MARSHALL COUNTY, TN - BIOGRAPHIES - John Cowden, M.D.
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JOHN COWDEN, M.D., one of the leading physicians of Marshall County, is a son
of William and Rhoda (Davis) Cowden, natives, respectively, of North Carolina
and Tennessee.  The father was born in 1806 and the mother in 1811.  The
father was a blacksmith and wagon-maker.  They were married in 1828 and their
family consisted of six children--three of whom died within two weeks of
scarlet fever.  Of the living, two are boys and one is a girl.  One of the
boys, William N., is a leading criminal lawyer of Lewisburg and the other
appears at the head of this sketch.  Both parents were united with the
Christian Church and have ever lived in accordance with their profession.  The
father during his short life was an industrious, energetic worker, and was cut
off in the bloom of manhood by the frosts of death.  His death occurred in
1839.  The mother was married again but after the death of her second husband
has made her home with the Doctor.  Dr. John Cowden was born October 6, 1834,
in Marshall County, and received the rudiments of his education in the old-
time subscription schools.  At the age of sixteen he spent a year at an
academy and then began the study of medicine with Dr. T. W. Brents.  After
studying about a year he took a course of lectures at Memphis and completed
his medical education at Macon, Ga., graduating from that institution in 1854.
He then began practicing and in 1856 he wedded Mary H. Leonard, a native of
this county born January 23, 1837.  To this union were born twelve children,
ten of whom are living.  The eldest son, Charles N., is a graduate of
Vanderbilt University and is a practicing physician.  Mr. and Mrs. Cowden are
members of the Christian Church, and he is a Democrat in politics.  He has the
honor of being president of the Duck River Valley Railroad, besides being a
director of the road since its completion.  He has a farm of 200 acres and has
followed his profession for thirty-one years.

Surnames: Brents, Cowden, Davis, Leonard, 
Source:  " The Goodspeeds History of Tennessee, 1886."