San Diego County
Biographies
MR. AND MRS. HOMER C. BOWMAN
In the business and public life of
Vista, Mr. and Mrs. Homer C. Bowman figure prominently, the former as a dealer
in real estate and insurance and the latter as postmistress. Of colonial stock, both are descended from
Revolutionary ancestors, whose families were early settlers in the vicinity of
Boston, Massachusetts. Homer C. Bowman was
born in Underhill, Vermont, January 9, 1860, a son of Thomas E. and Mary E.
(Burleson) Bowman. He was but two years
old when his mother died and the father, long surviving her, passed away in
May, 1896.
Homer C. Bowman pursued his
education in the schools of Massachusetts and when a young man of nineteen
started for the west, arriving in Topeka, Kansas, in 1879. On the 18th of August, 1885, he
was married to Miss Isabelle S. Murdock, a daughter of George L. and Anna
Frances (Peck) Murdock, the former a native of West Boylston, a suburb of
Boston, and the latter a member of an old family of Rhode Island. Mr. Murdock’s death occurred at La Jolla,
California, and his wife passed away at Vista.
Mr. and Mrs. Bowman came to
California in 1912 and two years later established their home in Vista, San
Diego County. Many real estate deals of
importance have been consummated through his agency and he also writes
insurance of all kinds. He has an
intimate knowledge of the worth of all local property that is on the market and
manifests sound judgment in the conduct of his business. His connection with the sanitary board of
this district is that of assessor and formerly he was a justice of the peace
for three years. Mrs. Bowman has capably
discharged the duties of postmistress for four years and during that period
this has risen from a fourth class to a second class office. The rapid growth of the mail service here is
largely due to the fact that this district is particularly adapted to the
growing of avocados and citrus fruits and has a most desirable class of
residents.
Mr. and Mrs. Bowman became the
parents of two sons but Thomas E., born in 1886, is deceased. Enlisting in the United States Army at the
time of the World War, he became ill while in the service of his country and
died in 1918 following an operation in a hospital. The other son, Dr. Karl M. Bowman, was
graduated from Washburn College, of Topeka, Kansas, and received the M. D.
degree from the University of California.
He served in a British hospital before this country declared war against
Germany and then transferred into the medical corps of the United States
Army. He is assistant professor of
psychiatry at Harvard University and chief medical officer of the Boston
Psychopathic Hospital. In 1916 he was
married to Miss Elizabeth Stearns, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and
they reside in the city of Boston. They
have four children: Richard Stearns,
Thomas Elliott, Murdock Stearns and Walter Murdock Bowman, aged respectively
fifteen, thirteen, ten and six years.
Homer C. Bowman is a Mason and his
wife belongs to Oceanside Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution,
the Vista Garden Club, and to the local Woman’s Club, which she has represented
as president for five years. Mr. and
Mrs. Bowman can always be counted upon in the furtherance of measures for the
general good and both are highly respected in the community which has been
their home for nearly twenty years.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 245-246, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S SAN DIEGO BIOGRAPIES