Andrew McGowan

MCGOWAN, MORGAN, HARTZELL

Posted By: Diane McGowan Tichenor (email)
Date: 2/21/2014 at 10:50:04

Andrew McGowan was the son of Samuel and Susan Hartzell McGowan.

Andrew was called "Drew" by his younger brother, Jonas H. McGowan [letters dated 1906 and 1907]

Eliza and Andrew's marriage record is found with scan of the original on familysearch.org
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XDPY-QJR
name: Andrew Mcgowen
Marriage date: 29 May 1852
place : Stark, Ohio, United States
spouse: Eliza Morgan
reference number: Vol C, pg 26 Stark Co, Ohio marriage records
film number: 897628
digital folder number: 004701464, image number: 00494
Collection: Eliza Morgan, "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994"

Andrew and Eliza were early activists in the abolitionist movement, as shown in this Anti-Slavery Bugle article from 18 Sep, 1852, p. 3, col. 5

Young People's Convention!!
At a meeting of a committee appointed to
decide upon a time and place, and issue a
call for the meeting of the young people of
Ohio in Convention; it Was decided that
such a convention should be held on the
25th and 26th of September next, at Marlboro,
Stark county, Ohio; the first session com-
mencing on the 25th, at ten o'clock, A. M.
Our object in calling the young people
together, is not to consider the narrow, sel-
fish views of any sect or party, but to discuss
the great question of Human Rights. Young
men and women! Upon your physical, intel-
lectual, and moral development, depends the
future progress and elevation of the race.

Then throw aside the shackles of party
and prejudice, and let us discuss with a sin-
cere desire to know the truth of those prin-
ciples which lie at the foundation of human
improvement and happiness.

All are cordially invited, nay, urged to come
prepared to take an active part in the doings
of the convention. It will be under the ex-
clusive control of the young: then let us come
up a mighty host, in the strength and ardor
of youth, and with willing hands and brave
hearts take hold of the monster evil, and tear
it limb from limb. The services of some
experienced speakers, capable of adding in-
terest to the occasion will be secured.
William H. Bettis Eliza M. McGowen
Julia Cleverly James Morgan,
Susan Spiker Andrew McGowen
Alvah Campbell Cath. S. Morris
All papers friendly to the movement please
copy the above

From the Anti-Slavery Bugle, 9 Oct 1852, p. 3, col 1 and 2:
Proceedings of Young People's Convention,
HELD AT MARLBORO, STARK CO. O., SEPTEMBER.
25TH AND 26TH,1852
...After short retirement, the nominating committee
reported tho following named persons as
officers : Lewis Erwin, President ; Alvah W.
Campbell and Eugene B. Tierce, Vice President,
Elisa M. McGowen and Catharine S.
Morris, Secretaries....
...FIFTH SESSION.
The President being absent, the house was
called to order by one of the Vice Presidents.
The resolution offered by T. Wickcrsham, was
then read and discussed by A. G. Wileman, E.
Brooke, Elisha Erwin, Andrew McGowan, .....,
Thomas Morgan, ......
when on motion the convention adjourned
indefinitely.
LEWIS ERWIN, President.
Eliza M. McGown, Cath. S. Morris, Secretaries

Andrew attended Mount Union College 1850 - 1851 and 1851 - 52 per phone call to Joanne Houmard, archivist Mount Union College, phone call, according to Mount Union college archives.

Soon after their marrige Andrew and Eliza followed Andrew's parents to resettle in Orland, Steuben County, Indiana. They resumed their abolisitonis work there, helping to host the important lectureres who came through the area, and helping Andrew's father, Adam, harbor escaped slaves via the Underground Railroad. Orland, Indiana, a very small community, was very active in the anit-slavery movement of the 1850's; yet, they could not agree about why they were anti-slavery. The following letter well shows the debate between the abolitionists themselves. There were those, like Andrew, who felt that churches were not doing enough because they did not censure their slave-holding or sympathizing members. Andrew and Eliza's group felt that humans on their own should be able to figure out that slavery was just plain wrong. Some of the stauch church members felt that the Bible was the reason to speak against slavery, even though the South used certain Bible passages to support slavery. Some believed that those like Andrew and Eliza were anti-religion, and even "infedels".

