Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= USGenNet Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Biographical Review of the Leading Citizens of Hampden County, Massachusetts Pub. Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston - 1895 [12-13] STEPHEN WALLACE BOWLES, A.B., A.M., M.D., late the oldest meci- cal practitioner in Springfield, reckoning by his period of ser- vice, was born in Machias, Me., in 1835, and began his work here in 1872. The ancestry runs back into the Colonial days of Roxbury, Mass., where JOHN BOWLES married a daughter of the famous apostle to the Indians, JOHN ELIOT. The Doctor's grandfather, RALPH HART BOWLES, was an early Maine pioneer. In the Revolution he was Adjutant in Captain Woolsey's company, and served throughout the war, after which he was the Postmaster at Jonesville. His wife, HANNAH CROCKETT, belonged to an old Boston family. RALPH BOWLES'S son, our subject's father, was STEPHEN JONES BOWLES. He was a native of Machias, and there dealt in lumber, owning mills and ships as well as extensive pine lands. Being a leader in his line, he accumulated a fortune, and was able to re- tire from active life in 1840, making his home in Roxbury, Mass., where he died five years later, when our boy was only ten years old. MR. BOWLES was never much in politics, but was proud of his membership in the Society of Cincinnati, which came to him through his father's connection with the Revolution, and has since descend- ed to his son, the Doctor. MR. BOWLES, like his father, was promi- nent in the Congregational church. The Doctor's middle name came from his mother, who was ELIZABETH WALLACE. She was born in Cherryfield, Me., in 1794; and we can trace her forefathers back to the Scotch WALLACES. She outlived her husband forty-one years, not dying till 1886, when past the alloted threescore and ten. They had several children. HANNAH, deceased, was the wife of REV. PHILIPPE WOLFF, of Boston. ELIZABETH married J. WINGATE THORNDYKE, the noted Boston genealogist. MARY married CHARLES PIKE, now of St. Paul, Minn. Next in order came the Doctor, of whom more here- after. LUCY D., deceased, was the wife of ARTHER LYMAN, of New York City. JOHN ELIOT died at the early age of ten. STEPHEN W. BOWLES was educated in the public schools of Roxbury and by private tutors, and was graduated at Williams College in the same class with PRESIDENT GARFIELD in 1856, receiving the customary degree of A.B., and three years later, in due course, the higher degree of A.M. He studied medicine at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, under the special charge of DR. J. FREEMAN BUMSTEAD, one of the foremost professors. There he was graduated in 1859. Successfully passing a competitive examination, he was appointed House Surgeon in St. Luke's Hospital, and remained there a year. In 1860 he married and went abroad, and studied in Paris, which was in those days considered the medical centre of the world, though he also attended lectures in Vienna. At the expiration of thirteen months the news of the Southern outbreak brought him home; and he at once found army employment as Assistant Surgeon in the hospital at Nashville, Tenn., where he remained till sickness com- pelled a return to Boston. Recovering his health in the course of three months, he was sent to the United States General Hospital at Brattleboro, Vt., whereof he was Director till the war was over, his military service covering three and a half years, though he was employed as Examining Surgeon for a year longer. In Brattleboro he remained till 1870, and thence went to Yonkers, N.Y., for a couple of years, thence coming to his late post, where he built up a fine practice, his office most of the time being situated at the corner of State and Main Streets. The Doctor belonged to the Hampden District Medical Society, of which he has been President, to the Massachusetts Medical Society, and to the Connecticut Valley Medi- cal Society. Four years he was on the Massachusetts Prison Commi- sion. From its organization he was on the staff of the Springfield Hospital. Though like his father in not caring for political honors, he has always voted the straight Republican ticket. His wife, ELIZABETH BELDEN, was the daughter of DR. CHAUNCEY BELDEN, of West Springfield. They were married October 12, 1860, and had four children - ELIZABETH BOWLES, born in 1861; STEPHEN BOWLES, JR., a graduate of the Institute of Technology; JOHN ELIOT BOWLES, a Springfield broker; HARRY THORNTON BOWLES, of Yale Col- lege. The BOWLES family attend the Congregational church. DR. BOWLES died February 13, 1895; and the following heartfelt tribute to his worth was delivered by the REV. DR. TRASK before the remains were taken to Mount Auburn for burial: - "There is no person who comes nearer to us in life than our physician. The ties that bind us to him are as delicate as silk, but it takes a deal to crush them; and, when they are sundered by death, a break is made in the chain that is never filled . . . . Personality is not a trait: it is the atmosphere in which the characteristics of our mind and heart grow luminous . . . Our be- loved and departed friend had a most charming and distinguished personality. His atmosphere was as pronounced and as fair as the aureola with which the old artists loved to environ the heads of the saints. There was something unique in his build. . . . The unique frame surrounded an unusual mind. He must have had uncommon powers of acquisition, for in the midst of a large practice it seemed as if he had read everything. If you spoke of any new specific, he could give you its name, tell you where it had been tried and what results had come from the application. . . . Many patients need mental diversion quite as much as prescriptions. If one can 'minister to a mind diseased,' the professional call is worth the charge which is made for it. The best tablet is oftenest a mental one. It was thus that our friend administered healing to some, at least, of his patrons. I wonder if he learned the art of healing among the balsam forests of Maine, on whose far borders he was born; for, like them, he gave us relief by his atmosphere. He felt of the pulse after he had told the last thing he had read, and found it beating more regularly because the mind had been called away from its depressing mood. His talk was antifebrile. How could a gracious personality suffused with ample lore fail to be charming? . . . Many a mother blesses him through her tears; and many a man in middle life, as he looks upon this silent face and these hands so cold and still, will recall with welcome emotion the hour when, under the leadership of this companion, he came back to his wonted task. Rare insight had this man of disease, and vigi- lant and tireless was he in hunting it down. . . . He had trials of his own to carry, of which I need not speak. They were sore ones, too, which weighed upon his sensitive heart and increased the bur- den of an overburdened life. He spoke of them, but not with com- plaint. . . . And these last years of pain -- still doing his work, while his slight form was being daily undermined! By protracted periods of rest he prolonged his ministry of healing. It now seems that he was giving to others the strength he needed for himself. He went on pouring out the precious wine until there were no grapes left for the vintage. No scanty manhood here, or mean and petty measures of affection, but a real brother to us all, whom it was a joy to meet, and from whom we part with dejected spirits and with tears." =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================