[Ancestor] Bowser

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Husband [Ancestor] Bowser

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Wife

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Children

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1 M Mathias Bausser ¹

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            AKA: Mathias Bowser
           Born: 1670 - ? Germany 1
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           Died:  - ? Pennsylvania
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         Spouse: Esther [Unk] (1684-      ) 1

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General Notes: Husband - [Ancestor] Bowser

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When William Penn was opening up the region now known as Pennsylvania, he not only lectured in England on what he called his "holy experiment," but also crossed over into Germany and visited many cities on the same mission, telling the people of the joys of the new country, where self-government was to be one of the attractions. He gained many recruits for his colony in the Rhine Palatinate and the adjoining country of Switzerland, in the Canton of Berne, whose people spoke the same language. These "Dutch" from the Palatinate were the ancestors of that considerable part of the population of the state known as Pennsylvania Dutch, and whose language is three-fold. These people on the Rhine were said to be the best farmers in the world, but during the progress of the Thirty Years' War their homes had been destroyed by the armies, and many took refuge in Holland and Switzerland, returning when it was thought peace had been restored. War had broken out again, however, and the strife between the Protestants and Catholics being very bitter these people welcomed Penn's accounts of the wonderful advantages of the new land. Some of them built a boat, in which they journeyed down the Rhine, sailing for America from Rotterdam. A colony of Germans had come to Philadelphia in 1682, and settled in the woods at what is now known as Germantown, and the Germans who followed naturally settled among people of their own nationality. The first company of Palatines in Pennsylvania arrived in 1710, landing at Philadelphia, and being determined to set up an independent home, away from all other settlements, went to Lancaster, in Lancaster County. In 1727 a law was passed requiring all emigrants to register at the court-house their names and the names of the vessels in which they came. Previous to that time no such records had been kept. Among these records we find many familiar Pennsylvania family names. The first Bowsers on record, 1737, were Mathias, Mathias, Jr., and Christian. The name was then spelled Bousser or Bausser. Some of the name had also moved west into York County, where a Widow Bowser was found registered in the tax books. A Bedford County history mentions John, Jacob and Valentine Bowser. ²

1 Addison B. Bowser, A.M, The Bowser Family History (Chicago, IL: Excelsior Printing Co., 1922), Pg 127.

2 Editor, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 377.