Andrew wrote the following letter to The Anti-Slavery Bugle, Lisbon, Ohio, printed 14 April 1855, p. 2, col. 2 and 3.
ORLAND, Steuben Co., Indiana,
March 30th, 1855.
Mr. Editor Dear Sir: Thinking that you and
your readers will be interested in knowing some
what of the progress of the cause of the slave, and
the state of Anti-Slavery feeling in this village
and vicinity, we send you the following communi-
cation, which you will please use as seemeth you
best.
The "true and tried" friends of humanity,
Charles and Josephine Griffing, came to our village
on the evening of the 23d inst., to talk to us on
the subject of Slavery, and on their arrival, found
the church doors closed against them ; but they
obtained permission to speak in the Seminary,
where a large audience assembled to hear the gos-
pel of Anti-Slavery,
The first inquiry naturally instituted by Mr. and
Mrs. Griffing was, why they were shut out from
the churches. One very respectable member and
trustee of the M. E. Church said, that he had no
objection to their occupying his church for the
purpose of delivering an Anti-Slavery lecture, but
he would not consent to open it for them to
engage in tirade against the churches.
If telling the truth, demonstrated by documen-
tary evidence and facts, concerning the corruptions
and pro-slavery character of the popular denomi-
nations of this country, be a tirade upon the
churches, then are they verily guilty of this charge.
They say there are 4000 slaveholders in the M. E.
Church North, all of them brothers beloved and in
good standing and fellowship with that body; that
instead of breaking every yoke and letting the op-
pressed go free, it is laying grievous burdens on
many of God's children ; that it traffics in the
bodies and souls of men, rearing them for the
shambles; that it robs cradles, sanctions prostitu-
tion, swings the blond-clotted cow-skin, that de-
scends deep into the quivering flesh of defenseless
men, women and children, that it denies the hu-
manity of a part of God's children, crushing all
the higher and nobler attributes of their nature,
and making it a penal offense to teach them what it
claims to be the Word of tho Lord, and the only
means of salvation. These statements are equally
true, to a greater or less extent, of all the popular
denominations in the United States; and those
churches that are not directly implicated in the
sin of slave holding are virtual slaveholders by
striking hands with the slaveholder by not rebuk-
ing, but sanctioning and apologizing for his
heaven-daring crimes, and fellowshipping him as
a brother in the Lord. If these facts and similar
ones be a "tirade against the churches," then the
more we have of such tirades, the better for the
progress of freedom, truth and humanity every
where. There were several objections urged by a learned
Doctor of this place a member of the Baptist
Church and a hunker Democrat, but they are too
frivolous and foolish to deserve attention here.
We will now proceed to mention what appeared
to be the principal objection which was urged by
Elder Spear, minister of the Baptist Church in
Orland. Alter stating one or two objections, he
said he had another, a private objection, of still
greater importance. It was this: that he and El-
der Town, (a Baptist brother,) having heard of
floating rumors through the country that Mr. Foss
and Mr. and Mrs. Griffing were Infidels, and they,
wishing to know the truth of this matter, called
upon them at Angola, and in a private conversation,
elicited their real views of the Bible and theology,
which he declared were heretical and dangerously
infidel ; consequently he was opposed to their oc-
cupying his church for anti-slavery work.
Being called upon in a courteous and gentle
manly manner for their private opinions on these
subjects, they were honestly and frankly given,
little suspecting that Elder Spear would give his
influence for closing the church doors, and attempt
to poison and prejudice the public mind against
them and anti slavery lecturers, or that Elder Town
would join in the mad-dog cry of Infidel, and vin-
dicate such grossly wicked and unchristian con-
duct.

