Louisa Thompson is believed to have been born in the newly formed Township of Unadilla in Michigan on August 11, 1835. She was the fourth child born to Rufus and Lucy Thompson.

Not much is known of her earlier life, but at the age of 14 she became the center of a legal dispute regarding her marriage to a Dubuque, Iowa-area man against her father's wishes. The ensuing legal battle may have been too much for the marriage, for it seems to have dissolved shortly thereafter.

Several years after this event, she marries Samuel Follmer Bowers, and the couple begin building a family. But tragedy strikes frequently, and Louisa loses three children in childbirth or in infancy between 1864 and 1869.

On February 12, 1875, Louisa gives birth to our next grandfather down that line, William Samuel, but dies eight days later at the young age of 39, apparently as a consequence of complications with William's birth.