Lamont Bowers married Fanny Adella Gray 03 September 1872 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
Lamont Bowers married (2) Frances Irene (F Irene) Gere on 22 August 1911 in Manhattan, NYC, NY. They had no additional children.
------
Lamont Bowers left Maine, New York, in 1866 to attend Lowell's Commercial College in Binghamton, New York. After completing a one-year course of study, he got a job as a traveling salesmen for the Ford and Meagley Soap Company of Binghamton. He proved to be a successful salesman, and bought out Ford's share of the business. The firm of Meagley and Bowers suffered a series of setbacks, including a under a fire in the factory. Deeply in debt he sold his interests in the business.
He married Fanny Adella Gray in September 1872 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. Later that year he became a partner in M.A. Sheak and Co., a wholesale grocer in Binghamton. During this period he also bought an interest in a roofing company which would eventually become L.M. Bowers and Company.
In 1878 ill health forced him to resign from M.A. Sheak. Following the advice of his doctor, he moved the family settling near Omaha, Nebraska. This move proved to be a turning point in his life. He formed a partnership with George Bemis and the firm of Bemis and Bowers began buying up what was then farmland in the outskirts of Omaha.
With America's extraordinary industrial growth following the depression of 1873-1878 the population of cities doubled. The real estate owned by Bemis and Bowers became valuable land in the growing suburbs around Omaha. They lived on a small farm in the countryside outside Omaha, and Lamont indulged his life-long ambition to be a gentleman farmer by raising sheep.
Although happy in Omaha, Lamont had a deep emotional and psychological attachment to central New York State. He moved the family back to Binghamton, New York, in 1883. He had maintained an interest in Hatten, Galpin and Company, a Binghamton manufacturer of roofing material; and he began to dabble in real estate in the local area as well as New York City.
At the age of 36 Lamont settled into a quiet genteel semiretirement. Then a chain of events brought Bowers back into the active business world. In 1892 Lamont was asked by the John D. Rockefeller organization to manage the construction and operation of a new fleet of ships which were to transport iron ore across the Great Lakes from the Mesabi Range mines in northeastern Minnesota to the blast furnaces in Ohio. In 1895 Lamont became manager of the Bessemer Steamship Company. In 1901 Rockefeller sold the Mesabi iron fields and the Bessemer fleet to the promoters of U.S. Steel. Lamont returned to Binghamton, his interest in real estate around the region had grown. He still periodically worked on projects for the Rockefeller organization.
In 1907 his wife, Fanny, became ill and was advised by her doctors to seek a better climate in which to recuperate. They moved her to a sanitarium in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Before leaving Binghamton, Lamont was asked by the Rockefeller organization to inspect the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in the southern part of Colorado. He was offered the chairmanship of the executive committee of the company and a free hand in reorganizing the management. In 1907 he became the vice president of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Lamont became Rockefellers' chief liaison with his Colorado mining interests.
In 1909 his wife, Fanny died. Lamont then married Frances Irene Gere of Montrose, Pennsylvania in 1911. In 1913 the political environment and labor unrest surrounding the southern Colorado coal miners led to a strike which ended in violence. Lamont's position in the strike and the events leading up to the "Ludlow massacre" was ambiguous. The prospect of a congressional investigation of the incident put Lamont in a difficult position. He resigned from C.F. and I. and disconnected himself from the Rockefellers' organization.
In 1914 he returned to Binghamton with his family. He still had a wide and diverse set of business interests. He bought a farm near Binghamton, as a country home and again assumed the role of gentleman farmer. His second marriage was not a happy one and experienced long periods of separation. Throughout the 1930's he increasingly withdrew from his business interests, relegating their management to his sons or trusted advisers. Lamont died in 1941 a sad and bitter man. (Ref: Biography: Lamont Montgomery Bowers 1847-1941, written by Jerry Pepper) (Ref: The Way We Were: The Bowers Family, by Aileen Humphries)
Lamont Montgomery Bowers was buried in the Floral Park Cemetery in Johnson City, Broome, New York along with his wife, Fannie; his sons, Franck and Clement and both their wives. Lamont Bowers's name is also carved in a large stone in the Town of Maine's Cemetery along with his parents, brothers and sisters.
