C. H. Cowdin

C. H. COWDIN - THE ROCKFORD REGISTER.-The press is the great leveler of all differences, and promoter of opinions, and is acknowledged to be one of the greatest forces as a civilizer. The functions of a cleanly edited paper are multifarious, and the eye of the editor must be that of a critic as well as that of a detective, that articles of a dangerous and scurrilous character may not find a place in the columns which he supervises or controls. Each and every city or town is proud of an ably edited journal, of home news and enterprise. The home newspaper has the " open sesame " to every home, which comes under its influence. The Rockford Register, an eight - page, forty - eight column quarto, was established February II, I87I, and was at that period a little folio. C. H. Cowdin, founder and present proprietor, whose former years had been partially spent as a teacher, forsook the haunts of pedagogy to take up the duties of a journalist. He is a native of Dexter, Washtenaw county, Mich., and was born May I, I833. His education was mostly obtained under the tutelage of his parents, since they were more than ordinarily well educated. They were both teachers and were well-known for their standing in the educational line. His life has been passed in the professions of teacher and journalist. We clip from the home journal the following, which is very complimentary to the gentleman: C. H. Cowdin, founder and proprietor of the Register, celebrated his fiftieth anniversary Thursday, June 3, I897. Not of his wedding, however, but this is about the size of it. The morning of June 3, I847, he presented himself, as a "cub" in the office of the Lima (Ohio) Reporter, Mr. Edward Maro (who died in October, I849), being the proprietor. The Reporter was a whig paper of four pages, five columns to the page, set in small pica and long primer type. For fifty years the printing business has, in the main, been his occupation, and he has not quit it yet, but, like eating, he still keeps at it, 'these few lines," being a specimen of his skill. He worked at his trade at Lima, Sidney and Republic, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Newport, Ky., then came to Rockford, Mich., and February I, 1871, issued the first copy of the Register.

