Biography / Administrative History
Reverend Stephen Bowers, A.M., Ph.D., was born on March 3rd, 1831 on a farm in Greencastle, Indiana. He was the son of David Bowers and the father of DeMoss Bowers. He was a Methodist minister for 30 years and a Chaplain for the Union forces in the Civil War (67th Indiana Infantry). Due to his archaeological interests, especially those focused on Indians around Santa Barbara, Bowers came to California and resided in Santa Barbara and Ventura from 1894 to 1906.
On November 17, 1899, Governor Harry F. Gage appointed Bowers as a geologist with the United States Geological Survey. Bowers also held the position of State Mine Examiner of California. He lectured on subjects ranging from the biblical to the scientific. He also served as president of the Ventura Society of Natural History and was a member of the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia, Smithsonian Institution, and Philosophical Society of Great Britain. Bowers died in 1907 in Los Angeles, California.
From the guide to the Stephen Bowers Papers, 1859-1961, (Autry National Center. Institute for the Study of the American West)
