USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Lodge no. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkesbarr?, Pa. with a collection of masonic addresses > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
150
Lieutenant Bowman became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati soon after its organization, May 13th, 1783 ; and in July of that year-being then in camp at West Point -he delivered to the Treasurer of the Massachusetts Branch of the Society, an order on the Paymaster General of the army " for the full amount of one month's pay of his grade, to be appropriated to the establishment of a fund agreeable to the institution of the Society of the Cincinnati."*
At the close of the war Lieutenant Bowman returned to Lexington, Mass., where he remained until the latter part of 1786, when he immigrated to the Wyoming Valley and settled north of the village of Wilkesbarré on a tract of land covering what is now called " Bowman's Hill." He erected his house on the spot where the residence of the late Col. A. H. Bowman now stands. He was soon followed to Wilkesbarré by his youngest brother.
This brother-Ebenezer Bowman-had served for a time in the American Army, and taken part in the battles of Lex- ington and Bunker Hill. Subsequently entering Harvard College as a student, he was graduated therefrom in 1782. He then studied law, and was admitted to the Bar of Mas- sachusetts. He was one of the first four attorneys admitted to practice before the courts of Luzerne county, Penn'a, upon their organization at Wilkesbarré, May 27th, 1787,- in fact his name appears first on the list of attorneys. For many years he was a prominent and active member of the Luzerne Bar, and a leading and respected citizen of the county. He died at Wilkesbarré in 1829, aged 71 years.
Lieutenant Bowman went to Philadelphia in the Fall of 1787, and there, on the 3d of November, he was united in
* " The Society was to be eleemosynary,-each officer contributing one month's pay toward the creation of a fund for the support of in- digent widows and orphans of dead members." [Vol. VI., "Mem. of Penn'a Hist. Soc'y."
151
marriage to Eleanor Leadlie, daughter of William and Elizabeth Leadlie, of that city. He soon returned to Wilkesbarré with his bride, and the following Spring began clearing up and tilling his land on "Bowman's Hill."
On the 7th of August, 1794, what is known in the history of Pennsylvania as the " Whisky Insurrection " was begin- ning to assume threatening and wide-spread proportions, and the Governor of the Commonwealth issued his requisi- tion for organizing and holding in readiness, to march at a moment's warning, a corps of the militia of Pennsylvania amounting to 5200 officers and privates.
On the 23d of September a meeting of the inhabitants of Luzerne county was held in the Court House at Wilkes- barré, Matthias Hollenback in the chair, Gen. Lord Butler, Secretary. Among other resolutions the following were adopted :
"Resolved, That being fully impressed with the sense of the bless- ings that daily flow from our own Government, we believe that there is no necessity of a revolution in the same.
"Resolved, That this meeting highly reprobate the proceedings of the people in the Western counties of this State, in their opposition to Government. That we will at all times, when necessary, exert our- selves in the support both of the Government of the United States and of the State of Pennsylvania."
A few days after this meeting Captain Bowman marched from Wilkesbarré, in command of a company of Light In- fantry, to join the army.
Owing to the state of feeling in Northumberland county, Captain Bowman's company was stationed at Sunbury for some time, but eventually they joined the main body of the army at Bedford, being attached to the battalion commanded by Maj. George Fisher. Besides Captain Bowman, the fol- lowing members of the company were members of LODGE No. 61: Arnold Colt, ensign, Archibald White, corporal, Peter Yarrington, fifer, and Peter Grubb, private.
152
The army having completed the business which called it to the field, viz., restoring order and a submission to the laws of the country, orders were issued November 17th, 1794, from the headquarters at Pittsburgh, for the with- drawal of the army and its return march. Captain Bow- man's company reached home early in December.
In the year 1797 the difficulties of the United States Government with France, consequent upon the ratification of Jay's treaty with Great Britain, reached a point little short of war. Through fear of a French invasion in 1798 additions were made to the regular army, and further ad- ditions were provisionally authorized. General Washington was appointed Commander-in-chief, with the rank of Lieu- tenant General, and Alexander Hamilton was appointed Inspector General, with the rank of Major General.