In "A Brief Biographical Sketch of La Mont M. Bowers, 1847-1941" written by his son, Clement G. Bowers, he states, "In religion Bowers was equally definite and had many friends among the clergy. During middle life he was very active in the Presbyterian denomination, and his conception of Christianity was as a robust, positive faith. He was fond of social events in a broad sense, took great pleasure in his Masonic lodge and other fraternal connections, but was contemptuous of "society" in the narrow sense and detested snobbery. He cared little for ordinary games and sporting events, and had supreme contempt for gambling and speculation. He was an ardent teetotaler. He was fond of young people and animals, and enjoyed driving horses, which for years was his only form of outdoor sport.
Bowers possessed an inventive mind and his two noteworthy inventions were the eaves through machine and the anchor. With his natural resourcefulness and his wide experience in a variety of enterprises, Bowers was exceedingly adaptable and peculiarly fitted to study the mechanisms of a new project and quickly discover its significant features.
In appearance he was a man of medium build, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He had sharp, brownish eyes and in mature life always wore a moustache. Even in old age, he was noted for an erect posture, a prepossessing air and a generally distinguished appearance being a meticulous dresser."
Obituary appears in The New York Times 03 June 1941: L. M. Bowers Dies: Rockefeller Aide.
Lamont Bowers married (2) Frances Irene (F Irene) Gere on 22 August 1911 in Manhattan, NYC, NY. They had no additional children.
------
Lamont Bowers left Maine, New York, in 1866 to attend Lowell's Commercial College in Binghamton, New York. After completing a one-year course of study, he got a job as a traveling salesmen for the Ford and Meagley Soap Company of Binghamton. He proved to be a successful salesman, and bought out Ford's share of the business. The firm of Meagley and Bowers suffered a series of setbacks, including a under a fire in the factory. Deeply in debt he sold his interests in the business.
He married Fanny Adella Gray in September 1872 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. Later that year he became a partner in M.A. Sheak and Co., a wholesale grocer in Binghamton. During this period he also bought an interest in a roofing company which would eventually become L.M. Bowers and Company.
In 1878 ill health forced him to resign from M.A. Sheak. Following the advice of his doctor, he moved the family settling near Omaha, Nebraska. This move proved to be a turning point in his life. He formed a partnership with George Bemis and the firm of Bemis and Bowers began buying up what was then farmland in the outskirts of Omaha.
With America's extraordinary industrial growth following the depression of 1873-1878 the population of cities doubled. The real estate owned by Bemis and Bowers became valuable land in the growing suburbs around Omaha. They lived on a small farm in the countryside outside Omaha, and Lamont indulged his life-long ambition to be a gentleman farmer by raising sheep.
Although happy in Omaha, Lamont had a deep emotional and psychological attachment to central New York State. He moved the family back to Binghamton, New York, in 1883. He had maintained an interest in Hatten, Galpin and Company, a Binghamton manufacturer of roofing material; and he began to dabble in real estate in the local area as well as New York City.
At the age of 36 Lamont settled into a quiet genteel semiretirement. Then a chain of events brought Bowers back into the active business world. In 1892 Lamont was asked by the John D. Rockefeller organization to manage the construction and operation of a new fleet of ships which were to transport iron ore across the Great Lakes from the Mesabi Range mines in northeastern Minnesota to the blast furnaces in Ohio. In 1895 Lamont became manager of the Bessemer Steamship Company. In 1901 Rockefeller sold the Mesabi iron fields and the Bessemer fleet to the promoters of U.S. Steel. Lamont returned to Binghamton, his interest in real estate around the region had grown. He still periodically worked on projects for the Rockefeller organization.
In 1907 his wife, Fanny, became ill and was advised by her doctors to seek a better climate in which to recuperate. They moved her to a sanitarium in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Before leaving Binghamton, Lamont was asked by the Rockefeller organization to inspect the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in the southern part of Colorado. He was offered the chairmanship of the executive committee of the company and a free hand in reorganizing the management. In 1907 he became the vice president of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Lamont became Rockefellers' chief liaison with his Colorado mining interests.
In 1909 his wife, Fanny died. Lamont then married Frances Irene Gere of Montrose, Pennsylvania in 1911. In 1913 the political environment and labor unrest surrounding the southern Colorado coal miners led to a strike which ended in violence. Lamont's position in the strike and the events leading up to the "Ludlow massacre" was ambiguous. The prospect of a congressional investigation of the incident put Lamont in a difficult position. He resigned from C.F. and I. and disconnected himself from the Rockefellers' organization.
