Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon
E.R. Bowelby Passes after Long Illness
Enoch R. Bowlby died at the Enterprise hospital Saturday evening, Sept. 24, 1938. He had not been well for several years and for some 12 months past had been failing steadily. Funeral services were held Monday at the Booth chapel, conducted by Rev. Paul C. Cramblit. Burial was in Enterprise cemetery and services at the grave were in charge of the Masonic lodge.
Mr. Bowlby was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1861, and when a young man went to Colorado where he handled stock. He went later to Natoma, Kansas, where he worked with a brother, S. L. Bowlby. He was married there May 23, 1884, to Lulu M. Quinn. He came to Oregon in 1888, going first to Portland, and then to Umatilla county. The next year he came to Union county and in 1893 he landed in Wallowa County, which remained his home.
He homesteaded a mile and a half south of Enterprise and had an extensive ranch, running sheep on a large scale. Later he fed cattle, and ultimately bought a ranch on Swamp creek. He was very well-to-do in early days and built the Main street building now owned and occupied by Byram Mayfield. In later years he suffered reverses from which he was not able to recover. He was a true gentleman and always held the friendship of his old companions and associates.
Surviving are the wife, Mrs. Lulu M. Bowlby; one daughter, Mrs. Mae C. Hansen; two sisters, Mrs. Belle Hall of West Virginia and Mrs. Elizabeth Worley of Paradise, Kan; one brother R.M. Bowlby of Kellerton, Iowa; a grandson, R.J. Hansen and two great granddaughters, Belva and Nancy Lee Hansen.
Card of Thanks
We wish to thank many friends for the beautiful flowers and many kindnesses shown us during our recent bereavement. – Mrs. E. R. Bowlby, Mrs. Mae C. Hanson and Ross Hanson.
Enterprise Record Chieftain, Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon, Thursday September 29, 1938 Page 5
(There is a Bowlby Family site on the internet. It’s at http://www.bowlbyfamily.org/. Also if you would like to contact Cynthia Katzman Bowlby, she is one of the researchers for the site.