Delevan Bates Bowley was born December 28, 1873 , the second son of Flora and Captain Freeman Sparks Bowley.

During the Civil War, Captain Bowley was a 1st Lieutenant in the 30th United States Colored Troops (USCT) and was taken POW during the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia in July of 1864. His memoirs were later published as “A Boy Lieutenant – Memoirs of Freeman S. Bowley – 30th United States Colored Troops Officer” with an Introduction by Ronald R. Seagrave and Edited by Pia Seija Seagrave, Ph.D. Delevan was named after his father’s commanding officer, Colonel Delevan Bates, who was appointed Bvt. Brigadier General and awarded the Medal of Honor after being shot in the face while leading the 30th USCT at the Battle of Petersburg. After the war, Captain Bowley was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco where he and his wife Flora raised five children, four boys and a girl.

While Delevan did not join the military, two of his brothers, Lt. Col. Freeman W. Bowley and Lt. Gen. Albert J. Bowley, graduated from West Point and served with distinction for many years, with Albert becoming Commander of the Ninth Army. However, Delevan did not shirk from his duties and followed in the family footsteps, serving in patriotic societies. He worked his way up to Commander of the California Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) in 1924, Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) in 1928-1929, and finally President of the Federated Patriotic Societies of California in 1935-1936.

During his many years of patriotic service, he worked closely with his mother who served for 70 years in the Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC) and was affectionately known as “Mother Bowley” for her tireless care of the sick and wounded from both the Spanish American War and World War I. She died in 1936 at the age of 93. His father, Freeman S. Bowley was an original companion in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) and died of small pox in 1903 at the age of 56.

Delevan passed away on January 20, 1947 at the age of 74. In addition to his many patriotic memberships, Delevan was a Master Mason of Seaport Lodge No. 550 in San Francisco and a member of Sons of the Golden West, Mission Parlor No. 38, also in San Francisco .

During his Civil War service, Captain Bowley met President Lincoln at the Executive Mansion while stationed in Washington, but his mother knew Mr. Lincoln quite well, frequently recalling many first-hand incidents during the stirring times of 1861-1865. At the end of his term as Commander-in-Chief of the SUVCW, Delevan was presented with a framed portrait of Abraham Lincoln as a gift with the following inscription on the back: