Person Page

     Mary Bowditch was born on 27 March 1766.² She was baptized on 30 March 1766 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.³ She probably married David Martin on 20 April 1791.³ She died of consumption on 2 December 1808 at age 42.²

     She and David had two children, according to the Bowditch genealogy by Fred Bowditch. However, the memoir of Nathaniel Bowditch says at her death she left an only child, a daughter, who was cared for by her brother Nathaniel.^2,1

     David Martin probably married Mary Bowditch, daughter of Habakkuk Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 20 April 1791.² He died a few years after his marriage.³

     David Martin was a ship master.³ He and Mary had two children, according to the Bowditch genealogy by Fred Bowditch.^3,1

     Habakkuk Bowditch was born on 2 May 1768.² He was baptized on 15 May 1768 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.³ He drowned about 1800 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts. He was unmarried.^1,2

     Elizabeth Bowditch was born on 16 May 1771.² She was baptized on 19 May 1771 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.³ She died unmarried on 9 December 1791 at age 20, after falling down a fight of stairs.^2,1

     Nathaniel Bowditch was born on 26 March 1773 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^1,3 He married first Elizabeth B. Boardman, daughter of Francis Boardman and Mary Hodges, on 25 March 1798 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^1,3 He married second his first cousin Mary Ingersoll, daughter of Jonathan Ingersoll and Mary Hodges, on 28 October 1800 in Danvers, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^1,3 He died on 16 March 1838 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 64.^1,3

     Nathaniel Bowditch was president of the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Co. in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts, from 1804 to 1823.¹ His house in Salem was on Essex Street.¹
     He moved to Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, in 1823 to work as an actuary, and in 1824 become director of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Co., where he worked the rest of his life. In Boston he lived at No. 8 Otis Place, near Church Green.¹
     He is probably best known as the author of the New American Practical Navigator, published in 1802. While living in Boston he also became well known as a mathematician, primarily due to his translation, with numerous commentaries, of LaPlace's Mécanique Céleste.¹ He had several connections to Harvard College in Boston. He received two honorary degrees - an A. M. in 1802 and an LL. D. in 1816. From 1810 to 1826 he was on the Board of Overseers, and was a Fellow from 1826 until his death. He was also once offered a position as mathematics professor, but turned it down.¹

More Information / Background

• Nathaniel Bowditch
  
• Bowditch's American Practical Navigator
  
• Nathaniel Bowditch House.
  

     William Bowditch was born on 5 May 1776 in Danvers, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^2,1 He was baptized on 12 September 1779.³ He died in Trinidad during a sea voyage in the fall of 1799. He was unmarried.^2,1

     William Bowditch was as mathematically gifted as his brother Nathaniel, and authored one of the notes in the Practical Navigator.²

     Samuel Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 13 September 1778 in Danvers, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^2,1 He was baptized on 12 September 1779.³ He died on 5 April 1794 at age 15.²

     Like his brothers Nathaniel and William, he was mathematically gifted, but "pursued his studies with ... waywardness and eccentricity."²

     Elizabeth B. Boardman was born about 1780.¹ She married Nathaniel Bowditch, son of Habakkuk Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 25 March 1798 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^1,2 She died at about age 18 on 18 October 1798 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts, from scrofula, a form of tuberculosis.³ She was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.⁴

     Mary Ingersoll was born on 4 December 1781.¹ She married her first cousin Nathaniel Bowditch, son of Habakkuk Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 28 October 1800 in Danvers, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^1,2 She died of consumption on 17 April 1834 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 52.^1,2

     Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 17 January 1805 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.³ He married Elizabeth Brown Francis, daughter of Ebenezer Francis and Elizabeth Thorndike, on 23 April 1835 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.⁴ He died on 16 April 1861 at home in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 56.^2,5 He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cedar Ave. Lot 1461) in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.⁶