This they have done; but why do they claim
that these persons are infidels? Is it because they
differed from them upon tho great fundamental
principles of truth, right, and Christian duty?
According to their own showing, they were all
agreed upon the e points, and only differed in con-
clusions drawn from these premises. Mr. Griffing
stated these facts, and claimed that the conversa-
tion had been misrepresented. This was denied
by Elder Spear. Mr Griffing then said that he never
had been dragged into, nor would he now be driven
into a theological discussion in an anti-slavery
meeting, but he would meet the Rev. gentleman at
any time or place he would mention, either in pub-
lic or private, and they would go through with the
conversation before the citizens of this place, and
They should judge who were the infidels. This
Elder Spear refused to do, thus fastening the con-
viction upon the minds of the speakers, and a
portion of the audience, that all this outcry about
infidelity was a pious fraud gotten up for the oc-
casion, to divert the minds of the people from the
true issue the corruption, atheism, infidelity and
pro-slavery character of the churches, which was
(notwithstanding the effort to divert,) shown up
in a strong light by our friends. After a good
deal of discussion, and much feeling on both sides,
they obtained permission to speak in the same
house on the next Wednesday evening. On the
evening appointed. Messrs. Foss and Griffing were
present and addressed the people on their relation
to the slave and their duty to the oppressed. Mr.
Foss, in the course of his remarks, alluded to the
above mentioned conversation, the closing of the
churches, and the stereotype cry of infidelity that
these Rev. Divines had raised against him and his
associates, as it was due to himself, his friends and
the audience that they should be fully understood.
He reiterated the charge of Mr. Griffing, that the
conversation had been misrepresented;
ministers agreed with them in the main pro-
positions discussed. Those statements were
followed by cries of "False," and "Untrue," from
the Rev. gentleman, and the attempt of a good,
order loving, law-abiding deacon and the two min-
isters to speak at the same lime. After some con-
fusion, which evidently had in it the elements of
riot, order was restored, when Mr. Griffing, and
afterward Mr. Foss, proposed that they would meet
Elders Spear and Town at any time or place they
would appoint, and if they did not prove to the
satisfaction of unprejudiced persons that they
had falsified, they would retract tho charges they
had made.
They still refused to do so, making the impres-
stronger than ever that they were fearful that a
fair and full investigation of the whole matter
would place them in an odious light before the
community. Mr. Foss now finished his remarks,
exposing in a masterly manner the rottenness and
hypocrisy of the popular pro-slavery religion of
this country. Mrs. Griffing followed with some
very pertinent remarks upon the present manifes-
tation of priestly arrogance and proscription
showing that the closing of the churches and the
present attempt to gag and put down free discus-
sion, would elicit truth, expose error, and hasten
the day of the slave's redemption. Elder Town
followed, making a sorry attempt to justify the
closing of meeting houses against all anti-slavery
lecturers who differed, or were suspected of differ-
ing from the theology of the present day. He
justified his own course, and that of Elder Spear,
in eliciting the private views of Griffing and Foss,
of which to make public capital, to prejudice the
minds of the people, and close their ears to anti-
slavery truth. He also stated that Garrisonian
abolitionists were opposed to all religion, govern-
ment, law and order, and were in favor of anarchy
and confusion. We have but little to say of such
gross misrepresentations, for he and all others who
make such assertions are either utterly ignorant or
basely wicked.
In speaking of the anti-slavery character of the
Constitution of the United States, he said, there is
a party of over three hundred thousand that hold
the Constitution to be an anti-slavery document.
which was proven by Mr. Griffing to be false and
utterly unfounded.

After Town had closed his remarks the mobo-
cratic spirit of some of our professed anti-slavery
citizens seemed to be at its height; for some of
them who are pious, order-loving church members
shouted, "Adjourn!" and immediately rose and
with whoops and confusion Left the house, in com-
pany with about one third of those present; but
Mr. Griffing raised his voice so as to be heard
above all the din, and denounced in the strongest
terms, and most scorchingly rebuked a lying priest
and priesthood. The facts are significant, and
speak in tones not to be mistaken, of the corrup-
tions and pro-slavery influence of the popular re-
ligious denominations of this country.
Yours, for Truth and Humanity,
A. McGOWEN.

