[NOTE: There are typographical errors in the original copy. This transcriber does not have the right to correct them. Therefore, this data is presented as it is found in the original. All '@' and '&' signs are those of the writer, not this transcriber. Any places where this transcriber has found obvious language mechanics/spelling, etc. errors are followed by 'sic' in brackets.]

GENERATION #1

*B-MICHAEL BOWER & his wife CATHERINE, & children, Phillip Jerry, Phillip Jacob, Hans Michael, Catherina Debra, & Hans Peter were listed as passengers on the ship "Diana" which came from Germany in June 1791, Ozias Goodman, Commander. Family hearsay & a copy of the speech given at the 1st Bower-Page Reunion held @ Valmont Park, Williamsport, agree that our ancestors were Michael & Catherine Bower & Michael & Catherine Page, and that they came from Germany @ the turn of the century. A number of Bowers (Bauer) were found in Penna [sic] as early as 1750 & there was a Michael & Catherine Bower of Washington twp [sic], Northunberland [sic] Co [sic] who had a son Michael born in 1791 & bp Dec 1791, bp witnessed by Michael Rehbock & Maria Margretha, his wife. The MICHAEL & CATHERINE who came over in 1791 seem to fit the best. We beleive [sic] they came directly to the Muncy Creek Valley in Lycoming Co Pa. There were other Bower families here as well & as I have not found Phillip Jacob & Jerry, it is my hunch they were not Michael & Catherine [sic] but that they only came to this country with them to perhaps join their parents who had come before. We know that our MICHAEL & CATHERINE had at least 5 children, two of them born here. MICHAEL died in 1814 and administration was granted to wife Catherine & sons Michael & Peter, this tells us that the boys were both of age in 1814. Michael Jr [sic] was old enough to have served in the War of 1812. Administration was granted 15 Oct 1814. On 21 Aug 1833, CATHERINE BOWER made a non-cuperative [sic] will the day before she died @ the home of her daughter Mary Stugard. She said, "I give all of my property to my daughter, Mary Stugard, with the exception of my wearing apparel which it is my wish should be divided between my daus Mary Stugard & Catherine Hall. A $6 debt due me from my son Henry Bower, it is my will that he shall retain it, a debt due me of $10 from my son Michael, it is my will that is should be paid." From these wills we learn of the births of Henry & Mary after coming to this country. We note that son Peter was not mentioned in his mothers [sic] will, he had apparently died by this time.

 5 children:

GENERATION #2

*B2 - PETER BOWER & ELIZABETH were the parents of Michael Bower born in Muncy 26 Aug 1820 per Bible records. It is our firm beleif [sic] that she was ELIZABETH PAGE, d/o Michael & Catherine Page. At least that is what we were told in a speech supposedly given at the first Bower-Page Reunion held @ Valmont Park in Williamsport. We have a copy of the speech but there is no date on it. The speech says, "We commemorate our ancestors, Michael & Catherine Bower, and Michael & Catherine Page." I remember attending one of these reunions & there are pictures. I have located a Michel [sic] Page in Muncy in 1820-1830- & [sic] 1840. He was not there 1810 or in 1850. There is a Page Funeral Home in Williamsport who is supposedly related but I hae had no luck so far with them. As far as I have been able to determine, PETER & ELIZABETH had only 2 children, but it is not impossible for the many Bowers that I found in the area, for some of them to have been other sons of Peter & Elizabeth. PETER apparently had died by 1833 as his mother did not mention him in her will. However he apparently was living in 1831 as in the 1850 we find ELIZABETH age 56 living neighbor to son Michael, & a daughter, Rachel, age 19 is living with her. In 1860 ELIZABETH was living with son Michael & Richel lived next door with a family. ELIZABETH was still living in 1870. I did not get to see the 1880 census yet. (3 hours combing through one roll of film is not unusual).

 2 known children:

GENERATION #3

*B21-MICHAEL BOWER was born 26 Aug 1820, & m'd MARY STRYKER d/o Joseph & Mary Stryker. She was born 16 May 1821 in Muncy (Fairfield township). MICHAEL & MARY lived in Fairfield township most of their lives, & had 12 children born there. They are buried in Montoursville Cemetery. Her obituary states she was born & had lived all but 3 years of her life in Fairfield township. The data given below on their 12 children was compiled from my Mothers [sic] 1902 diary of her 6 week visit in the Williamsport area with all her Aunts & Uncles & Cousins [sic]. Some of the data was also supplied by another grandchild of MICHAEL & MARY, Zella (McLain) Konkle, whom we met a few years ago. A very sweet & tiny little old lady with a keen memory & reminded us so much of the mental picture we had had of the Bower family.

 12 children, all born Muncy:

GENERATION #3 [sic]

*B212- RACHEL ANN BOWER was born in Muncy Pa 3 Feb 1846. There is a story that at one time there was quite a flood in Mountoursville & Muncy & a young man from Williamsport came in a row boat and rescued RACHEL. That young man later became her husband. RACHEL & DWIGHT P. JACKSON were m'd by the Rev. D. Casselman 16 Aug 1865 @ the Methodist Parsonage in Muncy. They lived in Williamsport until 1872 when they moved to Waverly NY & in 1874 to Danby NY & to Candor NY in 1876. It was in Candor in 1878 that diptheria struck their family & they lost 3 children within 3 weeks. They had 9. RACHEL was a very tiny little person, no more than 5 ft tall if that. She was a wonderful homemaker, housekeeper & cook & a devoted member of the Candor Baptist Church. She helped her husband in his bakery & store on Main Street in Candor & baked many of the cookies to see which were quickly devoured by many Candor folk. She died after having a stroke on 8 Apr 1921. D.P. (as he was always called) had died previously. They are buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Candor NY.

9 children:

**[NOTE: This information is not included here.]

SOURCES: Family Bibles, pictures, news clippings; etc data - Lycoming Co Hist Soc; Cemetery rec; Immigrants to Pa - Tepper; Ethel Jacksons [sic] diary; census records; Hist of Lycoming Co;

[Extracted from: Grandmas & Grandpas of Yesteryear: An Ancestry of the Meddaugh-Deming Families by Catherine Meddaugh Deming. Privately printed Endicott, NY 1982, not copywrited, pp. 61-64.]