The Star Student with a Curse from Bowdoin
Edward Joseph Vose was born at Augusta, Maine, in 1806. He grew up with at least three brothers, George, Richard, and Rufus, two of whom would go on to attend Bowdoin. Vose was also likely acquainted with Joseph Jenkins Eveleth and Horatio Bridge, two other Augusta residents who would join him in the Bowdoin Class of 1825.
Vose started Bowdoin around the age of 16, but he did not live in Brunswick until his sophomore year. He first boarded at Misses’ Toppan’s with Alfred Martin, Cullen Sawtelle, William Stone, and Alfred Upham, and moved with his housemates to the Honorable B. Orr’s halfway through the school year. Junior and senior years Vose lived in Maine Hall, first with Cullen Sawtelle and then with Hezekiah Packard. Vose’s brother believed him to particularly close to Packard, Samuel P. Benson, and John S.C. Abbott. Vose was a member of the Peucinian Society. Throughout his Bowdoin career, Vose was only fined twice by the Executive Government, both times for an unexcused absence. Perhaps because of his good behavior, Vose was regarded as one of the finer scholars of his class. He was one of the three members of his class to speak at a declamation in 1823 and participated in a conference with Nathaniel Dunn and Eveleth at the May 1824 exhibition. In his senior year, Vose contracted tuberculosis, a disease which was to challenge him for the rest of his life. But even this medical setback could not stop Vose’s academic focus. The scholar was asked to give a dissertation about Henry Kirke White at both his senior exhibition and commencement. Vose also graduated tenth in his class alongside his roommate and friend Packard.
After graduating, Vose did not waste any time building a life for himself. He immediately moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, to study law under future Massachusetts Governor, John Davis. This training went well as Vose was able to open his own practice at the young age of 24. Vose’s brother Richard reported that, “He was regarded by his friends as a young man of uncommonly fine promise.” Vose also spent these first years after Bowdoin building a family. While in Worcester he married a woman named Frances Sophia Burlington. The pair had two children, a boy and a girl, who shared the names of their parents. Despite, Vose’s personal and professional success he was never able to escape the tuberculosis that had plagued him since his time at Bowdoin. He died of the disease in 1831, when he was only 27. After his passing, his wife Frances remarried and moved to Rhode Island with the children. His daughter Frances went on to marry a Brooklyn doctor.