John Bowyer was a prominent political and military figure in western Virginia. He was born in the Shenandoah Valley on an unknown date and started teaching school in Augusta County in 1753. After marrying the wealthy widow Magdalene Woods McDowell Borden in 1754, he achieved financial independence and quickly entered public life as a militia officer, justice of the peace, and later sheriff. Bowyer represented Botetourt County in the House of Burgesses from 1770 to 1776, participated in all five Revolutionary Conventions, and served on the committee that drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the state’s first constitution. He continued a long legislative career in the House of Delegates representing Rockbridge County across several decades, while also holding key local offices, including presiding justice, county lieutenant, and brigadier general of the state militia. A trustee of Liberty Hall Academy, which later became Washington and Lee University, a presidential elector, and a supporter of Thomas Jefferson, Bowyer constructed the Thorn Hill estate near Lexington. Bowyer died at Thorn Hill on April 24, 1806, leaving a substantial landed estate but no known children.
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