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Source: Memoirs of Georgia Containing Historical Accounts of the State's Civil, Military, Industrial and Professional Interests, and Personal Sketches of Many of Its People. Vol. 2. Atlanta, Ga.: Southern Historical Association, 1895. pp. 687-688. Contributed by Lori Thornton.

WILLIAM M. BOWERS, merchant-farmer, Royston, Franklin Co., Ga., son of T. W. and Alphia A. (Glover) Bowers, was born in what is now Hart county in 1850. (For some particulars in lives of his great-great-grandfathers, Job and William Bowers, see sketch of William F. Bowers in these memoirs.) His grandparents, William and Polly (Holbrook) Bowers, were descendants of the early settlers of the same name in Elbert (now Hart) county. He was a large planter and land-holder, and very influential. His wife, "Aunt Polly," was the only "female doctor" in all that region, and on supreme occasions was the sole reliance of families for miles around. Mr. Bowers' father was born in what is now Hart county, was a successful and influential farmer, and was a major of the militia when it was an envied local distinction. His mother was a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Pullum) Glover. Her father was a native of Virginia and enlisted in the patriot army during the revolutionary war when only sixteen years of age. He came to Georgia when about twenty-five years old and settled in what was then Franklin county, where he became a large land-owner and died in 1836. Mr. Bowers was reared on the farm, and his educational advantages were very meager. When twenty years old he began life for himself by working on a farm. In 1877 he bought his first piece of land, and since then has added to it until now he has 500 acres of as good land as the county contains. In addition he owns and operates a ginnery, a grist mill, a smithery, and has an interest in the general merchandise store of Nelms, Bowers & Co., Royston, Ga. He conducts his farm on progressive lines, and is not only a believer in diversified crops, but takes great interest in improved stock-raising. He is a man of fine practical business capabilities, and very enterprising, and is one of Franklin county's most solid and substantial, as well as most highly-esteemed citizens. For a time he served the people of Royston as mayor. Mr. Bowers was married in 1874 to Miss Mary J.—born in Madison county, Ga., in 1856—daughter of Robert and Sarah C. (Bowers) Berreman. Mr. Berreman was a native of Virginia, came to Georgia when a young man; was a farmer and trader and owned a large amount of land. When the war between the states began he enlisted and went to the front, and died when in the service. Eight of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowers are living: Robert S., Jennie E., Shadrack S., Harley B., Gifford E., Maura J., Joe, and Tabor B. Himself and wife are prominent and working members of the Baptist church, of which he has been a deacon for many years.

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