern states in the number of its sons it sent to serve in the War of the Rebellion.    Eli must have been despondent. Willing but not able to serve, he could at least help out his father on the farm as best he could while his brothers were away.      With the end of the War in 1865 and just when it seemed that things were getting back to normal, tragedy struck. Robert, partiarch of the Bowen clan, died. It was probable that by then his brothers and older sisters were  married, leaving Mrs. Bowen, Eli and younger sister Mary. Apparently, Sarah decided to keep the farm or perhaps twenty-six year old Eli convinced her it would not be necessary to sell. Perhaps he had been approached by "business men" with offers of great riches to be made. Perhaps Eli had been considering it all along. At any rate it now fell on Eli's massive and muscular shoulders to support his mother and sister the only way he knew how - or could. Eli joined the circus.*

* However it has also been reported that Eli started in the business at age 13 with Major Brown's Colliseum