Alice M. Bowen of South Bass Island:

Alice M. Bowen

Dr. Thomas Huxley Langlois Collection

The above photograph is a reprint of an original copied by and found in the Dr.Thomas Huxley Langlois Collection at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. Alice M. Bowen was identified as the daughter of Amassa Bowen, a farmer who had migrated from New York to Howell, Michigan where Alice was born in1853. According to notes by Dr. Langlois, Alice Bowen was a nurse suffering from tuberculosis, who came to South Bass Island from Detroit, Michigan. 

She purchased land on the island and built a retreat for nurses known as "The Shingles." Her project failed. But Ms. Bowen remained on the island, continuing to buy and sell a succession of lots. Little is known about her life on South Bass Island. She is believed to have died there in 1921.