My Genealogy Hound

RANSOM COWLS, one of North Amherst’s prosperous farmers, was born in Amherst, August 18, 1818, son of Jonathan and Esther (Graves) Cowls. Mr. Cowls’s ancestors came originally from Connecticut to Hatfield, Mass.; and his grandparents, David and Sarah (Eastman) Cowls, were natives of that town. David Cowls was born August 11, 1741. He moved from Hatfield to Amherst, where he was an early settler, and cleared the farm which is now owned by Walter Cowls. He was an industrious and an upright man. David Cowls died in Amherst, November 18, 1817. His wife, Sarah Eastman before marriage, who was born January 28, 1744, daughter of John Eastman, of Hatfield, became the mother of five children: David, Sally, Joseph, Silas, and Jonathan. She died August 14, 1815.

Jonathan Cowls, father of Mr. Cowls, was born in North Amherst, December 2, 1781. He succeeded to the ownership of the home farm, and bought other real estate. He became a very prosperous farmer, and owned some three hundred acres of land. He was a man of sound judgment in all business matters, and was active in public affairs, having been chairman of the Board of Selectmen for some time. Jonathan Cowls died January 18, 1866. He was a zealous member of the Congregational church. His wife, whose maiden name was Esther Graves, was born in Sunderland, November 23, 1783, and became the mother of eight children, as follows: Justin, Erastus, Louis, Ira, and Esther, all deceased; Sarah, wife of George Bridgman, a resident of Michigan; Jonathan, Jr., a prosperous farmer of North Amherst; and Ransom, the subject of this sketch. She died June 20, 1868.

Ransom Cowls was reared to agricultural life, and has always followed farming as an occupation. He resides upon a part of the original farm of David Cowls, his property consisting of one hundred and twenty-five acres. In his time he worked laboriously; but he has now retired from active occupation, leaving his sons to manage the farm. He is a Republican in politics.

On August 24, 1843, Mr. Cowls was united in marriage to Sarah B. Gunn. She was born in Sunderland, August 3, 1821, daughter of Stephen and Sarah (Baker) Gunn, both now deceased, who were old residents of North Sunderland, where Stephen Gunn was a farmer. Mrs. Cowls was the mother of the following children: Stephen G., who died

March 4, 1894; Francis J., who married Sarah Wormwood, and died August 1, 1881, leaving two children, Esther and Sarah; Esther T., who married Frank M. Cushman, of Northampton, and has two children, Esther C. and Clara M.; Albert R., who resides at home; and Mellie A., an organ manufacturer of Detroit, Mich., who married Clara Nichols, and has a son, Emerson R. Mrs. Cowls died May 14, 1894. She was a member of the Congregational church. Mr. Cowls has been a member of the same society for fifty years, has been its treasurer, and is the superintendent of the Sabbath-school.