A sad apostate ending- Bowker, S. D., M.D., (Seth) was born in Courtland Co., N. Y, Feb. 10, 1830.

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A sad apostate ending- Bowker, S. D., M.D., (Seth) was born in Courtland Co., N. Y, Feb. 10, 1830. He graduated at Fair- mount Theological Seminary, and was a successful minister at several important points. He had bap- tized over 800 persons when fifty years of age. Several church edifices stand as monuments of his untiring labors. The last one built under his superintendence was the one at Leadville, Col. Without his self-sacrificing labor it would not have been erected. Having graduated in medicine ag well as in theology, he practiced the healing art. He ranks among the most skillful physicians of Leadville, and is much respected for his good deeds of sympathy and benevolence as well as for his abilities. From the Baptist Encyclopedia by William CathcartNOTE: if this was all to the story it would end well- but sadly it does not. Sometimes for different reasons I feel like I need to chase these stories beyond what was written in the Baptist Encyclopedia to find out what happened in the time afterward. Sometimes it does not turn out well but can be a warning. I have done some unrelated history research in Leadville and had not really heard anything about a Baptist church having any significant impact in the town. A search turned up nothing and I puzzled a bit in historic photographs to locate it. I was finally able to find some information on Bowker (It was a little harder as Cathcart only puts an initial) on Findagrave. At some point Bowker went apostate probably in Kansas City. “Dr. Bowker was one of the oldest practicing physicians in Kansas City. He was not a physician when he came here thirty-five years ago, but a Baptist minister. He had doubts of the truth of what he preached and left the ministry to practice medicine. He was graduated from the Kansas City Medical college.” What a sad thing to hear- I have my suspicions as to what caused this- it is noted in his obituary that he was a master mason as well as in the order of the eastern star. Masons were very predominant in Colorado forming lodges often long before churches came in. My suspicion is this started with the lodge- with its false gospel of works. I do not know when he became a mason but would think that this apostasy was a result of that- how tragic. In a strange irony his tombstone is swallowed up by a nearby tree- just like anything that he did is swallowed up by apostasy later…..