Frank William Bucknam (December 7, 1869 – April 30, 1942) was an American pharmacist from Yarmouth, Maine. He was appointed Maine's Commissioner of Pharmacy in 1906, and was a delegate to the United States Pharmacopeial Convention in Washington, D.C., on several occasions.
Early life Bucknam was born on December 7, 1869, in Yarmouth, Maine, to William and Katie. He was educated in the public schools. After graduating high school, he attended business college in Portland, Maine, graduating around the time of his 21st birthday in 1890.
Career
Bucknam entered the drug business as an apprentice with Leone R. Cook in Yarmouth's Upper Village. While there, in 1894 he received a certificate as a registered pharmacist.
In March 1894, he began running his own store at today's 108 Main StreetMaine Register Or State Year-book and Legislative Manual (1899), p. 431 in Yarmouth's Lower Falls. His stock included toilet articles, patent medicines, paints, oils, wallpaper, leading brands of cigars and confectionary.Chamber of Commerce Journal of Maine, Volume 13 (1901), p. 18 After six years in business, and while also balancing a role as a Yarmouth town clerk,Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer, Volume 31 (1895), p. 357 in 1900 he purchased a store in Skowhegan, living with his wife, Gertrude, on Madison Avenue.General Catalogue of Mount Holyoke College, 1837–1924, Mount Holyoke College (1924), p. 204 His new business was destroyed by fire in December 1904, but he was back in business in a temporary store within 36 hours. He eventually found a new home beneath the Oxford Hotel at 78 Water Street. This building too burned down, in 1908.The Bulletin of Pharmacy, Volume 20 (1906), p. 33"Item 20925 - Oxford Hotel fire, Skowhegan, 1908" - Vintage Maine Images
In 1906, Bucknam was appointed Maine's Commissioner of Pharmacy by Governor of Maine William T. Cobb, beating five other candidates. He had received written recommendations from three-quarters of the druggists in the state.
Bucknam was a delegate to the United States Pharmacopeial Convention in Washington, D.C., on multiple occasions, including in May 1920.The Pharmaceutical Era, Volume 52, 1919Druggists' Circular, Volume 60 (1916), p. 502
Personal life Bucknam was married twice: firstly to Gertrude F. Whitcomb, a native of Laurel, Indiana,Lineage Book, Volume 66 (1923), p. 69 from September 2, 1896, until her death on March 11, 1925,Marriage Certificate, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine then Eva Lillian Knowlton from April 6, 1926, until his own death. He had one known child, Alvan William, with Gertrude. Alvan died in the Battle of Chateau-Thierry, France, during the latter stages of the World War I.Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine 1636-1936: A History, William Hutchinson Rowe (1937)
Death Bucknam died on April 30, 1942, aged 72, in Skowhegan.Biddeford Daily Journal Archives, April 30, 1942, p. 4
References