Williams County, Ohio - The whole text, 1920 (part 12 of 12)

Charles A. Bowersox, for all his varied activities and interests as Judge of the Williams County Court of Common Pleas, banker lawyer, bus.ness man and farmer, yet finds time to act as supervising editor of this History of Williams County, has been a resident of the county nearly three-quarters of a century and has always been possessed of a reverence for things and persons historical, not only in his own family and county, but in state and nation.

Judge Bowersox was born in St. Joseph Township, Williams County, October 16, 1846, one of eight children, the only other survivor being his brother, John W. Bowersox, also of Williams County The father, John Warner Bowersox, was born in Baltimore County Maryland, January 10, 1808, of an ancestry described as Pennsylvania German. A shoemaker, he followed his trade in and about Frederick County, Maryland, and Adams County, Pennsylvania, until about twenty-two. At Taneytown, Maryland, he married Mary Jane Breckenndge, who was born in Adams County, Pennsylvania, not far from Gettysburg, in September 1810. She was of Scotch-Irish descent of a very rehg.ous Presbyterian family, and was a connection of one branch of the Breckenridge family that went to Kentucky, where the Breckenridges have long been distinguished in politics, the professions and business. Soon after his marriage John Warner Bowersox and wife removed to North Industry, a village about four miles south of

Canton, Ohio. They lived there about seven years, during which time he continued his trade. Three children were born there, one dying in infancy, and the others accompanying their parents to St. Joseph Township, Williams County, Ohio, in October, 1838. In Williams County the father engaged in farming and lived here until his death, April 14, 1890. His good wife died on the old farm in 1867.

Charles A. Bowersox grew up at the old homestead, attended the common schools of St. Joseph Township, taught seven terms of district school there, after which he entered Otterbein University at Westerville, Ohio, taking the full classical course and graduating Bachelor of Arts, June 10, 1874. Three years later he received his Master's degree, and years after that returned to his alma mater and was acting president of the college from August, 1890, until June, 1892. Beginning August 17, 1874, for two years he was superintendent of the public schools of Edgerton in Williams County. While in that post he was nominated and elected Probate Judge of Williams County, serving three full years from January 1, 1876, until December 31, 1879. In the meantime he studied law and was admitted to the bar and began practice in September, 1879, with Hon. Edward Foster. Their partnership was terminated by the death of Mr. Foster in 1883. After that Judge Bowersox continued in law practice with some intermissions until January 1, 1917.

The Civil war closed before he was nineteen years of age and his only military record is as an honorary member of the Thirty-Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. However, he was old enough to appreciate the grandeur of the character and service of Abraham Lincoln, and is probably the best informed man in Williams County on the life and times of the great President. Mr. Bowersox has been a popular speaker on many occasions, and his favorite subject is Abraham Lincoln. In politics he has been a republican, with an exalted conception of the duties of the party, and has been radical to the extent of an implacable hatred of human slavery and an ardent espousal of the cause of temperance. His prohibition views have doubtless interfered at times with his political ambitions, but he has never been known to yield his convictions for expediency. Until he took his place on the bench he was in almost every campaign of his party, made a great many speeches, and in the campaign of 1896 delivered about thirty speeches in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio under the appointment of the National Committee.

of two sessions. The governor of Ohio at that time was Charles Foster, afterwards secretary of the United States Treasury. In April, 1883, Governor Foster appointed Mr. Bowersox common pleas judge of the second subdivision of the Third Judicial District of Ohio to fill a portion of the unexpired term of S. N. Owen, elected to the supreme bench. The subdivision was hopelessly democratic and Mr. Bowersox was not a candidate for re-election. Then followed over twenty years of devotion to law practice and business. In the fall of 1907 he was again elected to the Legislature, serving two sessions and being present and taking part in the election of T. E. Burton of Cleveland, Ohio, to the United States Senate. In the fall of 1916 Mr. Bowersox was nominated and elected as common pleas judge of Williams County, which then constituted a judicial district, and he has presided over all the sessions of this court for the past four years. Even without the honors and success of his professional career Judge Bowersox would be known as one of Williams County's best business men. He has been a farm owner and farm manager, has been a merchant, manufacturer and banker. With H. F. Bruns he comprised the Bruns-Bowersox Lumber Company, serving as its president. This company owned and controlled large tracts of timber land on the Ohio River and in the southeastern part of Illinois, and they conducted several lines of business on the Ohio River under several firm names, with Mr. Bowersox as president. He was also a stockholder and is a director and vice president of the Stryker Boat, Oar and Lumber Company, at Stryker. In 1881 he was elected a director of the Farmers National Bank of Bryan, served several years as its vice president, and was then elected president, filling that office by repeated election annually until he retired in January. 1919. He also served as president of the First National Bank of Montpelier until obliged to retire on account of overwork. He helped organize the Edon Bank, a partnership institution, finally incorporated, and for at least fifteen years has been president of this prosperous institution now known as the Edon State Bank Company. About twelve years ago he helped organize the Edgerton State Bank Company, was elected a director and for several years was vice president, and for the past ten consecutive years has been president.

