My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Clay County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

* * * *

Giles Bowers, carpenter and builder of Boydsville, and one of the successful business men of that village, is a native of North Carolina, and remained in his native State until twenty-seven years of age. He was engaged in gold mining until the breaking out of the late war, when he enlisted in the Forty-ninth North Carolina Infantry, in April, 1862, and served until the termination of hostilities. He was in Gen. Lee’s army, in Gen. Matt. W. Ransom’s brigade, and participated in the seven days’ fight at Richmond, at Gen. McClellan’s defeat, and was in all the fights and campaigns before Richmond. He was at the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and was captured at Five Forks and placed on Johnson Island, Ohio, as a prisoner of war, being discharged there from June 18, 1865. He then returned to North Carolina, remaining until the spring of 1868, when he came to what is now Clay County, and, settling on a farm tilled the soil until 1879. He is the owner of 120 acres of land, with about seventy acres under cultivation. In the last mentioned year he opened up a carpenter-shop, having learned the trade in previous years, and has erected the principal part of the buildings in Boydsville. At one time he was a member of the firm of Bowers & Toombs, and later of the firm of Bowers & Downs. Mr. Bowers also manufactures seats and desks for church and school purposes. He has been married twice; first, to Miss Elizabeth Almond, of North Carolina, who bore him ten children, eight of whom survive and are named as follows: Josephine, wife of James Mooning, and the mother of two children, is now living on a farm in Sharp County; John W. is engaged in business in Boydsville; Flora J., married to C. M. King, a farmer of Clay County, is the mother of three children; Nancy A. is at home with her father; Kittie Belle, wife of James W. Dobbins, a farmer near Boydsville; Frederick C., Giles L. and Brantly H. The mother of these children died in September, 1885. For his second wife Mr. Bowers chose Miss Maggie J. Matthews, who survived only seventeen months after marriage, and left a child, which followed its mother to the grave but a month later. Mr. Bowers is a Republican, and is somewhat active in politics, having done valiant work for that party. Although not a member of any church, he works in harmony with all good people for the benefit of the community and for his fellow men.

* * * *

This family biography is one of 124 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Clay County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Clay County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Clay County, Arkansas family biographies here: Clay County, Arkansas Biographies

View a map of 1889 Clay County, Arkansas here: Clay County, Arkansas Map

Use the links at the top right of this page to search or browse thousands of other family biographies.