BOWMAN, WILLIAM C. is numbered among the older residents of Cass County, Ill., and is one of the best known and most favorably regarded farmers within its limits. He is approaching the half century period of his life in the county, which began in his early manhood, and after long tilling the soil in this vicinity with successful results, has withdrawn from active pursuits, band is spending the later years of a busy life in leisurely and comfortable retirement. Having reaped the practical fruits of an industrious career, he is now resting in the enjoyment of a well earned reputation for economy, sobriety, good judgment and honorable dealing.

William C. Bowman is a native of the state of North Carolina, where his birth took place in Alexander County, November 14, 1849. His parents were born in the same state, his father, Jesse Bowman, being a native of the same county, and his mother, Sarah (Hefner) Bowman, of Catawba County. Both died in North Carolina. Coming to Illinois in 1869, their son, William C., worked for twelve months on a farm in Cass County, after which he rented different farms for five years. Then, buying forty-six acres lying nine miles east of the town of Virginia, he started farming for himself and continued until he sold the place about five years later. His next farm comprised eighty acres, and after remaining on it ten years, he disposed of it, purchasing a 160-acre farm two miles north of Virginia. Forty -six acres of this he subsequently traded for forty-nine and one-half acres located half a mile distant. There he lived from 1883 until 1901, when he moved into Virginia, although he continued to conduct the farm until the fall of 1911, when he rented the place out and retired from active life. Besides grain and farming, he always engaged in raising horses and Poland-China hogs.

Mr. Bowman was first married in October, 1872, to Melinda Haynes, a native of Illinois, born in Cass County. They had one son, Carl Theodore, who died in infancy, and the mother died in 1875. On February 14, 1879, at Jacksonville, Ill., by Rev. David Strain, Mr. Bowman was wedded to Emma Boatman, who was born in Randolph County, Mo., January 9, 1862, and is a daughter of Nelson and Elizabeth (Todd) Boatman, natives of near Lexington, Kentucky. They came to Cass County, where both died. They had the following children: Della, who became Mrs. Edward Millner, of Peoria, Ill., has two children, Eugenia and Virginia M.; William Lee, of Rock Island, Ill.; May, who married Howard Jockish, of Cass County, and they have Reta D., Mary E., Marjorie G., and Dorothy M.; Harry J., of Rock Island; and Myrtle E., Reta B. and Jessie E., all died in infancy. Politically Mr. Bowman is a Democrat. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of which he has officiated as a trustee since 1904.