george c cowing probate

I wrote a post about George Clinton Cowing and his wife Lydia Helen French a little over a year ago.  The Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967 database on familysearch was not available then, so now I want to update that post with the probate I found for him.  Lydia also has a probate docket, but her records are not available online yet.

The first probate documents are dated June - November, 1900; requesting that George's son, George F. Cowing, be administrator of the estate.  The document lists the following heirs,

• Lydia H Cowing, Norwell, widow
• Mary E Gardner, Malden, daughter
• Helen J Stoddard, Norwell, daughter
• George F Cowing, Weymouth, son
• Percy W Cowing, Hingham, son

 granted Nov. 1900
(Plymouth Probate vol.162, p.413)

The next document is widow Lydia requesting part of George C. Cowing's personal estate  - granted $75.00 (Plymouth Probate vol. 177, p. 172) Feb 1901

Another document from the same month, February 1901, is from administrator and son, George F. Cowing, requesting to mortgage the following lot of land...

"a certain lot of land with the buildings thereon situated on the southerly side of Barrows street in said Middleboro, bounded on the east by land now or formerly of Mary A. Lovell, on the South by land now or formerly of one Barrows; westerly by land of person unknown; northerly by Barrows street; for the purpose therein set forth; it appearing that no person objects, and all the heirs of the intestate or their guardians having assented thereto, and that it is necessary and expedient to mortgage said real estate to raise the sum of two hundred thirty-two dollars, for the purpose set forth in said petition:..."

granted for a term of not longer than 2 years.
(Plymouth Probate vol. 199, p. 138)

I looked at the historical land ownership map database on ancestry.com to see if I could find this land, but I did not see any of the names appearing on the probate document above.  I did find the street though, which is still in Middleborough today.  Below is the historical map of Middleborough 1879 and the present day google map.  I am interested to find out why George had land in Middleborough, as he seemed to reside in Weymouth and South Scituate.  I also do not see a connection with his family or his wife Lydia's family to Middleborough. 

1879 land ownership map of Middleborough, MA showing Barrows Street

present day map of Barrows Street, Middleboro, MA

View Larger Map

George's final probate document describes land the administrator needs to sell to pay off debts from George C. Cowing's estate; amounting to $600.00. The document states an offer of $75.00 was received to sell...

"a lot of woodland lying in the southerly part of Hingham in said County and bounded southerly by land now or formerly of Lewis Gardner, Israel Sprague? and heirs of Reuben Garnder, northwesterly by lands now or formerly of Lewis and Josiah Gardner; north easterly by land now or formerly of Howard Gardner and ? Wilder - containing about seven acres.  Being the same land devised to Freeman French by the will of Henry Chubbuck."

granted April 1901
(Plymouth Probate vol. 210, p. 324)

I looked briefly at Henry's will that I have saved to my computer to see if a better description of the land was included.  Henry's will calls this land as six acres in Hingham, situated near Queen Ann's Turnpike.  The historical map for Hingham labels Queen Ann's Corner and has many Garnder's living in this area.  There is also a Mrs. N. French listed, which Henry Chubbuck also granted land to in his will.  Mrs. N. French is most likely Sarah Chubbuck French, wife of Nathaniel French, and mother to Freeman French.  Freeman French is George C. Cowing's father-in-law; which may explain why he possessed this land in 1900.  I am not sure of Henry's relationship to Sarah Chubbuck French and therefore Freeman French; but I am guessing he is Sarah's brother and Freeman's Uncle.  (note 1)

1879 land ownership map, Hingham, MA showing Queen Ann's Corner

present day map of Hingham, MA near Queen Ann's Corner

View Larger Map
The maps show where the general location of the land that George's estate is selling.  As mentioned above, this land was originally Henry Chubbuck's, then Freeman French's.  $75.00 does not seem to be a lot of money for almost seven acres; maybe the land was not very useable.  The probate documents do not show who the land was sold to.  I do know from census records though that this is not where George resided when he was living.  The last census for him shows that he did live close to this area, in the town of South Scituate, south of Hingham; just down the street from this area.

