My Genealogy Hound

H. S. TOWERS is one of the oldest settlers, and one of the best farmers and most intelligent and upright citizens of Platte township, Buffalo county. Mr. Towers is a New Englander by birth and comes of New England ancestry, of Scotch and English origin. His first ancestor in this country on his father’s side was Robert Towers, his grandfather, who was born in Scotland, and emigrated to America when a lad, settling in one of the New England states, probably Vermont. The name of his first ancestor on his mother’s side, who came to this country, is lost in the mists of the past. His father, Safford Towers, was born and reared in the town of Richmond, Vt., and there met and married Eunice Manwell, daughter of Stephen and Dulcina Manwell, of that place, where she also was born. From that point he set out in 1854 with his little family for the Pacific coast, with the intention of making his future home in California. This was a hope, however, never to be realized, for he died on the passage and his family remained on the coast only six months, returning thence to Vermont, where the two children — Henry Safford, the subject of this notice, and Frances, now wife of A. W. Edwards — grew up, and where the latter, with her mother, continues to reside.

Henry Safford Towers was born in the town of Milburn, Mass., in 1847, but was reared mainly in Richmond, Chittenden county, Vt. He grew up mostly on the farm and received a good common-school education. The first event of importance in his life, as it was the supreme event in the lives of hundreds of young men who came on the stage of action about the time he did, was his enlistment in the army. He entered the service in December, 1864, enlisting in Company M, First Frontier cavalry, being part of the arm of the Union service that was organized by the States of New York and Vermont to guard the St. Lawrence river. He served till after the surrender, being discharged June 29, 1865, at Burlington, Vt.

On December 2, 1867, Mr. Towers married Miss Marion Rogene Jewell, a daughter of Sawyer and Maria Jewell, she then being a resident of Richmond, Vt., where she was reared, but a native of Schuyler Falls, N. Y., her parents being natives of Vermont, her father still being a resident of the Green Mountain State, her mother dying in 1857. Settling down to the pursuit of agriculture, Mr. and Mrs. Towers resided in Vermont and Massachusetts, mostly in the latter state, till 1878, when they came to Nebraska and settled in January of that year on a claim on the old Fort Kearney military reservation in Buffalo county, which had been thrown open to settlement just previous to that time. There they have since resided.

Mr. Towers has been steadily engaged in farming since settling in the county, his place being one of the oldest, as it is one of the best improved, places in his township. He moved on to it when it was a raw prairie, and what it is he has made it by his own patient industry and thoughtful attention. He assisted in the organization of his township and school district and has held a number of local offices, having been school director, road supervisor and justice of the peace.

Mr. and Mrs. Towers are the parents of five children — Wilbur Henry, Ethel E., Lena M., Albert S. and Anna A. He and his excellent wife are devout adherents of the faith of the Seventh Day Adventists. Their home life is distinguished for its earnest devotion to religious duty, for its simplicity and many acts of christian charity. Mr. and Mrs. Towers are both people of a vast deal more than ordinary intelligence and refinement, and possess a marked appreciation of the social amenities of life. The neatness, quiet and order of their home, their kindness, generosity and hospitality, as well as the purity and uprightness of their lives, are the best commentary that could be made on their religious faith. “By their fruits ye shall know them.”