Family History for Cowley County Kansas Genealogy Trails

COWLEY COUNTY, KANSAS

Family of Matthew Doll (Dolphus) Cowley

Matthew Doll Cowley was born in 1824 in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and educated in the public schools at Shelbyville. At age 18, about 1842, he moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he met and married, in 1844, Nancy Johnson, who was born in Crawfordsville Dec. 24, 1828. He taught school there, and also followed the profession of Civil Engineer.

Two years later, about 1846, the Cowleys and Johnsons moved to Iowa, and lived at Fort Des Moines for about 11 years, being among the first settlers of the area. Mr. Cowley taught school there also. During this time, on Dec. 26, 1845, their first child, William R., was born, then James S., April 8, 1852, Matthew D., Oct. 2, 1854, and Mary Alice, Feb. 25, 1856.

In the fall of 1857, they moved to Butler Co., Kansas, settling first on Little Walnut Creek, near Leon. Earlier, the county had been divided, giving the southern portion to the Osage Indians, but when it was surveyed, the Indians were unhappy with the boundary lines, and destroyed the markers, causing confusion among incoming settlers. Consequently, the Cowleys found that they had settled on Indian land, so in the winter or early spring of 1858 they moved to the west branch of the Walnut River, where they homesteaded 160 acres. This was 1-1/2 or 2 miles north of the town of El Dorado.

On May 4, 1858, Adaline M. Cowley was born, winning distinction as the first white girl born in El Dorado and Butler County. She was called "Addie," and became famous in the area in later years, telling thrilling stories of pioneer life, and assembling a great collection of pioneer memorabilia and antiques. Two miles north of El Dorado, on Highway 77, a monument was dedicated in her memory, erected near her birthplace.

From the spring of 1858 to the fall of 1861, Mr. Cowley, with others, surveyed and laid out the county to the south of Butler, which was later named after him, Cowley County. That summer, 1861, there were only about 300 white persons living in the county because of the terrible drought of 1860. At that time, for fear of the Indians and the Civil War, they organized themselves into a company for home defense.

In the spring of 1862, Matthew Cowley led a party of 26 men to Iola, Kansas, where they enlisted, making up Company I, 9th Kansas Cavalry. The number included J.D. Conner, a well-known resident of the area, and Matthew's son, W. P., who ran away from home to join them. On March 6, 1862, Matthew Cowley was appointed 1st Lieutenant, at Chelsea, near their home. A short time later, Company I went to Fort Larned "which at that time was stamping-ground of the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Comanches, and Kiowas, who then were much more formidable than they were later," according to J. D. Conner, writing for the Walnut Valley Times in 1895. During the years 1860-1865, the Cowley family lived at Fort Larned for protection from the Indians.

Their youngest child, Hettie, was born Oct. 23, 1863. At some time there were two other children born who died in infancy.

On Oct. 7, 1864, Lieut. Matthew Cowley died of typhoid (some say malaria) during a typhoid epidemic, at Little Rock, Arkansas, and was buried there in the National Cemetery. His widow, Nancy, was left alone in Indian country with six small children, but she was a tough pioneer lady, and she wasn't about to let circumstances get her down.

Under Kansas law, she had to re-file their homestead claim after Matthew's death, and as the time drew near, she learned that someone else was planning to contest her claim. She had a horse, but no side-saddle (women were not to ride astraddle in those days), so she rode the 90 miles to the land office at Humboldt, holding onto a curcingle (bareback) as fast as she could go, arriving 15 minutes ahead of her competitor. She was leaving the land office with the proof papers in her hand just as the man entered. Nancy and Matthew Cowley had many harrowing adventures with Indians, wild animals, severe weather and hardships. We have some of these stories, preserved by the Historical Societies in Butler and Cowley Counties. Some of them are dated, but others are not, and evidently there are even more stories in a book or booklet, The History of Butler County and Its Pioneers, but I have not been able to locate it yet.

