Bio: Gower, Eben G. (History - 1833)

Contact: Janet Schwarze.

Surnames: GOWER STEPHENS

----Source: 1891 History of Clark and Jackson Co., Wisconsin, pg. 235

EBEN G. GOWER, was born in Somerset County, Maine, February 18, 1833. He received his education in the district schools of his Native State, and when a small boy was taken from school to drive an ox team for his father who was engaged in logging and working in the woods. He was twenty years old when his father died, leaving a family of fourteen children. During his life Mr. Gower was a representative man in the community where he resided. He was a strictly temperate man, was a member of the Church Board at Hartland, was a preacher of the Christian Band, and was twice elected to the General Assembly of Maine.

After the death of his father, which occurred in 1854, Eben began working for himself, and also assisted in the support of his mother and the children. He spent three years in the woods, on the river and in a sawmill, after which he came west and located in Jackson County, Wisconsin, where he was employed in the woods, his first winter her being very severe and cold. During that winter, while on Cunningham Creek in Clark County, the ice broke through with him and he froze his feet so badly that he feared it would be necessary to amputate one of them. However, the doctor said he could save the foot by taking off three toes, which he did. When he had completed the surgical operation, having done it without assistance, the doctor remarked to his patient, You have the darndest grit of any man I ever saw.

When he came to Jackson County, Mr. Gower had $250 that he had saved up by hard labor. Since his first winter here he has been engaged in farming. In 1862 he bought a farm, upon which he now resides. It is one-half of section 24, Garden Valley Township, and was almost a wilderness at the time of purchase. By his industry and good management it has been cleared up and developed into a fine farm.

Mr. Gower was married in 1856 to Sarah Ann Stephens, the daughter of a Wisconsin pioneer, who settled in Marquette County and lived there until his death. She is one of a family of five children, and obtained her education in the district schools of Marquette County. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gower, eight of whom are living, all having had the benefit of good educational advantages.