     He entered Harvard University in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, in August 1818 at age 13, which was apparently too young. At the suggestion of the faculty, near the end of his first year his father removed him from school for several months.⁷ He soon returned, however, and graduated with high honors in 1822, the youngest in his class.⁵
     He began studying law with B. R. Nichols in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts, then in 1823 moved to Boston to accept a position as an actuary at the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company. He continued his law studies in Boston with William Prescott and his son-in-law Franklin Dexter. He was admitted to the bar in 1825, and entered into a partnership with Dexter. He was interested in Bowditch family history, and while doing genealogical research in land records he became very interested in the field of conveyance, the legal process of transferring property from one owner to another. He began specializing in that in his law practice, and soon became well-known as an authority on the subject.⁷
     He and his wife Elizabeth and their family are listed in Roxbury, a neighborhood of Boston, in the 1850 census.⁸ Elizabeth's father died in 1858, and according to Nathaniel's obituary he then "took up his residence in Brookline."^9,5 They may have maintained two homes, however, at least for a time. They are listed twice in the 1860 census, in both Boston and Brookline.^10,11
     The family was very wealthy. In the 1860 census the value of Nathaniel's personal property was listed as $800,000 when he was enumerated in Brookline, and $1,200,000 when he was enumerated in Boston.
     He was associated with the Massachusetts General Hospital for 34 years, starting in 1827, serving as secretary for 9 years, trustee and Board chairman for 14 years, and vice-president for 11 years. He wrote a book on the hospital's history, published in 1851.⁷ He was the author of a series of articles on genealogy and land titles that he signed as "Gleaner," many of them published in the Boston Transcript.¹² He also wrote a memoir of his famous father Nathaniel Bowditch¹³, and was the author of Suffolk Surnames, first published in 1857. A larger second edition was published in 1858, and a much larger third edition in 1861.⁷
     In 1859 he developed cancer of thigh bone, which he suffered with for eighteen months before his death.⁵
     In his will, dated March 1859, he left various individual items from his personal library, including some very old and valuable items that he described in detail, to his children and various institutions. He also left various cash amounts to siblings, nieces/nephews, other relatives, friends, employees at Massachusetts General Hospital, and to his own employees in his home. He left specific instructions for the maintenance and secure storage of 55 volumes (nearly 30,000 pages) of land titles that he'd written during his career, saying that their "careful preservation may be of the utmost importance to my reputation for accuracy," and that "the information contained in these volumes may be very important if they are judiciously used and referred to, and may be highly detrimental to the community if free & indiscriminate access were had to them, since defects of title are there stated which if generally known, might be used to the injury of the present holders of estates." He noted that since his marriage in 1835 he had earned and spent more than $150,000, often for public purposes, realizing that since his wife would inherit a large estate from her father, he could spend his entire income without harming his family.¹⁴
     In a codicil to his will he made several additional bequests, including establishment of annuities for various people; $5000 to the state Normal School; $5000 to Massachusetts General Hospital to set up a "Wooden Leg Fund," with income used to help pay for wooden legs for amputees, with female and young patients having preference; and $4000/year for the establishment of 16 scholarships at Harvard.¹⁵

     Elizabeth Brown Francis was born on 25 November 1807 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.² She married Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, son of Nathaniel Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 23 April 1835 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.³ She died on 16 January 1892 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 84 from a stroke.⁴ She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cedar Ave. Lot 1461) in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.⁵

     She and her husband Nathaniel and their family are listed in Roxbury, a neighborhood of Boston, in the 1850 census.⁶ Elizabeth's father died in 1858, and according to Nathaniel's obituary he then "took up his residence in Brookline."^7,8 They may have maintained two homes, however, at least for a time. They are listed twice in the 1860 census, in both Boston and Brookline.^9,10 Elizabeth continued to live in Brookline after her husband Nathaniel's death in 1861; she's listed there with her daughters Mary and Alice in the 1870 census.¹¹ In 1880 she was back in Boston, living with Mary Hurlbut, listed in the census as a companion.¹²
     The family was very wealthy. In the 1860 census the value of Nathaniel's personal property was listed as $800,000 when he was enumerated in Brookline, and $1,200,000 when he was enumerated in Boston. In 1870 Elizabeth listed the value of her real estate as $275,000 and personal property as $800,000.¹¹ At her death in 1892 her estate was estimated to be worth about $1,000,000.¹³

     Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 15 October 1806 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^2,3 He was baptized on 16 October 1806 at the First Church in Salem.¹ He married Lucy Orne Nichols, daughter of Mary Pickering, on 25 May 1836 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.⁴ He died on 19 February 1889 at his home in Jamaica Plain, Boston, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 82.^5,6,7 He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.^5,8

