USA > Massachusetts > One of a thousand, a series of biographical sketches of one thousand representative men resident in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-'89; > Part 11
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68
BOWDITCH.
BOWDITCH.
1863 he published a treatise on the inter- nal revenue and excise system of the United States, which is still an authority in the department. In 1869 a volume of his speeches was published. He is also the author of a volume, "Why I am a Republican," published in 1884, and re- printed in 1888. In 1887 he published a small volume entitled " The Lawyer, States- man and Soldier.'
He was married to Sarah Adelia, daugh- ter of Nathan Thayer, of Hollis, N. H., July 8, 1841. His children are : Georgianna A., born May 18, 1843, and Francis M. Boutwell, born February 26, 1847.
Few citizens of Massachusetts have been called upon to occupy more responsible and influential positions in public life than Gov. Boutwell, and certainly there are none now living of her honored sons who have brought to the fulfillment of their official duties greater energy of spirit, purity of character, or loyalty to imposed trust, than has this widely-known and universally- respected representative of the old Bay State. His record is his own best eulogium.
BOWDITCH, HENRY INGERSOLL, son of Nathaniel and Mary (Ingersoll) Bow- ditch, was born in Salem, Essex county, August 9, 1808. His father was the trans- lator and commentator of the " Mécanique Celeste," and his mother was the only daughter of Captain Jonathan Ingersoll, both parents being natives of Massachu- setts.
His early educational training was re- ceived in a Salem private school, and later in the Boston Latin school. He was graduated from Harvard College, in the class of 1828, and from the medical de- partment of Harvard University in 1832.
Desirous of familiarizing himself with the most advanced medical science of the old world, he repaired to Europe after his graduation, and spent over two years in Paris, under the tuition of Professor Louis particularly, and of other adepts in physic and surgery.
Returning to his native land, Dr. Bow- ditch began practice in Boston. For sev- eral years he was Jackson professor of clinical medicine in the Harvard medical school ; has also been physician to the Massachusetts General Hospital and to the City Hospital, and consulting physician in the Carney Hospital, Boston. During the civil war he held the office of surgeon of the board of enrollment in the fourth dis- trict of Massachusetts. In 1876 he was elected to the presidency of the American Medical Association, and presided at its
meeting held at Chicago, in June, 1877, on which occasion he delivered the open- ing address. He was for many years chair- man of the Massachusetts state board of health after its organization in 1870. Sub- sequently he was a member of the national board of health.
To the literature of his profession Dr. Bowditch has been a frequent contributor. "Thoracentesis," a paper read before the New York Academy of Medicine, April, 1870, received high commendation from the most eminent practitioners.
More than a quarter of a century ago Dr. Bowditch began to devote himself to the study of diseases of the chest, and was impressed with the conviction that it would be possible to relieve cases of effu- sion into the pleural cavity by drawing off the fluid. He adopted Dr. Morrill Wyman's method of so doing -by a very small tube with a suction pump fastened to it. The success of this line of treatment was immediate and permanent. Immediate relief usually followed the operation, and never any disastrous results. Thoracen- tesis is now regarded in Europe and America as a legitimate, safe and neces- sary procedure. That such is the case is largely due to the success of Dr. Bow- ditch's operations, and the earnestness with which he has pressed the importance of it. upon the medical fraternity.
Dr. Bowditch has devoted much time to the study of consumption, its natural history and pathology, and the best means of checking its ravages. In 1862, in an address before the Massachusetts Medical Society he announced his discovery that a residence on or very near damp soil in New England is apt to cause consumption. Three years afterward Dr. Buchanan, of the local government board of England, found that a large district which had been sub- drained had less consumption than previ- ously.
In another very important department of medical literature, Dr. Bowditch is among the pioneers of America-that of preventive medicine and hygiene. His " Public Hygiene in America " has been published at Boston and London, in book form.
Having accidentally seen from the head of State Street the "Garrison mob (1835), led by gentlemen of respectability and standing," for the purpose of putting down free speech in behalf of liberty, he immediately joined the ranks of the Aboli- tionists, and continued with them until slavery was crushed by the civil war.
69
BOWKER.
BOWERS.
Dr. Bowditch was married at New York, on the 17th of July, 1838, to Olivia, daughter of John and Elizabeth Yardley, of London, England. Of this union are four children : Nathaniel, Olivia, Edward and Vincent Yardley Bowditch. Nathaniel fell in the war while leading a cavalry charge at Kelly's Ford, Virginia.