The paper added:
We are obliged to our friend M'Gown for his let-
ter. Northern Indiana is astir.

In 1860 Andrew was a neighbor to his parents in Greenfield Twp, LaGrange Co, IN. He does not own the land.

Memoirs of Delbert McGowan Concerning the Life of His Parents, Andrew and Eliza (Morgan) McGowan
from pp 166 - 171 Cowart

"My parents were both born and reared in Northeastern Ohio; my father near the present village of Deerfield and my mother on a farm near Columbiana, Ohio. They met when they were attending what was then known as Mt. Union college at Alliance, Ohio. Both of them taught in the schools of their respective townships. At the time of her marriage my mother was 24 years of age and my father was 24 also, both having been born in the year 1828, just a few months apart.

Most of the country was given over to agriculture, and since the school terms were relatively short, it follows that during the spring and summer my father would devote his time to farming. Since his father Samuel McGowan was a farmer, my father was experienced in this type of work.

When my grandfather, Samuel McGowan, was approaching his middle fifties he sold the family home near Deerfield and moved to Orland, Indiana. The task of clearing new farming land proved too much for him and as his health began to fail my father moved to Wall Lake, Indiana which was close enough to assist his father with the work.

At this time there began a migration westward to the prairie lands of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. My mother's brothers had gone to Iowa and the glowing letters they wrote about the country kindled a desire in Andrew and Eliza to do likewise. Then my mother's father, Lewis Morgan and wife left Ohio and went to a farm near West Liberty, Iowa, where they were nearer to their sons.

After the death of my grandfather, Samuel McGowan , (and, grandmother Susan McGowan went to live with her daughter, Molly Neihardt) my mother and father set out for Iowa in a covered wagon. It was an uneventful trip. Eliza with two little girls at her side and the baby in her arms (Howard), she drove the team while my father walked along prodding the farm animals that followed behind the wagon.

They first came to what is now the village of Searsboro, Iowa, for it was here that my mother's oldest brother, Thomas Morgan, had already established himself. My father worked for his brother-in-law in between the time he worked on his own land. My parents had bought a small farm not far from Uncle Thomas.

Searsboro was out on the open prairie and one of the problems of the settlers was fuel. My father, when not otherwise engaged, freighted coal up from the coal pits in southeastern Iowa. It was natural, since both his father and father-in-law were anti-slavery and engaged in the underground that my father should feel strongly about emancipation, and on the coal freighting trips he often assisted in passing run-away slaves from station to station.

The nearest railroad to Searsboro was Brooklyn, Iowa, about 16 miles away. It was at Searsboro that the first sorrow and disaster came into the family, when the oldest child, a daughter, Ida Kate, contracted diphtheria and died. I remember hearing my older sister, Cora Viola, tell of my father riding to Brooklyn horseback with her sitting behind him, as he took her to catch the train back to Marlboro to Aunt Sue Brooks, mother's only sister, to get Cora away from any chance of catching the dread disease, Ida Kate is buried at Searsboro.

During the years that followed my sister Cora spent much of her time with Aunt Sue, who had no children of her own. Aunt Sue was a teacher in a little school near Marlboro, and it solved much of my sister's educational problems to remain there and go to school. Aunt Sue's husband, Henry Brooks, was a farmer and stockman, and they welcomed the little Cora as if she were their own.

My grandfather on my mother's side, Lewis Morgan, suffered a stroke in January of 1870. This left my grandmother, Elizabeth Crozer Morgan alone, with no one to care for the animals or tend the farm. After the funeral the family came together to discuss what should be done. Since the farm of my father and mother was too small for their needs they decided to dispose of their place at Searsboro and move to my grandmother's farm at West Liberty. They were to use their money to improve the place and increase the stock and at my grandmother's death, half of the value of the farm was to go to Aunt Sue Brooks, the other half to my mother, while the animals, farming tools, etc. would go to my father, since they were his to begin with.