In 1914 he returned to Binghamton with his family. He still had a wide and diverse set of business interests. He bought a farm near Binghamton, as a country home and again assumed the role of gentleman farmer. His second marriage was not a happy one and experienced long periods of separation. Throughout the 1930's he increasingly withdrew from his business interests, relegating their management to his sons or trusted advisers. Lamont died in 1941 a sad and bitter man. (Ref: Biography: Lamont Montgomery Bowers 1847-1941, written by Jerry Pepper) (Ref: The Way We Were: The Bowers Family, by Aileen Humphries)
Lamont Montgomery Bowers was buried in the Floral Park Cemetery in Johnson City, Broome, New York along with his wife, Fannie; his sons, Franck and Clement and both their wives. Lamont Bowers's name is also carved in a large stone in the Town of Maine's Cemetery along with his parents, brothers and sisters.
In "A Brief Biographical Sketch of La Mont M. Bowers, 1847-1941" written by his son, Clement G. Bowers, he states, "In religion Bowers was equally definite and had many friends among the clergy. During middle life he was very active in the Presbyterian denomination, and his conception of Christianity was as a robust, positive faith. He was fond of social events in a broad sense, took great pleasure in his Masonic lodge and other fraternal connections, but was contemptuous of "society" in the narrow sense and detested snobbery. He cared little for ordinary games and sporting events, and had supreme contempt for gambling and speculation. He was an ardent teetotaler. He was fond of young people and animals, and enjoyed driving horses, which for years was his only form of outdoor sport.
Bowers possessed an inventive mind and his two noteworthy inventions were the eaves through machine and the anchor. With his natural resourcefulness and his wide experience in a variety of enterprises, Bowers was exceedingly adaptable and peculiarly fitted to study the mechanisms of a new project and quickly discover its significant features.
In appearance he was a man of medium build, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He had sharp, brownish eyes and in mature life always wore a moustache. Even in old age, he was noted for an erect posture, a prepossessing air and a generally distinguished appearance being a meticulous dresser."
Obituary appears in The New York Times 03 June 1941: L. M. Bowers Dies: Rockefeller Aide.
Lamont Bowers married Fanny Adella Gray 03 September 1872 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
Lamont Bowers married (2) Frances Irene (F Irene) Gere on 22 August 1911 in Manhattan, NYC, NY. They had no additional children.
------
Lamont Bowers left Maine, New York, in 1866 to attend Lowell's Commercial College in Binghamton, New York. After completing a one-year course of study, he got a job as a traveling salesmen for the Ford and Meagley Soap Company of Binghamton. He proved to be a successful salesman, and bought out Ford's share of the business. The firm of Meagley and Bowers suffered a series of setbacks, including a under a fire in the factory. Deeply in debt he sold his interests in the business.
He married Fanny Adella Gray in September 1872 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. Later that year he became a partner in M.A. Sheak and Co., a wholesale grocer in Binghamton. During this period he also bought an interest in a roofing company which would eventually become L.M. Bowers and Company.
In 1878 ill health forced him to resign from M.A. Sheak. Following the advice of his doctor, he moved the family settling near Omaha, Nebraska. This move proved to be a turning point in his life. He formed a partnership with George Bemis and the firm of Bemis and Bowers began buying up what was then farmland in the outskirts of Omaha.
With America's extraordinary industrial growth following the depression of 1873-1878 the population of cities doubled. The real estate owned by Bemis and Bowers became valuable land in the growing suburbs around Omaha. They lived on a small farm in the countryside outside Omaha, and Lamont indulged his life-long ambition to be a gentleman farmer by raising sheep.
Although happy in Omaha, Lamont had a deep emotional and psychological attachment to central New York State. He moved the family back to Binghamton, New York, in 1883. He had maintained an interest in Hatten, Galpin and Company, a Binghamton manufacturer of roofing material; and he began to dabble in real estate in the local area as well as New York City.
At the age of 36 Lamont settled into a quiet genteel semiretirement. Then a chain of events brought Bowers back into the active business world. In 1892 Lamont was asked by the John D. Rockefeller organization to manage the construction and operation of a new fleet of ships which were to transport iron ore across the Great Lakes from the Mesabi Range mines in northeastern Minnesota to the blast furnaces in Ohio. In 1895 Lamont became manager of the Bessemer Steamship Company. In 1901 Rockefeller sold the Mesabi iron fields and the Bessemer fleet to the promoters of U.S. Steel. Lamont returned to Binghamton, his interest in real estate around the region had grown. He still periodically worked on projects for the Rockefeller organization.
