The son of James M. and Mariah (need Glidden) Bodwell, Captain James W. Bodwell Jr. was born in Maine, New England on December 28, 1795. In 1819, he married Abigail Eason Smith Vining (1799-1883) in Sweden, New York. They moved to West Nissouri Township, Middlesex, County, in 1821 and belonged to the West Nissouri Baptist Church. By 1837, the family had relocated to Dereham Township where he served as Township Clerk from 1981-1842. In 1848, he built the impressive Bodwell home in Mt. Elgin called Elgin Hall. There the family were active members in the Mt. Elgin Baptist Church. James Bodwell Jr. passed away at Mt. Elgin, Ontario on December 4, 1874.
His son, James Vining Bodwell was born in Aroostook, Maine in October1819. He married Mary Ann Sinclair (1825-1894), in the Township of Nissouri, District of Brock, on October 28, 1848, and eventually settled on Lot 11, Concession 5, Dereham Township. The couple would go on to have five children: Hiram Alphonso (1849-1913) Hason Fletcher Sinclair (1852-1932), Ralph W. (1856-1921), Sarah Abigial (1857-1931), and James Vining Jr. (1866-1909). In July 1850, he was appointed Lieutenant & Adjutant in the Sixth Battalion of the Oxford Militia by the Right Honour James, Earl of Elgin and Kincardine. A dairyman and farmer, for many years he served as the Superintendent of Schools for Dereham Township. He died on August 9, 1891, in Mt. Elgin, Ontario.
His younger brother, Ebenezer Vining Bodwell was born on April 30, 1827, in Nissouri Township, Middlesex County and later moved to a farm in Dereham Township with his family. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A general merchant in Mt. Elgin, he also served as Clerk and Treasurer for the Township of Dereham. In addition, he served as a member of the Township Council, Dereham was elected Township Reeve and eventually elected Warden for Oxford County, in 1863.
He married Esther Dillingham Crandon in Brantford Ontario on June 6, 1854, and the couple would go on to have seven children: James Cowland Ebenezer (1855-1858), Ernest Victor Dillingham (1856-1918), Fredwald Hiram Gordon (1857-1907), Jame Marie Esther (1860-1945), Frank Vining Fyfe (1863-1926), Anna Eason Lillie (1870-1921), and Agnes Ruth (1874-1958).
After the death of George Skeffington Connor in 1863, Bodwell ran in the by-election for the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada but was defeated by George Brown. In the 1867 Canadian federal election, he was elected to the House of Commons of the 1st Canadian Parliament from the South Riding of Oxford. In 1875, Bodwell was appointed superintendent for the Welland Canal and served until 1879, when he was named government accountant for the Canadian Pacific Railway and sent to British Columbia. In 1887, he moved to Vancouver where he would serve as the second president of the Vancouver Board of Trade.
Ebenezer Vining Bodwell died on October 18, 1889, at Morley, Alberta and is buried in Vancouver. His great-grandson, Garth Turner, also served as a Member of Parliament and a former cabinet minster.