     He and his wife Lucy are listed in the census in Canton, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, in 1850⁹, in West Roxbury, Norfolk Co. (now in Suffolk Co.), in 1860 and 1870^10,11, and in Boston, Suffolk Co., in 1880.¹² In 1850 they had two men living with them listed as farmers, probably boarders, and four women, probably servants. They had six servants in 1860, one in 1870, and eight in 1880, all female.
     He was a merchant, beginning his career as a clerk with Ropes and Ward in Salem. They were East India importers, and he made several voyages on their behalf as supercargo. He later joined the American Insurance Company in Boston, serving as its president from 1836 to 1864, and on the board of directors from 1836 to 1884. He also took over as editor of new editions of The New American Practical Navigator after his father Nathaniel's death in 1838. Later in his life he managed several large trusts and estates.³
     He was very interested in astronomy, and built a private observatory at his summer home in Canton. He was active in management and fund raising for the Harvard College observatory, and a generous benefactor for several other departments at the school. In recognition, Harvard awarded him an honorary master of arts degree in 1849, and an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1887. He was also associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, serving on its board and financial committee.³

     Lucy Orne Nichols was born on 23 June 1816 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^2,3 She was baptized on 18 August 1816 at the North Church in Salem.⁴ She married Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch, son of Nathaniel Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 25 May 1836 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.¹ She died on 24 April 1883 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 66 from pneumonia.³ She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Tulip Path Lot 1207) in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.^3,5

     She and her husband Jonathan are listed in the census in Canton, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, in 1850⁶, in West Roxbury, Norfolk Co. (now in Suffolk Co.), in 1860 and 1870^7,8, and in Boston, Suffolk Co., in 1880.⁹ In 1850 they had two men living with them listed as farmers, probably boarders, and four women, probably servants. They had six servants in 1860, one in 1870, and eight in 1880, all female.

     Henry Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 9 August 1808 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^1,3 He was baptized on 30 October 1808 at the First Church in Salem.⁴ He married Olivia Yardley, daughter of John Yardley and Elizabeth Ann Flight, on 17 July 1838 at St. John's Church in New York, New York.^5,1 He died on 14 January 1892 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 83.⁶ He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Tulip Path, Lot 1206) in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.^3,7

     Henry Ingersoll Bowditch graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, in 1828, and with his medical degree in 1832.⁸ He studied in Paris for a year, then set up his practice in Boston. He was at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1838 to 1864, first as an admitting physician, then as visiting physician. He was also the first visiting physician at Carney Hospital, which he had helped establish, and visiting physician at Boston City Hospital from 1868 to 1871. He taught at Boylston Medical School from 1852 to 1855, and was professor of clinical medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1859 to 1867.⁹ When the Civil War began he was appointed by the governor as medical examiner for newly-enlisted soldiers in Massachusetts.¹⁰
     In 1852 an accident during obstetric surgery resulted in one finger on his right hand becoming permanently disabled. As a result, he gave up general family medicine and began concentrating on thoracic disease, soon becoming the leading specialist in New England.⁹ He was a pioneer in the use of thoracentesis (drawing off fluid in the chest). He also emphasized preventive medicine and hygiene, and wrote the book Public Hygiene in America, published in 1877.¹
     He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, the first statewide board of health in the country, serving as its president from 1869 to 1879. He was also president of the American Medical Association in 1876.⁹
     In addition to his medical expertise, he became known as a staunch abolitionist, starting in 1835 when he witnessed the attempted lynching of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison in Boston.⁹ He was often criticized and ostracized by former friends and colleagues for his views and activities, and at least one Boston newspaper advocated a boycott of his medical practice.¹⁰
     In 1842 George Latimer, a runaway slave, was arrested by local authorities, causing an uproar by abolitionists in Boston. Henry Bowditch and two others created a "Latimer Committee," and published a newsletter every other day. One issue reported that due to Latimer's capture "fire and bloodshed threatened in every direction." Eventually funds were raised by various groups to purchase Latimer's freedom. The Latimer Committee also wrote the "Great Massachusetts Petition," which prompted passage of the 1843 Liberty Act in Massachusetts (aka the "Latimer Law"), which banned the use of state jails for holding runaway slaves, and state officials from helping to return them to slaveholders.¹¹
     In 1844, and again in 1846, he ran for Congress as the nominee of the Liberty Party, which supported working within the government in support of abolition.¹⁰ In 1854 he and several others established Boston's Anti-Man-Hunting League. This was a secret club with 24 lodges and 469 members, whose purpose was to capture and hold any slave owner who came to Massachusetts to reclaim a runaway slave. They developed plans and held drills, but never had an opportunity to put them into practice.⁹
     He was also a friend of escaped slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglas, who once said that Dr. Bowditch "was the first man in Boston to treat me as a man." When informed about his ill health just before his death, Douglas wrote that when he came to Boston more than 50 years ago, just three years out of slavery, "There was much in my appearance ... to induce myself unacceptable and unpresentable to the circle in which Dr. Bowditch moved, and yet this educated and refined gentleman took my hard and horny hands in his with a loving expression which I have carried in my mind for 50 years, invited me to his house, introduced me to his young and beautiful wife, seated me at his table and made me at home under his roof." He also wrote " ... this loving kindness on his part was not altogether due to my personal qualities, but to a broad and intense devotion to the cause of justice and humanity."¹²
     His son Nathaniel served in the Civil War, and was killed on 18 March 1863 at age 23, while leading a cavalry charge at the Battle of Kelly's Ford in Virginia. That event, along with what he observed while on a hospital inspection trip in Washington, D.C., made Henry a strong advocate for an army-wide ambulance service. He was greatly affected by his son's death, and in 1865 wrote and self-published "Memorial [of Nathaniel Bowditch, Lieutenant, First Massachusetts Cavalry]."¹⁰
     In 1879 he tore a tendon in his knee while exiting a carriage, causing him to walk with a slight limp the rest of his life. He also suffered from epileptic attacks later in his life.⁹

