JOSEPH BOWERS

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 508-509
Monongalia

JOSEPH BOWERS has lived nearly all his life in Union
District of Monongalia County.   His home, popularly
known as "Joe Bowers' place," is eight miles northeast
of Morgantown, on the Ices Ferry road. His daily mail
delivery is over Route No. 10 from Cheat Haven, Penn-
sylvania. Mr. Bowers has been a farmer and is one of the
most popular citizens in his section of the county.

He was born at Cheat Neck, January 31, 1852, son of
John and Harriet (Baker) Bowers. John Bowers was born
in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, was a carpenter by trade,
and it was work at his trade which attracted him in the
first instance to this section of West Virginia. He was
employed for a time as a carpenter in the old iron works
on Cheat River, at the locality then known as Prideville,
then a considerable industrial center, with iron furnaces
and other factories. His wages as a carpenter here were
a dollar a day, and he boarded himself. While boarding
he met and married Harriet Baker, daughter of John N.
and Nancy (Norris) Baker, a substantial family of farm-
ers in that neighborhood. Harriet Baker was a sister of
Andrew C. Baker, father of George C. Baker, one of the
prominent citizens of Monongalia County. John Bowers
finally acquired the old home of his wife's grandfather,
and kept adding to his possessions until he had a valuable
stock farm of several hundred acres. He was the type of
citizen who could be relied upon for effective service, and
for years he was a justice of the peace, school trustee, and
in other offices. It is interesting to note that John Bowers
seventy-seven years ago built a house for William Donald-
son, and this house is now the home of Joseph Bowers,
who purchased it twenty-four years ago. John Bowers was
a democrat, and was superintendent of the Sunday School
of the Methodist Protestant Church.  Eventually Pride-
ville became known as Laurel Iron Works. The Iron Works,
including a rolling mill, were continued in operation until
1867, and the town which in its high tide of prosperity
had a population of between twenty-five hundred and three
thousand, also had a distillery, planing mill and other
industries. Laurel Iron Works was situated on Cheat River,
seven miles northeast of Morgantown, and the community
is still spoken of by the old timers as Laurel Iron Works,
though the post office has gone and there is practically
no trade or industry centered there any longer. John Bow-
ers died September 21, 1897, in his seventy-eighth year,
and his landed possessions are still owned by his family.
His widow survived him eight years and was the same age
when she died. They reared six children: George C., who
died while a soldier in a West Virginia regiment in the
Union Army; John H., Joseph and William D., all residents
of Union District; Harriet E., wife of Charles R. Goodwin,
of Smithfield, Pennsylvania; and Andrew Coleman, owner
of the old Bowers homestead.

Joseph Bowers grew up in this locality and acquired a
common school education. With the exception of eleven
months he has lived here ever since. For thirty-two years
his father conducted a general store, and for twenty-
seven years of this time Joseph managed this enterprise,
until his father's death. Since then he has lived on the
farm, and he and Mrs. Bowers have made a practice of
opening their home to summer guests who come to enjoy
the beautiful scenery of this locality from as far away as
New York City and Pittsburgh. The house is full every
summer, and there are many parties that motor out to
enjoy the chicken dinners which are Mrs. Bowers' specialty.

On December 11, 1886, Mr. Bowers married Hattie L.
Mack, widow of David Savage and daughter of William
and Elizabeth (Dusenberry) Mack, of Easton, Monongalia
County, where her parents settled when Hattie was two
years of age. Her parents moved here from Laurel Point,
and her father was born at the City of Easton, Pennsyl-
vania, and married about 1855, after coming to the Mo-
nongahela Valley, his wife being a daughter of Samuel and
Dolly (Brakeiron) Dusenberry, farmers in that locality.
William Mack was a carpenter by trade, but for many
years lived on a farm. He died in May, 1911, when past
eighty, and the widowed mother of Mrs. Bowers is still
living, in her ninety-fifth year, a remarkable example of
longevity and well preserved faculties. Her home is now
with Mrs. Bowers. Mrs. Bowers lost her first husband a
year after their marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Bowers have no
children, but they are rearing Eula Cuppett, now eleven
years of age, and a bright and promising schoolgirl. Mr,
Bowers is a democrat, but has kept out of politics, having
refused to make a campaign for county commissioner. He
is one of the original stockholders of the Commercial Na-
tional Bank of Morgantown. Altogether he has prospered
in a financial way, and is regarded as one of the best
liked, most accommodating, self-sacrificing, public spirited
citizens of Monongalia County.


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