Ohio County, West Virginia    Biography: James Henry BOWMAN

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@trellis.net>, March 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 28

JAMES HENRY BOWMAN grew up in the industrial life of
the Wheeling District, as a boy was a glass worker, and is
now engineer of the Wheeling Corrugating Department of
the Whitaker-Glessner Company.

Mr. Bowman was born at Wheeling January 25, 1888.
James Bowman, his father, was born near Greggsville in
Ohio County, West Virginia, in 1839, and has spent all his
active life as a coal miner. He retired in 1917 and since
1889 his home has been at Bridgeport, Ohio, across the river
from Wheeling. He is an independent in politics and is a
loyal and faithful member of the Church of God. James
Bowman married Susan Ann Peyton, who was born in West
Virginia. They became the parents of eight children.
Jessie, the oldest, is the wife of John Dunfee, lives at Bridge-
port and has a daughter, Ethel, born in 1904. The second
child, Atha Virginia, was first married to Everett J. Stead,
by whom she has a daughter, Virginia, born in 1911, and she
is now the wife of John Roberts and lives at Cleveland,
Ohio. The third of the family is James Henry Bowman.
The fourth, John, a hot mill worker living at Bridgeport,
married Catherine Burgman, and their three children are,
Elaine, Ruth and John. Mina, is the wife of Ralph Roan,
chief draughtsman for the General Electric Company at
Huntington, West Virginia, and their three children are
Donnas, Theoan and Theodore. Glenna, the sixth child,
is the wife of Albert Prince, but has no children. The two
youngest of the family, both unmarried and at home, are
Andrew, chief clerk in the Construction Department of the
Whitaker-Glessner Company, and Mabel, cashier of the
Better Store at Wheeling.

James Henry Bowman acquired his education at Bridge-
port, completing the sophomore year in the high school
there. At the age of twelve he began working during the
summer vacations in the Crystal Glass factory at Bridge-
port. When he left high school, at the age of fourteen, he
continued steady employment in this glass factory until he
was eighteen, becoming an expert in the trade. As a means
of self advancement he has completed and received two
diplomas for engineering courses with the International
Correspondence School of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and also
completed a course of business management with the same
school. In 1906 Mr. Bowman entered the employ of the
American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, the Etna Works
at Bridgeport, and for eighteen months was employed in
matching and pair heating. For about a year he was with
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company as car repairer,
brakeman and fireman. From July, 1909, to March 1910,
he was with the Imperial Glass House at Bellaire. At the
latter date Mr. Bowman entered the service of the Whitaker-
Glessner Company as tracer in the engineering department,
and since September 22, 1919, has been engineer of the
Wheeling Corrugating Department. His official duties
are with the Wheeling plant at the east end of Seventeenth
Street.

Mr. Bowman is a republican, a Presbyterian, is affiliated
with Bridgeport Lodge No. 181, F. & A. M., and also with
Penny Tent, Knights of the Maccabees. He is a stock-
holder in the Bridgeport Savings & Loan Company, and he
owns a home at 611 Main Street there.

December 14, 1911, at Bridgeport, Mr. Bowman married
Miss Neva Jane Burke, daughter of Frank and May (Pool)
Burke. Her mother lives at Bridgeport. Her father was
a police officer in that city and was accidently killed by a
freight train in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have two
children: Eleanor Marie, born July 19, 1916, and Richard
Thomas, born September 28, 1918.