Yolo
County
Biographies
JOHN GUSLER BOWER
One
of Yolo County’s oldest and most highly respected citizens is John G. Bower,
owner of the Idylwild ranch and a very successful
farmer and stock raiser. He is the last
survivor of one of the earliest pioneer families in this section of the state
and has performed his full part in the development and upbuilding
of Yolo County. Mr. Bower was born in
Pike County, Illinois, on the third of June, 1849, and is the son of John G.
and Susan (Crowder) Bower, the former a native of Pennsylvania and of German
descent. In 1849 the father made his
first trip across the plains, driving a mule team, and joined the gold rush to
California. He worked in the mines of Trinity County until the fall of 1851,
when he returned east by way of the ithmus of
Panama. On April l7, 1852, he started
for California by ox team with his family, consisting of his wife and three
sons, and on August 23rd of that year they arrived at Hangtown, now known as Placerville, California. They were members of a big wagon train and
crossed the plains safely. After spending
a week in Hangtown, they went to Willow Slough, Yolo
County, where they stayed a short time, then bought the present farm of twenty
acres of virgin land, a part of the Knight grant, near what is now the town of
Yolo. The land was covered with trees,
brush and wild oats, entailing a vast amount of hard work to get the soil in
shape for cultivation, but in the course of time the place was developed into a
well improved and productive ranch, to the operation of which the father
devoted the remainder of his life. He
died July 11, 1894, and the wife on December 23, 1902. Both parents were members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Their two oldest sons,
Philip M. and James W., are also deceased.
John
G. Bower received his early education in the district schools, and in 1867,
entered the Pacific Methodist College at Vacaville, Solano County, this state,
attending until 1870. On the death of
his father he took charge of the home ranch, and has since engaged in grain
farming, and the raising of cattle, horses and hogs. He also raises a large amount of sugar beets,
which do well in this climate. He is
progressive and up-to-date in his methods and has maintained the ranch in the
best condition.
On
April 7, 1875, Mr. Bower was united in marriage to Miss Alice Friel, who was born in Yolo County and is now
deceased. She was a daughter of Jeremiah
Friel, a native of Virginia who crossed the plains to
California in 1849. Mrs. Bower was
educated at the Young Ladies’ Seminary in Benicia, California, and was a woman
of splendid character and gracious qualities, greatly esteemed by all who knew
her.
Mr.
Bower has been a member of the local school board and has always taken an
active and effective interest in those things that contribute to the public
welfare. He is the oldest member and
oldest past master of the Yolo Lodge, No.
81, F. & A. M. Mr. Bower talks interestingly of the early
days of this locality, recalling that when his family came here the country was
full of wild life, including grizzly bears, quail, ducks, geese, deer and
antelope, while rattlesnakes were common.
Because of the dense timber and brush on their place, he and his
brothers could not make rapid progress in clearing their land and but a small
patch of grain was planted at first.
Living conditions were simple in the extreme and the country was a long
while in being settled, but eventually as the population increased and roads
and other improvements were made the county gradually became what it is
today,--one of the choice sections of this state. Mr. Bower belongs to the Woodland Christian
Church and gives his earnest support to it and to all other worthy causes.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 193-194. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yolo County Biographies