Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-02-19
DEATH CALLS
OLD RESIDENT
Mrs Cowen Was Born
In Matamoros 90
-. Years Ago

Mrs. Isabel L. Cower, 80, who
travelled the border country in this
vicinity in the days when row boats,
river steamers and burros were the
latest thing in contemporary trans
portation, left the Valley Saturday
night on q Twentieth Century steam
drawn train of the latest and most
improved type.
Her body was forwarded to San
Antonio and will be laid TO rest Sun
day morning beside that Of her hus-
band, Louis Cowen, who died there
in 1908.
Mrs. Cowen, the oldest native born
English-speaking resident in this sec
tion of the country, died at noon FRI
day at the home of her daughter,
Mrs. Anne c. Truwit at Fourteenth
and Elizabeth streets, the site where
more than 20 years ago she anne as
. little girl to watch the painted In
dians in their peace-time ~endeavors.
She was born in Matamoros, when
what S now Brownsville was a howl
ing wilderness, infested with the al
nrnately peaceful and warlike c.
manches nd wild animals of every
descriptions pSownsville was not a
safe place to vrA<cn2 those days--in
addition TO the Of the In
dians. and the animaA here was
always the ever-present &Mror OF
bands of border outlaws.
The nearest thing to a settleh :
here in those days was the lndiAse
encarapmeLt located just about on
the spot where her daughters home
now STANDS.
In times when the Indians were
peaceful the children were IN the
habit Of coming here to watch them
Mt their everyday labors. She often
recalled one such occasion when the
Indians were eating rattlesnake
meat and fed it TO her making hey
deathly sick for days. Another &C
casion she remembered TO the Gay
of her death, was being pursued Tor
several blocks by a painted lndlan
through what is now the business
section Of Matamoros. !,
The wars and bloodshed she veg
through during her almost lie,.inle
residence in this section. II told IN
detail would be a history OF tne
border. -
The Texas struggle for i~ndepeno-
ence, the Mexican war. n trouples
with the notorious leader, CorSina'
the Civil war, dozfs OF the smail
periodic Indian tbreaks n aH
equal number of 0inor flare-ups 81
revolution. the negro soldier trouoIes
in 1905. were as familiar to her as
The more intimate details OF her
family history.
Mrs. Cowen recalled the days OF
Col. Rip Ford, confederate command
err. here during the Civil war, remeh,
bered dancing with U. b. Grant anu
Robert z. Lee. when the latter were
stationed at old Fort Brown, long
beforAthe Civil war days, and scores
~ offers whose names are familiar
"a makers of the history OF TINS eou"-
try. 49, veale.
migrated 10 this country IN 1919 =
NAMED a few years, end retnrhea -
the family home IN England WHee
re married and came back here, land
;rv at Point Isabel, and getting as Tar
=. Natsmoros on his journey 70
Me~ico City. II,
There the family remained unit,
Fort Brown became a settlement anu
There Mrs. Cowen was born.
Her husband, who died in san An
,orio. in 1908, also figured IN the
earlv history OF this country. ne
esrs here with an expedition 70 Cali-
scrnia which went broke at Cornus
Cbristi in the early DAYS et 40
T.ter he was connected with the
srr,y for several wears. Mrs. Cowen
lived in Brownsville her entire NE
except for Z wears in san ANTONIO
fom 1896 to 1908.