"The purpose of this little booklet is to give a brief history of one immigrant and his descendants. Millions of people have left Europe and have come to America in the past 300 years. Ordinarily few of these would be of much interest, but the subject of this sketch has a personal interest to us who are his descendants. For this reason we want to go back in the past as far as possible and record some of our family story before what is known of this history shall have become lost.

John Bower (Johann Bauer) was born in 1792 in the little hamlet of Buerg, Wuerttemberg, Germany. The town at that time was six stunden (hours) from Stuttgart. A guidebook issued about two years ago says the distance is one- half hour: however, this latter measurement was made by auto. The village of Buerg is several hundred years old. In 1325 it was sold or transferred by Count Winnenden to Wuerttemberg and has belonged to that kingdom ever since. It is said that the village was sometimes called Schaadburg - the reason for the nickname will appear later.

The country about Buerg is hilly. Buerg was purely a farmers' village. The farmers went out to their little farms in the surrounding territory and came back to the village for the night. No one lived on the farms. How long the Bower family were residents of the village we do not know. John Bower was the son of John Bower and had several brothers. There was a Frederick Bower, apparently a David Bower and a John Jacob Bower who was Mayor of Buerg for some twenty years or more. For much of the early history we are indebted to a letter from the mayor written in 1852.

Of John Bower's early life we lack definite knowledge. That he had a fairly good education is evident from some of the notes left in various books belonging to him, and he owned a library that would likely have been considered a rather extensive one in those days. The books are mostly school books and works of a religious nature and of no special interest in these times. There is a tradition in the family that he attended the University of Tuebingen for about two years. This could very well be true for Tuebingen is only about twenty-five miles from Buerg, just a nice day's walk. We write of a different age.

But whatever plans John Bower had for an education were changed by Napoleon who controlled Wuerttemberg at that time. John Bower was called to serve under Napoleon. He went with Napoleon and 600,000 other men on the march to Moscow in the summer of 1812. John Bower was one of the 25,000 men who had round trip tickets and so got back to his home the following winter ragged and half-starved.

So far this story can be fairly well documented. In addition, there are some family traditions which may be mentioned as of some significance, even though they are subject to a degree of doubt.

1. There is a tradition that he was a member of Napoleon's body-guard.
2. He is credited with a knowledge of French and is said to have kept in that language a diary of his experiences in the French army. This manuscript supposedly was left in Germany with a relative.
3. According to legend he came home from Moscow with his feet wrapped in rags, his boots having been eaten.

There could be a basis of truth in these stories, for according to another family recollection the voyage to America was made on a French vessel and John Bower was on very good terms with the captain because he was able to talk to him in French. Of his personal appearance we know nothing. But something of his character shows in the few scraps of writing left in some of his school books and in the family records still to be found in some of his other books. He would seem to have been a deeply religious man, possibly more so than some of his descendants. Also he had a rather strongly developed vein of superstition, or belief in signs and a trust in medical magic as shown by some cure-all prescriptions which he carefully preserved. In addition we can safely say that he was a very resourceful man, able to take care of himself and to survive great dangers as shown by his return trip from Moscow. In other words we need not be ashamed of the old gentleman.

Now let us turn for a moment to the distaff side of the family. In this same village of Buerg, sometimes called Schaadburg, a daughter was born on June 13, 1795, to Christian Schaad and wife and was named Anna Margaretha. In this family there was only one other child, also a girl. Later we shall want to discuss the settlement of the Schaad estate between these two daughters: but for the present we are only interested in the fact that Anna Margaretha and John were married in 1819.

Margaret was rather small, active and was very adept in the peasant dances of that region. Her education was not as extensive as that of her husband. To this couple nine children were born, six in Germany and three in America.

The original family record is now owned by Mr. Roger Bower, Chillicothe, Ohio, R.F.D.4. This record is not in a Bible but in a Book of Prayer. The book is a large book of about 1100 pages, good paper, leather bound with clasps and is in a remarkably good state of preservation. A translation of the record follows:

There are some peculiarities in this record. It was before woman suffrage and the children were all born "to me". The baptismal witnesses "were his father and mother".

It will also be noticed that four out of the five boys were named John and that two girls out of four had the name of Catherine. That the second girl had the French name Louisa, instead of the German Luise is some further evidence that grandfather Bower really did know French.

