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     Joseph Bowditch was born on 27 November 1730.¹ He was baptized on 29 November 1730 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.² He married Sarah Gardner on 3 March 1757.² He died at sea on 27 May 1758 at age 27, during a storm on his way home from Suriname.^1,3

     Joseph Bowditch was born in November 1757.¹ He was baptized on 20 November 1757 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.² He died on 29 April 1800 at age 42, probably unmarried.² He was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.³
     He was a merchant in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.²

     Mary Bowditch was born on 11 December 1732.¹ She was baptized on 17 December 1732.² She married Jonathan Orne on 21 August 1760.^1,2

     Jonathan Orne married Mary Bowditch, daughter of Joseph Bowditch and Elizabeth Hunt, on 21 August 1760.^2,1

     (?) Orne was born in March 1766.¹ (?) Orne died in March 1766.¹

     Eunice Orne was born on 26 June 1769.¹ She died on 1 January 1774 at age 4.¹

     Elizabeth Bowditch was born on 8 February 1734/35.¹ She married William Jeffry, son of James Jeffry and Ruth (?), on 21 September 1766.¹ She died on 22 October 1797 at age 62.² She was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.²

     William Jeffry was born about 1738, based on his death "in ye 35th year of his age."¹ He married Elizabeth Bowditch, daughter of Joseph Bowditch and Elizabeth Hunt, on 21 September 1766.³ He died on 8 July 1772. He had been bed-ridden since 21 June 1772, after being stricken with "Excessive Pain in his Bowels" two days earlier.³ He was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.¹

     Elizabeth Jeffry was born on 10 February 1772.¹ She died in July 1772.¹

     Sarah Bowditch was born on 17 January 1736/37.¹ She died on 2 October 1764 at age 27. She had attended church on 12 August 1764, and "kept Chamber" on 16 September.¹ She was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.²

     Eunice Bowditch was born on 20 May 1739 (a Bowditch Genealogy in the Essex Antiquarian lists this as her baptism date).¹ She died on 11 June 1765 at age 26. She had ridden to church in Lynn Spring on 25 May 1765, leaving the following day. On the 28th she had a headache, and the next day was sick to her stomach. By 3 June she was confined to bed, and died on 11 June.¹ She was buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Essex Co., Massachusetts.²

     Daniel Bowditch was born the morning of 26 April 1742.¹ He was baptized on 2 May 1742.² He died on 14 May 1743 at age 1.¹