George did not leave a will, but I still found all these probate documents very useful and interesting to look through.  The land in Middleborough is a mystery to me and perhaps it will lead to new connections when I find more information about how George obtained it.  I also have no reference to a Henry Chubbuck in my family tree, so this is another new person to discover.    


notes:
1.  Nathaniel French's father, George Lane French, did end up in the alms house.  Maybe this is why Henry included them in his will, as Nathaniel, and therefore Sarah, would not have inherited anything from his father.  Nathaniel died before Henry, and Henry left land for Sarah and her children.   


to do:
1. obtain Lydia French Cowing's probate records
2. find Plymouth County deeds that correspond to these land transactions
3. find how George Cowing received land from in Middleborough, on Barrows Street - did he buy it, inherited it?
4. find connection of Henry Chubbuck to Sarah Chubbuck French and Freeman French - is he Sarah's brother?

george clinton cowing and lydia helen french

George Clinton Cowing married Lydia Helen French on May 1, 1863, in Hingham, MA; they were both about 22 years old.  They were married by George Lincoln, day preacher. Their marriage was recorded in both the South Scituate town records and Hingham. There is a little bit of information on their preacher, George Lincoln in the Hingham 1893 book vol. 1 part 2. 

George and Lydia are my third great-grandparents. George grew up in the town of Weymouth. His father, Joshua, was a farmer on Commercial Street in East Weymouth in the year 1873, according to that years Weymouth Directory; but both George and his father were listed as boot makers in Weymouth in the 1860 Census.  Lydia grew up in South Scituate (later known as Norwell).  Before Lydia and George were married, she worked as a boot fitter in Scituate (1860 census p1; p2).  I wish I knew the story of how their lives crossed paths from different towns and how they eventually met, but I do not have these little details. Perhaps they worked at the same shoe factory, although I would think they worked closer to their homes as there were many shoe factories in the area.

Around the time George and Lydia were married, the civil war draft was enacted. This was the first time the US enacted a mandatory conscription, for men the ages of 20-45. I was not able to find George in the database on ancestry of U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 - I am not sure why. I tried browsing, but I found it difficult to find the congressional district for Weymouth or Hingham. Also, the names do not seem to be in perfect alphabetical order or by town. I tried searching for George C without Cowing, and I tried searching for Weymouth, but there were no results. I am not sure if George even registered for the draft, but I would think that he would have had to legally. I know you could pay someone to take your place as a substitute but I think this only happened if you were called from the draft register; so you would still have to register. A person could also pay 300 dollars to stay out of the war; but again, you would still first have to register and only pay if your name was called.

I did find an article from NARA's publication, Prologue, (Winter 1994, Vol. 26, No. 4) which explains these records. In this article, it does state that the consoloditated lists were not always complete and some records were lost. Perhaps this is why I am unable to find George in this ancestry database. George's brother, Charles G Cowing, and some of George's uncles did fight in the Civil War, as they are listed in another database on ancestry, U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865. I was not able to find any of these men in the Civil War draft register either; but they could have enlisted on their own, rather than register for the draft. I do find it interesting that George did not enlist in the Civil War on his own, as the Cowing family did seem to be interested in slaves' rights and abolitionism (see previous posts), but maybe as a newly married man, he was looking forward to starting a family and did not want to risk his life in a war.

Even though George did not fight in the Civil War, I am sure he heard many battle stories from those he knew that fought. His brother in law, Charles Hayward, his sister Elizabeth's husband enlisted at the age of 19 (before he met Elizabeth). According to his death record in 1892, Charles was imprisoned at Andersonville during the war. I did not know anything about this prison until I looked it up on Wikipedia - very troubling description and images. It would be interesting to obtain Charle's Civil War pension, to see how he ended up at the prison and how long he was there.

Lydia and George were about 23 years old when they had their first child, Mary Elizabeth born about 1864. The next year they had another daughter, Helen (my 2nd great grandmother); then their first son, George, in 1868. The 1865 Massachusetts Census has George and Lydia enumerated below Freeman and Joanna French, Lydia's parents.  They may have been living with them or maybe next door; but by the 1870 census it seems they moved a little down the street onto Washington street to a place of their own. The 1879 South Scituate map shows the location of George C Cowen residence. The map also shows Lydia's father Freeman, near the pond, still very close by. George and Lydia stayed in South Scituate, George working in the shoe industry, for the rest of their married life.

1879 South Scituate map shows the location of George C Cowen residence


George and Lydia did have a fourth child, but not until 1880, 12 years after their third child.  Lydia and George were about 39 years old when they had this last child, Percy. I would imagine that was tough to have another baby 12 years after your last one. I am sure their daughters Mary (age 16) and Helen (age 15) were helpful in raising Percy for the years before they were married in 1884 and 1885. At age 16 in 1880 Mary was no longer in school according to the census and would be at home the most.