During the years 1798 and 1799 there was great excite- ment throughout the country, and the patriotic impulses of the citizens were everywhere and on all occasions en- couraged and stimulated ;- the orator on the platform, the clergyman in the pulpit, and the Judge on the Bench en- gaging in political and patriotic harangues to the people, when opportunities were afforded. July 3d, 1798, a general meeting of the militia officers of Luzerne county was held at the Court House in Wilkesbarre, "for the purpose of taking proper action upon the subject of enrolling and organizing the militia for active service." Gen. Simon Spalding, of Sheshequin, was elected President, and resolu- tions were passed with great enthusiasm, declaring, among other things, that " no sensations of gratitude, no relics of enthusiasm, remain to distract us from our duty as American citizens to our country." The officers present then pro- ceeded to formally offer their services to the State "when- ever the emergency arises in which she needs them."
The following is a portion of a charge delivered to the Grand Jury in the Court House at Wilkesbarré, at August
153
Sessions, 1798, by the Hon. Jacob Rush, the first President Judge of the Courts of Luzerne county. This charge, com- pared with charges delivered by Judges in our day, may be characterized as quite extraordinary and unique. [Compare with it the charge of Judge Gibson delivered at July Ses- sions, 1813. See sketch of Judge G., post.]
"GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND JURY: I congratulate you on the dissolution of the political ties that have been the means of connect- ing us for several years with the French Nation. Thank Heaven, the Gordian knot is at last cut, and we are separated, I trust, forever !
" The 17th day of July Congress by law disannulled our treaties with that country, and declared them to be no longer binding upon the United States. It would take up too much time, and is foreign to my present purpose, to go into a full detail of the numerous reasons that have long required, and now fully justify, this procedure on the part of our Government. From the date of our treaties with France, in the year 1778, no event occurred between the two Nations worthy of notice till the commencement of the war in Europe. * * * The French are, I believe, the first Nation upon earth that have publicly renounced the obligatory force of treaties, and assumed the profligate position that they may be broken whenever the circumstances of either party may require it.
" It is one thing to transgress the laws of truth and virtue, and an- other to maintain the lawfulness of the action. The very Algerines and Savages would blush at the thought * * Having in vain * endeavored to drag us into the vortex of the European war, they have since systematically pursued a plan for the extirpation of our com- merce."
The Judge then referred to the infidelity of the French people, to the laxity of their marriage and divorce laws, to their abolishing the Sabbath, etc., and continued as follows :
"Our country has been too long allied to France ! It was the con- nection of unsuspecting youthful virtue with an old bawd, at one period disguised in the robes of Monarchy, at another in the less fascinating
garb of a Republican dress-but invariably the same. * *
* Let us, however, gentlemen, indulge the animating hope that the period of our deliverance from this complication of evils is dawning upon us. The 17th of July draws a line, and tears up the foundation of our National connection. Hail, auspicious day ! Henceforth the absurd claim of National gratitude will be no longer rung in our ears
154
by ungenerous benefactors. Let the 17th of July be had in everlasting remembrance ! Upon the anniversary of that day let the voice of joy and gratitude be heard through our land. From calamities infinitely more to be dreaded than those commemorated upon the 4th of July, it is calculated to secure us. The one shielded us only from political dependence and subjection, but the other, we flatter ourselves, will be the means of saving us from religious, moral and political destruction."
To this charge the Grand Jury presented a reply, begin- ning :
" HON. JACOB BUSH-Sir : We thank you for the address deliv- ered to us at the opening of the present Court. It contains sentiments so just, principles so well founded and correct, that we take much pleasure in approbating the charge "-etc., etc.
This was signed by Capt. Samuel Bowman, Capt. Eleazer Blackman, Cornelius Cortright, Naphtali Hurlbut, and fif- teen others, who composed the Grand Jury.
On the 25th of January, 1799, Samuel Bowman was com- missioned by President Adams Captain in the Provisional Army, and in April he received from the Adjutant-General of the Army a copy of the " Rules for the Recruiting Ser- vice." He immediately set about enlisting recruits and organizing his company, and in order to expedite matters he inserted in The Wilkesbarre Gazette of May 11th, 1799, and posted in public places, printed on large sheets, the fol- lowing advertisement :
" To all brave, healthy, able-bodied and well disposed YOUNG MEN, who have any inclination to join the troops now raising under GEN- ERAL WASHINGTON for the defense of the LIBERTIES and Inde- pendence of the United States against the hostile designs of FOREIGN ENEMIES,-TAKE NOTICE ! That constant attendance will be given by Capt. Samuel Bowman at the house of Jesse Fell in Wilkes- barré, with recruiting parties of his company belonging to Maj. John Adlum's battalion of the 11th regiment of infantry.
"The encouragement to enlist is truly liberal and generous, viz., a bounty of $1?, an annual and fully sufficient supply of good and hand- some clothing, a daily allowance of a large and ample ration of pro- visions, together with $60 a year in gold and silver money.
