| Birth |
1838 |
Blair, Waterloo Co., Ontario [1] |
| Sex |
Male |
| Eby ID |
00002-296 |
| Died |
Jun 1894 |
Fairhaven, Washington [2] |
| Person ID |
I15634 |
| Last Modified |
12 Apr 2004 |
| |
| Father |
Benjamin B. Baumann, b. 15 Feb 1811, , Berks Co., Pennsylvania |
| Mother |
Mary Clemens, b. 6 Mar 1815 |
| Group Sheet |
F1429 |
| |
| Family 1 |
Anna Curtis |
| Children |
|
| Group Sheet |
F3986 |
| |
| Notes |
Amos B. Bowman, "the second son of Benjamin B. and Mary (Clemens) Bowman, was born at Blair, Waterloo County, Ontario, 1838, and died at Fairhaven, Washington, in June 1894. The following article giving a sketch of the deceased's life, appeared in the World-Herald of Fairhaven, Washington, June 28th, 1894: "With the passing away of Amos Bowman, the founder of Anacortes, whose death occurred last week, the Puget sound country loses one of its best known and most historic figures. Before and during the boom of 1890 there was perhaps no more conspicuous character in this part of the country than Amos Bowman, and none who knew better its great possibilities and who labored more zealously for its development and progress. Mr. Bowman was comparatively a young man, having been born in Blair, Waterloo County, Ontario, in 1839. While quite young his family moved to Ohio, where young Bowman attended college, and at the age of seventeen he went to New York to further prosecute his studies. He took up short hand and acquired such proficiency in it as to soon secure a position on the New York Tribune under Horace Greely, who became his friend. During the early days of California he came to the Pacific coast and identified himself with the Sacramento Union, at that time the principal journal of the West. He then went to Germany and studied three years at the universities of Freiberg and Munich, graduating as a civil and mining engineer, afterwards traveling all over Europe, as the correspondent of the New York Tribune. Upon his return to America he again went to California and again took up journalism, for several years editing, in San Francisco, the Mining and Scientific Press. In this capacity he soon began to be looked upon as an authority on all matters relating to geology, and later assumed charge of the California geological survey. He served in that capacity five years, meantime running the line between California and Nevada, and acquiring an extended reputation as a scientist. He was then invited to join the Canadian geological survey, which brought him north and with which he was connected up to the time of his death. In early days he surveyed the great Cariboo mining region, and prepared a great many reports about different sections of British Columbia. Early in his travels in the Northwest he became impressed with the location of Fidalgo island and took his family there in 1877. Anacortes were named after his wife, Anna Curtis, and to the building up of the town he devoted his best energies. In 1882 he began the publication of the Northwest Enterprise which was later merged into the Daily Progress. Owning much of the most valuable property on the island, he gave liberally in land to induce the building of a railroad up the Skagit valley, and during the boom he was considered a very wealthy man. Mr. Bowman's faith in Fidalgo island was something more than that of an enthusiast, it became a part of him, and so firm was his conviction that a great destiny was in store for the town he had founded that subsequent depression did not even dim his cheerfulness. Mr Bowman was no ordinary man; as a scientist he attained high rank, and in Ottawa, Washington City, and throughout the Pacific coast he was recognized as an authority on scientific matters. He was a member of the California geological survey, of the geological survey of the Dominion of Canada, and of the American institute of mining engineers, and had been a personal friend of the great Agassiz. His tastes were simple and his manner unaffected, but he possessed those manly qualities of mind and heart that gained for him a wide circle of friends. Of gentle and charitable disposition, he often impoverished himself to enrich others, and the sad news of his demise will occasion in many hearts a feeling of personal loss which only a knowledge and appreciation of his manly virtues could induce." He was married to Anna Curtis. His family consisted of four children, namely:..." |
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| Sources |
1. [S1] Vol I A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., Ezra E. Eby, (Berlin, Ontario, 1895), 118 [View page(s) from the 1895-96 edition]
2. [S1] Vol I A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and other townships of the county : being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin..., Ezra E. Eby, (Berlin, Ontario, 1895), 118 [View page(s) from the 1895-96 edition]
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Region of Waterloo