Biography of Hiram W. Bowman, page 845/846.  Memorial Record of 
Northeastern Indiana, The  Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1896.

	Hiram W. Bowman, M. D., St. Joe, Indiana.  The members of the 
medical profession are, perhaps, more in the confidence and esteem of 
those over whose health they have supervision than men of any other 
profession or calling are or can be who become in any way connected with 
the affairs of others.  To the family, the family physician is its closest 
friend, on whose words and skill often hang the momentous issue of life and 
death.  His presence cheers when hope has departed, and the vigils of weary 
watchers are lightened and the tension of their minds, relax when he 
approaches.  Kindness of speech, a sympathetic nature and a cheering 
presence are qualities important to physician, and are appreciated by a 
discerning public. These elements, in a happy combination with a thorough 
scientific knowledge of material medical, have endeared Dr. Bowman to the 
hearts of the people among whom he practices.
	The Doctor is a son of Solomon A. Bowman, a native of Ashland county, 
Ohio, who was a cabinetmaker and carpenter by trade. Solomon A. was a son 
of John Bowman, who was born in Pennsylvania, and who became one of the 
first settlers of Ashland county, Ohio.  The father of our subject died in 
1856, at the age of thirty-seven years.  He married Rebecca, daughter of 
Nicholas Jones, of Ashland county, who bore him three children, a daughter 
and two sons. The former married Charles Rhoads, of Spencerville, Indiana; 
she died in 1874-Francis M., the third child, is living in Chicago, at 
present being connected with one of the railroads entering that city.  
Hiram W. is the second child in order of birth, having been born in 
Ashland county, Ohio, October 8, 1849.
	When four years of age his parents settled in Spencerville, De Kalb 
county, being one of the first families to locate in the township.  A log 
house was erected, in which the family took refuge, the father finding 
profitable employment at his trade and erecting some of the first houses 
in the county.  Young Hiram’s early life was spent after the fashion 
common with boys of pioneer parents.  The district schools afforded him 
the means of acquiring the rudiments of an English education, which 
subsequently he had the privilege to develop and extend by a course of 
study in the graded school at Newville, afterward entering the Auburn 
Normal School,  where he fitted himself for a higher course of study then 
the home schools afforded.  Upon leaving Auburn he entered the Presbyterian 
Acadamy of Ashland county, Ohio, and later finished his literary course in 
the Western University of Delaware, Ohio.
	He had diligently applied himself to study during the period of 
school life and his education at the finish was thorough, wide in scope, 
and adequate, upon which to build a professional education, in materia 
medica.  The profession of medicine he quite early in life fixed upon as 
his calling and to that end all his energies were directed to the 
accomplishment of his well conceived purpose. To obtain the means to 
defray the expense of a medical education he took up teaching.  He was 
then only twenty years old.  Already he had achieved much, yet much more 
remained to be accomplished.  While teaching he read medicine under the 
able direction of the late Dr. G. W. Murphy, Spencerville, under whose 
preceptorship he was prepared for matriculation in the medical department 
of Wooster University, at which he graduated in 1874.  Returning to 
Newville he opened an office and practiced for a short time.  Realizing 
the need of greater thoroughness in the profession, he closed his office 
to take the post-graduate course in the celebrated Jefferson College of 
Medicine and Surgery in Pennsylvania.  Upon its completion he returned to 
De Kalb county, where he successfully practiced for five years.  Again he 
closed his office to still further prosecute his studies, this time going 
to Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York city, where he took the 
post-graduate courses. Again establishing himself in the practice at St. 
Joe, De Kalb county, he has built up a large and lucrative practice. He is 
devoted to his profession, a hard student, sparing neither labor nor 
expense to keep himself well abreast of the foremost in the rapid 
advancement of the sciences of medicine and surgery.  In his library may 
be found medical works embracing the best known authors, and in his 
cabinet are to be found all the latest appliances and instruments which 
facilitate and give an approximation to safety in hazardous cases.
	Dr. Bowman was married to Mary. E., daughter of John Lichty and 
sister of Hon. J. D. Lichty, Congressman-elect from this district.  They 
have had three children, two sons living and a  daughter deceased. 
Socially, the Doctor is a member of the Ancient Order of Masonry, having 
attained to the Master’s degrees, and also has memberships in the Order of 
Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com