U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bowman, Stuart H. (b. 1875) ------------------------------------------------------------------- The History of Barbour County, West Virginia, From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time by Hu Maxwell The Acme Publishing Company, Morgantown, W.Va., 1899 Pages 338-339 Stuart H. Bowman, son of Captain A. C. Bowman, was born at Valley Furnace, Barbour County, June 28, 1875, and attended the county schools until fifteen years of age, when he obtained a certificate in Tucker County and taught the Location school, five miles east of St. George. He subsequently taught ungraded schools and summer normals in Barbour County while working his way through college. In 1893 he graduated from the Fairmont Normal School, the highest in a class of twenty-one, and valedictorian of his class. The next year he entered the Peabody Normal College at Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated in 1895 with the degree of L. I. (Licentiate of Instruction). He won the gold medal in the inter- society debate between the Erosophian and Adelphi Literary Societies of the University of Nashville the same year; and in 1896 graduated from that University with the degree of A. B., being class representative. For two years while in the University of Nashville he was connected with the editorship of the Peabody Record, the official organ of the University, the second year being editor-in-chief. In 1896-7 he was third assistant in the Fairmont Normal School, and edited that school's journal which was established that year. He delivered the address before the Alumni at the commencement in June, 1897. He was for two years a member of the Barbour County Board of Examiners, during which time a vigorous and successful effort was made by the board to prevent dishonest practices among applicants. In 1897 he entered the West Virginia University and graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1898. His studies at the University were chiefly along the lines of political science and political economy. In 1898 he was nominated by the Democratic party of Barbour County for the House of Delegates, and elected by a majority of about sixty, having run more than one hundred votes ahead of his ticket. He at once took a prominent place in the House, was chairman of the Committee on Education and member of the Committee on Taxation and Finance, and of other committees. He introduced and pushed through the House the bill for increasing the tax on telegraph companies, which the Senate failed to pass; and also the "Bowman Express Bill," for increasing the tax on express companies, which passed both houses but was vetoed by the Governor. He advocated the idea in the Legislature that the first and most important duty of that body is to reduce the burden of taxes and to provide for a better equalization of taxes by reducing the State levy and by bringing under tribute the various forms of invisible wealth, and the property and public franchises held by corporations. To that end he introduced a set of resolutions directing the Committee on Taxation and Finance to take under consideration the advisability of enacting a State Income Law, a movement which was heartily approved by leading newspapers of the State. Mr. Bowman was also identified with other measures of an educational and literary character. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Acme Publishing Company, a large printing and binding plant at Morgantown, and is financially interested in other business enterprises. He has taken up the study of law and expects to make that his profession. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Barbour County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/barbour/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------