He wedded in February, 1862, Miss Margaret H. Underwood, a native of the Buckeye state. She was born in the vicinity of Lima, November 1o, I838, and two sons have been born to this marriage, viz: Charles R., who is a practical newspaper man of Belding, Mich., in partnership with El B. Lapham. They are the editors and publishers of the Belding Banner, a six-column quarto, forty-eight columns, and is a beautiful paper, typographically. It has a circulation of I,000. These gentlemen have one of the most complete newspaper plants in the state of Michigan, and they are making of it a signal success; Charles R. Cowdin married Miss Mae DeGeer, a native of Michigan and an adopted daughter of a Congregational minister, Rev. W. W. DeGeer, and a niece of the latter's wife. Two children have been born to this marriage-Walter and Florence. Mr. Cowdin is a stanch republican, is a member of the county committee, and has been elected three times as the city clerk of Belding. H. Earl Cowdin, the younger son of C. H. and Margaret H. Cowdin, and the present editor and general manager of the Rockford Register, is a native of Lima, Ohio, was born July 20, I87o, and is a graduate of the Rockford high school, of the class of I887. He is a born printer and journalist. He and his brother Charles are said to be the youngest editors in the state. When but a little boy of eight summers, he would climb up to the case to set type. In May, 1889, he assumed the entire management of the Register, the third oldest paper in the county outside of Grand Rapids, and is classed among the practical printers of Kent county. He also is the editor and publisher of the Michigan Messenger, the official organ of the Michigan division, Sons of Veterans, and which is sent to every member of the order in Michigan, the issues averaging 2,500 copies. He wedded Miss Flora J. Arnott, a native of Kent county, September 2I, 1893, and a little son, Alden Arnott, born May 17, I896, and a baby daughter, Marjorie, born August 28, I899, grace the union. Mrs. Cowdin was born in November, I870, graduated from the commercial class of 1889, and then attended Alma college one year. Mr. and Mrs. Cowdin are both members of the Congregational church at Rockford. Mr. Cowdin is a stanch republican politically, cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison; was vice-president of the Kent County Young Men's Republican club for the two years 1897-99 -and in 1899 was elected first vice-president of the Lincoln Republican club; was elected as village clerk within two months after his majority, and is now the incumbent of that office. Socially he is prominent as a member of the Sons of Veterans, was state commander of the Michigan division in X896, was re-elected in I897. He doubled the membership in nine months during the first year he held the office, and the next year he increased the membership eighty-five per cent. At the completion of his first year he was awarded the silver cross of the order, and at the end of the second year was presented an officer's sword, which is a high testimonial to his competency. He was asked to again assume the office, but declined on account of pressing business interests. He is also a member of Rockford lodge, No. 246, F. & A. M., and of the K. O. T. M., No. 684. To revert to the career of C. H. Cowdin, the father of H. E. Cowdin, it should be recorded that he was one of the brave men who went to the front during the Civil war. He enlisted in company I, Thirty-fourth Ohio volunteer' infantry, September I5, I862, and served until his honorable discharge, June 27, I865. Mrs. Cowdin's brother, Robert Underwood, was a member of the same company, but it should be added that Mrs. Cowdin had four brothers in the war, two of whom were captains, and C. H. Cowdin had two brothers in the service, one of whom, Frank B., was adjutant of the Twenty-seventh Ohio infantry. The name Cowdin is of Scotch origin, and a branch of the family emigrated from Scotland to America in the sixteenth century and settled in Massachusetts. Miss Ada Howard, of Methuen, Mass., a first cousin of C. H. Cowdin, was a former president of Wellesley college. The Register plant is complete in its furnishings and contains an eight-column Prouty press, which is capable of running off 800 to I,OOO copies per hour; and is also furnished with a Gordon press, with platen Iox I5 inches, both run by the Backus water motor power, twenty-two inches in size. The large press was placed in the office in 1893 and the water motor in 1897; the Gordon took the place of an (' Aldine," and there is also a 7 x I I Model jobber, and a twenty-three-inch Leader paper cutter. The plant is valued at $I,500. As already mentioned H. E. Cowdin is the editor and compiler of the work of the paper, and also the manager of the job and mechanical department. The job work is metropolitan in style, and consequently entices the patronage of the business men of Rockford. The paper itself is cleanly edited, is typographically and grammatically correct, and will class well with any paper in a town of 2,500 population. LIFTON S. COWLES, a scion of one of the best-known pioneer families of Spencer township, Kent county, Mich., and himself a highly respected citizen, is a native of Moline, Ill., was born September 24, 1853, and is the second child in the family of Shepard B. and Louise J. (Fletcher) Cowles, whose family history will be found in full in this work. I Clifton S. Cowles was but a mere child when his parents removed from Illinois to Ohio, where they lived two years only, and then came with the family to Kent county, Mich., where he has since lived, and engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. He received a rudimentary education in the district school, but was an apt scholar and very observant, and as he grew to manhood's years was noted for his industry, firmness of character and decision of purpose. July 5, 1878, Mr. Cowles wedded Mrs. Louisa (Cowles) Hart, and this union was graced with five children-one son and four daughters-of whom, however, three only survive, viz: Edith L., and Persis S., who are students in the high school, class of 1901, at Greenville, and Georgia L. Mrs. Louisa Cowles was born in Dumfries, Ontario, Canada, June 19, 1846, and is a daughter of Solomon and Persis (Shaw Cowles, whose family consisted of four sons and three daughters, of whom, besides Mrs. Cowles, only two are living, viz: Charles S., and Richard B., extensive farmers. Mrs. Cowles received a common-school education and is a lady of most pleasing address. Her parents, now deceased, were of English descent; and her uncles, the Shaws, were renowned as tanners in Canada and the New England states. Mrs. Cowles was but thirteen years of age when she came to Michigan with her parents, who settled in Ionia county, where her father took up 320 acres of land in Keene, twelve miles from Ionia, and there died, aged sixty-seven years. Her mother then lived with Mrs. Cowles till her death, aged eighty-one years, having survived her husband twenty-one years. In politics the father was of republican tendencies, and in religion he and wife were at first Presbyterians, but in their latter years became Congregationalists.

 


Transcriber: ES
Created: 29 May 2009