Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Bowles, Prof. James B. October 13, 1837 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
BCG S noemail@none.com July 5, 2025, 10:58 am

Source: Twentieth Century History of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold, 1911
Author: Jesse C. Sell

PROF. JAMES B. BOWLES, principal of the Madison School in the Eighth Ward,
Altoona, Pa., is one of the veteran educators of Blair County and has been
largely instrumental in bringing the schools of this section to their present
state of efficiency. He has been a teacher for fifty-two years and has taught
in Altoona for forty-seven of these. He was born at Concord, Franklin County,
Pa., October 13, 1837, and is a son of Robert and Jane (Ross) Bowles.
     Robert Bowles was born in Franklin County in 1796 and died in 1856. He
came of Scotch ancestry and his father was one of the early settlers of
Franklin County. For the greater part of his life, Robert Bowles followed the
saddler's trade and then became a farmer. In 1817 he married Jane Ross, who
was born in Maryland and accompanied her father, who was a native of Ireland,
to Franklin County. She survived until 1871, being then aged seventy-one
years; for a half century she had been a consistent member of the Methodist
Episcopal church.
     James B. Bowles has been engaged in educational work since he was
sixteen years of age, devoting himself almost continuously to teaching, and
during the larger part of his useful life, has been a valued resident of
Altoona. Although not in accord with the administration in his political
views, during the Civil War, he was a loyal and law-abiding citizen, and in
the fall of 1862 he testified to true patriotism by enlisting for service as
a private in Co. A, 125th Pa. Inf., from which he was honorably discharged at
the expiration of his term of enlistment, nine months later. He was twice
drafted, obtaining exemption on the first call, as he was his mother's only
dependence, and in answer to the second, he paid a substitute the sum of $300
in money, although he was still his mother's support.
     Professor Bowles has been a continuous resident of Altoona since 1858
and a teacher here since 1863, beginning when the city had only sixteen
public schools. Many educators have outside interests but Professor Bowles'
fidelity to his chosen profession has been the labor of his life. Perhaps his
whole ambition has not been satisfied in the way of educational progress, but
he must feel partially compensated when he remembers what wonderful strides
forward have been taken in his times and when, on every hand, he sees his old
pupils filling important and respected stations in life, which they have
unmistakably gained in large part through the instruction he so faithfully
imparted to them. Recognition of his efforts on their behalf has often come
to sweeten his life.
     Professor Bowles was married December 28, 1875, to Miss Mary L. Beeler,
a daughter of Peter Beeler, of Sharpsburg, Md., and they have had four sons
and one daughter born to them. Mr. Bowles and family are active members of
the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been identified with the Odd Fellows
for many years and he is a valued comrade of Fred C. Ward Post No. 468,
G.A.R. He has also been interested in building and loan associations in
Altoona for 30 years, and is at present president of the Eighth ward B. & L.
Association, of Altoona, Pa.

Additional Comments:
Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by the Blair 
County Genealogical Society, 431 Scotch Valley Road, 
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648. Copied and proofread by Linda M. 
Shillinger LindasTree@aol.com  OCRed by Judy Banja 
jbanja@comcast.net

This file has been created by a form at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pafiles/

File size: 4.0 Kb