San Joaquin County
Biographies
MICHAEL BOWERS
MICHAEL BOWERS was born in
Maryland in 1836, on Christmas Day, his parents being Anthony and Margaret
(Johnson) Bowers, both of German descent. About 1843 or 1844 the family moved
from Maryland to Ohio, settling in Darke County, where they both lived and
died. Anthony Bowers was both a baker and a miller by trade; the former
business he followed in the early part of his life, but after he moved to Ohio
he turned his attention to milling; he owned a grist-mill at Jacksonville,
Ohio; when he first took control of it it was a water and saw-mill. He
afterward remodeled it into a steam mill, making many improvements, etc.,
carrying it on for ten or fifteen years. He afterward sold the mill and
embarked in the mercantile business, in which he was engaged at the time of his
death. In his family there were five children, namely: Michael, Anthony, Anna,
Frank and Elizabeth; two of them, Anthony and Anna are deceased.
Michael is the oldest of the family. He
was brought up on a farm and taught how to work. In his eighteenth year, in
1854, he came to California, via the Nicaragua route, arriving in San Francisco
from the steamer Nicaragua, May 1, after a voyage of about three weeks. He had
but ten cents in his pocket when he landed, but soon found employment in the
city wheeling brick in a brick-yard for $40 a month. At the end of four days he
was taken sick and laid up for six weeks, but was not entirely confined to his
bed, so found a place where he could milk cows and do other light chores for
his board. When he was able to do hard work he remained with the same family,
at $25 a month, working in a garden. He next obtained a position driving a
butcher’s wagon and helping to butcher at $50 a month. He remained here for six
months, then made his way to Mariposa, where he stayed three months engaged in
surface digging, about making his expenses. This was the first and only mining
he ever did. He came to Stockton and was engaged at farm work by a man named
Rank, in O’Neil Township, on what is now called the Tom Day place. He remained
there about three months, when he left there, went to Stockton, and carried a
hod for $4 a day, working on the public building then going up. At the end of
six months he quit this work and hired out to Elijah Wilkins, working on his
ranch, making $40 a month. He stayed there five years. He had saved his
earnings and had a small capital on hand. He took this and bought out the
interest of a man named Fry, who was in partnership with John Duffee, in a
tract of 202 acres. Bowers & Duffee, continued in partnership for a year,
when they divided the land and stock and other farming equipment, Mr. Bowers
taking the upper half, and there he has since made his home. The place is
situated on the Waterloo road, eight miles from Stockton, and through the
energy and industry of its owner is one of the most highly developed ranches in
the county. The buildings, fences and other improvements are of the very best.
Mr. Bowers was married January 21, 1863,
to Ellen Sheehan, a native of Ireland, but she came to the United States when
very young, and to California in 1861. Their family consists of one daughter,
Mamie A., born September 6, 1871. They have lost one son, Anthony, who died in
1869, at the age of two years.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 566-567. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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