Mathias P Bowser
MATHIAS P. BOWSER, late of Boggs township, Armstrong county, died June 3, 1909, on the farm there which he had owned and operated for many years, and which is now carried on by his son Harvey P. Bowser.
This Bowser family has been settled in Boggs township for almost a century. Peter and Sarah (Russel) Bowser, parents of Mathias P. Bowser, came to this region from east of the mountains and first located in Franklin township, Armstrong county. They obtained a tract of land which they soon traded for 200 acres in Boggs township, and there they erected log buildings and made a permanent home. Mr. Bowser farmed the remainder of his life there. He and his wife had a large family of children, born as follows: Elizabeth, Aug. 30, 1811; Mary, Aug. 14, 1813; Martha, Nov. 3, 1815; John, Oct. 27, 1816; Mathias P., Jan. 17, 1819; Jennet, Dec. 11, 1821; Sally, March 3, 1825; Margaret, March 21, 1826; Laban, July 16, 1828; Jermiah, Feb. 6, 1832.
Mathias P. Bowser was born in Pennsylvania, but it is not certain whether his birthplace was east of the mountains or in Armstrong county, where he was reared. He was trained to farm work from the time his services were of any use, and in young manhood began farming on his own account. He also ran a sawmill. He owned and lived upon fifty acres of his father's old place, thence moving to the place where Robert Walker now lives, above Mosgrove, and later to a farm at Pine Furnace, which he had been cultivating for twelve years at the time he entered the Union service during the Civil war. He had formerly been captain of a company of State militia whose camp or training ground was at or near what is now Snyderville, filling that position until the company's time expired and it gave up training. In 1862 he joined the 78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, with which he served three years as a member of Companies I and B, receiving an honorable discharge in March, 1865. He was captured and paroled. Returning home from the army he lived a few years more on his property at Pine Furance, in April, 1870, removing to a place in Boggs township, where he ever afterward made his home. He bought 120 acres, partly cleared, on which stood an old log barn and a small house, and in the course of his residence here improved the land in every respect, and as prosperity enabled him erected modern buildings. He also owned a sixty-acre tract above, known as the John Baum place. He became one of the most respected men in his neighborhood, serving his fellow citizens in various township offices, was an influential member of the Democratic party in his locality, and in religious connection was a member of the United Presbyterian Church.
On April 10, 1844, Mr. Bowser married Sarah Ann Baum, who was born March 26, 1826, daughter of John Baum, and eleven children were born to them, as follows: Wilson L., March 31, 1845; Ross Mechlin, Dec. 8, 1847; Harvey Peter, Dec. 5, 1849; Dewitt Clinton, Dec. 23, 1851 (died in 1853); Hetty Williams, July 23, 1853; Templeton B., Oct. 9, 1855; Sarah Jane, May 23, 1857; Madison Monroe, Feb. 14, 1860 (died aged fifty-three years); McClellan G., April 5, 1862; James Neal, Jan. 20, 1866; Rebecca P., May 15, 1867.
Harvey Peter Bowser, son of Mathias P. Bowser, was born Dec. 5, 1849. After his father gave up active work the care of the home place devolved upon him, and he has continued to live there, his mother, who is now in her eighty-ninth year, making her home with him
Source: Pages 729-730 Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed October 1998 by Joyce Sherry for the Armstrong County Beers Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any presentation, without prior written permission.Return to the Beers Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
Return to the Armstrong County Genealogy Project