Guthrie Family Group 5 – Branch D
CLARISSA GUTHRIE 1832 OH – 1872 IA and WILLIAM PRESTON COWMAN
of Ohio and Iowa, USA

CLARISSA E GUTHRIE
Parents: James C Guthrie 1795-1862 and Nancy Corn 1798-1857
Birth: 20 May 1832
Birth Location: Ohio, USA
Marriage: William Preston Cowman presumably about 1853 in Marion County, Iowa, USA
Cowman Children: 7
Death: 1872
Death Location: Marion County, Iowa, USA
Burial: Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Red Rock, Marion, Iowa, USA

WILLIAM PRESTON COWMAN
Parents: William James Cowman and Mary Jane Oiler/Oyler
Birth: 2 October 1831
Birth Location: Rockbridge County, Virginia
Occupation: School Teacher, Farmer / Sawmill Operator / Justice of the Peace / Editor (Published ‘Casey Vindicator’ since 1879) / State Representative (Republican) 1874 Assembly
Military Service: Civil War – Company G – 18th Iowa Infantry
Marriage 2nd: Martha Jane ‘Mattie’ Rodgers on 5 Oct 1876 in Mahaska County, Iowa
Death: 25 December 1905
Death Location: Casey, Adair, Iowa, USA
Burial: Oakwood Cemetery, Walnut Township, Adair County, Iowa, USA

MARTHA JANE RODGERS aka ‘MATTIE’
Parents: Enoch Rodgers and Harriett Aldrich Hill
Birth: 1848
Birth Location: New York, USA
Marriage: William Preston Cowman on 5 Oct 1876 in Mahaska County, Iowa, USA
Cowman Children: 1
Occupation: Homemaker / Editor & Publisher ‘Casey Vindicator’
Death: 1928
Death Location: Poulson, Lake County, Montana, USA
Burial: Lakeview Cemetery, Poulson, Lake County, Montana, USA

Notes:

Clarissa E Guthrie was born to James C and Nancy (Corn) Guthrie on 20 May 1832. Her middle initial is found in the delayed birth record of her youngest daughter, Rosemary. A clue as to the actual middle name might be found in the name of eldest daughter Mary Evalina Cowman.

The Guthrie family moved from Ohio to Iowa and were living in District 16 of Jasper County during the 1850 census. Clarissa was 18 at the time. She married William Preston Cowman within the next few years. Their marriage record has not been found to document the exact date, but was presumably prior to the birth of their daughter Mary on 30 Mar 1854.

William Preston Cowman, a son of William and Mary Jane (Oyler) Cowman of Rockbridge County, Virginia. They moved to Ohio when he was an infant and came to Iowa in 1849. For several years, he operated a sawmill. He build the first schoolhouse in Perry County, Iowa in 1851, a rough-hewed log house at the cost of about $100, and taught schools for three to four years. He was responsible for furnishing the lumber for some of the first homes in Des Moines.

William was soon caught up in the Civil War enlisting as a soldier in Company G of the 18th Iowa Infantry. He held the rank of sergeant. “The Eighteenth was organized under the call of July 4, 1862 for 300,000 men and was mustered in on August 6, 1862, with John Edwards as colonel. Its service was chiefly in Missouri and Arkansas. Perhaps is most notable engagement was the one at Springfield, Missouri, January 8, 1863, when the regiment with only about 500 men defeated a Confederate force of nearly four times that number under General Marmaduke, willing a decisive victory.”

The majority of William and Clarissa’s children were born prior to the Civil War. Clarissa was mother to seven children: Mary Evalina (1854), James W (1855), Alice M (1857), Ada (1863), Arthur (1864), Ernest Raymond (1868), and Rosemary (1870). Note that daughter Rosemary’s birthdate is a moving target. According to the 1880 census, she was 10 years old. Her delayed birth certificate named Clarissa E Guthrie as her mother, but lists her own birth year as 1876 despite the fact that Clarissa died in 1872. Rosemary’s age and birth year estimate frequently change year to year in census and other records. The most accurate DOB is probably 1870 based on the 1880 census, which is the earliest document, making her Clarissa’s youngest child.

Clarissa died in 1872. Her remains were interred at Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Son Arthur W Cowman died in 1874 at the age of 10. He shares a memorial stone with his mother, and with his brother James W Cowman who died in 1918.

The Iowa Legislature website lists William P Cowman as a Republican Iowa State Representative serving in House Assembly 15 (1874). It includes a brief biography from the State Historical Society of Iowa: Volume 7 (1905-1907) Annals of Iowa Obituary. He served from 1873 to 1875.

