MAJOR JOHN W. BOURLET.
BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL.
Major John W. Bourlet, secretary of the Rumford Printing Company of Concord, N. H., and for several years an esteemed member of the American-Irish Historical Society, died at Concord, January 19, 1910, after a protracted illness. Mr. Bourlet was born in New York City, March 7, 1850, but in 1859 removed with his parents to Concord and resided in or near that city until his death, more than half a century later.
At the age of seventeen, he entered the office of the Concord Monitor, as an apprentice to learn the printer’s trade and quickly became a proficient workman. He was advanced to the position of foreman of the job room and acquired prominence in his profession in the State of New Hampshire and beyond as the organizer of the first printers’ association in the capital of New Hampshire. In 1893, Mr. Bourlet was nominated by Governor John B. Smith as commissioner of the New Hampshire Bureau of Labor. This position he occupied until 1896 when upon the reorganization of the book and job printing department of the Monitor Company into a separate corporation, Mr. Bourlet was made superintendent of the plant and a director in and clerk of the corporation. These positions he held until ill-health compelled him to retire from active work in the autumn of 1909.
He was widely known as one of the most prominent Odd Fellows in the State and long published a magazine devoted to this order. There were indeed few members of the fraternity who were not acquainted with this devoted member and worker. The highest honors of the subordinate and grand orders were conferred upon him. He was Grand Master in 1891–2, and Grand Representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge in 1892–3. He was also secretary of the Merrimack County Odd Fellows Relief Association. Mr. Bourlet was a member of the New Hampshire Press Association also for many years and a member of the Universalist Church of Concord. In 1871 Mr. Bourlet married Abbie A. Webster, who survives him. One son, John W. Bourlet, Jr., and two grandchildren survive.
In the course of his long and highly respected residence in Concord, Mr. Bourlet was honored by his fellow citizens with various positions of responsibility. In 1887 he was elected a member of the Legislature from the city of Concord and served as chairman of the Committee on Printers’ Accounts and as clerk of the Committee on Labor. He was clerk of the Merrimack County Convention and for two years was auditor of Merrimack County. His exemplary life, his agreeable personality, his extensive knowledge of his calling and widespread acquaintance made Mr. Bourlet one of the representative citizens of his city and state. The expressions of sorrow from a large number of persons in his own city and elsewhere in the state and beyond its borders brought forth by the announcement of his death were tributes of those who have known and appreciated his strong qualities as a citizen and a friend.
Every volume of the Journal of the Society was printed and published under Major Bourlet’s supervision, and most of its pamphlets and other publications passed through his hands.