ABRAHAM BOWER, retired farmer, and a resident of Orangeville, is numbered among the honored pioneers who came to this county during its early settlement and assisted in the development of its resources. He located on a tract of land on section 35, Oneco Township, but a few acres of which were broken, and the only building a log house. From this humble beginning he built up a fine farm, erected a substantial dwelling, together with a large frame barn, and other out-buildings, and occupied the homestead thus established until the spring of 1867. He wisely judged, then, that he had labored sufficiently, and leaving the farm in other hands, took up his abode in Orangeville, where he has since lived in the enjoyment of a competence.

Mr. Bower was born in Union County, Pa., Oct. 18, 1809. His father, Christian Bower, was a native of Lancaster County, where the grandfather of our subject carried on farming and spent the last years of his life. Christian Bower grew to manhood in his native county, whence he afterward removed to Union County; during its early settle-ment. He purchased a tract of timber land, put up a log cabin, and in due time cleared a farm from the wilderness, which he occupied until about 1855. Thence he removed to Mercer County, where his death took place. He had married in early manhood Miss Susan Funk, a native of his own county, and who died in Union County, in 1850. She became the mother of six children, and endured with her husband all the trials and hardships of life in a new country, and is remembered as one of the model pioneer mothers, looking well to the ways of her household, and training her children to habits of industry and principles of honor.

Abraham Bower continued a resident of his native county several years after reaching manhood. When nineteen years old he commenced learning the carpenter trade, serving an apprenticeship of two years, and afterward working three years as a journeyman. This, however, did not suit him as well as agriculture, and he accordingly rented his father’s farm, and was engaged in tilling the soil in the Keystone State for fourteen years thereafter, during which time he saved $1,400. In the meantime he had been married, and his wife died in 1848. In the spring of that year he decided to visit the West, which he hoped would be the scene of his future operations. An elder brother had already preceded him to Northern Illinois, and to him Abraham had sent a sum of money to be invested in land. After visiting his brother a few weeks, during which time he had made up his mind to locate in Stephenson County, he returned to Pennsylvania, and was married in the fall of 1848. The following spring, accompanied by his bride and the two children of his first wife, he started overland on the long journey. They visited friends on the way, and did not arrive at their destination until the 25th of August. They settled on the land previously purchased in Oneco Township, and commenced housekeeping in the small frame structure which had been already built for their reception. Mr. Bower at once began the cultivation of the soil, and by degrees added the improvements which in due time made his homestead one of the most desirable in that section.

The first wife of our subject was formerly Miss Lusette Schadle, who was a native of Northumberland County, Pa., and the daughter of Samuel and Ann E. (Ziebach) Schadle, natives respectively of Northumberland and Bucks Counties. Samuel Schadle, with the exception of a few years spent in Union County, passed his entire life near the place where he was born, and there his remains were laid to rest. The second wife of Mr. Bower, Miss Ann May Schadle, was the sister of his first wife. The two children of the latter were Mary, now the wife of Dr. W. P. Naramore, of Lena; and Aaron, who occupies the homestead. Of the second marriage, there were no children. Mr. Bower and his estimable lady are members in good standing of the German Reformed Church, and our subject, politically, since his young manhood, has cordially endorsed the principals of the Republican party.

Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portraits & Biographical 1888 Stephenson Co IL Pg 326