This where the Gowen Home was - but not the stage stop. 

The John G. Harbin home, one mile south of Washburn, was the last stage stop in Missouri before entering Arkansas for the Butterfield State Coach mail route. It was the I. B. Davis farm on the 1909 plat map.

John G. Harbin was the original station-keeper and the stop was 15 miles SW of Crouch’s and 6 miles north of the Missouri Arkansas line. The house was a two-story double log home that stood a mile SW of Washburn and was burned during Civil War. A modern house stood there in the 1930’s and it was occupied by Mrs. S. L. Davis and is in the photo below. The mail road approximates Highway 37 but ran slightly east of 37. The mail road ran 25 feet east of the house. Hwy 37 was established west of property isolating it from the flow of traffic.

The mail road continued south along the east side of 37 about another mile and then meets up with county road (1050) and goes south by Rock Springs school and church and on to the Elk Horn Tavern.

John G. Harbin and W. E. Frost acquired this land in 1857.

Stage Stop

Stage Stopped Here

The Burl Anderson Gowen family lived here in this house sometime around the turn of the century, and in the 1940's there were Gowen family members living in the house. Some time later and after they died the house burned. In the 1940's it still had the long front porch and the yard was still encircled with a picket fence and it looked like it does in this turn of the century photo.

This photo was taken after the turn of the century. The house is pre-Civil War and served as a stage coach stop and was known as the Harbin house.

Left to right - Maggie Gowen, Mary Gowen, Jim Gowen, Willie Gowen, Burl Anderson Gowen and Nannie (Durham) Gowen.

John Harbin came from Tennessee in 1845. He and his wife Nancy Pallett are listed in 1860 and they are both buried in King Cemetery.

Elizabeth (Lough) Gowen came with her family of children from near McMinnville, TN. Her husband, Alfred P. Gowen, an attorney, died in route.

Most of all of these people are buried in King Cemetery.

Elizabeth and Alfred's children are listed below:

1. Martha Gowen who married John Arnold, who was killed during the Civil War;

2. Amanda Gowen md. Henry Clay Smithey;

3. Mary Gowen md. William Northcutt;

4. Christine Gowen md. Pleasant Frost;

5. Walter Gowen was a stage coach driver;

6. Burl Anderson Gowen, 1838 - 1918, md. Nancy Durham 1852 - 1928. 

Burrel Anderson Gowen was first married to Sarah Sally Trulove on Jan. 11, 1872
She was born Apr. 9. 1852 and died May T, 1882
They had bad luck with children
Daughter Nov 4, 1872 died the same day
Infant Oct. 6, 1875 died Oct. 21, 1875
Alfred T. born Sept. 20, 1877 and died Oct 4, 1877

Sarah Sally and infant children are buried at Truelove Cemetery.

Burrel then married Nannie Durham on 6 Feb 1886 and she outlived him
 

The Gowen family came to the Washburn area in 1856, when Elizabeth Lough Gowen (1809-1889) and her six children came from McMinnville, TN (10 miles from Murphreesboro) to settle on 190 acres in Section 4, Township 21, and Range 28.

Part of the farm has remained in the family, and at last account was owned by a great-granddaughter, Irene Horner and Bob, her husband.

Irene Horner wrote the booklet Roaring River Heritage.

This photo was taken in August of 1940. Maggie Gowen died in 1968.

Submitted by: Paul Rutherford

Exert from Henry McCary's speech.

The McGlothin's, McMurty's, George's, Lock's, Howerton's, Burton's, Mason's, Harbin's, Peevy's and Johnson's were all in Barry County about the time of its organization in 1835. Ref: MO State Historical Microfilm:  July 13, 1907, Saturday, Cassville Democrat, Barry Co., MO

263. 257. John G. Harbin, 45, Trades in Stock, Tennessee, Male
Nancy Harbin, 33, Tennessee, Female
Franklin P. Harbin, 6, Arkansas, Male
James M. Harbin, 4, Missouri, Male
Walter B. Harbin, 2, Missouri, Male
Nancy Pallet, 53, Tennessee, Female 
Richard Pallet, 17, Domestic, Missouri, Male
William Kelly, 27, Tennessee, Male

283. 277. E. Gowen, 50, Domestic and Farmer, Virginia, Female
Berril A. Gowen, 22, Tennessee, Male
W. L. Gowen, 19, Tennessee, Male
Mauda H. Gowen, 13, Tennessee, Female
Mary E. Gowen, 10, Tennessee, Female
Sarah C. Gowen, 6, Tennessee, Female

284. 278. John B. Arnold, 26, Farmer, Tennessee, Male
Martha R. Arnold, 24, Tennessee, Female
Francis C. Arnold, 3 months, Missouri, Female

***

1860 Barry County, MO, Federal Census