CAPTAIN THOMAS COWDIN. BY MISS ADA L. HOWARD. Read at a Meeting of the Society, February 21, 1898, by Mrs. S. E. Lawton of Brattleboro, Vt. Had a stranger, something more than a century ago, been travelling in quest of picturesque scenery and Hygeian air, he might have driven toward the hill country about Mount Wachusett and tarried for a rest in the village of Fitchburg. At the hospitable "great house of the 'Squire'" he would have been courteously received as guest. The host would have impressed him as a man of marked individuality of character, and led him to inquire, "Who is he?" The citizen would have replied, "Thomas Cowdin, Esquire, the autocrat of Fitchburg, whose word is law." Down through the hundred years since putting off his visible form, the unique and powerful personality of Thomas Cowdin comes to us in bold relief, and the essential man is a living centenarian to-day. His services in making the world stronger and better led grateful fellowcitizens to chronicle him as "by far the most prominent founder of Fitchburg," and caused historians to give him honorable military recognition in King George's war, the French and Indian war, and the war of the Revolution. By summing up records and family traditions, and interpreting his portrait, we find Thomas Cowdin cast in a clear-cut mould, sensitive in fibre, clear in thought, and "True as the needle to the pole, Or as the dial to the sun." There was fire in the depths of the greyish blue eyes, a trace of the old Roman in the handsome nose, but the tell-tale corners of the firmly-closed mouth revealed a capacity for genuine humor, and for speaking winged words of affection to the innermost friends of his heart. His lineaments, expression, and general bearing indicated quick perception, strong mental grasp, and a will to overcome every obstacle. He was less a talker and a writer than a thinker and a doer, his modes of thought and action bearing a deep impress of his Scottish descent. In some encyclopedic records Thomas Cowden appears as an "Irish gentleman," but his ancestors in both paternal and maternal lines were of the land of the ThistleScots "dyed in the wool"-and the short sojourn in Ulster Province, Ireland, but intensified their Scottish elements of character. The most distant background of the Cowdens of which we have any knowledge includes the deep, wooded valleys of England, where the name originated. In Norfolkshire, at a very early period, were landholders named Thomas Cowden and Nathaniel Cowden. For centuries Cowden has been known as a place-name and a family name in Scotland. Colden or Colding and Cowden are different forms of the same name. Near Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, are the "Cowden-knowes" (or Colden-knowes), and in the vicinity once stood "Cowden Peel," the stronghold of chieftain, or laird, to whose ruins allusions are made by the poet. Of the Cowden-knowes, Hon. Robert Ferguson writes: "Knowes means little hills, and Cowden is the name of an old estate there. I conceive Cowden to be a name of local origin from den or dene, the Anglo-Saxon for valley, and Cowden may signify cow-valley. Cowden-knowes, Cowden-heath, etc., I take to be later possessions of that family." There is a record of the removal of one Thomas Cowden from Scotland to Ireland, and traditions in Ireland fix the date about 1688. The old Cowden home in Ireland was at Manor-Cunningham, near Londonderry, on the road to Letterkenny. There is still standing a large building called the "Cowden-house." The Cowdens were known as the wealthiest family in that section. James Cowden, father of Thomas Cowden, Esq., was born in Ireland in 1695, and was probably son of Thomas Cowden who went from Scotland to Ireland about 1688. His coat-of-arms answers in descripton to the most ancient Cowden coat-of-arms in Scotland. In heraldic language it is described: "Az. on a fesse ar. between three annulets or a lion pass. sa. The crest a demi-lion sa. charged with an annulet or label." "The lion indicated kinship with royalty, or a grant to a favorite follower." In Ireland Cowden was sometimes spelled Cowdin. Both forms appear in official records of James Cowden, but the true name, Cowden, has been retained by most of his descendants. Of the personality of James Cowden we have but the brief summary: "He came from the North, and his words were few, But his voice was kind, and his heart was true." Family tradition says, "He was a barrister in his own country, and sometime resident in Dublin." He married young and had one child, David. This wife could not have long survived, for "early in 1720" James Cowden married Janet Craige. The first wife was probably "Lady Polly Connor." Marriages between Scots and Irish were rare, but occasionally a typical Scotsman, "shrewd, silent, more prone to listen than to speak," found a delightful complement in an Irish companion, with wide range of feeling from deepest pathos to highest merriment. The young barrister might well be captivated by that "sweetness and innocency of expression that characterized an Irish lady," especially if she inherited the spirit and talent of the ancient family, Connor. Janet Craige, second wife of Barrister Cowden, was of the ancient family, Craig, Craige, or Craigie, whose name seems to have been derived from an old estate in Linlithgowshire, Scotland. The Craigs and Cowdens emigrated from Scotland to Ireland about the same time and located near each other, the Craigs living between Manor-Cunningham and Newton-Cunningham. In later years there were other marriages between the Cowdens and Craigs in Ireland and in America. In the spring of 1728, an earnest band prepared to sail from Londonderry for America. Of the number were Barrister James Cowden, his wife and four or five children; also Matthew Cowden, son of William Cowden, twelve years the junior of James, and probably his cousin. Matthew went to Paxtang township in Pennsylvania, and in his family records we find, "He had relatives in New England." Imagination and a knowledge of the shipping facilities of the time must furnish the diary of hardships and dangers, hopes and fears of the family, from the day of packing their goods in Ireland to that of landing at the foot of King street in Boston. James Cowden's "double-case, bull's-eye silver watch," still in possession of his greatgreat-grandson, Rev. David C. Cowden of Gallipolis, Ohio, gives no clue to the time it measured from shore to shore. Mrs. Cowden probably had relatives here, for James, John, David and Robert Craige were among those who came from the vicinity of Londonderry to New England in 1718, fifty of the families settling in North Worcester, Mass., near the "Old Fort," while others founded Londonderry, N. H. In 1731 James Cowden purchased land in North Worcester and made a homestead there. The place was nearly a wilderness, no permanent settlement having been made till 1723. The colony of 1718 suffered persecution as "Irish" and Presbyterians, till many families left; yet they were not Irish, but intensely Scotch. The history of the period in England and Ireland suggests reasons why Barrister James Cowden chose life in New England. Impaired health, natural inclination to quiet life, and a desire to join his fellow-countrymen seem to have influenced him to settle in North Worcester. In 1740 the names of James Cowden and his son, David Cowden, appear in a petition to the general court, praying that North Worcester may be made a separate town. The act of incorporation was passed and the town named Holden. His children at length numbered seven sons and two daughters, David, Thomas, Margaret, William, Samuel, Elizabeth, Robert, John and James. They were doubtless brought up on the old Scotch system,-"fine air, simple diet, and solid training in knowledge human and divine.” To each son Mr. Cowden gave a trade, and they all became landholders. During the Revolutionary war David, Thomas and William entered the service of the army, holding the rank of captain. Capt. David Cowden was in Col. Woodbridge's regiment at the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775. John and James entered the "Alarm List Companies" as privates. "To be a private in the Alarm List Companies was proclaimed by the journals to be an honor; to be chosen to office in them to be a mark of highest distinction." Capt. David Cowden was an officer in the army in New York state during most of the war. He and his brothers, James and John, invested in lands in New York |