On April 16th, after my grandfather's [Morgan] death, I was born. Here let me tell you something of the appearance of this home at West Liberty, Iowa. It was of the usual pioneer type known as the "two pen style" (a term used for log structures back in the Ohio region where they had previously lived). It consisted of two rooms constructed on either side of a central hall, which gave the main part of the house four rooms. Across the back ran a lean-to, in one end of which was the kitchen and dining room area, and the other end was used for a bedroom.

Early in the spring of 1874 March, I think , for the wind was blowing rather strong, my brother Howard who was 13 year old, was out in the field plowing, and looking back at the house he saw the roof was on fire. Throwing the plow lines aside he ran toward the house shouting. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" My father who was ill abed with an attack of malaria, heard him and jumping up ran out of doors to see where the blaze was. Seeing Howard pointing at the roof, he looked up and saw that the headway the flames had made, and it was hopeless to think the blaze could be extinguished. Dashing inside he called to my mother and the other children in the house. Everyone made haste to grab up something of value and rush outside with it. In this manner we were able to save some of our furnishings, but not all. It was a terrible blow to our family, struggling as we had been to keep going financially. That was back before the time that insurance was commonly carried among the rural population, and of course we had none. I remember it quite well for, although I was only four years old, I had a bad earache (something to which I have been prone all my life). The cold with added to my pain, the flying cinders stung my face and hands, and my father and mother's distress were more than one little boy could bear. Burying my face in the folds of my sister Lily's skirt I gave vent to my pain and fears and wept loud and long.

I remember that among some of the things which were saved were the Lewis Morgan bible, the family photographs, my grandmother's dresser and her little bedroom rocker.

My father was finally successful in floating a loan at the bank so the house could be replaced. This second structure was not nearly so roomy as the first house was, but it was better construction and did not require so much fuel to heat it. We were just beginning to recover from this blow when we were dealt another. During a severe thunderstorm one night, at the end of the harvest season, lightning struck the barn and burned it to the ground. There went the summer harvest along with much of our tools and some of the farm animals which we were not able to save.

Which recalls to mind that I heard my mother tell of a thunderstorm which came up in the early morning hours while the family lived at Searsboro, before I was born. Lightning came down the kitchen chimney, ran along the floor in the kitchen into an adjoining room ripping up the flooring as it went. It disappeared to the outside in one corner of this room without doing any further damage.

The house and farm near West Liberty was about two miles northwest of the town, and was bought by my grandfather Lewis Morgan from a man named Bozarth. After my grandmother Morgan passed away, my Uncle James Morgan bought out Aunt Sue Brook's share in the farm, but when he decided to go out to California, he sold his property in town and his interest in the farm back to Aunt Sue, who, in turn, sold it to my next older brother, Ernest. The place remained in the possession of Ernest until his death in 1942, when, after the estate was settled, his son, Andrew Harold McGowan, bought out the interest of the other heirs. Harold and his wife Ida still reside there. [in 1973 still operated by Harold McGowan's second son, Howard and his wife Marilyn.]

My father and mother were ever mindful of the happiness of their children, often allowing us to do things in pursuit of this illusive pleasure, at times when they could ill afford to do so. When my brother Howard reached 20 he decided that life as a farmer held no future for him (and who can blame him when corn was selling for six cents a bushel and the neighbors were burning theirs for fuel since it was cheaper than coal?)

A great many of the neighbors were taking advantage of homesteading rights being offered to those who would settle the West. Out in California gold was riding high, good wages were being paid mechanics, carpenters etc.,so my brother Howard elected to go where the money was. Taking my parents' blessing, some quilts to keep him warm as he had heard that lodging was scarce, he set out. On arrival in California he found that work was not as plentiful as had been thought, so working at one odd job after another he wandered up the western toast to Oregon, where he secured a job driving the stage from The Dallas down to a place called Muddy Camp. The pay was thirty dollars a month. He had to sleep in the stables with his horses, lying on the hay, and he found the quilts came in very handy. Most of the time he had to cook his meals on a campfire and one glorious summer there was a place where he could board. Out of this pay he managed to send some home, which was very welcome, for though we had plenty to eat there were many times that we did not see any money.

