John G. Bower and Francis Miller formed a partnership in 1882, purchasing the Watsontown Table & Furniture Company from Ario Pardee. During this time, they created a laundry stain remover called "electric fluid", which they patented in 1890. Prior to World War II, soap was used to wash laundry, and early homekeeping books devoted pages to stain removal, with such tips as making cakes of chalk to absorb grease, using butter, and other items such as lemon juice and salt. Laundry detergent was not widely used until world war II.
[Trademark registration by J. G. Bower & F. H. Miller for Electric Fluid. brand A Certain Fluid Preparation for Laundry Purposes]
In 1891 the two men moved their plant to Hagerstown, changing the name to the Hagerstown Table and Furniture Company, and later, the Hagerstown Table Works. The partnership was dissolved in 1920, at which time, the buisness was carried on by Miller and two of his sons.
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Watsontown Table & Furniture Works
The Watsontown Furniture and Table Works were started by Joseph Hollopeter and James W. McLain in the buildings erected for the car shops, which were not then in operation. Samuel Miller, George Bums, and Isaac Stryker were afterward admitted to the firm, and Ario Pardee subsequently became individual proprietor of the works, which he removed to his lower planing mill. From Mr. Pardee the establishment passed to Frank Miller and J. G. Bower, by whom the present plant on the west side of Main street in the southern part of the borough was erected and has since been operated.
"The table industry which has become such an important factor of our community was launched by the father of our industries, Joseph Hollopeter, who associating with him Charles and James McLain, first made tables in the car shops. This subsequently became the Bower and Miller plant which, after numerous vicissitudes, is the present West Branch Table Company, on Main Street, opposite the Pennsylvania Station. From this plant spring the nucleus of the Watsontown Table and Furniture Company, organized in 1893 by G.W. Rombach, T.G. Caldwell, William Follmer, Chalres B. McLain, and others under the efficient management of Howard W. Rombach, pays larger dividends than any industrial enterprise in Central Pennsylvania."
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John Gosh Bower 1855-1925
Son of Thompson & Catherine (Gosh) Bower
Married Ada Louisa Follmer
The funeral of JOHN G. BOWER, SR., prominent retired manufacturer who died suddenly along the Antietam Creek near Funkstown Saturday morning, will be held this afternoon with services at the home, Potomac Avenue and North Street. Interment will be in the mausoleum at Rose Hill Cemetery.
The honorary pallbearers will be : Col. William P. Lane, W.H. McCardell, F.H. Miller, Thomas W. Pangborn, Dr. C.H.W. Ragen, Major William P. Lane, Jr., Edward W. Byron, Albert Heard, Edwin C. Hock, John S. Kausler, Samuel M. Shafer, Harry K. Startzman, J. William Ernst and John Ankeney.
Mr. Bower, who was 70 years old, has been in failing health for about a year. Up until then he was always possessed of a wonderful physique and was in robust health. Despite this feebleness, which he realized was slowly sapping his strength, he continued to carry on. After retiring from the manufacturing business, selling his interest in the Hagerstown Table Works to his partner, F.H. Miller, he retired for a brief period, but his inactivity did not agree with him, being accustomed his entire life to industry. He was later elected to an important post in the Maryland Surety and Trust Company, of which institution he had for years been a director.
Every day he was in his office at the bank and continued to "carry on" as he had of old. He apparently took on a new lease upon life. He was accustomed almost daily of taking long walks into the country because he was always more cheerful when he returned.
Saturday he boarded a Funkstown car at 10 o'clock and went to Willow Grove Park. He was seen by several men, working in a field nearby, to sit on a bench near the side of the creek and finally got up and turned as if prepared to go. He was then seen to stagger, and reeling as if stricken by an unseen blow, he fell of the platform into the creek. He probably was near death when he struck the water, because Dr. Wingerd, who examined the body a few moments after it was taken from the stream stated that death was due to heart failure or a stroke of paralysis and that he did not drown as there was no water in his lungs.
J. Scott Bower, acting coroner, was called to the scene and after viewing the body and hearing the statement of Dr. Wingert, decided that the death was accidental.
Mr. Bower came to Hagerstown in 1891 from Allenwood, Pa., and with Francis H. Miller as a partner engaged in the manufacture of tables, building up a large business. Later he sold his interest to Mr. Miller. He was a vice president and director of the Maryland Surety and Trust Company for many years, being one of the incorporators. He also had large orchard interests in the county and other business connections here, all of which brought him into prominence and gave him a commanding influence in the city.
He was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church, all of the Masonic bodies, being a 32nd degree Mason, a member of the Conococheague Club and other organizations. Mr. Bower is survived by a widow and two sons, John G. Bower, Jr. and Rolland F. Bower, both of this city.
Source: Morning Herald (Hagerstown, MD)
Monday, December 14, 1925
The detailed cause of death was likely because of an article in the Harrisburg paper, stating that he had thrown himself into the creek.
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In the 1880 Census, John G. Bower was listed in Watsontown, with his wife Ada. John's occupation was "banker".
John's Father, Thompson Bower -
THOMPSON BOWER, president of the Watsontown National Bank, was born
in Washington township, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1826,
son of John and Sarah (Quinn) Bower, the former a native of New Jersey
and the latter of Ireland, both of whom spent the greater part of their
lives in Lycoming county. Thompson was reared a farmer, and has
followed agricultural pursuits all his life. He lived in Lycoming and
Union counties, successively, until 1884, when he came to Watsontown,
where he has since resided. He has been president of the Watsontown
National Bank several years, and is one of the substantial citizens of
the town. Mr. Bower was married, November 15, 1849, to Catharine A.,
daughter of Christian Gosh, of Northumberland county. She was born in
Lycoming county, and is the mother of three children: Laura E., wife of
B. M. Griffey; J. G., of Watsontown, and Margaret J., wife of George W.
Crane. Mr. Bower is a Democrat, and both he and wife are members of the
Lutheran church.
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Francis Henry Miller
1853-1926
Married Anna Elizabeth Lerch
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