BOWERS, WALTER PRENTICE, son of Charles Manning and Ellen Augusta (Damon) Bowers, was born in Clinton, Worcester county, May 19, 1855.
He was graduated from the high school in Clinton in March, 1872 ; entered Har- vard medical school, Boston, 1876, and was graduated in the class of 1879.
Previous to his medical course in Har- vard University he had served as an apothe- cary's clerk in Clinton, and from July, 1874, until the store changed proprietors, was in charge of a branch store of the same house, established in Leominster. He then took charge of a drug store owned by Andrew Geyer in Wenham, which he car- ried on until he entered the medical school.
Dr. Bowers was married in Clinton, Jan- uary 28, 1880, to Helen Matilda, daughter of Alfred A. and Matilda A. (Boynton) Burditt. They have no children.
Dr. Bowers, in 1880, was appointed first assistant physician in the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, but after one year was obliged to resign on account of ill health. He holds appointments as local medical exam- iner for several life insurance and benefit companies, viz .: Northwestern Mutual, Atna, Connecticut Mutual, Equitable, Hartford Life and Annuity, Royal Arcan- um, A. O. U. W., the United Order of the Pilgrim Fathers, and the Royal Society of Good Fellows. In March, 1889, he was elected selectman of Clinton, and he has been for several years secretary and direc- tor of the Twenty-five Associates of Clinton.
BOWKER, ALBERT, son of John Pear- son and Mary (Baker) Bowker, was born in Walpole, Norfolk county, December II, 1815. He was bereft of his mother at the age of four years, and he spent the days of his childhood and youth in the home of his maternal grandparents.
He was educated in the common district schools of his native place, in select schools, Medway, Holliston, Andover, and under private tutors.
Not the least of his advantages was the inspiration he received from his member- ship of a small club of young men, meeting for mutual improvement, each one of whom was obliged to prepare and read a written
dissertation to be criticised by the others. Some men since widely known were mem- bers of this club, of which Bishop Field was president.
Mr. Bowker taught school in Needham ; studied to fit himself for the work in the Teachers' Seminary, a branch of Phillips Academy, Andover ; was next engaged as principal of the village school in Dorches- ter Lower Mills (now part of Boston), to which place he was invited by the Rev. John Codman, D. D.
As a teacher he was successful. In six months he was elected usher of the Eliot
ALBERT BOWKER,
school, Boston, and, in 1837, at his major- ity, he was made principal of the Lyman school, East Boston. In 1845, after eight years of service, Mr. Bowker resigned his position, purposing to retire from active public pursuits.
Soon after Mr. Bowker had attained his majority, he invested largely in the stock of the East Boston Company, and received the primary dividend of lands. He also became the proprietor of one-fourth of the capital stock of the Boston "Evening and American Traveller." He was also active as one of the founders of Hyde Park, one- fifth of the stock of which he owned.
In 1846 and '47 he represented his dis- trict in the House of Representatives. In
70
BOWLES.
BOYDEN.
1848 he was chosen treasurer of the East Boston Savings Bank, which position he resigned in 1880-he still remaining a trustee.
In 1851 Mr. Bowker was elected presi- dent of the North American Fire Insurance Company, and unanimously re-elected thirty-six years, resigning the position December 21, 1887. He was president of the Boston Board of Underwriters, also of the East Boston Trade Association and of the board of directors of the East Boston Ferries. In 1861, '62 and '66 he served in the Boston common council.
In the rebellion, and in the war in South America between Paraguay, Uruguay, the Argentine Republic and Brazil, he held a controlling interest in eleven out of six- teen steamers in which he was a partial owner.
Of self-made, self-educated men, Mr. Bowker is certainly one worthy of study and imitation. He has been a successful business man-successful with one excep- tion, and that, incident to the great fire of Boston, 1872, in which he lost all his insur- ance stock in seven of the largest dividend paying companies in that city.
Mr. Bowker was married in East Boston, June 22, 1843, to Sarah, daughter of Ben- jamin and Henrietta (Knowlton) Lamson. Of this union, the two living children are Sarah Fitz and Mary Frances Bowker.
Mr. Bowker's residence is in East Bos- ton, overlooking the bay, where arrive and depart the magnificent fleet of steamers known as the Warren Line, so called from the founder, George Warren, a fellow-mem- ber of that early club, with Edwin P. Whip- ple, the distinguished essayist and lecturer, Daniel N. Haskell, of the "Boston Tran- script," Bishop Field, et al., to whose exam- ple, association and inspiration Mr. Bowker is wont cheerfully and gratefully to ac- knowledge indebtedness.