My sister Cora, a very tiny person, was engaged to marry a German farm boy, but because of her diminutive size his parents discouraged the match, saying that she was too small and delicate to be a farmer's wife.

Finally the young man broke the engagement, telling her of his parent's objections. Though my parents needed her at home, they sent her back to stay with Aunt Sue, in the hope that she would meet with some other eligible young man who would make her forget her grief and disappointment. Before this could be accomplished my mother suffered the first of her many strokes and Cora had to return home and assume the management of the house and the care of my mother.

My sister Lily was a very bright girl, learning easily at school, and having a very pleasant personality. One of father's younger brothers, Jonas McGowan, came out for a visit on one of his many trips between Washington, DC. and Coldwater, Michigan. (He was State [sic U.S.] Representative) and seeing my sister's ability, prevailed on my parents to let him send her to college. Rather than stand in the way of her opportunity, they let her go, and she finished the required course to become a doctor of medicine. She was one of the first woman doctors to practice in the State of Colorado.

As brother, Ernest, and I approached young manhood one of my mother's cousins by marriage, Cass Ball, was shipping some horses to California, and needed some one to ride in the stock cars to care for the animals and see that they did not get hurt, and offered us boys the opportunity of doing this. To say that we were delighted would be to put it mildly. We were beside ourselves with joy. "Looking back on it I can see that our father needed us at home on the farm to help him. But he never said a word and we two went away blissfully unaware that our leaving was the cause of any parental concern. When we arrived in California we got a job on the Freeman Ranch at Inglewood. We cut hay and baled it to feed the livestock. It was hard work but we were young and the country and climate were different and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. In later years my brother Ernest looked back on it as one of the bright spots in his life. We stayed out all of one winter, but even though it was enjoyable I kept thinking about the farm and the folks at home, so at last Ern and I decided to return.

But the years went on. All of us children married except Cora and Howard. He was still in Oregon and Cora was out on the farm caring for mother. On June 1, 1900, my mother had her fatal stroke. After her death my father turned the farm over to Ernest and he and Cora moved to the little town of West Liberty. The following year Cora married an old friend of the family, Parmenus Lamborn, but her wedded life was short, Parmenus dying in the fifth year of their marriage of pneumonia. My father died soon after Parmenus and Cora was left all alone.

Shortly before my father's death my brother Howard married his old childhood sweetheart, Mrs. Lida Davis Wheeler.

Such is the irony of fate that the German boy who thought my sister Cora to be too frail and delicate to be his wife, had already passed to the beyond, while she, living to the age of almost 87 years,(lacking a few days) had outlived him over forty years!

My brother, Ernest, however, never forgot to look out for his oldest sister's welfare. The best fruits of his orchard graced her table, and the choicest of his vegetables found their way into her kitchen. Best of all he gave graciously of his companionship, and when they were both too old and frail to do for themselves, it was Ernest's daughters who cared for them.

My brother Howard, the happiest, gayest, the most romantic of all of us, had the shortest life. He was just a few months past sixty when he died of an injury received when some stove wood he was stacking collapsed and fell on him, crushing his elbow. Cancer must have developed in the injury, for he never recovered, the use of his arm and suffered a lingering illness. He is buried in the Mason's Cemetery, Eugene, Oregon.

They are all gone now and here I am, an old man past 88. Common sense tells me that I won't live too much longer, I am too old. However I am ready to go. I only hope it will be swift and that I won't be any bother to any one. It has been a beautiful world that I have been privileged to see. "I love its rocks and rills, its woods and templed hills; my heart with rapture thrills, Great God, Our King."

Per Ruth Cowart, p 148 Andrew and his wife were Quakers and both buried in The Friends Cemetery about 1 mile north of West Liberty, IA.

