Biography of Ellen M. Cowles



Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary. 

Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912.



submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist

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ELLEN M. COWLES was born in Michigan, the daughter of Francis M. Cowles, and came to Kansas in 1859, settling in Lyon 

county. She was married to George Plumb, now railroad commissioner, August 22, 1867. She is the mother of eight children, 

five of them living, as follows: Mrs. Margaret P. Rodrick lives on the home farm with two children; James R. Plumb is a 

farmer in Lyon county, married, with three children; Miss Inez Plumb, a professional nurse, at home in Emporia; Joseph C. 

Plumb, at Lewiston, Mont., a wheat raiser; Mrs. Kitty A. De Long and two children, living five miles north-east of Emporia, 

whose husband is a prominent horse and cattle raiser. The Plumb family reached Kansas in March, 1857, and they were the 

first to raise a board shanty on the town site of Emporia, while to-day the story of the Plumbs is wider than the state.



Mrs. M. L. Hollingsworth (Maggie Spencer) writes a letter from Brownsville, Ore.. and published in the Emporia Gazette of 

April 12, 1912, a portion of which is as follows :



"I am a representative of one of the most 'numerous" families of those early times in Lyon county-the well-known Spencer 

family of twelve children, ten of them daughters, who bore their full share of taming the wilds and laying the foundation 

for a free state and a great commonwealth that were the common heritage of the pioneers from 1856 through the thrilling 

times of the sixties. I think I am safe in saying that we furnished more pupils for the schools, more charter members for 

the State Normal, and later more teachers for the schools, than any other family in the county, if not in the state. I was 

a student at the old Congregational church before the days of schoolhouses, and remember with what anxiety we looked to the 

completion of the new stone schoolhouse on Constitution street, where Mary Jane Watson and Ella Spencer were, I think, the 

first teachers. The upper room of this building was the cradle of the State Normal School, and I was privileged to he one 

of the "first eighteen" of that great institution, and I hope to be among those who celebrate its golden anniversary in a 

few more years. Those olden days-yet those 'golden days'-bring such a flood of memories, of joy and sorrow, of trials and 

pleasures, much greater than I could possibly recount on paper. I must, however, mention the names of a few, many of whom 

still are residents of the old campground. Maggie Brown, the belle of our young set, soon was claimed as a bride, and 

became Mrs. D. S. Gilmore. Ellen Cowles, Ellen Armor and I were left to 'chase the antelope over the plain.'  The champion 

horseback rider became Mrs. J. S. Watson, and the prize student drew one of the prizes from the Plumb family and became 

Mrs. George Plumb. Last, and least, without charm or talent, the writer became Mrs. B. F. Hollingsworth and is the mother 

of four daughters and a son, and while ministering to the family needs has been identified with all the interests, moral, 

religious and educational, in the communities in which she has lived. One of my earliest recollections of the new town was 

hearing of the marriage of Miss Anna Watson to Mr. Randolph, which seemed a great event to us. The marriage of Miss Murdock 

and Mr. Stotler seemed another important event in the community life. In those days of the early sixties some of the brave 

boys of Emporia fell on the field of battle, while others came marching home victoriously. Among the victory-crowned were 

the Plumb boys, the Murdock boys, Lemuel Heritage, L. A. Phillips, I. N. Spencer and many others, with Colonel Plumb at the 

head. I think I heard Colonel Plumb make his maiden speech at a flag presentation ceremony in the early days of the Civil 

War, which stirred my soul and made me wish I could be a soldier, even timid girl that I was. Experience has taught me, 

however, that not all the battles were fought in the sixties, nor all the victories won, and that it is not necessary for 

all of courage and valor to face the cannon's mouth. There is fighting all along the line, and real heroes are needed as 

much to-day as in the sixties."



(Included with the article "The Founding of the State Normal School", page 89)