After a turn in the legislature, William P Cowman took up journalism. In 1874, he published the Des Moines Valley Herald, and purchased the Prairie City Echo in 1875. He later moved to Casey, Iowa in 1879, and bought a half interest in the ‘Casey Vindicator‘ in 1879. A year later, he purchased the other half interest and since that time functioned as the paper’s editor.

William also served as the commander of the local Grand Army of the Republic Post. The GAR was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, Union Navy, and the Marines who served during the American Civil War, founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois.

William remarried to Martha Jane ‘Mattie’ Rodgers. They had one son, Claude P Cowman (1878). On Christmas Day 1905, William was “stricken with paralysis” and died. He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery. After his death, the ‘Casey Vindicator’ was published by “Mrs W. P. Cowman & Son”.

COWMAN CHILDREN: 7 (by Clarissa) + 1 (by Martha Jane)
Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Descendants of a Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: NONE

CHILD 1: MARY EVALINA COWMAN
Born 30 March 1854 IA – Died 22 June 1927 NE
Spouse: William James Kain m. 11 Nov 1875 in Jasper County, Iowa, USA

Kain Children: 4
Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Descendants of a Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: NONE

1.) Aaron Reymond Kain: 2 Jan 1877IA – 24 Mar 1957CO (m1.1897NE) Nellie Frances Tucker, (m2. 1902NE) Wilda Lucinda Chase +children
2.) Edward Leroy Kain: 20 Jun 1878IA – 1 Apr 1908NE (m.1903NE) Nellie Bebout
3.) Mary Ellen ‘Nell’ Kain: 31 Jan 1881NE – 16 Jun 1959AZ (m.about1902NE) Burton Light +children
4.) Mable Alice Kain: 15 May 1889 NE – 14 Jun 1978 NE (m.1907NE) Harry Rees +children

CHILD 2: JAMES W COWMAN
Born 1855 – Died 1918
Marital Status: Single / Unmarried

Cowman Children: None Known
Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Descendant of a Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: N/A – No Known Descendants

CHILD 3: ALICE M COWMAN
Born 1856 IA – Died 1942 CO
Spouse: William H Pattison m. 1875 in Iowa, USA

Pattison Children: 5
Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Descendant of a Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: N/A – No Known Descendants

1.) Clarissa ‘Clara’ Sarah Pattison: 1876IA – 1957CO m.1907CO Lester W. Rogers – no children
2.) Daisy Gertrude Pattison: 1879IA – 1940WA (m.1901OR/div.1909) Byron Herbert Boles +children
3.) Arthur Arlos Pattison: 1881IA – 1972 (m.1905IA) Carrie Belle Amos Vance +child
4.) Preston Lexy Pattison: 1898NE – 1951CO (m.1931CO) Viola E Wimmer Brown +child
5.) Genevieve Pattison: 1896NE – 1937OR (m1.1914IA) Clarence Short +children; (m2.1928IA)Fred Schiffler

CHILD 4: ADA COWMAN
Born April 1860 IA – Died 15 August 1930 OR
Spouse: Charles F. Soule m. 5 August 1888 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Ada Cowman was born about April of 1860 in Iowa. She was listed on the 1860 census of Perry Township, Marion County, Iowa at 2 months of age. The census was enumerated on 29 June 1860. Ada married on 5 August 1888 to Charles F Soule in Omaha, Nebraska. They had 1 unidentified child who died at birth or early childhood between 1900 and 1910. Charles was listed as the publisher of a county newspaper. Ada ran a boarding house.

The Lincoln County Leader in Toledo, Oregon published news of Charles’ death Friday, March 10, 1922.
CHAS. F SOULE DIES AT PORTLAND
Charles F Soule, formerly of this city, passed away Saturday, March, 4th, at his home in Portland. Mr Soule had been bedridden the past five or six years, and about two years ago he had one of his legs amputated. Mr Soule came to Lincoln County from Nebraska in the year 1899. He started a paper at Yaquina known as the “Yaquina Tug”. After about a year at Yaquina he came to Toledo and bought the “Lincoln County Leader,” which he published until 1907 when he sold out and moved to Portland where he has since resided. He is survived by the wife, who has the sympathy of her many Toledo friends in her sad bereavement.

Ada died on 15 August 1930 and was buried at Rose City Cemetery in Portland.

Soule Children: 1
Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Descendant of a Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: N/A – No Known Descendants

1.) Unidentified Child – died at birth or early childhood

CHILD 5: ARTHUR W COWMAN
Born 1864 IA – Died 1874 IA
Died during childhood

Arthur W Cowman was born in 1864 in Marion County, Iowa and died when he was ten years of age. He shares a memorial stone with his mother Clarissa (1832-1872) and brother James (1855-1918).

