Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: COWAN, Alexander Bell (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II

p. 300, 302
photo p. 301



ALEXANDER BELL COWAN.

	There is in the Western Union Telegraph service perhaps no one 
more popular or more highly esteemed than Alexander Bell Cowan, general 
manager of the Mountain division. A man of extreme modesty, it is his 
genial disposition, his uniform courtesy and kindliness as well as his 
marked business ability and efficiency that have gained him popularity 
with the officials and employes of the corporation which he represents. 
Mr. Cowan was born in Mount Zion, Illinois, March 2, 1861. His father, 
John D. Cowan, was a Presbyterian minister and teacher. A native of 
Tennessee, he removed from that state to Kentucky and afterward became 
a resident of Illinois, where he passed away during the boyhood days of 
his son Alexander. The mother bore the maiden name of Mary A. Bell, and 
after losing her first husband she became the wife of Bartley G. Henry, 
of Decatur, Illinois, where she is now living.

	Alexander Bell Cowan is the only surviving child of his mother's 
first marriage. He pursued his education in the public schools of 
Illinois and of Evansville, Indiana, completing his studies in the 
latter place in 1877, when a youth of sixteen years. He then entered 
the railway service as a telegrapher and has been with the Western 
Union Telegraph Company for thirty-six years. He entered the employ of 
the company at Quincy, Illinois, in 1882, as an operator and there 
remained until 1894, acting as manager of the Quincy office from 1886. 
He was then transferred to Chicago as an operator and through the 
intervening period he has been continuously advanced until he was made 
superintendent of the Chicago district and so continued until December, 
1916. He was then transferred to Denver as general manager of the 
Mountain division, having under his jurisdiction the six states of New 
Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Utah. When it was known 
that he would leave Chicago a number of his business associates planned 
a farewell dinner, which was held in the Auditorium Hotel on the 20th 
of November and, according to the Telegraph and Telephone Age, was "one 
of the most enjoyable affairs ever given to a departing comrade by the 
Chicago fraternity. It was attended by a most cosmopolitan body of 
telegraph men from the west, including representatives of all the 
departments of the company, railway telegraph superintendents and 
several visiting Western Union officials. The gathering was highly 
expressive of the regard in which Mr. Cowan was held and the 
satisfaction which the organization feels in the advancement of one of 
its members. Aside from the excellent meal furnished, there was music 
especially written for the occasion and various toasts were responded 
to. A number of managers from important offices in Mr. Cowan's 
territory were present, old friends of his, who were given seats of 
honor. The officials of the commercial, traffic and plant departments 
of the western territory were all there and the gathering was a notable 
and inspiring one." Mr. Cowan is rapidly winning equal popularity among 
his Denver associates and as the executive head of the Mountain 
division has the interests under his charge most thoroughly organized.

	In 1884, Mr. Cowan was united in marriage to Miss Eliza L. 
Gaushell, a daughter of Francis Gaushell, of Quincy, Illinois. She is 
very active in Red Cross, club and society circles, in church work and 
in charitable projects and by her activities along these lines is 
shedding around her much of life's sunshine. Mr. and Mrs. Cowan have 
three children: Francis B., born May 15, 1885, at Quincy, Illinois; and 
Mary E. and Annabel N., who are their mother's active assistants in 
church and charitable work and in the social circles in which they 
mingle.

	The family attend the Episcopal church. Mr. Cowan was formerly a 
member of the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago and he belongs to the 
Denver Club. Efficiency has ever been his watchword in anything that he 
has undertaken. A contemporary biographer said of him: "Personally Mr. 
Cowan is universally liked and stands high in the respect and esteem of 
his employes. He is courteous to all-messenger or magnate alike-and is 
just and fair in all his dealings."