Richard Johns Bowie

Richard Johns Bowie (June 23, 1807 – March 12, 1881) was an American politician and jurist who served two terms in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Whig Party representing Maryland. He was born on June 23, 1807, in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., to Margaret (née Johns) and Colonel Washington Bowie. He attended the public schools and Brookville Academy in Maryland, receiving a foundational education that prepared him for a legal and political career. Bowie studied law and graduated from Georgetown Law School in 1826 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), and he commenced the practice of law soon thereafter in the District of Columbia. He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1829, an early professional distinction that underscored his standing at the bar.

After establishing himself as a young attorney, Bowie moved to Rockville, Maryland, where he combined legal practice with agricultural pursuits. In Rockville he owned slaves and managed farming interests while building a prominent legal career in Montgomery County. On May 7, 1833, he married Catherine L. Williams. The couple later adopted three daughters: Emma, Rose, and Marie Holland, forming a family that would remain closely tied to Rockville and the surrounding area.

Bowie’s public career began in state politics. He served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1835 to 1837, representing his locality in the lower house of the state legislature. He then advanced to the Maryland State Senate, where he served from 1837 to 1841 as a senator from the Western Shore. During this period he was active in Whig Party affairs and was chosen as a delegate to the Whig National Convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1840, participating in the national deliberations of his party. Following his legislative service, Bowie was appointed State’s Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland, a position he held from 1844 to 1849, in which he prosecuted criminal cases and represented the state in local legal matters.

Building on his state-level experience, Bowie was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses, serving in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1853. As a member of the Whig Party representing Maryland, he contributed to the legislative process during two terms in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American history marked by sectional tensions and debates over slavery and expansion. After completing his congressional service, he sought higher office and was the Whig candidate for Governor of Maryland in 1853, but he was unsuccessful in that campaign. Following this defeat, he returned to Rockville and resumed the practice of law.

Bowie’s later career was distinguished by high judicial service in Maryland. He was appointed chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, serving from 1861 to 1867, a tenure that coincided with the Civil War and Reconstruction-era upheavals. During the Civil War, in 1863, he was detained near Rockville by Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart during one of Stuart’s cavalry movements through Maryland, but he was released soon thereafter and continued his judicial duties. After his service as chief judge of the Court of Appeals, Bowie later became chief judge of the sixth judicial circuit of Maryland. By virtue of that office, he also served as an associate judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland from November 7, 1871, until his death, remaining an influential figure in the state’s judiciary for the last decade of his life.

Richard Johns Bowie died at his estate, Glen View, in Montgomery County, Maryland, on March 12, 1881. He was interred in Rockville Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland. His career spanned local, state, and national service, encompassing legislative work, prosecutorial responsibilities, and long tenure on Maryland’s highest court during some of the most turbulent decades in nineteenth-century American history.