     Henry Pickering Bowditch was born on 4 April 1840 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.² He married Selma Knauth, daughter of Franz Theodor Knauth and Fanny Elisabeth Steyer, on 9 September 1871 in Leipzig, Germany.² He died on 13 March 1911 in Jamaica Plain, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 70.²
     Shortly after the start of the Civil War Henry Pickering Bowditch enlisted in the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry for three years, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 5 November 1861. He was assigned to Co. G of the Second Battalion, and left Boston in late December 1861. They first traveled by train to New York, then by ship to Port Royal, South Carolina, leaving New York on 10 January 1862. The company was initially on duty in Beaufort, South Carolina, as part of the Southern Expeditionary Corps, and moved to Edisto Island on 19 February. On June 15 the army attacked the Confederates at Secessionville, but was soundly defeated. His unit, however, was held in reserve during the battle.
     On 19 August 1862 his regiment received orders to travel to Virginia, where they became part of the Army of the Potomac. However, Henry Bowditch, by then a first lieutenant in Co. E, stayed behind in South Carolina, in charge of 80 men who were to maintain control of the rivers. In early November he rejoined his company in Washington, D.C. He reported there to Maj. Henry Higginson, and was quoted as saying that "he had no liking for Army life, and that he longed for the time when he could devote himself to scientific studies."
     On 17 March 1863 the Union cavalry attacked the Virginia cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee, crossing the Rappahannock River at Kelly's Ford. The 1st Massachusetts did not participate, except for three men who were assigned as staff officers. One of these was Henry Bowditch's cousin Nathaniel, son of Henry's uncle Henry Ingersoll Bowditch. Nathaniel, described as a "gallant and genial officer," was killed in the battle.
     Henry Bowditch was soon promoted to captain of Co. E, and his unit was part of the Stoneman Raid in late April. On 9 June, the company was en route to Brandy Station, and was engaged on the way near Stevensburg against the Second South Carolina and Fourth Virginia Cavalries, capturing 53 Confederates. The rebels retreated toward Brandy Station, followed by the Union cavalry, arriving after the main part of the battle was over.
     On 17 June the 1st Massachusetts was part of a 7,000-man force sent to Aldie, Virginia, on a scouting mission. They engaged Fitzhugh Lee's forces around noon, and charged forward on horseback into the Confederates' entrenched positions, suffering heavy losses. Of the 298 men remaining in Henry Bowditch's company at the start of the battle, 167 were listed as killed or wounded.
     Two weeks later the company was at the Battle of Gettysburg, but was so depleted that it did not participate in the fighting. They did see action later that summer, however, on 11 July at Jones Cross Rapids, on 13 September at Culpeper, and on 14 September at Rapidan Station. In mid-October they were in the nighttime Battle of Briscoe Station, eventually retreating to Centreville, Virginia.
     On 27 November 1863 (Thanksgiving day), his company was advancing on the Confederates at the Wilderness, and were fired upon at New Hope Church. They were ordered to dismount, and drove the enemy backward. During the fighting Capt. Bowditch was shot in the arm, and was sent to Washington. After the army encamped for the winter he went home to Boston, and was honorably discharged on 15 February 1864 due to his injury.
     In 1864 a new regiment was formed, the 5th Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry, to help replace the lost manpower resulting from casualties in the 1st Massachusetts. Henry Bowditch reenlisted, and was commissioned as a major in the new regiment on 26 March 1864. Except for the white officers, the regiment consisted entirely of black soldiers, the only such cavalry regiment from Massachusetts. And, although formed as a cavalry, they served as a dismounted unit. The regiment traveled from Boston to northern Virginia, and on 16 May became part of General Hinks's Division of Smith's Corps.
     On 15 June 1864 the regiment advanced on Petersburg, engaging the enemy at Baylor's farm. The regimental commander was wounded in the fighting, and Maj. Bowditch took over command. That evening the Union performed a frontal attack on the Confederate defenses, driving them toward Richmond and opening a mile-wide gap in the Confederate line. The Union didn't continue the assault, however, and the Confederates were able to bring in reinforcements. The official report from Gen. Hinks praised the officers and gallantry of the 5th Massachusetts, while at the same time claiming the regiment was awkward in maneuvering, inefficient, and "little other than an armed mob" with minimal effectiveness. Later analyses by historians, however, blame the Union leadership for failing to press their advantage, which may have led to the quick capture of Petersburg, avoiding the nine-month siege of the city.
     After the battle Gen. Hinks continued to question the fitness of the 5th Massachusetts, in particular noting that they had been trained as cavalrymen but were being used as infantrymen. On 21 June 1864 the unit was sent to Point Lookout, Maryland, and assigned to guard Confederate prisoners being held there. While there the regiment received additional training as a cavalry unit, and 900 horses were obtained. They remained at Point Lookout until March 1865, when they returned to the Richmond area as a mounted cavalry unit.
     When Jefferson Davis and his staff abandoned Richmond during the night of 2 April 1865, riots and vandalism began and the business area was soon in flames. Maj. Bowditch's cavalry regiment was among the units sent into the city on a reconnaissance mission, and thus he became one of the first Union officers to enter the fallen capital of the Confederacy. The war over, he resigned his commission and was officially honorably discharged on 3 June 1865.³
     While serving at Point Lookout Maj. Henry Bowditch happened to come upon 18-year-old Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, a third cousin from North Carolina who had been captured in January 1865. Nathaniel's parents were both from Massachusetts but had moved to North Carolina, where Nathaniel enlisted (or was conscripted?) into the Confederate army on 26 March 1864. He was captured in January 1865, and arrived at Point Lookout on 2 February. Major Bowditch and other relatives in the north helped obtain his release, on 26 April 1865.⁴
     Henry had attended Harvard College in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, before the war, and returned afterward, receiving an M.A. from Harvard Medical School in 1866, and an M.D. in 1868. After graduation he went to Europe where he traveled, continued his education, and married.^3,2 He returned home in 1871 and joined the Harvard faculty, eventually becoming dean of the medical school, serving from 1883-1893.^3,2 He served as the first president of the American Physiological Society, founded in December 1887.³