BOWLES, SAMUEL, son of Samuel and Mary Dwight (Schermerhorn) Bowles, was born in Springfield, Hampden county, October 15, 1851.
He received his early educational train- ing in the public and private schools of his native city. This was supplemented by two years' study and travel in Europe, and two years' special course at Yale Col- lege. As a youth he also traveled ex- tensively in this country. His degree of A. M. was conferred by Amherst College. But the most valuable part of his educa- tion was the training in journalism which he received from his father ; and he was fully prepared when the time came to
take up and carry forward the work of his predecessors.
Mr. Bowles began business life in 1873, as an assistant in the editorial department of the " Springfield Republican." In 1875 he became its business manager, and at the death of his father (1878) he became editor-in-chief and publisher, which posi- tion he still holds.
He is the third "Samuel Bowles" that has successfully presided over the leading journal of Western Massachusetts-three generations of sires and sons. Their sym- pathies have always been with the funda- mental principles of the Republican party, and its predecessor, the Whig, but they have been distinguished by their independ- ent attitude on political questions. The "Springfield Republican " has always held country above party, and clearly shown the mission of independent journalism.
Mr. Bowles, as a citizen, possesses the confidence and esteem of his fellows, but has never allowed himself to be caught in the whirl of political ambitions. The only public office he has accepted is that of director of the Springfield City Library Association.
Mr. Bowles was married in Concord, June 12, 1884, to Elizabeth, daughter of Ebenezer Rockwood and Caroline D. (Brooks) Hoar. Of this union is one son: Samuel Bowles, Jr.
BOYDEN, ALBERT GARDNER, son of Phineas and Harriet (Carroll) Boyden, was born in South Walpole, Norfolk county, February 5, 1827.
He attended the common district school in summer till ten, and in winter till seven- teen years of age. He worked on the farm and in his father's blacksmith shop, until he had mastered the trade, at twenty-one years of age, and in the meantime had taught school in the town of Foxborough, three winters. He was graduated from the state normal school, Bridgewater, Novem- ber, 1849; taught grammar school in Hingham, in the winter of 1849 and '50.
He became assistant teacher in the state normal school, Bridgewater, in 1850, and held the position until 1853 ; was principal of the English high school, Salem, three years ; sub-master in Chapman grammar school, Boston, one year ; first assistant again at Bridgewater normal school 1857 to 1860 ; and was then appointed principal of the school, which position he has since filled in a faithful and pre-eminently able manner.
Mr. Boyden was married in Newport, Maine, November 18, 1851, to Isabella
71
BOYNTON.
BOYNTON.
Whitten, daughter of Thomas and Martha Louisa (Whitten) Clarke. Of this union were two children : Arthur Clarke Boyden, A. M., teacher of history and natural science, Bridgewater normal school, and Wallace Clarke Boyden, A. M., teacher of mathe- matics, Williston Seminary, Easthampton.
Mr. Boyden has been clerk of Central Square Congregational society since 1863 ; trustee of Bridgewater Savings Bank ; presi- dent of Plymouth County Teachers' Asso- ciation ; president of Massachusetts School- masters' Club ; vice-president of American Institute of Instruction ; secretary of National Council of Education ; and presi- dent of Old Colony Congregational Club. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Amherst College in 1861.
Under Mr. Boyden's management the normal school has enjoyed an enviable reputation with the friends of education. The quality of the teaching force sent out each year from this training school will bear comparison with that from any insti- tution of the kind in the country.
BOYNTON, ELEAZAR, son of Eleazar and Sally (Blatchford) Boynton, was born September 29, 1824, in Rockport, Essex county.
His early education was obtained in the natural course of attendance upon the public and private schools of his native village, supplemented by instruction at Phillips Academy, Andover.
At twenty-one years of age Mr. Boyn- ton came to Boston and commenced his life work with Boynton & Miller, of which firm Hon. Nehemiah Boynton was the senior partner, wholesale grocers and ship chandlers, Mr. E. Boynton becoming a partner in 1849. The firm was subse- quently changed to Boynton & Hervey, Mr. E. Boynton and A. F. Hervey compos- ing the firm, and yet again in 1855 to N. Boynton & Co., the subject of this sketch being a member of the firm. In 1868 the Hon. Nehemiah Boynton died, and Mr. Eleazar Boynton has from that time been the senior partner - the firm name still remaining the same- N. Boynton & Co. They have in late years added an import- ant feature to their business, and their house is now one of the largest dealers in, and manufacturers of, cotton duck in the country.
