G. W. Cowan, farmer, P. O., Slater. The subject of this sketch was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, October 24, 1822. At the age of twelve, in 1836, he came with his mother and the rest of the family to Saline county, Missouri, in wagons, and settled on the farm then owned by Daniel Thornton. After coming to Saline, he learned the carpenter trade from Howard Cameron, and followed it for about ten years, and then went to farming. In 1847 he was married to Miss Mary Thornton, daughter of Daniel Thornton, one of the first settlers of Saline county, She was born in 1830, in Saline county. They have had nine children, and have seven now living: Daniel, Robert, William, Howard, Mrs. F. R. Wiley, Nancy E., and Mary A. Since 1857 he has lived on a farm four miles west of Saline City. In 1864 he enlisted in the Confederate army, in Price’s last raid, and was at the Big Blue fight, and in the fights of the retreat.