More Information / Background

• Henry Ingersoll Bowditch.
  

     Olivia Yardley was born on 1 February 1816 in London, England.^2,3 She was baptized on 26 February 1816 in the parish of St. George Bloomsbury, Middlesex Co., England.² She married Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, son of Nathaniel Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 17 July 1838 at St. John's Church in New York, New York.^4,5 She died on 17 December 1890 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 74 from pneumonia.⁶ She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Tulip Path, Lot 1206) in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.^3,7

     Charles Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 1 December 1809 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.¹ He died on 21 February 1820 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts, at age 10.¹ He was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.²

     (?) Bowditch was born on 7 July 1813 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.¹ He died on 8 July 1813 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.¹

     Mary Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 3 April 1816 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.² She married Epes Sargent Dixwell, son of John Dixwell and Esther Sargent, on 4 June 1839 in the library of the bride's father's home in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.^3,4,2 She died on 4 June 1893 at her home in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, at age 77.^5,2 She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Ailanthus Path, Lot 1180) in Cambridge.⁶

     After their marriage in 1839, she and her husband Epes lived with his mother in Boston until 1842, then moved to a house on Mason St. in Cambridge. In 1847 her husband received a gift of money from his two brothers, that they used to buy land on Garden St. in Cambridge, and build a house. They moved in September 1848, and remained there the rest of their lives.⁷

     Epes Sargent Dixwell was born on 27 December 1807 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.^3,2 He married Mary Ingersoll Bowditch, daughter of Nathaniel Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 4 June 1839 in the library of the bride's father's home in Boston.^4,5,2 He died on 1 December 1899 at his home in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, at age 91.^6,2 He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Ailanthus Path, Lot 1180) in Cambridge.^6,7

     He entered Harvard University in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, at age 15, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1827.¹ He joined the Boston Latin School the following year, serving as sub-master for two years, then as an instructor at the English High School. At the same time he began studying law with Charles G. Loring, and was admitted to the bar at the Suffolk Co. Court of Common Pleas in 1833.⁶ He gave up practicing law just three years later, in 1836, when he had the opportunity to return to teaching as headmaster at the Boston Latin School.¹
     After their marriage in 1839, he and his wife Mary lived with his mother in Boston until 1842, then moved to a house on Mason St. in Cambridge. In 1847 he received a gift of money from his two brothers, that they used to buy land on Garden St. in Cambridge, and build a house. They moved in September 1848, and remained there the rest of their lives.⁸
     In 1851 Boston's city council passed a law requiring all city employees to live inside the city limits. He was unwilling to move, so he resigned his position at the Boston Latin School⁹ and opened his own private school on Boylston Place in Boston. He remained there for 20 years, retiring in 1871.⁶
     He was a highly successful educator, with 400-500 eventual Harvard graduates getting their early education at his school. He held his students to a high standard. In a memoir by his wife's nephew Charles Pickering Bowditch, he was described as "a strict disciplinarian, possessed of a dignified bearing, something of a martinet, and inspiring awe in those who were not able to see beneath the somewhat cold exterior the real kindliness of his nature."¹

     William Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 5 August 1819 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.^3,4 He married Sarah Rhea Higginson, daughter of James Perkins Higginson and Martha Hubbard Babcock, on 23 September 1844 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.^5,6 He died on 24 January 1909 at home at 225 Tappan St. in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 89 from arteriosclerosis.^1,3 He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Tulip Path, Lot 1208) in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.^1,7

