TXGenWeb Pecos County, Texas

WILLIAM N. FOWLER

First Postmaster of Fort Stockton

Submitted by Jimmy Moore

WILLIAM N. FOWLER Postmaster at Fort Stockton, Mr. Fowler began his career in the stock business in west Texas thirty-five years ago, identified with various localities, and experiencing all the ups and downs of the business for many years, and since 1907 has held his present office in Fort Stockton.

William N. Fowler was born in Brown county, Texas, March 28, 1859. He has the distinction of being the second white child born in Brown county, and his parents were the first couple married in that civil subdivision of the state. His father, James H. Fowler, who was born in Missouri, and is now living retired at Sweetwater, came to Texas in 1846, and spent all his active career in the stock business. During the war he served as captain of a company of scouts for frontier protection and has seen every phase of the developing of Texas since it first became a state. He is an active member of the Presbyterian church and has always interested himself in religious affairs. His fraternity is the Masonic Order. He married Mary Ann Chandler, who was born in the State of Mississippi and they were married in Brown County, Texas. She is also living and is a member of the Presbyterian church. They had seven children, of whom the Fort Stockton postmaster is oldest.

William N. Fowler has spent all his career in his native state, had his early education at private schools in Johnson county, later finishing with a course at Mansfield College, and up to the age of twenty remained at home and worked on his father's farm. His father was engaged in the horse and cattle raising business and he was thus given a thorough training in the occupation which he himself has followed for so many years. When he started out on his own account in 1878, he chose his first location in Nolan county, where he was in the hog and cattle business until 1885. He then moved his stock and outfit to Brewster county, where he remained three years, during which his enterprise was constantly growing and he was getting rank as one of the largest and most successful stockmen of the west. After selling out his interests in Brewster county, he spent about three years in traveling over the various states and territories, and thus located in Sweetwater, where he turned his attention to the sheep business. For seventeen years he was one of the largest raisers of sheep, and his flocks roamed over thousands of acres of range land of west Texas. He then moved to Fort Stockton, and conducted a store here for a time, which he later sold, and since 1907 has been postmaster of the city.

Mr. Fowler in Ellis county on January 26, 1880, married Miss Lou May Powell, daughter of Ben Powess of Bosque county, Texas. Mrs. Fowler was the devoted wife and mother of the family for fourteen years, was a good Christian woman, an active member of the Baptist church, and her death occurred in 1894 at the age of thirty-three. They were the parents of four children, three daughters and one son, namely: Mary Lou, deceased; Ana, wife of E. E. Shaw, a resident of Abilene; Otho, who is assistant postmaster, and Della, wife of Elmer Moore, of Fort Stockton. Mr. Fowler was reared in the Presbyterian faith and favors that denomination. He belongs to the Fort Stockton Club, and is an active worker for the republican party. He enjoys outdoor life and nothing better suits him than traveling by team and wagon over the country, and spending his nights in camp. He owns valuable property interests in Fort Stockton, and while not a wealthy man has prospered and has provided liberally both for himself and family.

From the book "Texas and Texans"; Page 2400