John was a common name in the family. The John Bower who is the subject of this sketch was the son of John Bower.

To be noted also is the care taken to record the sign of the Zodiac: probably a belief in the potency of signs was much stronger a hundred years ago than it is now."

"There were apparently two principal things that led John and Margaret Bower to decide on leaving Germany for America, and there is evidence that Margaret Schaad Bower did help to decide this question.

Early in May, 1832 the journey was begun. The last date we have for the presence of the family in Germany was May 6, 1832. According to family tradition Grandfather Bower was unable to get a passport in Germany to the United States so had to get one to Holland and then in Holland got a passport for the remainder of the journey. The same source says the trip to Holland was made by ox-cart. On arriving at Amsterdam the oxen were sold and the rest of the trip was made by water - five weeks on the oceam on what was probably a French vessel. From New York the journey was up the Hudson River to Albany, Erie Canal to Erie, lake boat to Cleveland and then by the old Ohio and Erie Canal to Chillicothe. The "old canal" was a slip of the pen. The canal was new at that time and ended at Chillicothe, and was finished the next year to the Ohio River at Portsmouth. Chillicothe had no railroad then so travel by water was necessary.

The choosing of Chillicothe as the end of the trip seems to have been due rather to accident than to plan. It was the end of the canal. Also on the ocean the Bower family met another family of immigrants who had relatives or friends in Chillicothe and the two families landed in Chillicothe together. For a short time John Bower and family rented a home in Chillicothe where John Bower got employment in a rope-walk. No, he wasn't a tight rope performer, He just made rope. After a few weeks he bought a farm of fifty-seven acres in the hills east of Chillicothe. The hill land was fertile at that time, but now of little value because of erosion. At that date malaria was very common in Chillicothe and the river valley, hence the decision in favor of the upland farm."

The family having now been domiciled in the United States, let us return to Germany to settle Christian Schaad's estate. Margaret Bower and her sister being the only heirs. The prices may be of interest.

Real Estate. Half of a two-story house with cellar and yard - about $20.00. 1/8 interest in a barn - $12.00. 1/2 of 1/2 of 1 acre and 4 rods - apple orchard - $8.00. There were seven other small tracts of land, the largest about an acre in size. They are listed as vineyard, orchard, meadows, gardens, etc. The total value of all the real estate was about $50.00.

Personal Property. The values are given in kreutzers. A kreutzer is about 2/3 of a cent. Anyone who wishes may turn these values into American cents.

There were other items in the probate record. These are given merely to show that the cost of living has gone up in the last hundred and eleven years. The court record is dated February 13, 1830. While on this subject of prices it might be of interest to know that John Bower paid tax in 1833. The tax on fifty-seven acres of land and two cows was sixty-two cents. (See page 16). About 1840, the exact date is now known. John Bower died being then about forty-eight years old. Tradition says he died of pneumonia. He left a widow and six children, a boy of sixteen years, a girl of fourteen, a boy of nine, a boy of seven, a girl of five and a boy of two. For a good many years life was hard. However, all these children were clothed and fed; few meals were missed, although some of them may sometimes have been postponed. Most of the children got some sort of an education.

Each of these children left a group of descendants. As a whole the descendants are pretty well scattered, some living in New York, some in California, with others in the intervening states. Ohio has more of the family than any other state, with Kansas second. Farming is still the occupation followed by the majority of the family, although many are getting into other lines of work as the family grows in number. Some in Kansas have been in mining and some are connected with gas and oil. There have been a few building contractors and a good many teachers in all lines from primary work to college chairs. Of other professions we have one minister, one lawyer, one research chemist, one doctor, one librarian and two newspaper men. This classification is not intended to be complete for the writer is not provided with a full list of all the family occupations. The omission of any important occupation is purely unintentional. In order to take care of omissions we expect to put a few blank pages in the booklet so that each family may have a chance to make additions.

The members of the family have a few characteristics. They are a fairly robust race. In looking over the old records one is struck by the large number of children dying at the age of one or two years. In the early days the death of children at that age was common, mostly due to what was then called "summer complaint." Every family had this trouble which was due to improper diet. The disease has disappeared. Of other common diseases cancer and tuberculosis are rare in the Bower family, diabetes is not common but there is probably a normal amount of high blood pressure and allied diseases. No one in the family is noted for great wealth and on the other hand extreme poverty is almost unknown, which is probably a good note on which to close."