Biography of Lowery G. Bowling - McDowell Co. VA


The History of West Virginia, Old and New 
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume II, 
pg. 524 


LOWERY G. BOWLING, the efficient and popular County 
Court clerk of Mercer County, and a valued member of 
the executive corps at the Court House in the City of 
Princeton, was born on the family homestead farm near 
Spanishburg, this county, January 7, 1883, and is a son 
of Thomas J. and Virginia F. (Karnes) Bowling, repre- 
sentatives of honored pioneer families of this section of 
West Virginia. The parents are still living at the time 
of this writing, in the winter of 1921, the father being 
eighty-one and the mother seventy-six years of age. Jesse 
I., a brother of Thomas J. Bowling, died in 1921, at the 
age of eighty-three years, and another brother, Wilson Lee 
Bowling, died in August of the same year, at the age of 
eighty-five years, the family having been notable for 
longevity. John Bowling, grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, was a native of one of the eastern counties of 
Virginia, and became one of the prosperous pioneer farmers 
of Mercer County, West Virginia, as now constituted, his 
old homestead having been on Bluestone Creek. Thomas J. 
Bowling upheld the prestige of the family name in con- 
nection with farm industry in Mercer County, and as a 
gallant soldier of the Confederacy he took part in many 
engagements, including the battle of Gettysburg. He had 
many narrow escapes from severe wounds, the buckle of 
his belt having been shot away on one occasion and the 
heel of his boot on another. He and his wife have long 
been earnest members of the Missionary Baptist Church, in 
which he has served twenty-five years as a deacon. He has 
been a successful agriculturist and stock-grower, has been 
influential in community affairs and is a staunch democrat 
in polities. His wife is a daughter of the late Madison 
Karnes, likewise a native of Virginia, and the two families 
were pioneer neighbors in Mercer County. Lowery G. Bowl- 
ing was eighth in order of birth in a family of eleven chil- 
dren, of whom seven sons and one daughter are living:
Walter P., who resides at Hinton, Summers County, has 
served as sheriff of that county and also as clerk of the 
County Court; Mack M. resides at Springfield, Illinois, and 
is a passenger-train conductor on the Wabash Railroad; 
Arthur L. is assistant cashier of the Bank of Princeton; 
Otie H. is a farmer near the old homestead of his father; 
Grover C. is a merchant at Logan, this state; Luther L. 
is a farmer near Spanishburg; and Emma is the wife of 
Daniel R. Day, a farmer near Kegley, Mercer County.
Lowery G. Bowling was reared on the home farm and 
gained his early education in the schools at Spanishburg. 
At the age of twenty-one years he found employment in a 
saw-mill camp, thereafter he clerked in a general store near 
Spanishburg, and he was next employed by the Flat Top 
Grocery Company at Bluefield. For three years thereafter 
he was an express messenger on the Norfolk & Western 
Railroad, and he then became a merchant at Rock, Mercer 
County, and at Bluefield, this county. From 1911 to 1914 
he was engaged in the real estate business at Bluefield, and 
in the latter year he was elected to his present office, that 
of County Court clerk. Though he is a democrat in a county 
that normally gives a large republican majority, he was 
elected by a majority of 230 votes on the occasion of his 
first election, and by a majority of 634 in the election of 
November, 1920. He served one term as a member of the 
City Council of Bluefield, and from his early youth has 
been active in local politics. Mr. Bowling is a member of 
the Mercer County Country Club, is affiliated with the Blue 
Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the Masonic fraternity, 
and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at 
Bluefield. His wife is an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South.
The year 1906 recorded the marriage of Mr. Bowling and 
Miss Leota Odell, daughter of Jacob E. Odell, of Bluefield, 
and the five sons of this union are: Thurman J., Lowery G., 
Jr., Billie E. Herbert and Samuel M.



Submitted by Valerie F. Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net> 

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