Dr. John Bower

NOT A DIRECT ANCESTOR Dr. John Bower is not in my direct ancestry. He is 1 step removed in the following ways: Brother of David Bower ; Uncle of Olive Samantha Bower Son of Unknown Bower

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. See complete biography

	Date	Location	Notes	Sources
Birth	~1823-1824	PA
1st Marriage			Mary E. Giltner born ~1826 died between 1865 -1870
2nd Marriage			Ella Unknown (b. OH, 1838); 1st married to Unknown Lockmiller(b. VA)
Death	1880-1900	Guthrie Co, IA
Burial		Salem Lutheran Cemetery

Ancestry chart segment

                          Generation 5      Generation 6
 
                                             +-- Unknown Bower
                                             |   (????-????)  
                        +-- Dr. John Bower --+
                        |   (????-????)   
                        |
                        +-- Mary Giltner
                            (~1826-~1865/70)
Sources: 

Children

Children with Mary E. Giltner:

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources
Rebecca Catherine Bower	F	~1848		Unknown Plain
Louisa Helen "Lou" Bower	F	Baptised 21 July 1849 Salem Lutheran Church		Unknown Undegraff
Patterson Giltner Bower	M	1851; baptised 12 Dec 1851 Salem Lutheran Church
John Monroe Bower	M	8 Oct 1852; baptised 1854, Salem Lutheran Church
Mary E. Bower	F	1855		possibly Chalmer Karnes; see Conjecture section
Saurena V. Bower	F	1857-58
Poetus Bower	M	(by Mar. 1) 1859			d. Mar 1, 1859
Frank Homer Bower	F	Dec 1859 or Jan 1860
Rhodes Bower	M	1864
Edwin L. Bower	M	1865

Children with Ella Unknown (Lockmiller):

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources
David Bower	M	1877	IA

Children of Ella Unknown (Lockmiller)'s 1st marriage:

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources
Charlotta Lockmiller	F	1856	IA		birth order uncertain; may be oldest child
Unknown Lockmiller	?		IA
Mary Lockmiller	F	1867	IA
John R. Lockmiller	M	1869	IA

Places of Residence

Location	Dates	Notes	Sources
PA	b. ~1823-24
Richland Twp., Clarion Co. PA	by 1850
Salem Twp., Clarion Co. PA	by 1860	may reflect a township boundary line change
Center Twp, Guthrie Co, IA	by 1870
Jackson Twp, Guthrie Co, IA; Guthrie Center, Valley Fork	by 1880

Photos

Gravestone, apparently of Poetus Bower, Salem Lutheran Cemetery, Salem Twp., Clarion Co. PA

