Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/386

 BOWEX.

BOWEN.

elsewliere on account of liis denunciation of thf law. and tlie letter, in which lie refused to siK'n the call for the Castle Garden meeting, in tJupiKirt cf the fugitive slave law, became fam- ous on account of the sentence in which lie said tlaat the firm of Bo wen & McNamee had "its goods, but not its principles for sale." Mr. Bo wen was a member of the "Albany Conven- tion " of Congregationa lists in 1852, which abro- gated the " Phin of Union " with Presbyterians, loiter he. with others, organized the Congrega- tional union, to which he gave the sum of §5,000. At the All»any convention Mr. Bowen pledged the sum of §10,000 to aid in building Congrega- tional churches on condition tiiat §40,000 more should be raised by the churches, and over §60,000 was raised. He was one of the original founders of the Broadway Tabernacle, and of the church of the Pilgrims and Plymouth church, Brooklj'n. He heartily adopted tiie anti-slavery views of Arthur and Lewis Tappan, and, with a view to providing an organ for liberal and anti-slavery Congregationalism, he established The Inde- pendent in 1848, imder the editorship of Dr. Leonard Bacon, Dr. Joseph P. Thompson, Dr. R. S. Storrs, and Dr. Joshua Leavitt. When the original editors retired he made the paper un- denominational, under the editorship of Mr. Beecher. After 1871 he was himself editor, as well as proprietor and publisher, withdrawing from all other business. He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 24, 1896.

BOWEN, Herbert Wolcott, diplomatist, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 29, 1856; son of Henry Chandler and Lucy Maria (Tappan) Bowen. His early education was acquired at the Brook- lyn collegiate and polytechnic institute, and under private in.struction in Paris and Berlin. He was graduated from Yale college in 1878, and from the Columbia college law school in 1881, being admitted to the bar in the latter year. He was U. S. consul at Barcelona 1888-93 ; consul general there 1892-99 ; U. S. minister to Persia 1899-1901, and to Venezuela from June 1901. He received the degree A.M. from Yale in 1903. He is the author of " In Divers Tones" (1890); " Losing Ground. A Series of Sonnets" (1892), and " In- ternational Law" (1896).

BOWEN, James, .soldier, was born in New York city in 1808; son of a successful merchant, who left to him a large fortune. When the Erie railway company was organized he was made its first president. In 1848 he was elected to the .state assembly, and subsequently filled varioiw civic offices, including that of president of the first board of police commi.ssioners of New York city. In 1861-'62 he recruited .several regiments of volunteers, which were formed tmder the brigade which he commanded. In

December, 1862, he was made provost-martial- general of the department of the gulf. He resigned in July, 1864, and in March, 1865, was brevetted major-general of volunteers. He after- wards was made commissioner of charities of New York city. He was a man of sterling qualities, and numbered among his intimate friends such men as Daniel Webster, William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed. He died at Hastings on-the-Hudson, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1886.

BOWEN, John S., soldier, was born in Georgia in 1829. He was appointed military cadet at West Point in 1848, and after his graduatit)n in 1853 was given the rank of brevet 2d lieutenant of mounted riflemen. From 1853 to 1855 he served at the cavalry school for practice at Carlisle, Pa., and in 1855 was on frontier duty at Fort Mc- intosh, Texas. He resigned his commission May 1. 1856, and was an architect at Savannah, where he joined the Georgia militia as lieutenant- colonel. In 1857 he removed to St. Louis, Mo., where he followed his profession and served ia the state militia until the outbreak of the civil war, when he was captured while acting as chief of staff to General Frost of the state militia, was paroled, raised the 1st Missouri in- fantry, and with it joined the Confederate army, and served in the battle of Shiloh, where he com- manded a brigade and was severely wounded. He surrendered with the forces defending Vicks- burg and died at Rajinond, Miss., July 16, 1863. BOWEN, Nathaniel, 3d P. E. bishop of South Carolina and 17th in succession in the Amer- ican episcopate, was born in Boston, Mass., June 29, 1779 ; the son of a clergyman who had rejected Congregationalism to enter the priest- hood of the Episcopal church. The family mi- grated to South Carolina, in 1787, where he was educated, graduating from Charleston col- lege in 1794. He was tutor for several years at the college, when he went to Boston, and re- ceived his theological training at the hands of Dr. Parker. He was ordained deacon in 1800, and admitted to the priesthood in 1802. He was for a short time pastor of St. John's church. Provi- dence, R. I., after which he became curate of St. Michael's church, Charleston, and in 1804 suc- ceeded to the rectorship; here he labored assidu- ously for five years, doing work that was of eminent service to the interests of the church in South Carolina. In 1809 he was apix>inted rector of Grace church. New York, a charge which he administered with great .success until he was elected bishop of South Carolina, and consecrated Oct. 18, 1818. He assumed with his duties as bishop the rectorship of St. Michael's church. Charleston. S. C, and for the next twenty years gave himself to his work with untiring fidelity. He was not only a powerful and eloquent