Oden Bowie
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| Oden Bowie | |
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38th Governor of Maryland
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| In office January 13, 1869 – January 20, 1872 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas Swann |
| Succeeded by | William Pinkney Whyte |
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| Born | December 10, 1826 Collington, Maryland |
| Died | December 4, 1894 (aged 67) Collington, Maryland |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Alice Carter |
| Profession | Entrepreneur, politician |
| Religion | Episcopalian[1] |
Oden Bowie (December 10, 1826 – December 4, 1894),[2] a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 38th Governor of the State of Maryland in the United States from 1869 to 1872.
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[edit] Childhood
He was born in 1826 at Fairview Plantation in Collington, Prince George's County, Maryland to Colonel William Duckett Bowie and Eliza Mary Oden.[2][3][4][5]
He spent the bulk of his childhood at Fairview where he was educated by a private tutor until his mother died when he was nine years old. After his mother's death, he was sent to the preparatory department of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland where studied for three years. At age twelve, he enrolled in St. Mary's College of Maryland and graduated in July 1845 as valedictorian of his class.[2][6]
[edit] Career
[edit] Military
In 1846 Bowie enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private at the outbreak of the Mexican-American war. He was promoted through the ranks, cited with "conspicuous bravery at Monterey" by Captain Taylor and eventually promoted to the rank of Captain by President James K. Polk, commanding the Votigeur Regiment.[5][6]
[edit] Politics
In 1849, he was elected to his first political office, as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, followed by the Maryland Senate from 1867 to 1869. On November 5, 1867, he became the first Governor of Maryland to be elected under the post Civil War Maryland Constitution of 1867, and as such, he did not assume the office of Governor until January 13, 1869. Bowie's term of Governor ended on January 10, 1872 ending his career in politics.[6]
[edit] Railroading
Walter Bowie was a major advocate of expanding the railroad system into southern Maryland, and wrote articles lobbying for this under the pen name Patuxent Planter. After significant lobbying together with Thomas Fielder Bowie, William Duckett Bowie, and Oden Bowie, the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company was organized. Two of the charter members were Walter Bowie and Thomas F Bowie. Directors included William Duckett Bowie and Oden. Oden became the first president of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad around 1853[7] and also president of the Baltimore City Passenger Railway in 1873.[8]
[edit] Horsemanship
Oden Bowie was an avid horseman serving for nineteen years as President of the Pimlico Jockey Club,[9] and as President of the Maryland Jockey Club.[5]
In 1868, at a dinner party in Saratoga, New York, Bowie and associates agreed the to hold a horse race in 1870 of yearlings owned by attendees at the party. A wager was placed and the winner of the race would host the losers for dinner. Both Saratoga and the American Jockey Club made bids for the event, but Bowie pledged to build a grand racetrack in his home state if the race were to be run in Baltimore. The Dixie Stakes, (also known as the Dinner Party Stakes) and Pimlico Race Course were the results.[10]
[edit] Family and private life
Bowie spent most of his life at Fairview. He married Alice Carter on December 3, 1851. She was the daughter of Charles H. Carter and Rosalie Eugenia Calvert Carter of Goodwood, Prince George's County. Alice's mother was a descendant of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore the first colonial proprietor of the Province of Maryland.[1]
Before the civil war, Fairview had many slaves. Charles Branch Clark wrote in 1946 in the Maryland Historical Magazine that Oden Bowie lost seventy of his slaves to enlistment in the Union Army.[11]
[edit] Death
Bowie died after a brief illness[9]on December 4, 1894 and was buried at Fairview.[4][12]
[edit] Legacy
- The city of Bowie, Maryland was founded as Huntington, Maryland in 1870 at a junction of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. The town was renamed Bowie, Maryland in the 1880s after Governor Oden Bowie.[13]
- Odenton, Maryland began as a junction of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad and the Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad, named after Oden Bowie in 1872.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Spencer, Richard Henry (1919). Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. New York: American Historical Society, pp. 397-398. ISBN 0832859435.
- ^ a b c Hall, Clayton Colman (1912). Baltimore: Its History and Its People, vol.3. Lewis Historical Publishing Co, 304-306.
- ^ The Prince George's Hall of Fame. Prince George's County Historical Society (2003). Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
- ^ a b Prince George's County: Over 300 years of History - Oden Bowie. Prince George's County Historical Society (1996 accessdate=2007-10-02).
- ^ a b c Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: With Plan of Organization. Henry T. Coates & Company, 279.
- ^ a b c Governor's Information: Maryland Governor Oden Bowie. National Governors Association. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
- ^ Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: With Plan of Organization. Henry T. Coates & Company, 333-334.
- ^ Hollander, Jacob Harry (11982). The Financial History of Baltimore. AMS Press, 280. ISBN 978-0404613686.
- ^ a b “Oden Bowie Stricken with Paralysis”, New York Times: 1, November 28, 1894, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E01E5DD1E31E033A2575BC2A9679D94659ED7CF>
- ^ HISTORY OF PIMLICO RACE COURSE (pdf). Pimlico Race Course.
- ^ Prince George's County: Over 300 years of History: CIVIL WAR. Prince George's County Historical Society. Retrieved on 05/03/2007.
- ^ “Obituary: Ex-Gov. Oden Bowie; The Famous Railroader and Owner of the Famous Crickmore”, New York Times: 5, December 5, 1894, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D03E3DD1231E033A25756C0A9649D94659ED7CF>
- ^ Revitalization of Old Town Bowie. City of Bowie, Maryland. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
- ^ History of Odenton. Odenton Heritage Society. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
| Preceded by Thomas Swann |
Governor of Maryland 1869–1872 |
Succeeded by William Pinkney Whyte |
