Bowlby, David Sovereign

David Sovereign Bowlby was born September 5th, 1826 to Adam Bowlby and Elizabeth Sovereign Bowlby. He was born on the family farm in Townsend, and, like his brothers began to be educated from an early age. He attended Upper Canada College, University of Toronto, Toronto School of Medicine and ultimately the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, graduating in 1853. In October of the same year he moved to Berlin (Kitchener) to temporarily fill in for his cousin Dr. J.W. Sovereign, and ended up staying on indefinitely. He also took on the role of County Jail surgeon, and coroner for many years. Besides his medical practice he was heavily involved in the community being a member of the village council, and on the Board of Trustees of Berlin High School as well as being warden and delegate to the synod for St. John’s Anglican Church. In 1856 David Sovereign married 18 year old Martha Esther Murphy (1837-1925) of Montreal and brought her to Berlin. Together they had five children: Janie Elizabeth Bowlby Clement in 1859, Emma Allen Bowlby Boyd in 1862, George Herbert Bowlby in 1855, Grace Bowlby Fennell in 1871, and David Shannon Bowlby in 1873.

In his later years David Sovereign suffered from bronchial troubles and died in 1903 while in Sicily on a trip to improve his breathing. Martha Esther Murphy lived for another 22 years in the family home in Berlin. Martha was extremely active in social and philanthropic organizations in Berlin including as a founding member of the Kitchener and Waterloo Ladies Hospital Auxiliary, organist of St. John’s Anglican Church, and first regent of the Princess of Wales chapter, Daughters of the Empire. Martha died unexpectedly at the age of 88 after her dressing gown caught fire from the gas heater in her home.

• "Biography: DAVID SOVEREIGN BOWLBY, M.D." Fifth Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society(PDF), pp. 49.50.