HomeMy WebLinkAboutCowen, ClarissaCLARISSA A. COWEN
Clarissa, the daughter of Lewis and Esther (Carman) Cowen, was born in 1819 and died 16 Mar 1898 at
the age of about 79 years. She lived with her parents until they died—Esther in 1857 and Lewis in 1860.
Clarissa never married and lived with various siblings throughout her life. She is buried in Rolfe
Cemetery in the Town of Enfield along with her single sister Caroline Cowen (1830-1915)
Lewis Cowen, her father, was a farmer who with his family lived on the south side of what is now New
York Route 79 (Mecklenburg Road) between Applegate and Halseyville Roads. He was born in
Connecticut and came to Enfield by way of Dutchess County in the lower Hudson Valley which is where
he probably met his wife Esther. (There were a number of Carman families living in Dutchess County at
that period,)
In 1850, Lewis’s farm consisted of 60 acres; 50 acres improved and 10 acres unimproved. Compared to
other farms in the area, it would have been considered a small farm. He owned 2 horses, 4 cows, 14
sheep (from which he was able to shear 15 pounds of wool), and 4 hogs. The cows produced enough
milk to satisfy the family in addition to 400 pounds of butter. From the fields, Lewis reaped 11 tons of
hay for the livestock, 15 bushels of buckwheat and 50 bushels of potatoes. He was one of the few
farmers in the area with beehives which produced 20 pounds of honey (in 1860 he reported 32 pounds
of beeswax taken from the hives). Esther his wife, gave him 9 children—5 boys and 4 girls. One son,
also named Lewis, owned a farm nearby at the intersection of Applegate and Mecklenburg Roads.
Their children:
Lewis (b. 1803; d. 1882)
Harry (b. 1812)
Deborah Ann (b. 1814; d. 1864)
Abigail (Abby) (b. 1816)
William (b.1816; d. 1864)
David P.
Clarissa (b. 1819)
Esther Caroline (b. 1830; d. 1915)
Fannie (b. 1855)
Esther died 22 August 1857 and is buried in Christian Cemetery, Town of Enfield. Her husband Lewis
died three years later on 19 August 1860 and is also buried in Christian Cemetery.
At the father’s death in 1860, there was a delay in getting his Will probated as the Executor (son
William) delayed in filing the document and eventually died himself. The Court then appointed Lewis’s
oldest son Lewis as Administrator. When the Estate was finally settled in 1866, Clarissa, her sisters
Caroline and Abby each received $52.65.
When Clarissa died in 1898, no Obituary was published in the Trumansburg Free Press. Only a notice
from the Enfield correspondent to the newspaper that reported her death as a “long time resident of
the town”.