Guthrie County >> 1907 Index

Past and Present of Guthrie County, Iowa
Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1907.

B

Dr. Edward L. Bower, who is successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Guthrie Center with a patronage that indicates the trust reposed in him and his strict conformity to a high standard of professional ethics, is numbered among the native sons of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Salem, Clarion county, in 1865.

His father, John Bower, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, and was of German extraction, his ancestors having located in the Keystone state prior to the Revolutionary war and members of the family having taken part in the struggle for independence. John Bower was a physician and surgeon and became a man of note in his profession. Leaving the east in 1868, he came to Iowa and located at Panora. After a residence there of six months he removed to Guthrie Center, where he engaged continuously in the practice of his profession until his death, which occurred in 1892, when he was in his seventieth year. He gave his undivided attention to his professional duties and was recognized as a physician of wide erudition and marked capability. He held membership in the Lutheran church and was an exemplary representative of Odd Fellowship. He studied closely the political situation of the country and its possibilities along that line and was a progressive republican. His party recognizing his worth, elected him to the office of mayor of Guthrie Center and treasurer of the Guthrie county high school of which he was one of the founders. He took a deep and abiding interest in education and his labors in behalf of public instruction were far-reaching and beneficial. He was a man of strong convictions, fearless in defense of what he believed to be right, yet charitable in his opinions of others and liberal in his help to the unfortunate. In his professional duties he found ample opportunity to aid his fellowmen and never failed to respond to the call of the poor and needy even when he knew he would receive no remuneration. Nevertheless he prospered in following his profession and won that success which should ever crown honorable labor. He enjoyed the unqualified esteem of friends and neighbors and was one of the most prominent, honorable and honored citizens of Guthrie county.

In early manhood Dr. John Bower was married to Miss Mary Giltner, who was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and was of Holland Dutch descent. The Giltners, on leaving the old country, settled in Pennsylvania about the time of the Revolutionary war and the parents of Mrs. Bower were married in the Keystone state. She was one of six children and her brother, Dr. Jacob Giltner, is now a practicing physician in Portland, Oregon. Mrs. Bower died in 1868, at the age of forty-two years. By her marriage she had become the mother of eight children who reached years of maturity. Catherine, the eldest, is the wife of Daniel H. Plain, a retired merchant of Panora. Louisa H. is the widow of Abram K. Updegraf, who practiced law in Guthrie Center for a time and in 1877 removed to Leadville, Colorado, where he engaged in practice until his death in 1882 and was the first county judge of Lake county, Colorado, where Mrs. Updegraf still resides. Giltner P. became a prominent physician and practiced his profession in Carroll, Iowa, until his death, which occurred in 1883, when he was thirty-four years of age. John M. is an attorney at law, practicing in New York city. Mary E. is the wife of Louis P. Hammond, a real-estate dealer and promoter of Chicago. Loreno V. married Hon. Elbert W. Weeks, present representative from Guthrie Center in the state legislature and died in 1884. Frank H. engaged in the drug business until his death, which occurred in 1888, when he was twenty-nine years of age. Edward L. completes the family.

In taking up the personal history of Dr. Edward L. Bower we present to our readers the life record of one who is widely and favorably known in Guthrie county. He was brought to this county by his parents when he was only three years of age and acquired his early education in the common schools of Guthrie county, while later he attended the Guthrie county high school at Panora. He also spent one year as a student in the high school of Leadville, Colorado, and thus with a liberal literary education to serve as a foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional learning, he took up the study of medicine, matriculating in the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, in 1883. He was graduated from that institution in 1886 and the same year began practice at Guthrie Center, where he has since remained. He has been very successful and now has a lucrative general practice, which makes heavy demand upon his time and attention, leaving him little leisure for other interests.

In 1892 Dr. Bower was united in marriage to Annetta F. Huxley, who was born in Guthrie Center in 1863, a daughter of William V. and Eliza (Bently) Huxley. The father was a carpenter and one of the early settlers of Guthrie Center. Both he and his wife were natives of Staffordshire, England, but Mr. Huxley became most loyal in his attachment for his adopted country and manifested his fidelity to the stars and stripes by following the banner of the Union upon southern battle-fields. He enlisted as a member of Company I, Twenty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry and arose from the ranks to the grade of lieutenant in recognition of his meritorious service. Mrs. Bower was one of a family of seven children and has been twice married. Her first husband was Charles D. Weed, by whom she had three children: Cara E., wife of Charles B. Baggs, a hardware merchant of Algona, Iowa; Lillie L., wife of George B. M. Bower, a physician of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; and Inez, now deceased. Unto Dr, and Mrs. Bower have been born two children: Marie, born December 3, 1893; and Kathryn, born September 16, 1896. Mrs. Bower is a member of the Presbyterian church.

The Doctor belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken high rank and is now connected with the Mystic Shrine. He is a Knight of Pythias and in the line of his profession is connected with the County, State and American Medical Associations. In his politics he exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the republican party and is a member of the board of trustees of the Guthrie county high school and has been its treasurer. He was also a member of the Guthrie Center school board for some time and the cause of education finds in him a warm friend. He is wholly worthy of the respect which is everywhere tendered him for his name is synonymous with honorable dealing and with all that is elevating and beneficial to the city and individual.