One story recounts that the family's log cabin burned down when Addie was about six months old. They were forced for a time to live under a large oak tree -- this would have begun about November -- not the best time to live outdoors with a 6-month-old baby and other small children! Their home (evidently built after the first one burned) is described as a cabin about 20 feet by 40 feet, with a puncheon floor, and windows covered with oil paper. Candles were made of buffalo tallow which they rendered, and they molded their own bullets for their rifles. Cooking was done in a large kettle over coals, in a huge fireplace in the center of the cabin.

Mr. Cowley was an excellent marksman. Once, when the winter had been especially cold and the ground covered with snow for a long time, he stood in the doorway of the cabin and shot six buffalo. This was a real windfall for the family, as they jerked the meat for the winter and tanned the hides for a door covering and other uses.

There were many wild animals around at that time, including wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and something called "hyenas" .... anyone know what that might be?

Nancy Cowley was well-known in the area for her courage and resourceful thinking, which many times saved family and friends from Indian attack and other dangers. There being no doctors thereabouts, she also was a midwife and delivered many babies. She learned much about herbal medicine from the Indians, and won their respect and confidence by her kindness and firmness, often ministering to their sick, feeding the hungry, and by other acts of mercy.

One day in 1860, she was visited by two Indians, who were very hungry and demanded food. She prepared a meal for them and after they had eaten, they rode away. A short time later a Sac and Fox war party came by, looking for two Indians, and soon after, shots were heard in the distance.

About five months later, she was riding through a wooded area where there was high grass and brush, when she came to a strange-looking tree. The loose bark seemed to bulge out at the bottom of the trunk. Giving it a kick, she was startled to see uncovered the bodies of two Indians, the ones she had fed at her cabin!

Another time, at Fort Larned, two squaws offered her 50 ponies for her two little girls, Alice and Addie. When she refused, they snatched the children up and rode away. Nancy hurriedly notified the soldiers and they were putting together a rescue party when the squaws, frightened at hearing of the soldiers' coming, brought the girls back. (Another version says they then offered to trade their papooses for the girls!)

In those days the settlers would take turns going with ox teams to Emporia, about 80 miles distant, for winter supplies. Mrs. Cowley took her turn just like anyone else. (Flour was "$10 a sack," but we are not told the size of the sack.) There came a time when the weather was so bad that no one could make the trip, so the family survived on parched acorns and dried buffalo meat, and some corn meal ground at a grist mill not far away. In summer months, the children made traps "which each morning were found filled with prairie chickens and quail."

The Cowley children had to walk two miles to the log schoolhouse in El Dorado. There are two descriptions of the school, possibly two different buildings? One is described as a small log cabin with a dirt floor, a doorway cut in the east side and a small hole for a window in the south side. It had no blackboard, maps or charts. "Big blocks in each corner with ends of boards resting thereon formed the seats. There was one rude desk, used by the more advanced pupils who wrote with quill pens. The first teacher was Miss Lizzie Atwood and she had about 22 pupils with about three-fourths in regular attendance." The other description mentions a puncheon floor in the schoolhouse, and that the school term was about three months a year. (In 1870, a stone one-story schoolhouse was built.)

Teacher and students were all usually barefooted. One of the favorite treats was to be one of the two pupils chosen to go for water, at a home about a quarter of a mile north of the school -- about a dozen youngsters would compete for the honor. The big attraction, aside from getting out of school, was the hollyhocks growing near the well, and those who went for water were expected to bring back flowers of the colors ordered in whispers as they left. The water dipper was a large gourd, and the water was often "accidentally' spilled, which meant that two others must go for more.

Addie Cowley (later Bradley) remembers that one teacher, timid about disciplining the big boys, found a way -- she waited until three of them, who needed that attention, were busy writing at the desk, seated on a bench where they could not get away quickly. "She had them whipped before they knew it!" as Addie recalls.

Submitted by: Jackie McGuire (Great-great-granddaughter of Mary Alice Cowley)

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