James Bowdoin (1726-1790)

He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard (1745). He was nominally engaged in business but focused much of his time on government and intellectual pursuits. enjoyed a close relationship with Benjamin Franklin, was a Fellow of the Royal Society and was long connected with the running of Harvard. In 1753, he was elected as a Representative to the Massachusetts General Assembly; Member of the Governor's Council (1757-74); Delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, 1774; Chairman of the Convention to frame a Constitution for Massachusetts; 1st President (1780) and Co-Founder of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences to whom he bequeathed his valuable library; 2nd Governor of Massachusetts (1785-87); Member of the State Convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1748, he married Elizabeth, daughter of John Erving, of Boston, "one of the most eminent merchants in America". They were the parents of two children (listed), Lady Elizabeth Temple of Stowe and James, Founder of Bowdoin College.