Born in Boston. Graduate of Harvard in 1745. Married Elizabeth Erving September 15, 1748. Their son James Bowdoin was the third in line with that name. Bowdoin was elected to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1753. In 1774 he was elected to the Continental Congress. Ill health caused him to decline the position. His seat was filled by John Hancock.

He was founder and first president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1780. Bowdoin served in various positions in state government. In January 1785 John Hancock, then governor, announced his retirement. After a difficult election contest Bowdoin won the seat of governor May 26, 1785. In the next election Hancock won and Bowdoin retired April 26, 1787. He died in Boston. A college in Brunswick, then Massachusetts but now Maine, was chartered in 1794, four years after his death and named in his honor.

Bowdoin appears on a 47 mm gold mint medal (Julian SC-24) struck for Harvard University. bio:*ApCAB; BDAS; DAB;*Drake; *NCAB 2; TCBDA; WAB; WWWA-H (*gives year as 1727)