Henry Ferdinand Dowst was born on October 3, 1847, in Vienna, Maine, to Henry and Mary Dowst. His father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate and $956 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Vienna.
He enlisted in the Union army on February 23, 1865, and he mustered in as a private in Company F of the 12th Maine Infantry. He mustered out on April 18, 1866.
After leaving the army, Dowst operated a stagecoach between Vienna and Readfield, Maine, carrying passengers and mail. He then began working in the Readfield railroad station. In December 1872, he became “station baggage master” of the Maine Central Railroad in Bangor, Maine. He married Arabelle Gray Barstow on December 7, 1874. Their son Harry was born around 1877.
He applied for a federal pension in October 1890 and eventually secured one. In 1897, he became “general manager and superintendent of the Washington County railroad.” He held the position until his retirement four years later.
Arabelle died in 1900, and he married Katharine A. Davis on June 22, 1910. By the 1920s, he was reportedly “one of the best known men in eastern Maine.” He died of apoplexy in Bangor on February 21, 1929.
Image: Henry F. Dowst (The Bangor Daily News, 22 February 1929)