css3menu.com

html menu by Css3Menu.com


WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
September 6 , 1962
By H. W. Strawbridge

Charles Bower

Charles Bower was born at Allentown on Oct. 10, 1834, one of eight children of Michael and Sarah Daily Bower. The Bower family was of Pennsylvania-Dutch lineage. The family moved to Venango County when the children were young.

Charles was married to Miss Matilda Keas of Jackson Township on May 22, 1860. She was born Oct. 24, 1839, a daughter of Michael and Catherine Miller Keas, who had arrived in Venango County from some place “east of the mountains.” The Keas family was also Pennsylvania – Dutch.

Michael Keas owned a farm at Trout Run, Jackson Township, and besides farming he also made coffins out of nice cherry lumber. Matilda was the second of a total of ten children. One of her brothers, John Keas, was one of the last Union soldiers to die in the Civil War. He was fatally wounded at Petersburg, Va., just three days before Lee’s surrender, and he fell off his horse and into the arms of a Plum Township comrade, R. P. Seely.

Charles and Matilda Bower apparently began housekeeping near Cooperstown. He worked some time for Booth & Hillier who operated a brickyard there. He also worked on an early sawmill on Lake Creek, owned by a man named Wilson. The old style up-and-down saw was used there. Charles and his brother, Irwin Bower, worked on 12-hour shifts in the mill.

For some time Charles and Matilda lived in a house located between his mother’s place and her father’s place, still in Jackson Township. Charles mother was a widow at this time. In fact there is no date of his father’s death. Old Mrs. Bower died in 1891 and is buried in the Plum Cemetery. It is said that her husband preceded her in death by at least 30 years.

In the fall of 1882 and the winter of 1883, Charles family lived in his mother’s house, then moved to Sunville in April, 1883, on fifty acres which he bought from Samuel Axtell. It was here that Charles and Matilda lived the remainder of their lives. The place was sold by the Bower descendents over six years ago and it is presently owned by Mrs. L.W. Russell of near Meadville. The Frank Miller family presently rent the place. It was originally a part of a larger tract owned by James Davidson, who sold the 50 acres to Rev. Lawrence Streite, a Presbyterian minister, in 1854. The Axtell family bought the place from Mrs. J.T. Streite in 1874. There was a spring on the farm.

Charles and Matilda had the following three children: Alfred J.M. Bower, Feb. 16, 1861; Willie G. Bower, Feb. 19, 1866; and Orie T. Bower, April 3, 1877. The first two died in infancy. Alfred died April 1, 1861, aged 44 days and Willie died Feb. 21, 1866, aged two days. The only surviving child, Orie T. Bower, was reared at Sunville and was married on Dec. 20, 1899 to Miss Edith Thompson of near Dempseytown. They lived on the Bower place at Sunville where he primarily farmed. They had foru children as follows: Miss Isa Bower of Bethel, Venango County; Mrs. Gertha Deets of between Wallaceville and Dempseytown; William J. Bower of Knox and Mrs. Mary Reed of near Seneca. In 1956 the family sold their Sunville farm and moved into a new home at Bethel. It was there that Mrs. O.T. Bower died in 1960. Mr. Bower still lives there, enjoying good health at the age of 85.

Charles Bower did some farming, but mainly followed the carpenter business. He weighed about 150 pounds and was approximately five feet 10 inches tall. He had a beard and was a rather quiet person. He had the misfortune to lose an eye in his earlier life. He was peeling a splint off a hickory broom when his knife slipped and struck his right eye.

As far as horses were concerned, he worked with only one horse. He didn’t like to team.

Matilda was a woman of medium height and weighed once as much as 160 pounds, but in her later years she weighted less. Both Charles and Matilda were members of the Sunville Methodist Church. He joined in April 1894, under the pastorate of Rev. W. P. Lowthian. Her date of uniting with the church is unrecorded. Charles had served as both a church trustee and parsonage trustee. He used to drive around gathering donations such as hay and grain for the benefit of the preacher. There is record of Matilda having been elected a church steward.

Other than a few local visitations, the couple seldom went any great distance. They went to Conneaut Lake once a year to visit a sister, Mrs. Eliza Shartle.

Matilda died Sept. 6, 1905 of infirmities of old age. He apparently had some heart trouble as he had some difficulty breathing towards the last. He was bedfast only a few days. Services in his memory were held in the Presbyterian Church with the Methodist pastor, Rev. Louis E. Bedison, officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery. There were three deaths at Sunville at that particular time. Isaac W. Davison was buried on the day that Charles Bower died and Ashbury T. Burns died on the day that Bower was buried.

Transcribed by Penny Kulbacki Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.