I found an interesting bit of information on George when I searched for him and his family in the Massachusetts City Directories database on ancestry.com. George C Cowing is listed in the Hanover 1898 directory as belonging to the organization of The Temple of Honor, Corner Stone Lodge, no. 22. (He was living in Norwell, but the meetings were at Union Hall in Hanover, MA). I did not know anything about this organization, so I did some google searches. Most of the search results included information on the Odd Fellows organization, as I believe part of their organization was Temple of Honor and Temperance. I was not sure this was the right club that George belonged to as the Hanover directory also lists separately an Odd Fellows Organization and their members, which would have met at the Odd Fellows building in Hanover. I decided to look in google books for any references to The Temple of Honor, and I believe I found what I was looking for in a couple of books. One book, the History of the temperance reform in Massachusetts, 1813-1883, by George Faber Clark page 72, has an entire chapter on the Temple of Honor.




This excerpt triggered my memory of a document my mother gave me some time ago about an ancestor pledging not to drink alcohol.  I could not remember who signed this, until I looked up the document in my small box of family papers.  My scanner does not seem to be working, so I took a picture of it. 

This document is for Ethel F. Stoddard, George's granddaughter (my great grandmother).  It is from the Massachusetts Abstinence Society, signed in 1894.  Ethel would only have been 6 years old, I cannot imagine that she actually signed it.  It does seem that George and his family however felt very strongly against consuming alcohol that they would have their granddaughter at only age 6 pledge to not drink.  I did not know my great grandmother Ethel, nor did my grandmother talk much about her, but I wonder if she continued with her grandfather's strong beliefs.

George and Lydia had many losses in the late 1880s. In 1887, Lydia's mother Joanna died. Less than a year later, George's father, Joshua Cowing died in February of 1888. The following year Lydia's father also died in 1889. George's mother would live for another four years after her husband Joshua dies.

Unfortunately, George only lives 7 years after his mother's death. George died on October 4 1899, in Norwell, MA at the age of 58. The town record of his death states he died of heart disease, dropsy. I fould George's gravestone at the Washington Street Cemetery in Norwell with his daughter Helen and his son in law Arthur Stoddard. Sadly, George's wife is not buried with him, or at least there is no stone or engraving for her.

I am not sure when Lydia died, but I was not able to find her in the Massachusetts Vital Records online through familysearch or americanancestors.org. The records only go up to 1915, perhaps she lived past this date. She also could have married again, and listed under her new married name, although I was not able to find a new marriage record for Lydia either.   Her other daughter Mary is buried at Fairmont Cemetery in East Weymouth.  A volunteer from findagrave.com took a picture of Mary's stone for me, which is multisided.  I am not sure if Lydia is on another side of the stone, but it does look to be a family stone for Mary's husband's family, the Gardners.  I will have to visit the cemetery and check to see if Lydia is buried with them.

stone of Mary Cowing Gardner (George and Lydia's daughter) at Fairmount Cemetery, East Weymouth

photo by hammer on findagrave.com

I also have to search for her other two children to see if she is buried with them.   I did find her parent's gravesite at Liberty Plain cemetery in Hingham, but I did not see Lydia there either.   (See Update under to do list)


to do list:

1. Find where Lydia Helen French Cowing is buried (and when she died) (UPDATE: Ancestry.com has added a new database since I wrote this post - Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 - which is an index created by the Holbrooks of vital records throughout the state of Massachusetts.  I was able to find Helen L Cowing, which states she died in 1919 and actually is buried at Washington Street Cemetery in Norwell, MA.  So she did not remarry, and maybe she is buried with her husband and her name just is not on the stone.  Or maybe she is buried at another plot.)
2. Find if George did register for Civil War - also interesting to note that the 1870 census he lists his name as John Cowing - was he hiding his name.
3. Find land records for George C Cowing in Scituate, Plymouth County. Probably moved to own house in Scituate between 1865-1870. County Boundaries can be determined at this website : Historical County Boundary Maps - BETA
4. Find George's probate 1899 Norwell, MA - plymouth county (UPDATE: found probate docket - see post here)

cowing house

While I was researching for the last post, I came across a picture of a house on the Historical Section of the Town of Weymouth website.



