 Samuel and Sarah Adell (Dell) BOWER
Sam and Dell died two weeks apart in the fall of 1932. They are buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Colon. |
Samuel and Sarah
Bower
Samuel Young was born in Kelly Twp., Union Co., PA. When Samuel’s children came of age, they came to Michigan in 1880 with their mother, Elizabeth (Brungard) Bower, and the property was split between their three surviving sons; Samuel Young Bower, (David) Ezra Bower and John Albright Bower. In 1919 the Bower's took in for a short time, two children whose mother had passed away. They were Teressa Sheckler, age 6 and Lois Marie Sheckler, Age 3. Their father, Linn Sheckler was a truck driver and on the road. A son, Lester, age 11 went to live with Alfred Yeatter who lived five families away The other son, Merril age 13, went to live with Joseph L. Perry on Fairfax Road . All according to 1920 Census. When Teressa and Lois's uncle Alvin was married in 1920 , they moved in with them in Battle Creek. |
| Samuel Bower inherited 550 acres in
Colon
most of Section 12; Colon Township; St. Joseph County. There is a
lot
of low land near the creek on the south part of the property. The house is 860 feet above sea level.  Samuel's father, also Samuel Bower bought the land in 1832 from the government Samuel's father died in 1868 in Union Co., PA. |
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| This information
came to the Bouwman Web site on Jan 31, 2006 from Jerri Larkin who
lives in Her words
were:The reason I am writing is because Teressa and Lois
Sheckler are found living with my husband’s great grandparents
in
1920. Their names were Samuel and Sarah Adell (Dell) Bower. From your
site it says Ada died in July of 1919 and the
girls went to live with Uncle Alvin
and Aunt Hazel. I see that
Alvin wasn’t married until Feb of 1920 – I don’t know if the girls were
with our great grandparents since Ada died or they were just there in
January when the census was taken. The Bower homestead is located
on Wattles Rd. just over a mile
from the town of Colon, in St. Joseph Co. There is a road called
Stowell Rd. that T’s into Wattles right across from the the
driveway of the homestead.
The bank barn Samuel
built in 1880-1 is still there and as of last year the original house
was, but we were told it would be torn down by the current owner.
Several years ago we went into the house with our video
camera. It had been vacant for many years and gutted. The
kitchen cupboards that opened from the kitchen and dining room as well
as the drawers that opened in both rooms were still there. The
huge arched parlor doors were also there. That room was used as a
bedroom for Don’s great-great grandmother, Elizabeth, and was the
location of many of our families earliest Michigan births, including my
husband’s grandmother, her two brothers and sister. Then my
husband’s mother and two of her three sisters were also born
there. Don’s mom recently passed in October. She was born
Aug. 3, 1915. We miss her terribly – she, like your mom had quite
vivid memories of the past and great knowledge of the family. Mom
lived with her parents, grand parents and great grandmother for about
five years. She told us they had an old horse named Jim that they
used to go the mile and half to Colon. Mom said they didn’t go
often because Jim was so old they were afraid he wouldn’t make it back. Lester, was
living within 5 families from
the resident of Samuel Bower in the 1920 census at the home of Alfred
Yeatter. That is also interesting to me. This may be
a bit
confusing. Samuel’s brother Ezra married Barbara Chamberlain, her
mother’s maiden name was Catherine Yeatter (Yetter – it’s shown both
ways). Not sure how Alfred is related to her, but I think it may
be a nephew. Merril was
a border in 1920 with the residence
of Joseph Perry on Fairfax
Road, SW of Colon. Go to Colon Cemetery |
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