biography of James BOGARDUS (1800-1874)

Birth place: Catskill, NY

Death place: NYC

Addresses: Primarily NYC

Profession: Engraver, diesinker, inventor

Comments: Stauffer states that Bogardus learned engraving while apprenticed to a watchmaker c. 1814, but he was best known in his own day as a machinist and inventor. His name was especially associated with the eccentric mill (1829), a number of improved machines for engraving, and the introduction of cast-iron buildings. Bogardus was in England c.1836-39, with his wife (see Mrs. James Bogardus), a miniaturist, and there engraved portraits of Queen Victoria and Sir Robert Peel, as well as winning a competition to furnish the British Government with a plan for the manufacture of the first postage stamps. After visiting France and Italy, Bogardus returned to NYC in 1840 and worked there as a machinist, manufacturer of eccentric mills, and architect in cast-iron until his death on April 13, 1874, in NYC.

Sources: G&W; Dunlap, History (1918), III, 284; Stauffer, I, 24; N.Y. Evening Post (Semi-Weekly), April 17, 1874, obit.; NYCD 1842-74.