     William Ingersoll Bowditch graduated in 1838 from Harvard University in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, with a bachelor's degree³, and continued on to earn a law degree in 1841.^4,3 He was a conveyancer (a lawyer who specializes in the legal aspects of buying and selling real estate) and trustee.^4,1
     He and his wife Sarah lived in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts,⁸ where he served as selectman and moderator of town meetings several times.^3,8 He and Sarah became active in the antislavery movement when the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison began speaking out, and according to his obituary, he and Garrison became "firm friends." He was a member, along with his brother Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, of the Boston Vigilance Committee, an abolitionist organization formed in 1841. His home in Brookline was used to shelter escaped slaves as part of the Underground Railroad, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.^8,3,9
     Perhaps the most well-known of those he helped were William and Ellen Craft, who escaped from their masters in Macon, Georgia, and later wrote the book Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom describing their escape. Another well-known fugitive hidden by him was a son of the abolitionist John Brown, after Brown's execution in 1859 for leading the raid at Harper's Ferry.⁸

More Information / Background

• William Ingersoll Bowditch House
  
• Boston Vigilance Committee
  
• Ellen and William Craft.
  

     Sarah Rhea Higginson was born on 22 December 1819.¹ She married William Ingersoll Bowditch, son of Nathaniel Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 23 September 1844 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.^2,3 She died on 4 October 1919 at home at 225 Tappan St. in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 99.⁴ She was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery (Tulip Path, Lot 1208) in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.^4,5

     She and her husband William lived in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts.⁶ Together they were active in the antislavery movement, and their home in Brookline was used to shelter escaped slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.^6,4 She was also interested in women's suffrage, and was an honorary vice president of the Massachusetts Women's Suffrage Association.⁴

     Elizabeth Boardman Ingersoll Bowditch was born on 22 June 1823 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.² She married John James Dixwell, son of John Dixwell and Esther Sargent, on 6 May 1846.² She died on 15 May 1888 in Jamaica Plain, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 64.²

     John James Dixwell was born on 27 June 1806.¹ He married Elizabeth Boardman Ingersoll Bowditch, daughter of Nathaniel Bowditch and Mary Ingersoll, on 6 May 1846.¹ He died on 15 November 1876 at age 70.¹

     He was president of the Massachusetts bank in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.¹

     William Bowditch was born about 1665 (from his age as given in a deposition dated 14 July 1699; his tombstone, however, gives his age as 64 years, 9 months, which would put his birth in August or September 1663) in Lyme Regis, co. Dorset, England.³ He married Mary Gardner, daughter of Thomas Gardner and Mary Porter, on 30 August 1688 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.³ He died on 28 May 1728 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.³ He was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.^4,3

     William Bowditch came to Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts, with his mother Sarah about 1679, when he was about 14.³
     He was a mariner and a merchant.¹
     In 1696, as master of the Mayflower Sloope, he was captured by a French privateer while on his way to Newfoundland, and taken to Placentia, Newfoundland, which was under French control. After being held as a prisoner for six weeks, he made his way to St. John's, Newfoundland, which was controlled by the British. While there, Capt. Samuel Molds, commander of a sloop commissioned by the governor of Piscataqua in New England, captured three French ships and brought two of them to the harbor at St. John's. One of the ships, the Amabel, was about 150 tons, and carried a cargo of cod fish and some French salt, along with 4-6 guns. William helped unload the ship, and, at Capt. Molds's request, navigated it back to New England.⁵
     About 1700 his ship Essex Galley was wrecked in Salem Harbor on the uncharted Tenapoo Reef, afterward known as Bowditch Ledge.^1,6 In 1706 he was captain of the ship America.¹
     He served as selectman, as representative to the General Court, and as treasurer of the Union Wharf proprietors in Salem.¹ He owned land in Dunstable, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, later sold by his heirs in 1742.¹
     On 17 November 1701 his mother Sarah relinquished to him her dower rights to the land in Salem that had previously been mortgaged by her husband.³
     On 6 November 1705 in Exeter, co. Devon, England, he proved his father's will that had been made in England 34 years earlier, on 31 Mar 1671.³
     Joseph and Ebenezer Bowditch (his sons, presumably) were executors of his will, and presented an inventory of his estate totaling £4452 2s 9d.¹

More Information / Background

• Famed Bowditch Ledge daybeacon in Salem, Mass., is no more.