Wabash, Jan. 2. The death of Mrs. Edith Cowgill, whose funeral took place yesterday at North Manchester, removes one of the most prominent of the Wabash pioneers. She was eighty-nine years, five months and six days old, and was the mother of a large family of children, among whom are Hon. Calvin Cowgill, of this city, and Mrs. Jacob Harter, Mrs. Joseph Harter, Mrs. Wallace, and Mrs. Ella Rhodes, of North Manchester.
Edith Cowgill was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, July 25, 1799. Her parents were Nathan and Ann Mendenhall, who removed from North Carolina to Clinton county, Ohio, when Edith was but seven years old. She was the eldest of a family of eight children. Her parents were members of the Society of Friends, in which society she had a birthright, which she retained until death.
She married Amos Cowgill, conformably to the usage of the Society of Friends, on Jan. 21, 1818, and resided in Clinton county until April, 1836, when the family removed to Randolph county, Indiana, and resided in that county until the autumn of 1846, when another removal was made to Kalamazoo county, Michigan, and two years later they settled down in Wabash county. Amos Cowgill died at North Manchester in 1856, and Mrs. Cowgill has since resided in that place, making her homo either with her daughters, Ella Rhodes or Catherine Harter.
She was the mother of fifteen children, of which Calvin Cowgill is the oldest and Ella Rhodes the youngest. Of these six are living.