This is the house that Francis Cowing is living in around 1876, as shown in the Weymouth Map I discussed in my last post on Samuel Pratt. The house was near the location of Samuel and Alithea Pratt. Also, according to the History of Weymouth book (vol. 2, p 918), my 6th great-grandparents, Joshua Bates and Tirzah Pratt, lived in this house in the late 1700's or early 1800's, before Francis Cowing.
The caption above the Cowing house picture states that the family donated the farm behind the house to the town to build the Weymouth North High School (currently the Middle School). I searched the deeds on the Norfolk County website and found a Weymouth deed in Sept 1926, (1714-125, 126, 127) stating that the Town of Weymouth voted to "take", from Francis W. Cowing (Francis H. Cowing's son), a certain area of land between Hillside and Middle Street for the purpose of a playground, raising $100 for this owner, Francis W. Cowing. Another deed in Weymouth (1763-331,332) for 1927 states that Francis W. Cowing sold, to the Town of Weymouth, land "between Hillside Avenue and Legion Memorial Field" for $400.00. Hillside Avenue does not seem to be a street in Weymouth anymore, but Legion field is located behind the current Middle School (old High School), on Middle Street. This may be land in addition to what was already given or sold to the Town of Weymouth for the old High School on Commercial Street. I searched a little more to see if I could find the original deed that involved the Cowing family and the land for the old High School on Commercial Street. I found the following Weymouth deed (1677-361,362) for December 1925 which states Francis W. Cowing gave to the Town of Weymouth 13 acres on Commercial Street, originally his father's, Francis H. Cowing, land. The original deed for Francis H. Cowing is referenced to have happened in 1877, Norfolk deed book 490, page 80. This is probably the land that is referred to in the caption above the picture, behind the Cowing House, which is now the Middle School and was once the High School.
There are many more deeds online for Francis W. Cowing, but the ones discussed above were the ones that pertained to the Town of Weymouth. I find it interesting that the Town of Weymouth bought this land for what seems to be small amounts of money, for even this time period. It does see that Francis W. Cowing started the process by first giving a large amount of land, 13 acres, to the town. Then the town used Eminent Domain to take some land for only $100.00 to create a playground, perhaps Legion Field or an area near Legion Field. Then Francis W. Cowing decided to sell some more land to the Town of Weymouth for $400.00 in the same area. It is not clear why the Cowing Family decided to donate land to the Town, but it is nice to think that the school I once went to was once land belonging to my ancestors.

helen l. cowing stoddard

Helen L. Cowing, my great-great grandmother, was born March 22, 1865 in South Scituate, MA. Her parents were George Clinton Cowing and Lydia Helen French.

Helen was the second oldest of four children to George and Lydia.  She had an older sister, Mary and two younger brothers, George and Percy.  Percy was actually born much later than the rest of the siblings.  Helen was fifteen years older than Percy and would only live in the same house as him for about 4 years. 

1870 census

From helen lydia cowing

1880 census

From helen lydia cowing

Helen was 19 years old when she married Arthur T. Stoddard in Weymouth on May 11, 1884.  They probably met when they were young, as they lived only six houses apart, according to the South Scituate map from 1879.  I have written a bit about Arthur and Helen in this blog post; which includes the map of South Scituate for 1879.

After they married, Helen and Arthur lived on High Street in Norwell, MA.  The town of South Scituate changed its name to Norwell in 1888, so they were still living close to home; really in the same town as they grew up in.   Helen's siblings did not stay in Scituate/Norwell, but moved to towns of Malden, Brockton and Hingham in Massachusetts.  They probably did not see much of each other once they married and had families of their own.  Helen and Arthur had three daughters, Nellie, Ethel and Carrie in Norwell.

Helen died at a young age of 49 years, of Acute Bright's Disease. Helen is buried at the Washington Street Cemetery in Norwell with her husband Arthur, her daughter Carrie, and her father George C. Cowing.


Helen was survived by her mother, her husband and two of her daughters, Ethel and Nellie.  As I wrote in another blog post, her daughter Carrie took her own life a year before Helen died.  Her two surviving daughters did marry and had children of their own, all in Norwell, MA.  Helen was alive to see 8 out of 15 of her grandchildren born; although, two of those grandchildren died within a few days of birth.  My grandmother (Helen, probably named after her) never got to meet her grandmother, Helen.  She was born 15 years after Helen died.  She never spoke much about her family, maybe because she did not know all that much herself. 

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.