In spite of the tremendous duties imposed by this program of business and professional duties, Judge Bowersox has found time to write for various papers, especially in a reminiscent and historical way, and has assisted in producing several histories of his native county and of the Northwest. He is a Knight Templar Mason and for five vears has been principal conductor of its work. If he has slighted any of life's interests it is clubs and organizations. He is a lover of singing and has had some connections with singing societies. In early life he was united with the church of the United Brethren in Christ, graduating from its oldest college, which, as noted, he served two years as acting president, but since then has attended the Presbyterian Church in his community and is a teacher of the men's class in the Sabbath school.

June 10, 1875, at Westerville Judge Bowersox married Laura Alice Jarvis, and their companionship begun in youth has endured forty-five years. She was the only daughter of Samuel and Lydia Jarvis. Her parents during their lives were devout members and both died in the faith of the church of the United Brethren in Christ. Her father for a number of years had been a general merchant at West Lebanon, in Wayne County, Ohio, and after retiring moved to Westerville, and for a time was in the hardware business there. His wife died at Westerville, and he then came to live with his daughter at Bryan and was in the home of Judge and Mrs. Bowersox for fourteen years. At his death he was laid to rest with his wife, son and little daughter in the Otterbein Cemetery at Westerville. This cemeetry also contains the honored grave of Ben R. Hanby, author of the immortal melody, Darling Nellie Gray. Mrs. Bowersox graduated at Otterbein in June, 1875. Her married life has been devoted to her home and children and the cultivation of some exceptionally artistic talents. She has taken many lessons with special masters, and excels in landscape and china painting. Her own home at Bryan and the homes of her children and friends contain some interesting examples of her art.

Judge and Mrs. Bowersox have two children. Their son Charles R., born March 28, 1886, at Bryan, has been engaged in manufacturing lines but is now planning to devote his time to banking. He married Lenore Grant, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Grant. Her father was formerly a banker at Pioneer, Ohio, but recently disposed of his interests and is now in Washington and California. The daughter Helene Jarvis Bowersox was born in Bryan August 18, 1896, is the wife of Wayne Burke of Edon, Ohio. Mr. Burke is a farmer and dairyman. Judge Bowersox's only grandchild is Joan Jarvis Burke, born at Edon on the birthday of her father October 16, 1920.

Judge Bowersox is one of many men who find renewed strength in association with the affairs of the past. In his own life the center of these associations is the old ancestral estate where he was born and which now consists of about 220 acres. His birthplace was a locabin in the woods on that land, and he was nearly old enough to vote before he went away from the old home. In the house yet standing his father and mother, two sisters and a brother died, all in the same room. The estate is a beautiful and quaint old farm with groves and forest covering it in part. Judge Bowersox prizes the farm very greatly. Substantially all the old furniture, beds, bedding, books tables and chairs, a part of all its history, yet remain. It is less than fifteen miles from Bryan and he and his family and friends make frequent visits there and take meals in the old dining room, eat off the old plates, and sit at the old table. He keeps renters upon the farm but largely manages it himself. In the rooms so sacred to memory are books, pictures, beds, carpets and furniture as ancient as can well be found. One article is a cooking stove bought as early as 1854, and the only stove for like service the farm has ever known.