CHILD 6: ERNEST RAYMOND COWMAN
Born about 1868 IA – Died 14 April 1938 CA
Spouse: Laura Dobbins m. 11 September 1889 NE / div. bef. 1910

Ernest Raymond Cowman was born about 1868 in Iowa. His mother Clarissa died in 1872. By 1880, he had a stepmother, Martha Jane. He was enumerated with the family in Casey, Guthrie, Iowa in 1880.

Ernest married Laura Dobbins on 11 Sep 1889 in Shelton, Nebraska. They had 3 children: Lee Henry (1891), Lillie Cornelia (1892), and Alice B (1894). Sometime between 1894 and 1906, Ernest and Laura separated and divorced. This family has not been found listed in the 1900 census. By 1908, Ernest was living in Los Angeles, California. During the 1910 census, he was shown living on North Broadway, and working as a salesman at a retail grocery store.

He moved to Turlock, Stanislaus, California about 1917. His job in 1920 was as a laborer for a Ditch Camp. Ten years later, he was living as boarder in Patterson, Stanislas County, and working as a farm laborer on a dairy farm. 1930 was the first census year his marital status was listed as divorced rather than single.

On Friday, 15 April 1938, The Modesto Bee in Modesto, California, published “Ernest Cowman, 71, Passes Away Here: Ernest Cowman, 71, a resident of Stanislaus, County for twenty one years, died in a hospital here Thursday morning after an extended illness. He had resided in California thirty two years. He was a native of Iowa. Private funeral services will be held, but friends may view the body at the Sovern Funeral Home up to 2:30 P.M. Friday. Incineration will be at the Park View Crematory.“

His ex-wife, Laura’s marital journey is complex. She married Chester Francis Perry on 7 July 1906 in Lincoln County, NE. They had a daughter, Irene Perry. This was Chet’s second marriage. He had been previously married to Mary Aulia Niles with whom he had 3 children: Warren Sylvester Perry (1887), Claude Arthur Perry (1888), and Nellie Maude Perry (1890). Mary died in 1904.

Laura divorced Chet and married yet again, this time to Charles Summer Harris. Charles, Laura, and Irene are listed together during the 1920 census of Pine Bluffs, WY. Charles was a laundryman and later a house painter. He had been previously married to Fannie K Ruddle who died in 1915, so his marriage to Laura took place between 1916-1920. This marriage was also short-lived. By the time of the 1930 census, Charles S Harris had a different wife, Viola. On 2 October 1933 in Glenwood Springs, Garfield, Colorado, Laura remarried her ex-husband, Chester Francis Perry.

The second time around did not improve married life for Laura and Chet. By 1940, they were living apart. Laura, 66, was living on her own in Colorado Springs while Chet, 78, was on his own in Gypsum, both still listed as “married”. The 1950 census finds Laura, 76, “separated” and still living alone in Colorado Springs, while Chet, 87, was living in the home of his daughter Irene Barker and family. Chet died 14 Apr 1954 at the age of 93. Laura died on 16 January 1956 in Colorado Springs.

Cowman Children: 3
Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Descendant of a Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: NONE

1.) Lee Henry Cowman: 1891NE – 1944IA (m.1921IA) Mabel D Hiatt +children
2.) Lillie Cornelia Cowman: 1892NE – 1965IA (m.) Leslie Dow Peyton +children
3.) Alice B Cowman: 1894NE – 1984CO (m.1915NE) Thomas Walter Carr +children; (m2.) Troy W Hook

CHILD 7: ROSEMARY COWMAN
Born 20 May 1870 IA – Died 1948 OR
Spouse: George Ross Schenck m. 1891

Schenck Children: 1
Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Descendant of a Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Participants: NONE

1.) George Jackson Schenck: 1920 OR – 1961 AK (m./div.) Anne Adlyne Williams +children

CHILD 8: CLAUDE PRESTON COWMAN
Born: 6 September 1878 IA – Died 28 Nov 1947
Spouse 1: Mayme Shirley Cady m. 1 May 1909 in Guthrie County, Iowa, USA
Spouse 2: Grace Eunice Bouton m. 14 February 1925 in Bonner County, Iowa, USA

A child of William Preston Cowman by his second wife, Martha Jane Rodgers. No known Guthrie ancestry.

READING and RESOURCES

BIOGRAPHY: WILLIAM P COWMAN
“W. P. Cowman.” The Annals of Iowa 7 (1906), 320-320. Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/vol7/iss4/38

BIOGRAPHY: W. P. COWMAN
History of Guthrie and Adair Counties, Iowa, Springfield, Illinois: Continental History Co., 1884.

OBITUARY: W. P. COWMAN
The Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, December 28, 1905
Digital Repository: Newspapers.com

DIRECTORY: Geo. P Rowell and Co’s American Newspaper Directory, Edited by George Presbury Rowell. Digital Repository: Google Books.

DIRECTORY: N.W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual, Philadelphia, 1907. Digital Repository: Google Books.