Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of George Meade BOWERS ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 379 GEORGE MEADE BOWERS, of Martinsburg, Congressman from the Second West Virginia District, has been active in the public life of the state and the nation for nearly thirty years, and at the same time has carried many heavy respon- sibilities in business and affairs. He was born at Gerrardstown, Berkeley County, Septem- ber 13, 1863, son of John S. and Mary E. (Stump) Bowers. His great-grandfather was a native of Connecticut and a pioneer of Berkeley County. He died at the age of ninety- two and his wife at ninety-one. The grandfather of Con- gressman Bowers was George M. Bowers, a native of Berke- ley County and a life-long resident there. He married Eleanor Lamon, who was born at Bunker Hill in Berkeley County, daughter of George and Eleanor (Ward) Lamon, natives of Scotland and pioneers of Berkeley County. John S. Bowers was the only son born to his parents, and as a. youth he became self-supporting, exercising his genius as a trader and eventually developing an extensive business in livestock and real estate, from which he amassed a fortune. He died at the age of sixty-two. His wife, Mary E. Stump, was born in Darkesville, Berkeley County, daughter of Casper Stump, a native of the same county and a grand- daughter of Caspar Stump, a native of Germany, who brought his family to America and settled in Berkeley County on a farm. Caspar Stump, Sr., was a saddle and harness manufac- turer, and conducted a business for many years at Gerrards- town, where he continued to live out his life. He married Cath- erine Maddox, who was born at Williamsport, Maryland, in 1817, daughter of James and Hannah (McComas) Mad- dox, of Harford County, Maryland. Six of her brothers served in the Confederate army during the war between the states. James Maddox lived near Darkesville in Berkeley County for several years, and his last years were spent with a son in Jefferson County. John S. Bowers was born at Gerrardstown in 1823 and was twice married. His first wife was Mary E. Stump, who died of typhoid fever at the age of thirty-six. Her sister, Virginia Stump, became the second wife of John S. Bowers, and she is now living at Gerrardstown. George Meade Bowers was one of seven children, and as a boy attended private school and the public school at Gerrardstown, spent two years in the Martinsburg High School and studied under a private tutor two years. At the age of seventeen he came to Martinsburg to begin his real business career, and subsequently operated a flour mill and dealt in wool. When he was twenty-one years of age his father died, leaving a large estate, which Mr. Bowers capably administered. At the age of twenty-one he was elected a member of the board of directors of the old National Bank, served in that position several years, then became a director in the People's Trust Company, and for a number of years past has been president of that institu- tion. His business interests cover a wide scope. He is the largest individual owner of bearing apple orchards in Berkeley County. Mr. Bowers on reaching manhood cast his allegiance with the republican party and early achieved prominence both in state and national affairs. In 1884 he was chosen chair- man of the Berkeley delegates to the state convention at Parkersburg, that being a month before he reached his majority. In the fall of that year he cast his first presi- dential vote, for James G. Blaine. In 1887, at the age of twenty-three, he was elected a member of the House of Delegates to represent Berkeley County, and at the age of twenty-five was republican nominee for state auditor, being defeated by only 300 votes. In 1890 President Harrison appointed him supervisor of the United States census for the Northern District of West Virginia. He was a delegate to the national convention at Minneapolis in 1892, when Benjamin Harrison was renominated. He was a leader in his party in West Virginia in advocating the nomination of William McKinley in 1896. In 1898 President McKinley appointed him United States commissioner of fish and fish- eries, a post of duty which by reappointment from Roose- velt and Taft he filled until 1913, a period of fifteen years. In 1893 he was member and treasurer of the Board of World's Fair Commissioners for West Virginia, and in 1902-03 was president of the American Fisheries Society. While these and other official responsibilities kept Mr. Bowers away from home, Martinsburg has always been his legal residence. In 1914 he was the nominee of his party for Congress, being defeated on account of the split in the republican ranks that. year. On May 9, 1916. he was elected to the Sixty-fourth Congress for the unexpired term of Wil- liam G. Brown, deceased, being chosen by a majority of 461. In the fall of 1916 he was elected to the Sixty-fifth Congress by a majority of 860, and in 1918 his re-election was accomplished by a majority of 2,360, while in the great republican landslide of 1920 his majority in the Second District totaled 10,342. Mr. Bowers each successive term has increasing responsibility as a member of Congress, and is now on the most important committee, that of ways and means. On November 18, 1884, Mr. Bowers married Miss Bessie C. Gray, at Hagerstown, Maryland. However, she was born in the Gerrardstown District of Berkeley County, West Vir- ginia, daughter of James W. and Martha (Gilbert) Gray, of a prominent family elsewhere represented in this publica- tion. Mr. and Mrs. Bowers have four children: Eleanor L., George M., Jr., Stephen E. and Jean Gray. Eleanor is the wife of Philip Grove, and her two children are George B. and Philip R., Jr. George M. Bowers, Jr., married and has a daughter Elizabeth. Jean Gray is the wife of Capt. Draper M. Daugherty, son of the United States attorney general, Harry M. Daugherty. Mr. Daugherty was in service during the World war as a lieutenant overseas and was pro- moted to captain. Both of Mr. Bowers' sons were volunteers in the war, Stephen E., in the aviation service, while George, Jr., went overseas as a lieutenant in the army.