Hampshire County, West Virginia Biography of IRA V. COWGILL This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 591-592 IRA V. COWGILL hag been a member of the Hampshire County bar for sixteen years, is successfully established in general practice at Romney, and is one of the leaders in the democratic party in this section of the state. For some years he was associated with the school interests of the coun- ty. He commenced teaching at an early age and followed the profession for some years, being principal, and county superintendent of schools for four years, and still keeps in close touch with educational progress and interests in his home county. The Cowgill family was established by four brothers who, with their mother, Ellen Cowgill, came from England with the colony of William Penn in 1682, the father having pre- viously died in England. All of them established homes in Pennsylvania, and in later years one branch of the family joined in the pioneer settlement of Kentucky, and others came into Virginia. The great-grandfather of the Romney lawyer was Ewing Cowgill, who came from Pennsylvania to Hampshire County. One of his children was James Alex- ander Cowgill who made his home near Cold Stream in Hampshire County, and died there at the age of sixty-four, in 1882. He was a pioneer minister of the Church of Christ, both in his home locality and over sections of West- ern Virginia and Southern West Virginia. He did much organization work for his church, was an eloquent preacher, a thorough Bible scholar, and was largely self educated. He is remembered as a man of very heavy build, of extraordi- nary mentality, and of sterling integrity. James A. Cowgill also served as chaplain of the One Hundred-and-Fourteenth Virginia Infantry in the Confederate Army under Col. A. Monroe. He married Frances Hiett, daughter of Jeremiah Hiett and a sister of Col. Asa Hiett, a soldier in the Con- federate Army, and representative from Hampshire County in the Legislatures of Virginia and West Virginia, and a granddaughter of Evan Hiett, a Quaker minister, who came to this part of Virginia from South Carolina. The Hietts originally were French Huguenots who settled in the Pal- metto State as refugees from their persecutors in France. Mrs. James A. Cogwill was born in 1813, survived her hus- band five years, and was the mother of four sons, Zachary Taylor, John Marshall, Alexander Campbell and Cyrus Bar- clay. The first and last named died in early infancy. Alexander Campbell Cowgill was born October 14, 1854, in Hampshire County, West Virginia, on what was formerly the old estate of Jeremiah Hiett, later owned the same and there resided until the spring of 1918, when he removed to West Falls Church in Fairfax County, Virginia. He ac- quired a public school education in Hampshire County, and his active career has been divided between teaching and farming. He, with his son Grady Ernest Cowgill, has a farm and a profitable orchard at West Palls Church. His wife was Miss Frances Wolford, who was born in Hamp- shire County, December 11, 1856, daughter of Azariah and Jane (Shanholtzer) Wolford. The Wolfords and Shanholt- zers were substantial agricultural people of this region, being of German ancestry. Alexander C. Cowgill and wife had the following named children: Lenore, who died in 1906; Ira Voorhees, of Eomney; James Lucas, now of West Falls Church, Virginia, who was educated at Capon Bridge Normal, taught in graded schools, owns and operates a farm at West Falls Church, and is in the service of the United States Government; Ethel Naomi, who was educated at Capon Bridge Normal, was an educator in Hampshire, Mineral and Berkeley counties until her marriage to Mr. Edgar H. Fletcher, who is an official of the United States Weather Bureau in the Yellowstone National Park; Grady Ernest, who has a liberal education, taught in Hampshire and other counties, is joint owner and operator, with his father, of the farm at West Falls Church, is now in the Railway Postal service between Washington and Pittsburgh; Edna Frances, a graduate of the public schools of Hamp- shire County, and living with her parents. Ira V. Cowgill studied in the public schools of Hampshire County until he was fifteen. At the age of sixteen, the earliest age then lawful, he earned the first grade certificate. He attended the Capon Bridge Normal, taught school for eleven terms in Hampshire and Mineral counties, and for three years was principal of the Romney Schools. He took his law course in West Virginia University, graduating in 1906, and in the same year was admitted to the bar at Romney. He has been admitted to practice and practices in the Supreme Court of Appeals of the State and in the Federal Courts. During the four years he was county super- intendent of Schools the program he emphasized for the constructive improvement of the schools in addition to the routine work of supervision, including the duties of county financial secretary, which office was established during his incumbency, consisted, among other things, of better and more spacious playgrounds for the children, more comfort- able and hygienic buildings, and the indirect method of ventilation and unilateral lighting of school buildings. Since leaving the office of county superintendent Mr. Cowgill has devoted himself to his law practice. He was a member of the law firm of Cornwell and Cowgill from 1916 until the latter part of 1920. Mr. Cowgill was elected chair- man of the Democratic Executive Committee of Hampshire County in 1914, and served in that capacity until 1920, when he was made a member of the Democratic State Executive Committee from the Fifteenth Senatorial District. He was a delegate to the State Democratic Convention in Hunting- ton in 1921, in Parkersburg in 1916, and to the Wheeling State Convention of 1920. Mr. Cowgill was Federal food administrator for Hamp- shire County during the World war, was a member of the Legal Advisory Board, and like other lawyers, was drafted to assist the registrants. He was a Four-Minute Speaker, and assisted in all the Red Cross, War Savings Stamps and Liberty Loan drives. Mr. Cowgill is an elder in the Romney Church of Christ. At Cadiz, Ohio, October 4, 1911, he married Miss Maude Muriel Johnston, who was born near that Ohio town, daughter of Andrew Jackson and Samantha E. (Smith) Johnston. The Johnstons and the Smiths were among the original settlers of Harrison County, Ohio. Mrs. Cowgill was born and reared in sight of Moravian Ridge, over which the Confederate General John Morgan raided during his invasion of Southern Ohio. She was educated in the public schools of Ohio, and won the degree of Bachelor of Philos- ophy from Bethany College. Her maternal great-grand- father, William P. Smith, was a successful farmer and edu- cator, and built one of the first spacious brick mansions in that section of Ohio. Her grandmother, Mary Jane (Miller) Smith's mother, Margaret Gillespie (Lightner) Miller, was a cousin of James Gillespie Blaine, a speaker of the United States House of Representatives and republican nominee for president in 1884. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Cowgill has been born one child, Hannah Mary Cowgill.