Randolph County, West Virginia Biography of ELMER ALLEN BOWERS This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 554 Randolph ELMER ALLEN BOWERS, general attorney for the Western Maryland Railroad in Virginia, division counsel for the Charleston Division of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, gen- eral counsel for the West Virginia Coal & Coke Corpora- tion, and vice president of the Elkins National Bank, is one of the capable lawyers and public-spirited men of this part of West Virginia, and an honored citizen of Elkins, where he has lived since 1900. He was born at Hopewell, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1877, and is descended on both sides from solid Pennsylvania-Dutch stock. His parents, Henry Harrison and Florence (Detweiler) Bowers, were born and reared in Bedford County, Penn- sylvania. The date of the father's birth was in 1847, and when he was fourteen years old war was declared between the two sections of the country. In spite of his youth he volunteered and for eighteen months rendered gallant serv- ice in the Twenty-second Pennsylvania Cavalry, partici- pating in the campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley. After receiving his honorable discharge he became a laborer, work- ing first on railroad construction, and later in the coal mines. Still later he was engaged in merchandising at Hopewell, Pennsylvania, and died there in 1915. He and his wife became the parents of three daughters and one son, Elmer Alien. Mrs. Bowers survives her husband and con- tinues to live at Hopewell, and is still conducting the store she and her husband established. In the private and public schools of his native city Elmer Alien Bowers received his preliminary educational training. Leaving school, for two years he taught in the public schools, and then attended and graduated from the Central State Normal School at Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, in 1896. For three more years he continued his work as a public school teacher, and in the meanwhile began the study of law under the preceptorship of Hon. John H. Jordan, of Bedford, Pennsylvania. Mr. Bowers then attended Dickin- son Law School, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, completing his course there in 1900, having taken a two-years' course in one. In August of that same year he took up his duties as law clerk in the office of the late C. W. Dailey of Elkins. In 1902 he was admitted to practice at the bar of West Vir- ginia, and thereafter was associated with Mr. Dailey as a partner until the latter's death. Mr. Bowers then succeeded Mr. Dailey as general attorney in Virginia for the Western Maryland Railroad. He is a republican, but has never aspired to public honors, his time and interests being absorbed by his professional duties. Fraternally he main- tains membership with the Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1904 Mr. Bowers married Rissa D. Heatherly, of Philippi, West Virginia, and they have three children, namely: James Hubert, Jo-Ellen and Jean Williamson. Mr. Bowers is acknowledged to be one of the efficient cor- poration lawyers in the state. Care and precision mark the preparation of all of his cases of whatever nature, thus insuring a convincing and clear presentation of whatever subject comes before him for adjustment.