Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/627

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 565 farm in Lawrence township, Bollinger county, Missouri, on the 2'ith of October, 1880, and is the third in order of birth of the ten children born to Miles W. and Catherine (Snider) Bowman, both of whom were like- wise born and reared in Bollinger county, where the respective families were founded in the early pioneer days. Groves Washington Bowman, the paternal grandfatlier of him whose name initiates this review, was a native of North Carolina and he became one of the early settlers in Bollinger county, in south- eastern Missouri, where he engaged in agri- cultural pursuits and where he passed the residue of his life. He contributed his quota to the development and upbuilding of this favored section of the state and was a niaii who ever commanded unqualified popular es- teem. The lineage of the Bowman family is traced back to staunch Holland Dutch origin and representatives of the name were num- bered among the early settlers of North Car- olina, where they took up their abode in the colonial epoch of our national history. Miles W. Bowman was reared to maturity in Bollinger county and was afforded the ad- vantages of the common schools of the local- ity and period. He was there identified suc- cessfully with agricultural pursuits for many years and for thirty years he also conducted a general mei'chandise store in the little hamlet of Glen Allen. Bollinger county, where he was a citizen of prominence and in- fluence and where he continued to reside un- til about 1894, when he removed to the city of Cape Girardeau, where he has since main- tained liis home and where he is now living virtually retired from active business, lie is a staunch Democrat in his political proclivi- ties and his religious faith is that of the Jleth- odist church, of which his noble wife likewise was a zealous member. Mrs. Bowman was born and reared in Bollinger county, where tier father, the late Josiah Snider, established his home in tlie pioneer days. Mrs. Bowman was summoned to the life eternal in 1895, se- cure in the affectionate regard of all who had come within the sphere of her gentle influ- ence, and of her four sons and six daughters two sons and one daiighter died in childhood. Concerning the .surviving children the follow- ine brief record is entered : Clara is the wife of Will E. Walker, of Timpas. Colorado: Lee L. is a representative member of the bar of Cape Girardeau: Arthur C. is the immediate suhiect of this review : William O. is assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Cape Girardeau ; Mollie C. is the wife of Theodore E. Head, who is engaged in the real-estate business in the city of Dallas, Texas ; May is a popular teacher in the public schools of Timpas, Colorado; and Vesta, who remains with her father, is attending the Normal school of Cape Girardeau. Arthur C. Bowman passed his boyhood days in his native county, where he gained his initial experience in connection with the sturdy discipline of the farm and where he was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the little village of Glen Allen. Later he continued his stuilies in the public schools of Cape Girardeau, and for the pur- pose of securing funds to pursue higher aca- demic .studies he worked on farms and at other occupations during vacation seasons. Thus his ambition was one of definite pur- pose and action, and after completing the ele- mentary course in the Missouri State Nor- mal School at Cape Girardeau, he engaged in teaching in the coimtry schools, to which line of work he devoted his attention for two years, and in connection with which he re- ceived a compensation of forty dollars a month. From this diminutive salary he saved sufficient amount to permit the completion of his regular academic course in the state nor- mal school which he had previously attended and in which lie was graduated as a member of the class of 1902. For one year thereafter he held the position of first assistant principal of the public schools of Sikeston, Scott coiinty. after which he served two years as principal of the high school at Norwood, Wright county. During the following school year he continued his effective pedagogic work, in charge of the grammar department of the Douglas County Normal School. In the meanwhile he had passed about one year in travel through various sections of the Avest. In 1907, believing that otlier fields of en- deavor would afford better opportunities than continued service in the pedagogic ]iro- fession. Mr. Bowman turned his attention to the real-estate business, in which he became associated with his brother Lee L., at Cape Girardeau, under the title of the Bowman Brothers Realty Company. He continued as active manager of the business until Septem- ber, 1910. when he sold his interest in the same to his father, and assumed his present office, that of manager of the Southeast Realty Company. He has made a close study of real-estate values and is an authority in this line, so that he has been mo.st successful