" Those who may favor the recruiting party with their attendance as above, will have an opportunity of hearing and seeing, in a more
155
particular manner, the great advantages which these brave men will have, who shall embrace this opportunity of spending a few happy years in viewing the different parts of this beautiful continent, in the honorable and truly respectable character of a soldier ; after which he may, if he pleases, return home to his friends, with his pockets FULL of money, and his head COVERED with laurels.
GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES !"
Samuel Erwin and John Milroy, of Northampton county, Penn'a, were appointed respectively First and Second Lieu- tenants of the company, and soon after their appointment they were initiated as members of LODGE 61. In July, 1799, thirty men under command of Lieutenant Erwin were marched to camp in New Jersey, and later they were joined by Captain Bowman and Lieutenant Milroy with the remainder of the company. They were ordered to Union Camp, New Jersey, and there were attached-as the 3d company-to the IIth Regiment, U. S. Infantry, command- ed by Lieut .- Col. Aaron Ogden,* of Elizabethtown, New
* AARON OGDEN was born at Elizabethtown, N. J., December 3d, 1756. He graduated from Princeton College in 1773. In the Spring of 1777 he received a commission in the First New Jersey regiment. In 1779 he was a Captain in this regiment, which was commanded by his brother, Col. Matthias Ogden, and he accompanied General Sulli- van's expedition to the Wyoming Valley and southern New York as an aid to General Maxwell. He served in many staff positions dur- ing the war, with Generals Maxwell and Lord Stirling, received great commendation for services at the siege of Yorktown, and was, after the war, a United States Senator and then Governor of New Jersey.
He was Junior Warden of Military Lodge No. 36, A. Y. M., war- ranted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania September 2d, 1782. He died in 1839.
Enoch Ogden, made a Mason, and admitted to membership, in LODGE 61 March 2d, 1807, was a nephew of Governor Ogden. He was Junior Warden of the Lodge in 1810, and Treasurer in 1811, 1812 and 1813. He was by trade a shoemaker, and had his shop on East Market street, Wilkesbarré, near the old jail. He was a member of the Borough Council of Wilkesbarre in 1807. He died April 19th, 1814, aged about 40 years. His daughter, Mary Ann Ogden, married John G. Fell, Esq., of Waverly, Penn'a, September 14th, 1835.
156
Jersey. Captain Bowman's company remained in camp in New Jersey until September, 1800, when, satisfactory ar- rangements having been made with France, the Provisional Army was disbanded. Captain Bowman, however, during the last two months of military service was detached from his company, and assigned to duty as an aid on the staff of General Hamilton, who, on the death of Washington in December, 1799, had succeeded to the command in chief. General Hamilton was at this time President of the Society of the Cincinnati, and Captain Bowman being a member of the Society, a close friendship sprung up between the two officers, which ended only with the untimely death of Hamilton.
Captain Bowman returned to his home and family at Wilkesbarré in September, 1800, and from that time for- ward, until the day of his death, he lived quietly on his farm, forsaking the tumults and perils of war for safer pur- suits in the paths of peace.
He was elected a member of the first Borough Council of Wilkesbarré in 1806. January 6th, 1810, he was ap- pointed Commissioner of Luzerne county in the place of T. Welles, resigned. He served until the next election.
Captain Bowman had been made a Free Mason in a Traveling Lodge in the Revolutionary Army, and when the project of establishing a Masonic Lodge at Wilkesbarré was broached he became one of the petitioners to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for a Warrant of constitution. He was the only one of the Charter members who was not a Master Mason. Soon after the Lodge was constituted he was raised to the degree of a Master Mason, and then was elected Treasurer of the Lodge. He served as Treasurer during several years, and was Worshipful Master in 1797 and 1810, and Secretary in 1798, 1799, 1805, 1806 and 1807. Very frequently, while Secretary, in recording the applications of certain Brethren who desired to withdraw
157
their membership from the Lodge, he wrote: "Bro. - applies for a discharge from the Lodge"-a phraseology more military than Masonic! He was a very faithful at- tendant at Lodge meetings.
On the 8th of October, 1794, while his company of Light Infantry was on duty at Sunbury, Penn'a, he and Brothers Grubb and Colt attended a meeting of Sunbury Lodge No. 22, A. Y. M.
