Bogert, Henry Augustine (1827-1905)

1827-1905

Parents: Henry Kneeland Bogert (1801–1875) and Mary Elizabeth Bogert (1804–1891).
Spouse: Mary Bowne Lawrence (1830–1898).
Children: Mary “Minnie” Lawrence Bogert (1855–1893), Henry Lawrence Bogert (1857–1933), John Lawrence Bogert (1857–1956), Emily Lawrence Bobert (1860–1864), Edward Ludlow Bobert (1862–1863), Walter Lawrence Bogert (1864–1959), James Lawrence Bogert (1867–1867), Marston Taylor Bogert (1868–1954), Francis Lawrence Bogert (1869–1870), Frances Lawrence Bogert (1870–1947), and Theodore Lawrence Bobert (1875–1947).
Kinship: Husband of Mary Bowne Lawrence, the second cousin four times removed of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Early Life and Education Henry Augustine Bogert was born in New York City in 1827, the son of Henry Kneeland Bogert and Mary Elizabeth Bogert. He was a member of one of the oldest Dutch-descended families of New York, long associated with the Reformed Dutch and Episcopal congregations of Manhattan and Queens. Educated at St. Thomas Hall in Flushing, he entered Columbia College, where he earned his A.B. in 1846 and A.M. in 1849. His education placed him in the tradition of the professional class of mid-nineteenth-century New York.

Legal and Professional Career Having studied law in his father’s office, Bogert was admitted to the New York bar and established a successful legal practice. In 1867 he was appointed counsel for the New York Life Insurance Company, a position he held for twenty-five years. He was recognized as a meticulous title examiner and a legal authority on property and insurance law. His reputation for integrity and caution led to his frequent consultation on trust and estate matters.

A resident of Flushing, he helped found the Queens County Savings Bank, serving as both counsel and director. Through his marriage to Mary Bowne Lawrence, he was closely connected to the historic Bowne and Lawrence families, and his work contributed significantly to the financial and civic development of Flushing during its transition from a rural township to a suburban community connected to New York City.

Civic and Religious Activities An active Republican, Bogert served as secretary of the first Republican club organized in Flushing after the Civil War. He was also a vestryman of St. George’s Episcopal Church, where he taught Sunday School for many years, before later transferring his membership to the local Congregational Church. His civic and religious involvements reflected the broader social conscience of the professional classes of postbellum New York.

Family and Education Legacy Education was a defining theme in the Bogert family. Several of Henry’s sons followed him to Columbia: John Lawrence Bogert (A.B. 1878), Henry Lawrence Bogert (A.B. 1878), Marston Taylor Bogert (A.B. 1890)—later a distinguished chemist and Columbia professor—and Theodore Lawrence Bogert (A.B. 1897). Their shared connection to Columbia underscores the family’s multi-generational engagement with the city’s intellectual and professional life.

Death Henry Augustine Bogert’s life ended tragically on July 12, 1905 1905 when he was struck and fatally injured by an electric cab on Broadway in New York City. He was remembered as a man of deep moral principle, civic generosity, and quiet scholarship—a representative of the conscientious nineteenth-century New York professional class.