Thomas Jefferson Bowen (1814–1875) was an American expatriate Baptist missionary who spent considerable time of his missionary activities in Ijaye, Ogbomosho and a few other towns within the present Oyo State. His work established the foundation of the Baptist mission in Nigeria.[1] Bowen's intention to proselytize to Africans in the interior in particular the Fulanis was stopped by the Emir of Ilorin, Bowen then concentrated his effort in Yorubaland until his return to America. While in the U.S., he began to promote the creation of an America colony of free blacks in Africa.