In 1907 his wife, Fanny, became ill and was advised by her doctors to seek a better climate in which to recuperate. They moved her to a sanitarium in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Before leaving Binghamton, Lamont was asked by the Rockefeller organization to inspect the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in the southern part of Colorado. He was offered the chairmanship of the executive committee of the company and a free hand in reorganizing the management. In 1907 he became the vice president of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Lamont became Rockefellers' chief liaison with his Colorado mining interests.
In 1909 his wife, Fanny died. Lamont then married Frances Irene Gere of Montrose, Pennsylvania in 1911. In 1913 the political environment and labor unrest surrounding the southern Colorado coal miners led to a strike which ended in violence. Lamont's position in the strike and the events leading up to the "Ludlow massacre" was ambiguous. The prospect of a congressional investigation of the incident put Lamont in a difficult position. He resigned from C.F. and I. and disconnected himself from the Rockefellers' organization.
In 1914 he returned to Binghamton with his family. He still had a wide and diverse set of business interests. He bought a farm near Binghamton, as a country home and again assumed the role of gentleman farmer. His second marriage was not a happy one and experienced long periods of separation. Throughout the 1930's he increasingly withdrew from his business interests, relegating their management to his sons or trusted advisers. Lamont died in 1941 a sad and bitter man. (Ref: Biography: Lamont Montgomery Bowers 1847-1941, written by Jerry Pepper) (Ref: The Way We Were: The Bowers Family, by Aileen Humphries)
Lamont Montgomery Bowers was buried in the Floral Park Cemetery in Johnson City, Broome, New York along with his wife, Fannie; his sons, Franck and Clement and both their wives. Lamont Bowers's name is also carved in a large stone in the Town of Maine's Cemetery along with his parents, brothers and sisters.
In "A Brief Biographical Sketch of La Mont M. Bowers, 1847-1941" written by his son, Clement G. Bowers, he states, "In religion Bowers was equally definite and had many friends among the clergy. During middle life he was very active in the Presbyterian denomination, and his conception of Christianity was as a robust, positive faith. He was fond of social events in a broad sense, took great pleasure in his Masonic lodge and other fraternal connections, but was contemptuous of "society" in the narrow sense and detested snobbery. He cared little for ordinary games and sporting events, and had supreme contempt for gambling and speculation. He was an ardent teetotaler. He was fond of young people and animals, and enjoyed driving horses, which for years was his only form of outdoor sport.
Bowers possessed an inventive mind and his two noteworthy inventions were the eaves through machine and the anchor. With his natural resourcefulness and his wide experience in a variety of enterprises, Bowers was exceedingly adaptable and peculiarly fitted to study the mechanisms of a new project and quickly discover its significant features.
In appearance he was a man of medium build, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He had sharp, brownish eyes and in mature life always wore a moustache. Even in old age, he was noted for an erect posture, a prepossessing air and a generally distinguished appearance being a meticulous dresser."
Obituary appears in The New York Times 03 June 1941: L. M. Bowers Dies: Rockefeller Aide.
Lamont Bowers married (2) Frances Irene (F Irene) Gere on 22 August 1911 in Manhattan, NYC, NY. They had no additional children.
------
Lamont Bowers left Maine, New York, in 1866 to attend Lowell's Commercial College in Binghamton, New York. After completing a one-year course of study, he got a job as a traveling salesmen for the Ford and Meagley Soap Company of Binghamton. He proved to be a successful salesman, and bought out Ford's share of the business. The firm of Meagley and Bowers suffered a series of setbacks, including a under a fire in the factory. Deeply in debt he sold his interests in the business.
He married Fanny Adella Gray in September 1872 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. Later that year he became a partner in M.A. Sheak and Co., a wholesale grocer in Binghamton. During this period he also bought an interest in a roofing company which would eventually become L.M. Bowers and Company.
In 1878 ill health forced him to resign from M.A. Sheak. Following the advice of his doctor, he moved the family settling near Omaha, Nebraska. This move proved to be a turning point in his life. He formed a partnership with George Bemis and the firm of Bemis and Bowers began buying up what was then farmland in the outskirts of Omaha.
