[Ancestor] Bowser

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Husband [Ancestor] Bowser

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Wife

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Children

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1 M Valentine Bowser ¹

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           Born:  - Germany
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           Died:  - East Franklin Twp, Armstrong Co, PA
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         Spouse: Elizabeth Fluke (      -      ) 2
           Marr: Bedford Co, PA

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General Notes: Husband - [Ancestor] Bowser

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When William Penn was opening up the region now known as Pennsylvania, he not only lectured in England on what he called his "holy experi-ment," but also crossed over into Germany and visited many cities on the same mission, telling the people of the joys of the new country, where self-government was to be one of the attractions. He gained many recruits for his colony in the Rhine Palatinate and the ad-joining country of Switzerland, in the Canton of Berne, whose people spoke the same lan-guage. These "Dutch" from the Palatinate were the ancestors of that considerable part of the population of the state known as Penn-sylvania Dutch, and whose language is three-fold. These people on the Rhine were said to be the best farmers in the world, but dur-ing the progress of the Thirty Years' War their homes had been destroyed by the armies, and many took refuge in Holland and Switzerland, returning when it was thought peace had been restored. War had broken out again, how-ever, and the strife between the Protestants and Catholics being very bitter these people welcomed Penn's accounts of the wonderful advantages of the new land. Some of them built a boat, in which they journeyed down the Rhine, sailing for America from Rotter-dam. A colony of Germans had come to Phil-adelphia in 1682, and settled in the woods at what is now known as Germantown, and the Germans who followed naturally settled among people of their own nationality. The first com-pany of Palatines in Pennsylvania arrived in 1710, landing at Philadelphia, and being deter-mined to set up an independent home, away from all other settlements, went to Lancaster, in Lancaster County. In 1727 a law was passed requiring all emigrants to register at the court-house their names and the names of the vessels in which they came. Previous to that time no such records had been kept. Among these records we find many familiar Pennsylvania family names. The first Bowsers on record, 1737, were Mathias (family name in the branch of which we are writing), Mathias, Jr., and Christian. The name was then spelled Bousser. Some of the name had also moved west into York County, where a Widow Bow-ser was found registered in the tax books. A Bedford County history mentions John, Jacob and Valentine Bowser. ³

1 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 334, 378, 804.

2 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 378.

3 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 377.