Bio: Cowen Family (History)
Contact: Marsha Hosfeld 

Email: Shashie50@aol.com

Surnames: Cowen. Griggs, Smith, Hosfeld, Stanley, Stannard, Doernenberg, Brown, Murray

----Source: Compiled by Marsha Cowen Hosfeld

Cowen Family History

Frank Edward Cowen was born in Sycamore Township, DeKalb County, Illinois, the son of Theodore and Marilla Cowen.  Although his age varies widely on miscellaneous documents, there is no doubt in my mind that he was born between the 1850 and 1860 Census.  His age was given as 6 in 1860, and I use 1854 as his year of birth. A 1900 Census gives his month of birth as January.  His death certificate does not include a date of birth but gives his age as 84, which cannot be correct.  I believe he was about 76 when he died, 13 November 1930.

A lot of circumstantial evidence points to his father, Theodore, being the son of Eddy and Mary “Polly” Griggs Cowen of Tolland, Connecticut.  Eddy’s father, John Cowen, moved from Connecticut to Conewango, Cattaraugus County, New York, in 1833 after the death of his wife Olive Smith, and there is documentation showing he brought his grandson, John M. Cowen, with him.  Another grandson, Norman Eddy Griggs Cowen, also settled in Conewango.  John M. and Norman E. G. had an older brother, Theodore Smith Cowen.  I believe he was Frank’s father, and that he also followed his grandfather to New York, where he met and married Marilla, who had been born in New York.  The 1840 Census shows the household of John Cowen (age 86, Revolutionary War veteran, farmer) containing 3 other males (10<15, 15<20, 40<50) and 4 females (15<20, 20<30, two 30<40).  Theodore would have been about age 18.  Based on information given in the 1850 Census, my Theodore was married and living in Illinois before 1845, when his first child, Helen, was born.

The 1850 Census for Sycamore Township, DeKalb County, Illinois, lists Theodore, age 27 (1823), and Marilla, age 28 (1822), and their daughters, Helen, age 5 (1845), and Sarah, age 3 (1847).  Theodore is a farmer, born in Connecticut.  His wife was born in New York, and the two girls in Illinois.  The 1860 Census shows that a son, Frank, was added to the family in 1854.  Theodore is still a farmer, with Real Estate valued at $1200 and a Personal Estate of $300.  Helen, Sarah and Frank all attended school.

There is a DeKalb County, Illinois, record showing the marriage of Helen L. Cowen to Francis G. Stanley on 21 September 1862.  Unfortunately, that is the last record of Helen I have been able to find.  The next recorded family event is the marriage of Sarah Ann Cowen to William Wallace Stannard of Stevens Point, in Plover, Portage County, Wisconsin, on 14 August 1869.  The two marriage records show that the family’s move from Illinois to Wisconsin came sometime between September 1862 and August 1869.

On 5 August 1873, Mrs. Marilla Cowen “of Portage Co. Wis.” filed a Homestead Application through the Land Office at Wausau, Wisconsin.  (S ½, SW ¼ of Section 32 in Township 29 N of Range 2 E, containing 80 acres.  This is on the north side of what is now Spruce St./SR-29 east of the Clark Co. line; this road divides Twp 29-Holton and Twp 28-Hull in Marathon County.) The Portage County reference, if accurate, conflicts with family history which indicates that Theodore and Marilla were already living in the Abbotsford area before Theodore went west to sell horses, never to be heard from again.  (My grandfather, Theodore A. Cowen, Sr., wrote down the story his father, Frank, told him about his grandfather’s disappearance.  The story is included in his Biography entry.)  Since Marilla made the application, and is described as “the head of a family”, I assume Theodore was gone before that 1873 date.  When she filed the Homestead Proof, 17 October 1878, she described herself as a 56-year-old widow with no children.  Perhaps this is intended to mean no minor children, since her son Frank is one of her witnesses, and her son-in-law, William Wallace Stannard, is the other.

After receiving the deed to the property, Marilla immediately sold it to William Stannard, and the extended family continued to live there together.  William died of consumption, 30 March 1879, leaving his wife, Sarah, and four children: Olive, Clarence, Florence, and William.

In the 1880 Census, Frank, his mother, sister, and sister’s children, are living on the Homestead property.  In 1882, the Colby Phonograph carried the news that Mr. Frank Cowen of Holton married Miss Mary Dornenberg of Hull on Friday, 20 January, at the home of Mrs. Sarah Stannard. 

No announcement or certificate has been found, but Sarah Cowen Stannard became the wife of John Murray Brown soon after her brother Frank’s marriage, with the first of their four children being born 31 March 1883.  The children of John M. and Sarah Ann Brown were Sadie, Oramel, Frank and Minnie.

The 9 May 1883 edition of the Colby Phonograph contained a news tidbit about Frank Cowen building a home in Abbotsford.  This would be the place where my grandfather was born, and the family would reside there until a fire destroyed it along with a neighboring blacksmith shop and two other buildings. 

On 2 March 1891, Frank bought a piece of property east of Abbotsford, adjoining the original homestead (about 15 acres, south of the railroad line in E ½, SE ¼,  Sec 31 Twp 29 N, Range 2 E).  After the fire, he and Mary moved there with their sons, Theodore (b. 1885) and Frederick (b. 1887).  Two more children were born to them there, Archibald (b. 1894) and Minnie (b. 1898).  Mary developed puerperal septicemia (blood poisoning) after Minnie’s birth, and died less than two weeks later, 9 March 1898.

The two youngest children were taken in by Mary’s parents, Fred and Wilhelmina “Minna” Doernenburg, while the two older boys, ages 13 and 11, stayed with their father.  Frank did not handle this responsibility well, and the boys had to scramble to care for themselves. My grandfather’s memories of this time are included in his biography on this site.  In the 1900 Census, there are two entries in Abbotsford for Frank Cowen, in both cases he is living as a boarder.  The boys, Ted and Fred, were not recorded, but were probably still living at least part of the time on the farm property, which was not sold until July 1902.  (The 1901 Plat Map shows “T. Cowan” on the property.)  In the 1910 Census, Frank is working as a bartender in Abbotsford (photo 1913), and in 1920 he resides at the Clark County Poor Farm in York Township.. He lived there on and off until his death, 13 November 1930.  There is a marker for him in the Poor Farm cemetery, but he is also listed with his wife on a headstone at Colby Cemetery, which is the burial place indicated on his death certificate.  

Related Links:

Cowen Family History

Cowen Family (Timeline)

Doernenburg Family (History)

Doernenburg Family (Timeline)