Mary Jane Bowman

S. G. BOWMAN. Few men are more highly esteemed or better known through

 Cumberland county, than is S. G. Bowman, teller in the Second National Bank

 of Mechanicsburg, who was born Feb. 1, 1838, in East Pennsboro township,

 Cumberland county, son of Samuel and Sarah (Gorgas) Bowman, both of this

 county.

Samuel Bowman was a farmer, and for many years was a minister of the

 Seventh-Day Baptist Church - a man valued for his piety, and for his good and

 exemplary life. He was a son of John Bowman, who was born and was reared at

 Ephrata, Pa., belonging to an early family of that community, one of the

 founders of the Seventh-Day Baptist religious body there. John Bowman came

 later to Cumberland county and settled at Camp Hill, where the balance of his

 life was spent. His four sons and two daughters were: George, Samuel, Henry,

 John, Fannie and Susan.

Samuel Bowman, father of our subject, was born Oct. 7, 1799, in Cumberland

 county, and died in 1848, and his wife, Sarah Gorgas, was born Jan. 19, 1800,

 and died Aug. 21, 1878. They were married in 1820, and became the parents of

 five sons and five daughters, six of whom grew to maturity,

  as follows: Catherine, born July 9, 1822, married Dr. A. B. Hostetter, who

 died in Illinois; Regina, born July 26, 1826, married David Lingle, and both

 died in the West; Mary, born Nov. 25, 1829, married Joseph Ross, of

 Middletown; Samuel, born Nov. 12, 1835, resides in Mechanicsburg; S. G.;

 Simon P., born Nov. 20, 1842, died Sept. 6, 1877; Susan died in childhood,

 and the others in infancy, all having passed away with the exception of

 Samuel and our subject. The father of this family was very widely known in

 religious circles both in Lancaster and in Cumberland counties. In his

 earlier ministerial life he served the Seventh-Day Baptists, but later

 entered the ministry of the sect known as the Church of God. Endowed with the

 gift of oratory, Rev. Samuel Bowman added to it the simple sincerity of honest

 Christian conviction, and for years he labored most successfully through

 Cumberland county. He traveled long distances and preached in school houses

 and private houses, long before any churches were built in the country

 districts, carrying the words of the Gospel, performing the ceremonials of

 marriage and burial, and becoming identified with the lives of the most of

 the people. He will long be recalled with affection and veneration.

S. G. Bowman grew upon the farm and obtained his boyhood education in the

 district schools, later supplementing this with attendance at the Newville

 Normal School, and the United Brethren College at Mt. Pleasant, in

 Westmoreland county. In 1858, with his mother, he came to Mechanicsburg and

 embarked in the mercantile business, in which he continued through the

 period. of the Civil war, although he did not give his personal attention to

 the business all the time, as in 1862 he volunteered in the 1st P. V. I., and

 served a short time. He was engaged for two years (1876-77) in business at

 Philadelphia, and from 1878 to 1879, was located at Ocean Grove.

About 1882 Mr. Bowman became associated with the Cumberland Valley Railroad

 Company in a clerical position, remaining with that corporation for ten years.

 In 1892 he accepted his present position as teller. in the Second National

 Bank of Mechanicsburg, and his reputation is that of a sound financier as

 well as a most affable and obliging gentleman.

In politics, Mr. Bowman is a stanch Republican, but holds no public office,

 close attention to his business, to his family and to his church, absorbing

 his time and making enough interests in life for his enjoyment. Since 1858 he

 has been a consistent member of the Church of God, of which his venerated

 father was the first minister in Cumberland county.

In 1860, Mr. Bowman married Mary J. Rupp, in Mechanicsburg, daughter of

 Henry and Sarah (Barnhart) Rupp,''' the former of whom was born Dec. 25, 1822,

 and died in 1866. Mrs. Bowman had but one sister, Ida, who married Alfred

 Milleisen, and is now deceased. The Rupp family is a very old and prominent

 one in Cumberland county. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have had four children, as

 follows: Sallie, deceased, was the wife of Dr. Walter Eckles; Henry died

 April 4, 1903, leaving a widow and three children, Walter E., Mary and Edna;

 Mary, married B. F. Robinson, of Providence, R. I., and they have two

 children, William and Martha; and Florence resides at home.

The Rupp family is of German extraction, and many of its members reside

 both in Lancaster and Cumberland counties. The paternal grandfather of Mrs.

 Bowman was George Rupp, who was born in Lancaster county, and settled in

 youth in Upper Allen

CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 515
township, Cumberland county. The members of his family became substantial and

 respected citizens, namely: Jonas, Martin, George, John, Henry, J. D., Jane

 (wife of Benjamin Heilman), Elizabeth (wife of John B. Coover), and Fannie

 (wife of Mathew Bitner). All have passed away.