View Larger Map

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

Susan Hunt Cowing

There seems to be a lot of birthdays for the sisters of my direct ancestors in February. Today is the day that Susan Hunt Cowing, my 4th great grandaunt, was born. According to the Massachusetts Vital Records database on newenglandancestors.org, she was born February 7, 1822. I wrote a little about Susan and her involvement in the anti-slavery movement in my entry on the Cowing family here. There were some articles in the magazine, The Liberator, which has Susan noted as the treasurer of the Weymouth Female Anti-Slavery Society from at least 1851 - 1860.

Susan never married, and also had two other sisters, Lucretia and Sarah, that never married. I am not sure how Susan supported herself, as in the 1880 census (page 2 is here) she lived in Weymouth, and her occupation is listed as "keeping house". She was the head of the household though, with her sister Maria Willey listed as boarder with her son Theodore. Her brother, William Cowing, is also living with her, his occupation is listed as unemployed. Perhaps Susan inherited her father, Balch Cowing's, estate, as he appeared to have some status in the town. Another nephew is also living with Susan in 1880 according to the census, Francis H. Cowing, along with a servant Bridget Killion. Chamberlain's History of Weymouth book states her heirs, which were her sisters and nephews.

Weymouth Female Anti-Slavery Society

I went back to reading the article in Family Tree magazine on the top 101 websites, and decided to try out genealogybank.com this time. I did not have much hope in finding much, as I have searched newspaper archives in the past and have not found any interesting information.

Since I have been working on my tree for some years now, I knew which family would probably make the news back then. The Cowings. According to the 1870 census, my 5th great grandfather, Balch Cowing, had a personal estate valuing much more than his neighbors. He also married Cynthia Bates, the sister of Joshua Bates, first benefactor of the Boston Public Library. (Side note: I also found an interesting association to the above mentioned Joshua Bates from Wikipedia - his great granddaughter is supposedly Sylvia Brett, the last Rani of Sarawak - apparently a very dramatic woman.)

Getting back to genealogybank, I did a general search on the Cowing last name in any newspapers in Massachusetts with the keyword of Weymouth. It turns out that many articles came up, mostly on Balch's children. One was about the 90th birthday party of his son Francis H. Cowing. Most of the articles were on the following children who belonged to anti-slavery societies in Weymouth: Henry, Lucretia, Sarah and Susan; acting as either treasurers or secretaries to the societies in the 1830s through the 1850s. One of the more interesting articles in the newspaper (April 23d, 1844 (Letters) Date: 1844-05-10; Paper: The Liberator) was a letter written by Anne Weston and Cowing (probably Sarah) of the Anti Slavery Society to Mr. Perkins, their minister, asking why they would not permit a Mr. Quincy to lecture at the meeting house on anti-slavery. In response to their letter, it seems Mr. Perkins and the assessors of the meeting house give the following reason, "we refuse the use of the house, not because we wish to close the ears of a whole parish to the cries of outraged humanity, but because we object to the sentiments of the individual whom you wish to give the lecture." The response goes on to say the Mr. Quincy attacks Christianity, the Sabbath, the government, etc.

I can only imagine the courage it took for these women to stand up to their minister and question a decision that he made. I can picture them sitting at a table for hours laboring over every word before they published the letter. The meetings and discussions they had over these issues must have been most interesting. It is also interesting to note that Lucretia, Susan and Sarah never married, unusual for that time period. Perhaps they were so dedicated to the anti-slavery cause that there was no time for marriage.

I am not sure who Mr. Quincy is in this letter, but he certainly has peaked my interest.

Here is a small excerpt that mentions Maria (Cowing) Willey, from The New England Magazine. Boston: [New England Magazine Co, 1887. Vol. 34.





To Do:
1. Find out more about Mr. Quincy - I think they are referring to Edmund Quincy after preliminary research. He seems to be in association with William Lloyd Garrison - publisher of The Liberator. Also, Maria Weston Chapman and her sisters referred to in blog entry are friends with William Lloyd Garrison. This group was somewhat controversial, not all abolitionists agreed with them. The Weston sisters were known to attend different churches to get a sense of the church's views on slavery. Maria stopped attending the Federal Street Church in Boston as she did not agree with the minister's sermons and views.
2. Find the members of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society - formed in 1834 by the Weston sisters, were any of the Cowings members?
3. Search on genealogybank.com for Bates family.

Links On Topic
1. Annual Reports of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society from Internet Archive.