James Bowdoin III

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James Bowdoin

James Bowdoin III (born September 22, 1752 in Boston , Province of Massachusetts Bay , † October 11, 1811 on Naushon Island , Massachusetts ) was an American businessman , diplomat , politician , art collector and philanthropist .

Life

Bowdoin was the son of James Bowdoin (1726-1790), later governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts . He graduated from Harvard College in 1771 and then went to England , where he studied law at the University of Oxford for a year . Further trips took him to Italy, Holland and again to England. With the beginning of the American Revolutionary War , he returned to Massachusetts in 1775, but did not take part in the fighting at his father's request. He married Sarah Bowdoin (1761-1826), the daughter of a half-brother of his father, the marriage remained childless. James Bowdoin settled in Dorchester , where he devoted himself to literature and political and administrative duties, including in the direction of Harvard College and as a member of the Assembly , the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts Governor's Council .

Shortly after it was founded in 1794, he donated 1,000 acres and more than 1,100 pounds to Bowdoin College , which is named after his father . In 1811 he transferred 6000 acres of land to the College in Lisbon , Maine , and on his death bequeathed him various writings from a philosophical apparatus and a collection of about 70 valuable paintings.

In 1786 Bowdoin was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1789 he was a delegate for Boston in the Massachusetts Constituent Assembly.

Bowdoin was appointed US ambassador to Spain by Thomas Jefferson in 1804 to negotiate the boundaries of Louisiana Territory and the purchase of Florida . Bowdoin traveled to Europe in 1805, but did not take up his post as ambassador because the negotiations were being held in Paris . Ultimately, the negotiations were broken off and Bowdoin could not fulfill his orders. He stayed in Paris for two years, where he was deputy ambassador and acquired an extensive collection of books, minerals and crystallographic models which he later donated to Bowdoin College. After returning to the United States, he spent the summer months at the family home on Naushon Island , translating a work by Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton on sheep farming .

Bowdoin died in 1811 after a long illness. His grave is on the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. His widow married General Henry Dearborn in 1813 . On her death, she bequeathed an amount of money and a number of precious family portraits to Bowdoin College. A great-nephew, James Bowdoin Winthrop, son of Thomas L. Winthrop , inherited Naushon Island and took the name James Bowdoin.

Fonts

  • Opinions Respecting the Commercial Intercourse between The United States of America, and The Dominions of Great-Britain, including Observations Upon the Necessity and Importance of an American Navy Act. By a Citizen of Massachusetts. sn, Boston 1797, ( digitized ).
  • Advice to Shepherds and Owners of Flocks, on the Care and Management of Sheep. Translated from the Original French of M. Daubenton, by a Gentleman of Boston. sn, Boston 1811, ( digitized ).

literature

  • Bowdoin, James. In: William Allen: An American Biographical and Historical Dictionary. 2nd edition. Hyde & Co., Boston 1832, pp. 128-129 .
  • Bowdoin, James. In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Volume 1: Aaron - Crandall. Appleton & Co., New York 1888, p. 335 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bowdoin, James. In: Benjamin E. Smith (Ed.): The Century Cyclopedia of Names. The Times et al., London et al. 1904, p. 175 .
  2. ↑ Bowdoin, James. In: Francis S. Drake: Dictionary of American Biography. Supplement. Osgood and Company, Boston 1872, p. 110 .
  3. ^ Sarah Bowdoin Dearborn in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c Bowdoin, James. In: The National Cyclopædia of American Biography. Volume 1. White & Company, New York 1898, pp. 419-420 .
  5. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter B. (PDF; 1.2 MB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved August 17, 2018 .
  6. ^ Former Ambassadors - US Embassy & Consulate in Spain and Andorra. In: es.usembassy.gov. August 19, 2013, accessed on August 17, 2018 .
  7. ^ William Cushing: Initials and Pseudonyms. A Dictionary of Literary Disguises. (Part 1). Crowell & Co., New York 1886, p. 58 .
personal data
SURNAME Bowdoin, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bowdoin, James III
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American businessman, diplomat and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1811
Place of death Naushon Island , Massachusetts