My Genealogy Hound

BOWER, R. F., of the firm of R. F. Bower & Co., wholesale grocers, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., Sept. 15, 1823. In 1837, his parents removed with their family to Louisville, Ky., where R. F. Bower was brought up and learned the drug business; in 1848, he went to Madison, Ind., where he was engaged in flouring-mill business until his mills were destroyed by fire in 1854. R. F. & F. Bower commenced business in Keokuk as wholesale grocers in 1856; F. Bower afterward died, and Mr. R. F. Bower carried on the business alone until July, 1865; he then admitted as partners J. Finigan and Alexander Collier; they were associated together until May 25, 1875,when Mr. Bower again assumed entire control of the business; July 1 ,1876 ,he admitted Fontaine Alexander as a partner; their business is principally in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois; average annual sales, about $400,000. Mr. Bower is President of the Commercial Bank, President of the Keokuk Loan & Building Association, and also a Director of the Iowa State Insurance Co. To him more than to any other man, is the city indebted for the founding and success of the Keokuk Library Association, which, under his Presidency and fostering care, has outgrown all others of its kind in our State; has also been Treasurer of the city; his library of miscellaneous and Masonic books is one of the largest, most valuable and well-selected in the West. Mr. Bower was made a Mason in Union Lodge, No. 2, at Madison, Ind., in the fall of 1850, in which Lodge he served as Secretary for a number of years; on the 14th of November of the same year, he was exalted in Madison Royal Arch Chapter, No. 1; in 1855, in Raper Encampment (as Commanderies at that day were designated), at Indianapolis, he was dubbed a Knight Templar, in which order he has since won high honors. Shortly after removing his residence to Iowa, he became a member of Hardin Lodge, No. 29, of Keokuk, in which he has ever since sustained a membership, and of which he has served as Senior Warden and Master; he became a member of Gate City Chapter in 1857 or 1858, and was elected its High Priest in 1868 and 1869; he received the order of High Priesthood in 1869, at Mt. Pleasant, and in the year 1873 was chosen Grand High Priest, and has served for two years, retiring from the position in 1875; in 1865, he passed the circle of Perfection in Parvin Council, No. 5, of Royal and Select Masters, at Keokuk, over which body he presided for a number of years; in the Grand Council he has been a steadfast worker for many years; in 1866, he was chosen Treasurer of that body, and has been annually re-elected until, at the last annual assembly (in 1875), he was elected Grand Master, which position he now holds; in 1874, he represented our Grand Chapter at the General Grand Chapter, at Nashville, where he was chosen General Grand King; in 1877, Deputy General Grand High Priest, which office he now fills; in his Grand Chapter and Grand Commandery, he holds the honorable position of Representative from several corresponding Grand Bodies, and St. John’s Commandery, No. 4, of Philadelphia, whose semi-centennial anniversary he attended, elected him an honorary member Sept. 15, 1869; on the 20th of August, 1868, by special dispensation, he received the Ancient and Accepted Rite, thirty-second degree, in Philadelphia Consistory, No. 1, and was created an honorary Sovereign Grand Inspector General, thirty-third degree, of the Southern Jurisdiction at St. Louis, in September, 1868, and on the 18th of September, 1868, was crowned an active thirty-third degree for Iowa; May 31, 1876, he was made a Knight of the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine, and on the 4th of May, 1878, he received the degrees of the Royal Order of Scotland.