Contents
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Showing both families — every line on the page. Pick a side to hide the other
family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Robert Anthony Bowles
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationRobert Anthony Bowles
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- 3 April 1904
- Died
- 27 February 1974
- Parents
- William Anderson Bowles & Iona Belle Brock
- Married
- Geneva Annie Reynolds
- Sources
- 8
Research status
Research status: PROBABLE as a son of
William Anderson Bowles and
Iona Belle Brock Probable confirm or correct →, accepted by Earl 28 September 2026 pending more evidence. Evidence: his Find a Grave memorial names his parents as William Anderson and Iona Belle and gives his birth at Potosi, Taylor County
S895; the Social Security index gives the same birth date
S894. What is weak or missing: Find a Grave is compiled, not a record; his Arizona death certificate has not been read; his draft card gives 4 April, not 3 April. Know more? Use ‘Add to this record’ to confirm or correct it. Card added 1 October 2026
Evidence: His Find a Grave memorial names his parents as William Anderson and Iona Belle and his birth at Potosi, Taylor County, on 3 April 1904; the Social Security index gives the same birth date; in 1930, read from the image, he was a dry-cleaning presser in Amarillo, and in 1934 the directory lists him as a cleaner with his wife Geneva. Weak or missing: Find a Grave is a compiled memorial, not a record; his Arizona death certificate has not been read; his draft card gives 4 April, a day later. Not yet confirmed. Know more? Confirm or correct this →
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1904
Born
3 April 1904 at Potosi, Taylor County, by his Find a Grave memorial and the Social Security index
S894S895; his World War II draft card says 4 April
S896Residence1930
Single in April 1930, a roomer on Pierce Street in Amarillo and a presser in a dry-cleaning plant
Confirmed S1027Census1934
🆕 The 1934 Amarillo directory lists “Bowles Robt A (Geneva) clnr Oriental Clnrs h1304a Lincoln”: a cleaner at
Oriental Cleaners, householder at
1304a Lincoln, with his wife Geneva
Confirmed S1106Residence1940
He lived in Amarillo in 1940 and 1950
S897S898Death1974
Died
27 February 1974 at Phoenix, Arizona
S895Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1932
Married
Geneva Annie Reynolds, as a daughter's 1932 Texas birth certificate names her
S937In the record
Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents and their siblings
- S894U.S. Social Security Death Index — Robert Anthony Bowles. Ancestry collection 3693, record 6116135. Born 3 April 1904; died February 1974. Probable Read from the index only; the image has not been examined.
- S895Find a Grave memorial 32204228 — Robert Anthony Bowles (1904–1974). Born 3 April 1904, Potosi, Taylor County, Texas; died 27 February 1974, Phoenix, Arizona; parents William Anderson Bowles and Iona Belle. Probable A compiled memorial, not a record. His Arizona death certificate has not been read.
- S896U.S. WWII draft registration card — Robert Anthony Bowles. Ancestry collection 2238, record 20532523. Gives his birth as 4 April 1904. Probable Read from the index only; the image has not been examined. The day differs by one from the Social Security index.
- S8971940 U.S. census — Robert A. Bowles, Amarillo, Texas. Ancestry collection 2442, record 159403049. Probable Read from the index only; the image has not been examined.
- S8981950 U.S. census — Robert A. Bowles, Amarillo, Texas. Ancestry collection 62308, record 193903615. Probable Read from the index only; the image has not been examined. His brother Warren D. Bowles's household two doors away is S507.
- S937Texas birth certificate no. 55790, Amarillo — a daughter of R. A. Bowles. Ancestry record 108545227. Image examined, read 29 September 2026. Confirmed Father R. A. Bowles, 28, born in Texas, cleaner; mother Geneva Reynolds, 19, born in Texas. Cited for the parents only; the child's details are not published.
- S10271930 United States Federal Census — Amarillo, Potter County, Texas, enumeration district 188-9, sheet 10B. Ancestry record 61432195. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed Pierce Street: Robert A. Bowles, roomer, 25, single, born Texas, presser in a dry-cleaning plant, rooming with Vernon E. Hancock, a dry-cleaning proprietor. The entry gives his parents as born Texas, an error in a roomer’s line.
- S1106U.S., City Directories, 1822–1995 — Amarillo city directory, 1934, page 99. Ancestry record 388570351. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed “Bowles Robt A (Geneva) clnr Oriental Clnrs h1304a Lincoln”. The index reads the address as 304a Lincoln; the image has h1304a, “h” for householder. Debs and Warren D. Bowles are listed in the same block at 506½ E. 10th Avenue; the directory does not say how they were related to him.