Oden Bowie

Oden Bowie
34th Governor of Maryland
In office January 13, 1869 – January 20, 1872
Preceded by	Thomas Swann
Succeeded by	William Pinkney Whyte
Maryland State Senator
In office 1867–1869
Member of Maryland House of Delegates
In office 1849–1867
Chairman, Democratic State Central Committee
In office 1861–1865
Delegate, Democratic National Convention
In office 1864–1864
Personal details
Born	November 10, 1826(1826-11-10) Collington, Maryland
Died	December 4, 1894(1894-12-04) (aged 68) Collington, Maryland
Resting place	Family plot at "Fairview," Prince George's County, Maryland
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Alice Carter (married December 3, 1851)
Children	Alice; William Duckett; Oden, Jr.; Annette Carter; Mary Oden; Carter Lee; Washington Booth
Occupation	President, Baltimore & Potomac Railroad, 1860–1894 President, City Passenger Railway Company, Baltimore City President, Maryland Jockey Club
Profession	Entrepreneur, politician, race horse owner & breeder
Religion	Episcopalian[1]
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1845–1847
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	Mexican–American War
Awards	Maryland Legislature resolutions expressing "the thanks of his native State for distinguished gallantry displayed during the three days’ siege of Monterey."
Other ranks	Private, Lieutenant

Oden Bowie (November 10, 1826 – December 4, 1894),^[2] a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 34th Governor of the State of Maryland in the United States from 1869 to 1872.

Childhood

He was born in 1826 at Fairview Plantation in Collington, Prince George's County, Maryland, the oldes son of Colonel William Duckett Bowie and Eliza Mary Oden.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

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 Seminary and University and graduated in July 1845 as valedictorian of his class.^[2][7]

Career

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][7] At the time he was the youngest Captain in the army.^[6]

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.^[7]

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^[8] and also president of the Baltimore City Passenger Railway in 1873.^[9]

Thoroughbred racing

Oden Bowie was an avid horseman who served for nineteen years as President of the Pimlico Jockey Club,^[10] and as President of the Maryland Jockey Club.^[5] At Fairview Plantation he bred Thoroughbred racehorses. Among his successful runners, Crickmore was voted the retrospective American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt of 1880.

In 1868, at a dinner party in Saratoga, New York, Bowie and associates agreed to hold a horse race in 1870 for the 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.^[11]

Family and private life

Bowie spent most of his life at Fairview Plantation. 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 seventy of Oden Bowie's slaves enlisted in the Union Army.^[12] The Bowies were among the state’s largest slaveholders. Growing tobacco, Oden’s father, William D. Bowie (sometimes known as “Colonel” because an affiliation with militia) increased his holdings from 42 enslaved persons held in 1830 to 93 by 1860. Thus, Oden Bowie had always known slavery and came to be a large holder of enslaved persons once he assumed control of Fairview. His 47 enslaved blacks placed him in the top 40 slaveholders for Prince George’s County in 1850 (out of a total slaveholding population of 879). During the next decade he more than doubled his slaveholdings, with 103 counted by 1860.^{[13] [14] [15] [16]}

Death

Bowie died after a brief illness^[10] on December 4, 1894 and was buried at Fairview.^[4][17]

Legacy

• The city of Bowie, Maryland was founded as Huntington in 1870 at a junction of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. The town was renamed Bowie in the 1880s after Governor Oden Bowie.^[18]
• 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.^[19]

References

1. ^ ^{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. http://books.google.com/?id=aVMDAAAAYAAJ&dq=Governor+%22Oden+Bowie%22&pg=PA333. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Hall, Clayton Colman (1912). Baltimore: Its History and Its People, vol.3. Lewis Historical Publishing Co. pp. 304–306. http://books.google.com/?id=DMcLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA304&vq=%22oden+bowie%22&dq=thomas+fielder+bowie#PPA304,M1. 
3. ^ "The Prince George's Hall of Fame". Prince George's County Historical Society. 2003. http://www.pghistory.org/HallofFame. Retrieved September 16, 2007. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Prince George's County: Over 300 years of History – Oden Bowie". Prince George's County Historical Society. 1996. http://www.pghistory.org/PG/PG300/obowie.html. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: With Plan of Organization. Henry T. Coates & Company. p. 279. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Wilson, William Bender (1899). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Volume II. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Company. pp. 279. http://books.google.com/books?id=UyLtx_KPDAkC&dq=William%20Duckett%20Bowie&pg=PA269#v=onepage&q=William%20Duckett%20Bowie&f=false. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} "Governor's Information: Maryland Governor Oden Bowie". National Governors Association. http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=193e224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
8. ^ Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: With Plan of Organization. Henry T. Coates & Company. pp. 333–334. 
9. ^ Hollander, Jacob Harry (11982). The Financial History of Baltimore. AMS Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-0404613686. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Oden Bowie Stricken with Paralysis". New York Times: pp. 1. November 28, 1894. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E01E5DD1E31E033A2575BC2A9679D94659ED7CF. 
11. ^ "HISTORY OF PIMLICO RACE COURSE" (pdf). Pimlico Race Course. http://www.preakness.com/History/. 
12. ^ "Prince George's County: Over 300 years of History: CIVIL WAR". Prince George's County Historical Society. http://www.pghistory.org/PG/PG300/civilwar.html. Retrieved 2007-05-03. 
13. ^ Terry, David. "A Statement on the History of Oden Bowie as a Slaveholder" (PDF). Oden Bowie (1826–1894). Maryland State Archive. http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001400/001465/txt/terry.doc. Retrieved 2010-01-13. 
14. ^ "PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY LEVY COURT, 1830–1850", Assessment Record, C1163, MSA (Maryland State Archive) 
15. ^ U.S. Census Records for Prince George’s County, 1850, 1860, U.S. Census 
16. ^ Bowie, Effie Gwynn (1947). Across the Years In Prince George’s County. Richmond: Garrett and Massie. 
17. ^ "Obituary: Ex-Gov. Oden Bowie; The Famous Railroader and Owner of the Famous Crickmore". New York Times: pp. 5. December 5, 1894. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D03E3DD1231E033A25756C0A9649D94659ED7CF. 
18. ^ "Revitalization of Old Town Bowie". City of Bowie, Maryland. http://www.cityofbowie.org/business/revitalization.asp. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
19. ^ "History of Odenton". Odenton Heritage Society. http://www.odentonheritage.org/history.html. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 

Further reading

• Bowie, Walter Worthington (1971). The Bowies and Their Kindred; A Genealogical and Biographical History.. Polyanthos. ISBN 9780832819636. http://books.google.com/?id=eyo3AAAAMAAJ. 

Political offices
Preceded by Thomas Swann	Governor of Maryland 1869–1872	Succeeded by William Pinkney Whyte

Persondata
Name	Bowie, Oden
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 10, 1826
Place of birth	Collington, Maryland
Date of death	December 4, 1894
Place of death	Collington, Maryland