Biography, Dr. John Bower

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John Bower was the oldest son in a family of nine children. His parents' names are as yet unknown to us, but they were born in PA. They apparently settled in or near Salem Twp., Clarion Co., as the names of all their children were known and recorded in the records of the Salem Lutheran cemetery association (Only one son, David Bower & wife Caroline, and one grandson Poetus, son of John Bower appear to be buried there). John was born in about 1823, possibly in Clarion County. In about 1847-48, aged 24-25, he married Mary Giltner, also born in PA. She was age 21 years. At some point John Bower studied medicine and took up practice as a physician in the Salem Twp. area.
Over the next 17 years John and Mary had ten children, four girls and six boys. One son, Poetus Bower, died in March of 1859, possibly at birth. The tenth child, Edwin L. Bower was born in 1865 when Mary was about age 39 years. Mary may have died at this child's birth. In 1866 John's brother David Bower died deeply indebted to a soldier paid to take his place in the Civil War fighting. Presumably, the Bower parents too may have been dead by this point. By the time of the 1870 census, John was a widower, and has moved to Iowa with his children. The census mentions only six of the children, including Rebecca Catharine,the oldest and Edwin L., youngest. Not mentioned are the older sons, Giltner and John; they would be of an age (19 and 17) to be working. Giltner did accompany the family to Iowa, and presumably John did also. The next-to-youngest son, Rhodes, is also missing from the 1870 census. He should have been 6 yrs old in 1870, so he presumably died young. It is possible he was given to be raised by another family, but it would be surprising that the youngest son would remain with the father while an older one did not. The family settled in Center Twp., Guthrie Co. IA., and in 1880 the location is described as Guthrie Center, Valley Fk., Guthrie Co. IA. (Present-day Guthrie Center lies at the intersection of state routes 25 &44, north of interstate 80, and some 30 miles NW of Des Moines.)
By 1880 Dr. Bower had remarried, to a widow named Ella Lockmiller. Ella's parents were born in PA but she herself was born in Ohio. Her husband, Mr. Lockmiller, was born in Virginia. Ella & Mr. Lockmiller had had 4 children, and all were living in 1880, but only two are recorded living in the home of Dr. John Bower: step-daughter Mary Lockmiller is 13; step-son John R. Lockmiller is 9. From an earlier census we know that a 3rd child of the Lockmillers was a daughter named Charlotta, age 24 in 1880. None of the Bower children remain at home in 1880. In this same year, Giltner Bower is found living in a boarding house in Carroll, Carroll Co. IA, described as a physician, so he followed his father into the medical profession, and may have been trained by him.
Dr. John Bower died sometime between 1880 and 1900. Ella Bower age 62, a widow, is living with her unmarried daughter Mary, age 32, in 1900.