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