Mr. Boynton was married in Boston, October 9, 1852, to Mary, the daugh- ter of Simeon and Sally (Plummer) Chad- bourne. They have four children : Mary Dodge, Edward P., Nehemiah (the present popular pastor of the Union Congrega-
tional church, Boston), and Elizabeth L. Boynton.
Mr. Boynton's predilections and training led him early to take active work in benev- olent and religious circles. He was a valued member of the Mt. Vernon and
ELEAZAR BOYNTON.
Edwards Congregational churches in Bos- ton while he worshiped in that city, and has been an active and influential member of the Mystic Congregational church in Medford since his residence there.
His fellow-citizens of that historic town have bestowed upon him many an official honor. He, in turn, has always been loyal to them and their interests, and notably of late years he has been honorably conspicu- ous in contributing largely by his wisdom, his experience in public affairs, and his wide acquaintance with the leading citizens of the Commonwealth, to the prosperity and integrity of the town he loves so well.
Mr. Boynton was a member of the school committee of Boston while he lived in that city, and was likewise an active member of the same committee when he moved to Medford. He was a member of the board of selectmen in 1861, when the war of the rebellion commenced, and chairman of the board in 1862, and to him is largely due the credit Medford has enjoyed as one of
72
BRACKETT.
BRACKETT.
the most loyal communities at that critical time in the history of the nation -that town contributing the first quota of men to join the Union army, while the last company mustered out of active service was largely composed of her brave sons.
He represented the town in the House of Representatives in 1865, and the Ist Mid- dlesex district in the Senate in 1885 and '86. He is vice-president and trustee of the Medford Savings Bank, director of the Blackstone National Bank of Boston, presi- dent of the United States Cotton Duck Manufacturers' Association, and the U. S. Cotton Duck Dealers' Association, and president of the Russell Mills of Plymouth.
The names Boynton, Boyington, and Byington are one. The Boynton family have held six reunions, and their directory contains the addresses of 4000 names. The Boynton baronets and peers of England show an unbroken line of pedigree for thirty generations.
BRACKETT, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, son of Ambrose S. and Nancy (Brown) Brackett, was born in Bradford, Merrimack county, N. H., June 8, 1842.
He attended the public schools until seventeen years of age, when he entered Colby Academy, New London, N. H., where he was graduated in 1861. An offer of an appointment to West Point was de- clined, and he entered Harvard College, where he displayed marked ability, being chosen class orator in his senior year, and was graduated in the class of 1865. He took his law course at Harvard, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1868, where he has since continued to practice. He was partner with Hon. Levi C. Wade from 1878 to '80 - since which time he has been associated with Walter H. Roberts, under the firm name of Brackett & Roberts.
He was married in Arlington, June 20, 1878, to Angie M., daughter of Abel G. and Eliza A. (Boles) Peck. Of this union were born four children, two of whom, John Gaylord and Beatrice Brackett, are living.
In 1871 Mr. Brackett was made presi- dent of the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, and again in 1882. In 1874 he was appointed judge advocate on the staff of General I. S Burrill, ist brigade Massa- chusetts volunteer militia, and held that position until the re-organization of the militia in 1876.
Hle has evinced great interest in political affairs from boyhood, and since 1868, as a Republican, his voice has been heard in every state and national campaign. He
was one of the promoters of the Young Men's Republican movement in 1877, and presided at the first public meeting held under its auspices in Faneuil Hall.
He was a member of the Boston com- mon council in 1873, '74, '75, and '76, and was president of that body the latter year. He was elected a member of the House of Representatives for 1877, and re-elected each year for four years, serv- ing as chairman of the committees on labor and taxation the first year, and reporting the bill for the formation of "building associations" or co-operative banks. The beneficent results of this law are due in a great measure to the subse- quent efforts of Mr. Brackett. In 1878 he was chairman of House committee on probate and chancery. In 1879 he was House chairman of the committee on retrenchment. In 1880 he was one of the four leading candidates for speaker, and served as House chairman of the commit- tee on harbors and public lands, and as a member of the committee on rules and
JOHN Q. A. BRACKETT.
orders. He held the same positions the succeeding year, and was also a member of the special committee on the revision of the statutes. In 1884 he was again a member of the House, and was appointed chairman of the judiciary committee and a member
73
BRADFORD.