1899 Muscatine County Atlas Landowners for Wapsinonoc Township
Listed by name and amount of acreage in each parcel owned
E.C. McGowan 62.50
Andrew McGowan 47.50

OBITUARY OF ANDREW A. McGOWAN - from p. 146 Ruth McGowan Cowart book, probably transcribed from the West Liberty Index newspaper, Aug 22, 1907

Andrew McGowan died suddenly and alone at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Cora Lamborn, corner of Fourth and Calhoun Streets (West Liberty, Iowa), Monday morning, August 19,1907. He had apparently risen and was in the act of dressing when he fell back lifeless on the bed, in which condition his daughter found him when she went to call him to breakfast.

Mr. McGowan was 80 years of age. For the past 30 years he has resided in this vicinity, being for many years one of the leading farmers and stock-raisers of this section.

For some time past he has lived in retirement with his son and daughter. He was one of the most kindly of men. His smile and cheery greeting were an inspiration. However, for a considerable time his health had been poor, but he patiently bore his afflictions with resignation.

The funeral was held yesterday morning from the residence of his daughter and interment was made in Friend's Cemetery, north of town, along side the grave of his wife.

Andrew McGowan was born of Scotch parentage, September 15, 1828, near Alliance Ohio. His childhood and early life was cast with the pioneers and early settlers of Eastern Ohio, including its rugged hardships and primitive pleasures. His education was acquired in the county schools and Mount Union College. His attendance at college was interspersed with teaching country schools.

June 6, 1852, he united in marriage with Eliza Morgan of Marlboro, Ohio and a year later went to Orland, Indiana, where he engaged in farming for eight years. In 1861 he went to Poweshiek
County, Iowa, where he opened a farm on the wild prairies, during the hardships and vicissitudes of the Civil War. In March, 1870 he moved 2 1/2 miles northwest of West Liberty, Iowa, to the farm where he remained to the end of his active career, and which farm is now occupied by his son Ernest.

To him and his wife were born three sons and three daughters. Kate, who died March 19, 1864, at the age of 12 years, in Poweshiek County, Iowa; Mrs. Cora Lamborn of West Liberty, Iowa; Mrs. Lillian M. Fellows of Kansas City, Missouri; Howard S. of Bird City, Kansas; Ernest Charles of West Liberty, and Delbert E. of Esperenza, Texas.

Two brothers survive him, Jonas of Washington, D. C., and Frederick of Arizona, and three sisters, Elizabeth Davis of Eden, Ohio, Dorothy Finch of Toledo, Ohio and Mary Neihardt of Orland, Indiana.

Shortly after his wife's death he gave up active business, passing the farm over to Ernest, who continues to occupy it, and finally making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Cora Lamborn, to the
end of his life, which occurred August 19, 1907, when, from the fragilities of age, he peacefully passed away. His life was largely the life of the pioneer, laboring and building for the future among the vicissitudes and hardships of the Civil War. But with all he maintained a deep interest in all passing and current events that were shaping the destinies of the nation and mankind, forming his own opinions and views of the policies and events, with the courage to express and live up to his convictions.

His character was ever upright and pure, full of helpful sympathy for the unfortunate, with selfishness that was almost self effacing, and imbued with that sterling integrity that cannot stoop to small things.

findagrave memorial, includes his photo.
Andrew McGowan
Birth: Sep. 15, 1828
Death: Aug. 19, 1907

Burial: North Prairie Cemetery, West Liberty, Muscatine County, Iowa

Created by: ProgBase
Record added: Oct 14, 2011
Find A Grave Memorial# 78391530

North Prairie Cemetery
Wapsinonoc Township, Section 1, Muscatine County, Iowa
Directions to this cemetery: From West Liberty take Hwy 6 west turn on Evans Ave (right hand turn). Drive approx 1 mile. North Prairie will be on the right hand side.
Interment information from the West Liberty Public Library website.

Last Name First Name Date of Birth Date of Death

McGowan Andrew 15 Sep 1828 19 Aug 1907 Row 6/Lot 1/Sp 1
McGowan Eliza M. 21 Nov 1828 16 June 1900 Row 6/Lot 1/Sp 2 Wife of Andrew