He attended the festival-meeting of LODGE 61 on St. John the Baptist's Day (June 24th), 1818. The next day the Lodge was " convened upon emergency," and the death of Brother Bowman was announced. He had left his house about sunrise that morning in pursuit of his sheep, and in passing through the pasture field of Stephen Tuttle, where an Alderney bull was kept, he was attacked by this ferocious animal, and gored and trampled upon to such a degree that, notwithstanding all the medical aid that could be procured and brought to his assistance, he expired about 12 o'clock the same day. His funeral took place the following day, and was attended by over forty members of the Craft, who performed the last sad and solemn rites of Masonry at his grave,-the following Brethren of LODGE 61 acting as pall bearers: Col. Benj. Dorrance, Maj. Eleazer Blackman, Maj. Oliver Helme, and Fisher Gay, Esq. His interment took place in St. Stephen's church-yard, Wilkesbarré, but subsequently his remains were removed to the Hollenback Cemetery, where they now rest.
Those who best knew Brother Bowman as a man and a Mason said that " he was an intelligent, modest and unob- trusive man, a good neighbor and a respectable citizen, a worthy and an honorable Brother in the Lodge."
As a soldier he was intelligent, active, and brave, and always possessed the confidence of his superiors,-and that confidence could never have been confided to one more faithful and deserving. Of his own services he always spoke
158
with modesty, but there were few soldiers who saw more active service, or were more exposed to the trials and dan- gers of war.
Captain Bowman's wife survived him, and died at Wilkes- barré in 1822. They had nine children, two of whom be- came prominent-one in the Church, the other in the Army.
Rt. Rev. SAMUEL BOWMAN, the fifth child, was born in Wilkesbarré, May 21st, 1800. At the age of nineteen he began the study of law, and was admitted to the Bar of Lu- zerne county August 8th, 1821. Very shortly after his admission to the Bar he began the study of theology under the direction of Rt. Rev. Wm. White, D. D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was admitted to the holy order of Deacons by Bishop White at Christ Church, Phila- delphia, August 30th, 1823, and ordered Priest by the same, December 19th, 1824. In September, 1823, he took charge of churches in Lancaster county, Penn'a. In 1825 he be- came Rector of Trinity Church, Easton, Penn'a. May 18th, 1825, he married Susan, daughter of Samuel Sitgreaves, of Easton. In 1827 he returned to Lancaster county and be- came Assistant Rector of St. James' Church. The Rector, Rev. Mr. Clarkson, having died in 1830, Mr. Bowman was elected Rector of the parish, remaining in this position until his death.
-
Hobart College conferred upon him the degree of S. T. D.
In 1847 he declined the Bishopric of the Diocese of In- diana, to which he had been elected. In 1858 he was elected Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania, of which Diocese Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., was Bishop. He was con- secrated at Philadelphia August 25th, 1858.
Bishop Bowman died August 3d, 1861. He was at the time making a visitation in Butler county, Penn'a, and the destruction of a railroad bridge made it necessary that the passengers of the train, in which the Bishop was, should walk three or four miles. During this walk the Bishop,
159
who was alone at the time, having been separated from the rest of the passengers, was seized with heart disease, or ap- poplexy, and was, a few hours after, found dead by the roadside. A large cross, of rough stones found in the neighborhood, was erected on the spot where his body was found. He was buried at Lancaster.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON BOWMAN, Captain Bowman's sixth child, was born at Wilkesbarré March 30th, 1803. He graduated from the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, July Ist, 1825, third in a class of thirty-seven. He was immediately appointed Assistant Professor of Geography, History and Ethics, at West Point, which position he held until June, 1826.
He spent the Summer and Fall of 1826 at Wilkesbarré, and on October 8th, 1826, by dispensation from the R. W. Grand Master of Pennsylvania, he was elected to member- ship, entered, passed and raised, in LODGE 61. On the 26th of October he received a demit from the Lodge, having been ordered by the War Department to the Gulf of Mexico.
He was on duty at various points in the extreme South from the Fall of 1826 until the Spring of 1851. In this period he superintended the erection of Fort Sumter, Charleston harbor. In May, 1851, he returned to West Point as Instructor of Practical Military Engineering. From March, 1861, to July, 1864, he served as Superinten- dent of the West Point Academy.
He died at Wilkesbarré November 11th, 1865, and at the time of his death ranked as Lieutenant-Colonel, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army.
His second son, Charles S. Bowman, graduated from West Point in 1860, and served with credit and ability in the Cavalry Branch of the U. S. Army until his death in 1867. He was entered, passed, and raised in LODGE 61 on September 21st, 1860, by dispensation. At the time of his
160
death he was in command of Camp Verde, Texas, and ranked as Brevet Major of Cavalry.
