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Elijah Vernon Bower
Posted 09 May 2015 by pattiblaine59
Elijah Vernon Bower was born October 28, 1865 in Urbana, Dallas, Missouri. He was the youngest of nine children born to Emmanuel and Pauline Yaeger Bower. His grandfather, Michael Bower, had brought his family from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to settle in Missouri and he and his son Emmanuel, gave the land and helped organize the first Methodist Church there, still known as Bower Chapel and Cemetery.
Margaret Jane McDowell was born September 16, 1868, in Max Creek, Missouri to James and Hannah Sage Bonner McDowell. She married Elijah Bower on Feb. 19, 1888 in Urbana, and gave birth to identical twins, Ray Franklin, and Earl Thomas, on Nov. 5, 1888. Mr. Bower had a large General Merchandise store.
They had eight more children. A daughter, Delores, died of pneumonia at age 14 and a son and daughter died in infancy. Rollin James was born July 5, 1896; Bessie Elaine on June 19, 1900; Ruby Olive on Aug. 24, 1903; Edith on Dec. 7, 1906; and Ferne Margaret on October 14, 1911.
Elijah and Margaret with their two children, Ruby and Ferne drove a Model T to Worland to visit their sons, Ray and Earl, who had started farming here in 1912. The trip over Birds Eye pass took 10 days. Barrels of gasoline were placed along the dirt road with a container for the money. They visited here awhile then Elijah told Earl and Ray, "Boys, you have just inherited a car. We are going to take the "Iron Horse" back home."
The next April, 1916, the family moved out to Worland by train bringing all their worldly goods including the milk cows, horses, plows. That first year after the crops were in the ground and coming good, the Upper Flume went out and the sugar beet fields lay parched. This was before Worland Sugar Factory was built and beets were loaded by hand into gondola cars and shipped to Billings for processing.
Earl T. Bower married Hilda Reesy in 1913 and they had 7 children, 4 boys and 3 girls. Ray F. Bower married Frances Mecum and they were parents of two boys and 5 girls. Rollin Bower married Beulah Albert and they had 3 boys and a girl. Bessie Bower married Ray L. Brown and were the parents of 2 girls and 2 boys. Ruby married William Snyder and had 5 children. Edith married Henry H. Fritzler and they had three. Ferne married James M. McKamey and they had four children. Many of these and their families still reside in Worland.
Elijah passed away on the eve of his 51st Wedding Anniversary, Feb. 18, 1939. Margaret followed him on Oct. 26, 1951.
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d. 17 Nov 1990, Elmira, Chemung, New York, USA 
