joshua bates cowing and deborah cushing

According to Weymouth Vital Records, my fourth great-grandparents, Joshua Bates Cowing and Deborah Cushing, marry on March 7, 1832 in Weymouth at the Union Church of Weymouth and Braintree. The Union Church has an interesting history as told by the Braintree Fire Fighters Association, Local 920 on their website. The Union Church was originally the Hollis Street Church in Boston until it was moved to Quincy Ave. in Braintree, MA. Paul Revere then created a new bell for the church tower, and this new Union Church had its first service in November of 1810. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the church on June 19, 1897. Pictures are included on the Fire Fighters website, this is one before the fire.


The US Federal censuses from 1850 - 1880 show that Joshua and Deborah Cowing lived in Weymouth throughout their life where they had 7 children. Joshua is listed as a bootmaker and a shoemaker in the 1850 and 1860 Census, which is not surprising as Weymouth had a very large shoe industry at this time. In the 1870 and 1880 Cenus, and on his death record of 1888, Joshua is listed as a farmer.

I took a look at the Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases on the ancestry.com and found a map for Weymouth for 1876. JB Cowing is listed accross the street from his brother FH Cowing on Commercial Street in Weymouth, right next to the railroad tracks. Near his home are many shoe manufacturing buildings and stores. I am sure Joshua worked for one of these close to his home. You can also see Joshua's land that he farmed in his later years. I am not sure what type of farmer he was, but he does not seem to have a considerable amount of land.




There are a couple of interesting things about the map above. As you can see from the arrows (click on the pitcure to make image bigger), I have pointed out where JB Cowing's land is. I also included another arrow, pointing to the street I grew up on, just under 1/2 mile from each other.


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The other interesting thing about Joshua Bates Cowing's property is that he did not seem to inherit it from his father Balch Cowing, who had a substantial amount of land on Commercial Street, further up the road in Weymouth Landing, near Braintree. Joshua was Balch's first son. During this time period, fathers would usually hand down their property to their first son, but Balch seems to have given his land to Susan, his daughter, who remained single throughout her life. Susan actually lived with one of Joshua's son's, Francis H. Cowing in 1880, after Balch dies. In 1860 and 1870, Francis lives with his grandfather Balch. The map for Weymouth Landing has FH Cowing listed as property owner for a substantial amount of land, I assume this was part of Balch's estate. I have not seen a reference to a probate record for Balch, but I assume there should be one since he seemed to have had so much land. It would be interesting to obtain if found. Balch's wife, Cynthia Bates, does have a probate record for Norfolk County, but she died before her husband Balch.

to do list:
1. find probate for Balch - unable to find a reference to one
2. obtain probate for Balch's wife Cynthia

links of interest :
1. Massachusetts Historical Society - has holdings of church documents for the First Church of Weymouth part of the parish broke off to form the Union Church of Weymouth and Braintree