ELLEN STUART BOWMAN, one of Capt. Samuel Bowman's daughters, married Rev. JAMES MAY, D. D., January 8th, 1829. James May was born in Chester county, Penn'a, October Ist, 1805. He graduated from Jefferson College, Penn'a, in 1823. Pursued his theological studies in the Protestant Episcopal Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia. Ordained Deacon by Bishop White, December 24th, 1826. Settled as Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Wilkesbarré (his first parish), in February, 1827, succeeding Rev. Enoch Hunt- ington. In February, 1837, he became Rector of St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, succeeding Rev. S. A. McCoskry, who had been elected to the Episcopate of Michigan. He continued as Rector of St. Paul's till June, 1840.
In July, 1842, Dr. May became Professor of Church His- tory in the Seminary at Alexandria, where he had com- menced his studies for the ministry. Here he remained until the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion. He was a devoted "Union man," and when he perceived the advances of secession he gathered about him such of his worldly possessions as he could, and prepared for his de- parture for the North. He was compelled to leave behind him his furniture, over three hundred volumes of his library, his pictures, etc. When the Union troops crossed the Po- tomac in May, 1861, for the occupation of Alexandria, they found the halls and houses on the hill vacant, and ready for their use. The rooms where Dr. May had lived were used for the Medical Department of "thie Seminary Hospital." The Doctor took up his residence in Philadelphia, and be- came a Professor in the " Pennsylvania Training School for Students of Divinity," and also preached in various churches in and near the city. In the Fall of 1861 he was spoken of as the successor of Bishop Samuel Bowman, his brother- in-law, who had died in August previous. His last public
161
work was an important argument against slavery, published in pamphlet form in November, 1863.
Doctor May was made a Free Mason in Perseverance Lodge No. 21, Harrisburg, Penn'a, May 11th, 1827. He withdrew from this Lodge in December, 1827, and applying for membership in LODGE 61 was admitted February 4, 1828. At the same meeting he was elected to fill a vacancy in the office of Senior Warden, Bro. the Hon. John N. Con- yngham being at the time Worshipful Master. On St. John the Evangelist's Day (December 27), 1828, and again on the same day in 1829, Brother May, at the request of LODGE 61, delivered a Masonic discourse at St. Stephen's Church before a large audience of Free Masons and the general public. He remained a member of the Lodge until the vacation of its Warrant in 1837. Upon the occasion of his death, which occurred at Philadelphia, December 18th, 1863, resolutions of respect and sorrow were passed by LODGE 61.
GEN. ISAAC BOWMAN.
The father of ISAAC BOWMAN was Maj. Joseph Bowman, third child of Capt. Thaddeus Bowman, and brother of Capt. Samuel Bowman, whose biography precedes this.
Joseph Bowman was born in Lexington, Mass., February 8th, 1740. In November, 1764, he married Katherine Mun- roe, of Lexington.
Katherine was the sister of Ensign Robert Munroe, who was one of the six men killed at the battle of Lexington. He had served in the French wars, and was standard-bearer of his company at the battle of Louisbourg in 1758. He carried the old provincial flag of Massachusetts Bay. As it had once been planted in triumph on the walls of Louis- bourg, Quebec, and Montreal, it was now raised in a New England village, among a band of brave men-some of whom had followed it to victory in distant fields, and now rallied beneath it in the bosom of their homes, determined, if duty called, to shed their blood in its defense. For a long time it was claimed that the blood of Robert Munroe was the first shed in the Revolution ; but precedence as to time and place where blood was first shed is now generally granted to Westminster, Vt., where, more than a month before the Lexington affair, officers of the crown, in endeav- oring to subdue a mob, caused the death of one William French. The event is recorded in an epitaph inscribed upon a slab of slate in the old burying-ground at Westminster.
" Here William French his Body lies, For Murder his Blood for Vengeance Cries, King George the third his Tory crew tha with a bawl his head Shot threw. For Liberty and his Country's Good he Lost his Life, his Dearest Blood."
GEN. ISAAC BOWMAN.
163
In 1765 Joseph and Katherine Bowman moved from Lexington to New Braintree, Worcester county, Mass., where they resided for the remainder of their lives-Joseph dying in January, 1818, and Katherine in April, 1824. They had eight children, Isaac, the subject of this sketch, who was born December 27th, 1773, at New Braintree, being the fourth child.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.