Anderson BOWLES
October 3, 1890
Clinton Public

But few of the early settlers of DeWitt county are left to tell the stories of the hardships of early pioneer life. One by one they are dropping out of the ranks. Anderson BOWLES was one of the early settlers of this county indeed before it was known as DeWitt county. He was born on the 19th of January, 1808, in the State of Kentucky, and when he was twenty-one years old he was united in marriage to Margaret Ann CARTER, in November, 1829, and two years later the young couple left the State of their birth and came to the wild west. On the 20th of April, 1831, they landed in Springfield, that year being memorable in history as the winter of the deep snow, and from Springfield came direct to their future home in this county. And here for nearly sixty years had Anderson Bowles and his wife lived. They have seen the wild prairies brought up to the highest state of cultivation. His aged partner is left to mourn as only a wife can sorrow for a husband. They had fourteen children born to them, nine boys and five girls. Four of the boys died early in life and two of the girls who lived to be married had passed to the other shore. Three of their boys served in the Union army, and all of the sons followed the example of their patriotic father and voted the Republican ticket. Anderson Bowles was a consistent Christian during his lifetime, and the godly example he set in the family circle was not lost upon his children. What a history could a man write who has lived for sixty years in this garden spot of Illinois. What changes has he seen from the rude methods of cultivation to the great perfection in all kinds of agricultural machinery. When Anderson Bowles first began life as a farmer in this county it cost nearly as much time and labor to market a year's crop as it did to raise it. Now how different. One never hears the old pioneer complain of the present, for he sees in it a grand contrast from the past.