More Information / Background

• Henry Pickering Bowditch
  
• 1st Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry
  
• Battle of James Island (Secessionville)
  
• Stoneman's 1863 Raid
  
• Battle of Brandy Station
  
• Battle of Aldie
  
• Battle of Culpeper Court House
  
• Battle of Bristoe Station
  
• Battle of Mine Run (New Hope Church)
  
• 5th Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)
  
• Second Battle of Petersburg
  
• Point Lookout Prison History
  
• Point Lookout State Park
  
• American Physiological Society.
  

     Selma Knauth was born on 4 February 1853 in Leipzig, Germany.¹ She married Henry Pickering Bowditch, son of Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch and Lucy Orne Nichols, on 9 September 1871 in Leipzig, Germany.¹ She died on 6 March 1918 in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 65.¹

     Harold Bowditch was born on 8 June 1883 in Jamaica Plain, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.^3,1 He married first Claire Sampson, daughter of John Seaver Sampson and Mary R. Jennie Cleveland, on 5 August 1911 in Taunton, Bristol Co., Massachusetts.^4,3 He married second Nancy Douglas Brush, daughter of George deForest Brush and Mary Taylor Whelpley, on 25 October 1916 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.^5,3 He died on 6 August 1964 at home in Peterborough, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire, at age 81 from a pulmonary embolism.⁶ He was buried on 9 August 1964 at Dublin Town Cemetery (Plot Pd C-10) in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire.^6,7
     He graduated from Harvard University in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, with an A.B. degree in 1905, and with his M.D. in 1909. He won an Austin Teaching Fellowship, and interned at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.⁸
     He was a physician at Boston City Hospital for several years, before leaving in 1922 to work with the Boston Board of Health. He later taught as an assistant professor at Boston University Medical School, was a staff member at Evans Memorial Hospital in Boston, and a visiting physician at Health Department Hospital in Brookline. He also served as secretary and chief examiner for the Boston Subsidiary Board of the National Board of Medical Examiners.⁸
     He was very interested in family history, and an expert on heraldry, serving as secretary of the New England Historic Genealogical Society's committee on heraldry.⁸
     He and his second wife Nancy lived at 44 Harvard Ave. in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts,^9,10,11 until about 1959 when they moved to Peterborough, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire.⁸

     Claire Sampson was born on 4 October 1883 in Taunton, Bristol Co., Massachusetts.^1,2 She married Harold Bowditch, son of Henry Pickering Bowditch and Selma Knauth, on 5 August 1911 in Taunton, Bristol Co., Massachusetts.^3,2 She died on 6 March 1916 at Boothby Hospital in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 32, during surgery to repair a deviated septum.^4,2 She was buried on 9 March 1916 at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.⁴

     Nancy Douglas Brush was born on 4 July 1890 in Paris, France.^3,2 She married first William Robert Pearmain on 11 September 1909 in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire.^4,1 She married second Harold Bowditch, son of Henry Pickering Bowditch and Selma Knauth, on 25 October 1916 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.^2,1 She died on 1 May 1979 at age 88.⁵ She was buried at Dublin Town Cemetery (Plot Pd C-10) in Dublin, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire.⁵
     She and her second husband Harold lived at 44 Harvard Ave. in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts,^6,7,8 until about 1959 when they moved to Peterborough, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire.⁹

     Maria Crow died on 6 February 1910.¹