Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/389

 BOWIE.

BOWLES.

BOWIE, Oden, governor of Maryland, was born at Fairview, Prince George county, Md., Nov. 10, 1826 ; son of William D. and Eliza Oden Bowie. His ancestors were among the early .set- tlers of the state. He was educated at the pre- paratory department of St. John's college, Annapolis, and at St. Mary's college, Baltimore, where he was graduated in 1845 as valedictorian. He enlisted for the Mexican war as a private ; and as lieutenant at the battle of Monterey was the surviving officer of the command, Colonel Watson dying in his arms. His gallantry in this engagement secured him the appointment of senior captain of one of the ten Voltigeur regi- ments added to the regular army. Shortly after his promotion. Captain Bowie resigned his com- mission on account of disease contracted in ser- vice in 1847. He was elected to the Maryland house of delegates, and was returned for several terms. He entered the state senate in 1867, and in November of that year was elected governor of Maryland, but in consequence of a provision of the new state constitution which had been adopted, Governor Swann, his predecessor, was allowed to serve out his full term of four years, and Governor Bowie did not enter upon the exec- utive duties of his office until January, 1869. While in the senate in 1867 he was instrumental in securing the building of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad, as an extension of the Penn- sylvania system to Baltimore and Washington, and on the completion of the road, in 1871, be- came its president. In 1873 he was elected presi- dent of the Baltimore city passenger railway company. He was president of the Maryland jockey club, and became widely known as one of its most active members. He married Alice Carter, a descendant of Lord Baltimore, and they had seven children. Their residence, Fairview, is one of the noted ancestral homes of America, comprising an estate of one thousand acres, with a mansion house, built about 1800, to take the place of the original residence, then destroyed by fire. He died at Fairview, Md., Dec. 4, 1894.

BOWIE, Robert, governor of Maryland, was born in Prince George county, Md., about 1750. He served in the revolutionary war as captain of flying artillery, and after its close held various political offices. He was elected governor of Mary- land in 1803, and held the office three years. In 1808 he served as a presidential elector, and three years later was again elected to the governor- ship of the state in 1811. He died Jan. 8, 1818.

BOWLES, Samuel, 2d, journalist, was born at Springfield, Mass., Feb. 9, 1826; son of Samuel Bowles, founder of the Springfield Republican, which he established in 1824. After being edu- cated at a private school, he entered his father's establishment, and passed through the successive

stages of apprenticeship with great facility, and in 1844 persuaded his father to initiate the publication of a daily paper in Springfield. This was a radical venture for those days; Boston being the only town in Massachusetts with a daily newspaper. The Daily Republican appeared first on March 37, 1844, in December of the next year the paper was changed from an evening to a morn- ing issue; Mr. Bowles, Sr., devoted himself to the business interests, and his son assumed the edi- torial management, assisted by Dr. J. G. Holland, who was connected with the Republican for eigh- teen years. Mr. Bowles possessed the journalistic instinct in a marked degree ; was an organizer of ability, and knew how to find his forces and how to use them. He attracted talented writers to his columns, and introduced to the literary world many new ones. In 1856 the New York Tribune pronounced the Republican the " best and ablest country journal ever published on this conti- nent." In 1855 Mr. Bowles presided at the con- vention which met to inaugurate the EepubUcan party. In 1872 the Republican supported Mr. Greeley for president, and thereafter became an independent organ. Under the management of Mr. Bowles the Republican exerted a national influence during the civil war, and acquired a prominence afterwards successfully maintained. It was the flrst newspaper to advocate free suffrage for both white and colored persons; was among the leaders to champion the cause of woman suffrage, and always favored a judicious measure of free trade. In 1865 Mr. Bowles visited the Pacific Slope, in company with prominent newspaper and railroad men, and, in 1868, made a second trip as far as Colorado. In the same year he was arrested on a charge of libel preferred by James Fisk, whose question- able speculations he had condemned in his journal. Mr. Bowles made frequent journeys to Europe and embodied his experiences of travel in some very pleasing books, which first appeared as letters in the paper. " Across the Continent," a rescript of his journey to California, appeared in 1865; " The Switzerland of America " (1869) ; " The Pacific Railroad Open : How to go. What to see " (1869) ; " Our New W^est " (1869). He was a trustee of Amherst college. His eldest son, Samuel, succeeded him as proprietor and pub- lisher of the paper he had made. His life, writ- ten by George S. Merriam, was published in 1885. He died in Springfield, Mass., Jan. 16, 1878.

BOWLES, Samuel, 3d. publisher, was born at Springfield, Mass., Oct. 15, 1851; son of Samuel Bowles, second proprietor of the Springfield Re- publican. He attended the public and private schools of his native city, and then studied and travelled two years in Europe, and extensively in America, subsequently taking a special course