Abraham Bower

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Christopher Bauer was born on April 24, 1744 in Baden, Germany. He came to Philadelphia with his parents in 1748. His schooling was limited. While in Philadelphia he learned the tailoring trade and later moved to Berks County, then migrated to Franklin County. Here he worked at his trade and in 1772 he married Maria Shearer, who lived in that area. She was born in 1749 and died June 9, 1811. Both she and her husband are buried in the Old Cemetery, near the church in Loysville. Christopher's second wife's name was Susannah. We have no further record of her nor did they have children. Her fate is unknown.

He lived respectively in Berks, Franklin and Perry Counties. Records show that Christopher Bower served his new country in the Revolutionary War. Christopher died on February 12, 1814 in Loysville, Tyrone Township, Perry County Pennsylvania and is buried in the Lebanon Lutheran Churchyard.

The story has been told that during the Revolutionary War, when the Hessians, who were Germans, were stationed at Trenton, New Jersey, and were being paid by the British to fight for them, that many of the Colonists changed the spelling of their names so as not to be identified as Germans. It is quite likely that the name Bauer was changed at this time to Bower.

We do not know when Christopher left Berks County. We do have record that he came to Perry County from Lurgan Township, which is between Shippensburg and Roxbury in Franklin County.

The story has been told that Christopher and his oldest son, Abraham, came to Perry County on horse back in 1790 to look for land. They wanted limestone land with a limestone spring if at all possible (the limestone water made better whisky than soft water.) They were able to find just what they were looking for.

Christopher Bower of Lurgan Township, Cumberland County, of near Roxbury, purchased from Conrad Wolf and wife, Margaret, on April 15, 1793, a tract of land containing 222 acres for one thousand and 13 pounds. This is the same tract of land that William Gardner sold to Conrad Wolf in 1786.

Neither Conrad Wolf nor his wife Margaret could write, so their names appear on the records; thus Conrad Wolf Margaret Wolf X X his mark her mark

He also purchased from Mary McNair's heirs a tract of land on January 24. 1801 and he purchased land from Dunning McNair on July 18, 1801. These two tracts joined the first tract. The tract purchased from Mary McNair's heirs contained 178 acres and was bounded by lands of Henry Zimmerman, Allen Nesbit, John Douglas, Robert Adair, and James Miller. The price paid was 402 pounds 15 shillings. The tract purchased from Dunning McNair contained 169 acres. The price paid for this tract was 500 pounds, lawful money.

At the end of the year 1801, Christopher Bower owned 569 acres, for which he paid cash, amounting to 1915 pounds 15 shillings, lawful money. The first tract was later known as the Frank Stambaugh farm at Cisna Run and is presently owned and operated by the John Reap some family, Max Reapsome, a son of John, is a great great great grandson of Christopher Bower.

Most of the Bowers belonged to the Lutheran Faith.

There is a story that when the first church of Loysville which was built of logs in 1794 by the Lutherans and Reforms, that a prize (a jug of good whiskey) was offered to the man who would deliver the first log for the building of the church on a certain date. It seems that Christopher and his boys got a little in a hurry, so they cut a tree on their farm, the day before, loaded it on their wagon, and hauled it to the vicinity of Roddy's Mill, later known as Waggoner's Mill. They pulled the wagon off the road and hid it in the woods. All that Christopher and his boys needed to do on the date set for the delivery of the logs was to get up early, take the horses to Waggoner's Mill, a distance of four miles, hitch them to the wagon and deliver the log to Loys. ville. They were the first to arrive but the building committee seemed to think that Christopher and his boys had cheated a little, so they did not win the prize. We wonder what happened to the jug.

This log church stood where the present Lebanon United Church of Christ now stands. Christopher, his wife Maria, and son Jacob are burned about 50 feet northwest of the church. He was 70 years of age, Maria was 62, and Jacob 19. Christopher and Maria had ten children - 7 girls and 3 boys.