TUSCARAWAS COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: BOWERS, Henry (published 1925) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Submitted by: MRS GINA M REASONER Email: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com Date: August 13, 1999 *********************************************************************** HISTORY OF OHIO The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume V, page 385 HENRY BOWERS. During a period of more than thirty-six years Henry Bowers has been one of the leading members of the Tuscarawas County bar, and at present is the senior member of the well known and formidable legal combination of Bowers & Bowers, with offices at New Philadelphia. Mr. Bowers has applied his entire career to the demands of his profession, having let no outside interest interfere with his advancement therein, and today is accounted one of the thoroughly informed, reliable and able members of the bar, esteemed alike by his clientele and his fellow practitioners. Mr. Bowers was born on a farm in Tuscarawas County, March 12, 1858, a son of Samuel and Martha (Dillon) Bowers. The name Bowers is of German origin, and was originally spelled Bauer. The great-grandfather of Henry Bowers was Jacob Bowers, who accompanied his son, Joseph Bowers, the grandfather of Henry, from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, to Wayne County, Ohio, at an early date in the history of that county. The mother of Henry Bowers was born in Trumbull County County, a daughter of Aaron Dillon, a native of Scotland, who had come to America with his father and lived for a time in New Jersey, whence he came, a married man, to Ohio and settled in Trumbull County, thence moving to Tuscarawas County. Aaron Dillon was an officer in the American Revolutionary war, and was a millwright by trade, but lived on a farm in Tuscarawas County, where his death occurred, burial being made at Dundee. He was a member of the Christian Church. He was a staunch whig in politics, and his sons became republicans. They moved to Kansas, where they became prominent citizens. One son, A.I. Dillon, was an officer in the Union Army during the Civil war, and met a soldier's death on the bloody battlefield of Cedar Creek. Samuel Bowers, the father of Henry Bowers, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and was six years of age when taken by his parents to Wayne County, Ohio, later moving to Tuscarawas County, where he met and married Martha Dillon, and they settled down to housekeeping on a farm. They became the parents of five sons and two daughters. In 1878, with all their children save Henry, they moved to Kansas, settling in Doniphan County, where a year later the mother died, the father surviving her another year. They were members of the Christian Church, in the faith of which the mother had been reared, although the father had been reared a Mennonite, his father having been a preacher of that denomination. Henry Bowers was reared on a farm in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and receive his education in the public schools and at the Ohio Northern University at Ada. He followed the family to Kansas, where he taught school for one year, but returned to Ohio and resumed his teaching activities, being an educator all told for a period of six years. Mr. Bowers then began the study of law in the office of J.T. O'Donald, an eminent lawyer at New Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar in 1888, since which time he has been engaged in practice at New Philadelphia. He has built up a large and representative clientele, his practice carrying him into all the courts, and of late years has had as his associate one of his sons, Russell C., under the firm style of Bowers & Bowers, with offices in the Alexander Building. In politics Mr. Bowers is a staunch republican, and takes a good citizen's interest in matters of political importance and moment. In religious faith he is a Lutheran, and his fraternal affiliation is with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is greatly popular. In 1878 mr. Bowers and Miss Elizabeth Bair were united in marriage. Mrs. Bowers was born in Tuscarawas County, a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Sliffe) Bair, the Bair's being of French origin and the Sliffe's of German. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowers: Roy S., a minister of the Lutheran faith; Charles R., likewise a Lutheran minister; Jessie, the wife of Rev. Russell B. McGiffin, of the same ministry; Leah, the wife of Carl F. Ludwig, of Orrville, Ohio; and Russell C., a former prosecuting attorney of Tuscarawas County, who is now the junior member with his father in the firm of Bowers & Bowers. *************OH-FOOTSEPS Mailing List***************************