With America's extraordinary industrial growth following the depression of 1873-1878 the population of cities doubled. The real estate owned by Bemis and Bowers became valuable land in the growing suburbs around Omaha. They lived on a small farm in the countryside outside Omaha, and Lamont indulged his life-long ambition to be a gentleman farmer by raising sheep.
Although happy in Omaha, Lamont had a deep emotional and psychological attachment to central New York State. He moved the family back to Binghamton, New York, in 1883. He had maintained an interest in Hatten, Galpin and Company, a Binghamton manufacturer of roofing material; and he began to dabble in real estate in the local area as well as New York City.
At the age of 36 Lamont settled into a quiet genteel semiretirement. Then a chain of events brought Bowers back into the active business world. In 1892 Lamont was asked by the John D. Rockefeller organization to manage the construction and operation of a new fleet of ships which were to transport iron ore across the Great Lakes from the Mesabi Range mines in northeastern Minnesota to the blast furnaces in Ohio. In 1895 Lamont became manager of the Bessemer Steamship Company. In 1901 Rockefeller sold the Mesabi iron fields and the Bessemer fleet to the promoters of U.S. Steel. Lamont returned to Binghamton, his interest in real estate around the region had grown. He still periodically worked on projects for the Rockefeller organization.
In 1907 his wife, Fanny, became ill and was advised by her doctors to seek a better climate in which to recuperate. They moved her to a sanitarium in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Before leaving Binghamton, Lamont was asked by the Rockefeller organization to inspect the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in the southern part of Colorado. He was offered the chairmanship of the executive committee of the company and a free hand in reorganizing the management. In 1907 he became the vice president of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Lamont became Rockefellers' chief liaison with his Colorado mining interests.
In 1909 his wife, Fanny died. Lamont then married Frances Irene Gere of Montrose, Pennsylvania in 1911. In 1913 the political environment and labor unrest surrounding the southern Colorado coal miners led to a strike which ended in violence. Lamont's position in the strike and the events leading up to the "Ludlow massacre" was ambiguous. The prospect of a congressional investigation of the incident put Lamont in a difficult position. He resigned from C.F. and I. and disconnected himself from the Rockefellers' organization.
In 1914 he returned to Binghamton with his family. He still had a wide and diverse set of business interests. He bought a farm near Binghamton, as a country home and again assumed the role of gentleman farmer. His second marriage was not a happy one and experienced long periods of separation. Throughout the 1930's he increasingly withdrew from his business interests, relegating their management to his sons or trusted advisers. Lamont died in 1941 a sad and bitter man. (Ref: Biography: Lamont Montgomery Bowers 1847-1941, written by Jerry Pepper) (Ref: The Way We Were: The Bowers Family, by Aileen Humphries)
Lamont Montgomery Bowers was buried in the Floral Park Cemetery in Johnson City, Broome, New York along with his wife, Fannie; his sons, Franck and Clement and both their wives. Lamont Bowers's name is also carved in a large stone in the Town of Maine's Cemetery along with his parents, brothers and sisters.
In "A Brief Biographical Sketch of La Mont M. Bowers, 1847-1941" written by his son, Clement G. Bowers, he states, "In religion Bowers was equally definite and had many friends among the clergy. During middle life he was very active in the Presbyterian denomination, and his conception of Christianity was as a robust, positive faith. He was fond of social events in a broad sense, took great pleasure in his Masonic lodge and other fraternal connections, but was contemptuous of "society" in the narrow sense and detested snobbery. He cared little for ordinary games and sporting events, and had supreme contempt for gambling and speculation. He was an ardent teetotaler. He was fond of young people and animals, and enjoyed driving horses, which for years was his only form of outdoor sport.
Bowers possessed an inventive mind and his two noteworthy inventions were the eaves through machine and the anchor. With his natural resourcefulness and his wide experience in a variety of enterprises, Bowers was exceedingly adaptable and peculiarly fitted to study the mechanisms of a new project and quickly discover its significant features.
In appearance he was a man of medium build, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He had sharp, brownish eyes and in mature life always wore a moustache. Even in old age, he was noted for an erect posture, a prepossessing air and a generally distinguished appearance being a meticulous dresser."
Obituary appears in The New York Times 03 June 1941: L. M. Bowers Dies: Rockefeller Aide.
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