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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 himSource: 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:
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