Fowler was the son of Colonel Samuel Fowler (1818–1863), an officer with the 15th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the
American Civil War, and grandson of
Samuel Fowler (1779–1844), who served in the House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837. His mother, Henrietta Laura Brodhead Fowler (1827-1869), had a first cousin, Marcia Ross Brodhead, who married Congressman
Daniel Myers Van Auken, and another first cousin, Kate Brodhead, who married Congressman and Senator
Charles Van Wyck. She was also related to Congressmen
John Curtis Brodhead and
John Brodhead. Fowler was born in
Port Jervis, New York, on March 22, 1851. He attended the Newton (N.J.) Academy,
Princeton College, and
Columbia Law School in
New York City. He was admitted to the bar of New York in 1873 and of New Jersey in 1876 and practiced law in
Newark and
Newton, New Jersey. ==Congress==