John S. Trower

Early life and career Trower was born on October 3, 1849, in Eastville, Northampton County, Virginia.

From age 16 to 21, Trower worked on the farm with his family, saving all that he could. All through his early life young Trower was hobbled with the necessity of servicing his family's debt. By the time he was 21 he had saved enough to lift this burden from his family and he felt free to go in search of a fortune. He presented his mother with the deed of the farm and bade her goodbye. At that time, the tide of immigration had already set in from the Virginia plantations toward the cities and young Trower drifted with it in the direction of Baltimore. There was $52 surplus after the farm was paid for and with this sum Trower, wholly inexperienced in the difficulties and dangers of city life, landed in Baltimore.