Sources

Ref. Num.	Description	Image of original
1	U.S. Census 1850 Clarion Co. PA, Richland Twp., pg 31. Date of census 7 Aug 1850. Lines 11-16 show John Bower age 27, physician, Mary E. age 24, daughter Rebecca C. age 2, daughter Louisa H. age 1; David Bower age 24, potter; Lovina Neely (female) age 29. All born PA
2	1860 United States Federal Census, Salem Twp, Clarion Co, PA, page 11. Census dated 29 June 1860. Lines 14-22: John Bower, 31, physician, $1100 real, $800 personal property; Mary E., 34; Rebecca C, 12; Louisa H., 11; Patterson G., 9; John M., 7; Mary E., 5; Saurena V., 3; Homer E., 6 months. All b. PA. The five older children are attending school.
3	1870 United States Federal Census, Center Twp, Guthrie Co, IA, page 19. Census dated 5 July, 1870. Lines 27-33: John Bower, 46, physician, $1000 real, $1000 personal property; R.K. (R.C.?), 22, teacher; Louisa, 21; Mary, 15; Sarena V., 12; Frank H, 10; Edwin L., 5. All born PA.
4	1880 United States Federal Census, District 77, Jackson Twp, Guthrie Co, IA, page 28. Guthrie Center, Valley Fork. Census dated 5-6 June, 1880. Lines 45 -49: John Bower, 57, physician, born PA (parents born PA); Ella, 42, wife, keeping house, b. Ohio, (parents born PA); Mary Lockmiller, 13, step-dau., at school, b. Ohio,( father b. VA, mother OH); John R. Lockmiller, 9, step-son, b. Iowa,(father b. VA, mother b. OH), attended school; David Bower, 3, son, b. IA, (father b. PA, mother b. OH).
5	1900 United States Federal Census, District 66, Valley Twp, Guthrie Co, IA, page 2. Census dated 2 June 1880. Lines 90-91: Ella Bower, 62, widow, b. Jan. 1838, 4 children, all living, b. OH as were parents; Mary Lockmiller, 32, dau., b. Jan 1868, b. OH, father VA, mother OH. Both can read write and speak English.
6	Cemetery Association Record listing the siblings of David Bower, 1826-1856.	transcription
7	Gravestone at Salem Lutheran Cemetery, Salem Twp., Clarion Co. PA, transcribed Sept 1995 by E. W. Williams. (Illegible top line, , center letters seem to be TUS B). Lamb image indicates a child's grave. Under the lamb is inscribed "(Of?/Dr?) J. & M. E. Bower, Died Mar. 1, 185(9)". From the date, it appears to be the grave of Peotus Bower who must have died at birth or in infancy. He does not appear in the 1860 census.
8	Personal correspondence from Elizabeth Wilson Williams.	N/A
9	1880 United States Federal Census, District 32, Carroll, Carroll Co, IA, page 27. Census dated 10 June, 1880. Line 2: Giltner Bower, 32, physician, boarder, b. PA as were his parents. He is a boarder in a household headed by a John Trainer and wife Elizabeth. John Trainer is from Canada with parents from Ireland. The remainder of the individuals in the house are boarders from various locations. This would appear to have been a boarding house.
10	1870 United States Federal Census, Jackson Twp, Guthrie Co, PA, page 4. Census dated 26 July, 1870. Lines 22-25: Ella Lockmiller, 31, born OH; Charlotta, 14, born OH; Mary F., 2, born OH; John R., 8 months, born IA. This corresponds to widow Ella Lockmiller before marriage to John Bower. Since her youngest child is 8 mos. old, her 1st husband died within the last 2 years (i.e. 1868-1870).
11	Record books for Salem Lutheran Church, Salem Twp., Clarion Co. PA. This collection of church record books was in the keeping of then pastor Kathleen Anderson, and was partially extracted in March 1995 by Elizabeth Ann Wilson Williams and Nancy Elizabeth Beals Walls. Transcriptions were incomplete due to time limitations and the quantity of material. I. Untitled, dated "Feby 20th 1846 , an old narrow handwritten record book. Church members (alphabetical listing): Bower, John, Mary, David . Bower, Caroline, Rebecca. Baptisms: 1849 July 21 Bower, John & wife - Louesa Hellen 1851 Dec 12 Bower, J. W., Patterson Giltner 1854 John Bower & Mary E. - John Monroe b. Oct 8th 1852 Communion Recipients John Bower (listed in 1849, 1853, 1854-61); on 6 Nov 1853 listed with Mary, David, William, Elizabeth (1849-54). II. "Salem Congregation Lutheran Church, Clarion County Pennsylvania" (A bound hardback volume, old). Church Members Olive C. Beals confirmation 3 Feb 1884 - until death. (ed. note: Olive Samantha Bower, dau. of David Bower, married James Francis Beals) George F. Bower restored 1 Feb 1885 - dropped. Jennie S. Bauer confirmed 10 Apr 1887 - gone. Mary E. Bauer certificate 9 Sept 1888 - by letter Aug 1891 Baptisms Howard Burdette Bower, son of P.A. and M.S. Bower, birth 28 Nov 1880, bapt. 28 May 1881 Arminta Frances Bower, to Maria & Paris Bower, birth 22 Sept 1882, bapt 5 June 1886 Effie Gladys Bower, to Maria & Paris Bower, birth 25 Mar 1885, bapt16 June 1888 Marriages George F. Bauer and Ollie Linn, residence "near Salem Pa.", 27 Sept 1888 George W. Rinestein and Mary E. Bower, reside Wellsville, O. & Salem, Pa., 24 June 18890. Burials Infant of Peter and Tacy Bower Shakely , age 6 days, place of burial Salem. Caroline Snyder-Bower, date of death 29 July 1905, age 74, place of burial Salem Church yard

Source Notes

• For the 1870 U.S. Census, no Bower (soundex - all spellings) can be located in Clarion Co. PA by the Ancestry.com search engine.
• Salem Lutheran Cemetery Assoc. records indicates an "infant daughter" in addition to Lou, Catherine, and Mary. That wording suggests she died as an infant. Census indicates Saurina lived to at least age 12, so there may have been a 5th daughter. Or the contributor to that record may merely have remembered another girl child born, i.e. Saurina.

Conjecture

• Since so many families is the Clarion-Venango Counties border area migrated from Lehigh County, it is worth noting that Michael Brey, (whose daughter married Olive Bower's son), owned land in Upper Milford township, (in then Northampton, later Lehigh County) in 1806, near land of a Henry Bauer. Also a land transaction by one Joseph Klein in October of 1865 mentions land of the "late John Bower', in Salisbury township.

* 1880 U. S. census, Jackson Twp., Venango Co. PA, pg. 15. Date of census: 12th & 14th June 1880. Lines 43-45: Chalmer Karnes, age 28, farmer; wife Mary E. Karnes, age 28; "no name" Bower, age 7/12, female, relationship: "her neace". All & all parents born PA.
If the niece of Mary E. unknown (Karnes) is a Bower, Mary E. could possibly be Mary Bower, dau. of John Bower. She would be born about 1852. (Or she could be someone whose sister married a Bower.)

• The list of children of Dr. John Bower given in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery Assoc. record matches those names found in the census except for two. In the Lutheran records, youngest son Edwin L. Bower is not named, nor is daughter Saurena V. Bower. Instead they list an "infant daughter", presumably meaning she did not survive. Saurina however appears in the 1870 census in Iowa, age 12.