Madison L. Bowyer
Madison L. Bowyer was born in Monroe County, Virginia, in 1826, and was brought to Allen County by his parents, Isaac and Elizabeth Bowyer, in 1831. During the same year Mrs. Bowyer, then four years old, was brought to the county by her parents, William and Eliza Pridley, who came from Ross County. They have eight children: Ann Eliza, Josephine, Martha, Isaac, John, Clarinda, Amanda, and Charles M.
From 1875 Historical Atlas of Allen County, Ohio, by H. H. Hardesty & Co. Publishers, Chicago.
Madison L. Bowyer, a venerable and esteemed farmer of German township, has been a resident of Allen County for almost three quarters of a century. An only child of Isaac and Elizabeth (McMullen) Bowyer, he was born in Monroe County, Virginia, January 12, 1826. His father was a son of Adam Bowyer and was born in Monroe County, Virginia, in 1802. The mother was born in Bedford County, Virginia, and was a daughter of Matthew McMullen. When our subject was a child of four years, his parents decided to try their fortunes on the broad and fertile prairie lands of Illinois, the new territory which was alluring so many settlers to the then far West. Accordingly all their household goods and farming implements were loaded into wagons and the journey begun. It was a tedious trip, through an almost trackless forest with the houses of the settlers sometimes miles apart, but as no quicker mode of transportation was then known in the section of the country traversed the travelers doubtless thought they were completing their journey in very good time. Winter found them still on the road and, as the weather was severe, it was thought best to stop over until spring. The halting place was in Ross County, Ohio, where the winter of 1830 was spent. When they resumed their journey the following year, they came only so far as what is now Allen County, settling on a farm near Elida. This property is still owned by our subject and was the home of the family for over 60 years.
Madison L. Bowyer has been twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Priddy, a native of Ohio and daughter of William Priddy. They had the following children: Josephine, who married James Leech of Lima and has two sons, Guy and Dale, both of whom are married, the former having four children of whom one is dead; Martha Jane, who married Anderson Llewellyn; Clara Linda, wife of Lon Bower, of Lima and the mother of four children, three of whom are living; Amanda Ellen, wife of Albert Busha, of Cleveland; Isaac; John; Charles; Mary; Annie Eliza; and Georgia, the three last named having passed to the higher life. About 28 years ago Mr. Bowyer was married to his present wife who was then Delia Strayer, daughter of Daniel Strayer, of Fairfield County, Ohio. The one child born to this union was with them here but a brief space, before it was taken to the home above. Mr. Bowyer has been a hard-working, industrious man and has richly earned the prosperity which has attended him and enables him and his estimable wife to spend their declining years in ease amid the scores of warm friends by whom they are surrounded. Mr. Bowyer is a Republican and for a number of years was a school director in German township, an office he accepted on account of his deep interest in all educational matters. He is a consistent member of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, of Lima, and a man of the strictest integrity.
From History of Allen County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, Part 2, Edited & Compiled by Charles C. Miller, Ph. D.; Richmond & Arnold, Publishers, Chicago, 1906