From A Biographical History of Central Kansas, Vol. I, p. 555
published by The Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago & New York, 1902 

G. H. MOWERY 

   G H Mowery possesses the true western spirit of progress and enterprise.  He belongs to that group of distinctively representative business men who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and building up the chief industries of this section of the country.  He is now one of the leading carpenters and contractors of Lyons, and the large patronage which has been accorded him is the just recompense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and marvelous enterprise.

   Mr Mowery was born in Huntington county, New Jersey, near New Brunswick, in 1848.  His father, Peter Mowery, was born in Pennsylvania and was of German descent.  When eight years of age he was taken by his parents to New Jersey, and was there reared to manhood and learned the mason and stone cutter’s trades.  He became familiar with the business in all its details and was an expert workman.  He died at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at the age of sixty-five years, and his wife departed this life at the age of sixty-three.  They were the parents of four children, - John, who died at the age of four years; G H, our subject; Frank, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Calsine, of Philipsburg, New Jersey.  The father of this family was a supporter of the Democratic party and was a member of the Dutch Reformed church.

   G H Mowery, the immediate subject of this review, received his education in the public schools of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  In Philadelphia he served an apprenticeship of three years at the carpenter’s trade, under J A Cline, a prominent builder of that city.  He assisted in the erection of the Dutch Reformed church in Philadelphia, one of the first buildings in the city, also the Lehigh University, at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  After spending three years and seven months with that able builder he attended a school of architecture until he mastered the trade in all its departments.  In the year 1870 he decided to take up his abode in the west, with its broader possibilities, and accordingly located in Indiana, subsequently removing to Chicago and afterward to Kansas City.  In 1872 he became an honored resident of Rice county, Kansas, where he secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres.  He now owns a valuable farm one and a quarter miles from the court house at Lyons.  Here he has all the modern equipments and accessories of a model farm, including a fine orchard and all necessary buildings.  As a contractor and builder Mr Mowery has taken an active part in the improvement and upbuilding of Atlanta, Lyons and Ellsworth and many other towns.  He has erected many of the prominent buildings in Lyons, among which may be mentioned the opera house, and he also had charge of the building of the salt works.  Mr Mowery has been an important factor in the promotion of many business interests, and, while laboring for individual success, has also advanced the general prosperity.

   In December, 1879, was celebrated the marriage of our subject and Miss Cynthia Poole, a lady of intelligence and culture, who was born, reared and educated in Gentry county, Missouri.  She is a daughter of William Poole, an honored and respected early settler of Rice county.  The home of Mr and Mrs Mowery was blessed with three children, but only two are now living:  Frank, who is now twenty years of age, and Wade, a young man of seventeen years.  The second child, Winnie, was called to the home beyond when only three months old.  Mr Mowery casts his ballot in favor of Democratic principles.  In his social relations he is a member of Keystone Lodge, I.O.O.F., of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  Mrs Mowery is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.  Mr Mowery has ever taken an active interest in every movement or measure calculated to prove of public benefit, and has withheld his support from no enterprise that tends toward the general good.