BRADFORD.
of the committee on rules and orders. In 1885 he was elected speaker of the House by a vote of 217 to 15. Probably no speaker was ever put to a more severe test in Massachusetts than that which Mr. Brackett encountered the first year - that of the famous filibustering movement against the metropolitan police bill. By his firm action and spirited determination, the bill was reached and passed, and both parties accorded him much praise for his ability in presiding over this stormy debate. He was unanimously renominated by the Republicans and was re-elected speaker in 1886. He was elected lieutenant-governor in 1886, and re-elected in 1887 and 1888. During July and August of 1888 he was acting governor during the illness of Gov- ernor Ames, and in that capacity in Sep- tember visited Columbus, Ohio, with the staff and special legislative committee, most creditably representing his state at the centennial of the settlement of Ohio. Owing to the governor's illness, he was also acting governor during a part of the year 1889, and as such represented the Commonwealth at the dedication of the Pilgrim monument at Plymouth, and at the reception of President Harrison in Boston, as well as on many other public occasions. He was elected governor in 1889.
BRADFORD, EDWARD STANDISH, son of S. Standish and Dorcas Brown (Lock- wood) Bradford, was born in North Provi- dence, R. I., December 1, 1842.
His early educational training was re- ceived in the University grammar school, Providence. He fitted for Brown Uni- versity, but owing to ill health did not enter, but traveled abroad until improved health enabled him to return and begin a business career in the house of Bradford, Taft & Co., woolens, Providence, R. I. He was subsequently connected with Samuel Slater & Sons, Webster, and in 1878 was elected treasurer of the Hampden Cotton Mills.
In 1885 he retired from active business, and resides in Springfield.
Mr. Bradford was married in Provi- dence, R. I., April 28, 1868, to Mary, daughter of Horatio Nelson and Sarah (Tiffany) Slater. Of this union were four children . Horatio Nelson Slater, Edward Standish, Jr, Dorcas Lockwood, and Sarah Tiffany Bradford (deceased).
Mr. Bradford, while living in Rhode Island, was identified with the militia of the state ; was chairman of the board of selectmen of Webster, Mass., 1871, '72, and 73 ; director of Chapin National Bank,
Springfield ; director of the Hampden County Musical Association ; was member of the Springfield common council, 1886, '87 and '88, and is now mayor of Spring- field. He is first vice-president of the Winthrop Club, and director in the Con- necticut Valley Historical Association, and chairman of the finance committee of the First Baptist society.
EDWARD S. BRADFORD.
Mr. Bradford has traveled extensively in the old world, and has been a studious observer of its customs, as well as a critical student of its history.
On his paternal side he is a lineal de- scendant of Governor Bradford and Miles Standish, and on his maternal side, of Roger Williams, of Rhode Island colonial fame.
BRADFORD, ISAAC, son of Captain Isaac Bradford of Duxbury, and Sarah (Beckford) Bradford of Salem, Essex coun- ty, was born in Boston, November 15, IS34. He is a lineal descendant in the eighth generation from Governor William Brad- ford of the Plymouth Colony.
His early educational training was re- ceived in the public and private schools of Boston, the famous school at Brook Farm under Dr. Ripley, George P. Bradford's school, Concord, and the English high school, Boston
74
BRADFORD.
BRADLEE.
His entry into business life was as assist- ant on the "American Ephemeris and Nau- tical Almanac," under the direction of the navy department, October 1, 1850. In 1854 he left to follow the sea, but returned four years later and resumed his connection with the " Nautical Almanac; " resigned in the spring of 1865 to engage in mining in Colorado, going out as superintendent of a Boston company, taking a party and wagon- train of machinery from the terminus of the railroad in Central Iowa across the plains ; returned to Cambridge in 1868; was subsequently employed by the United States Coast Survey to perform the exten- sive astronomical and telegraphic time
ISAAC BRADFORD.
computations of the trans-continental longi- tude campaign of 1869, between Cambridge and San Francisco.
He served in the common council of Cam- bridge 1870, was re-elected, but resigned to accept position as chief-of-police ; was elected mayor of Cambridge 1873, serving four consecutive terms ; was Democratic candidate for Congress 1878; moved to Exeter, N. H., 1879, to take charge of a paper mill ; returned to Cambridge in 1884, where he has since resided. He is at present engaged on the " Nautical Almanac," besides making calculations for the greater part of the almanacs of the country -
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