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James COWDY

Male 1828 - 1856  (28 years)


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  • Name James COWDY 
    Birth 29 Mar 1828  St Helier, Jersey, CI Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening St Heliers Parish, Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    _UID 7CBC49F815BC4D4E8DA85B181B15BB3CB421 
    Death 6 Sep 1856  USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Christening record shows father James Cowdy, mother Ann, maternal grandfather Jeremiah HEWER.

      1851 census (indexed by Ancestry as CANEDY): in Little London, St Andrews Chichester, Sussex, James COWDY, lodger (with Mary Ann FUTTER, a widow), 23, Elder of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, born St Helier, Jersey).

      July 2013: I'm indebted to Cat Judd for providing information about James Cowdy's story.

      James, wife Elizabeth and daughter Agnes E were among the 324 passengers who left Liverpool on 28 March 1853 and arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana on 18 May 1853, on the Falcon (source LDS website http://mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu, subsource BMR, Book #1044, pp. 140-157 (FHL #025,690); Customs #204 (FHL #200,174)).
      The same website, in a report of the 'Cornelius Bagnall Emigrating Company' reports that on Sunday 24 March 1853 Elder Cowdy addressed a meeting of the Saints on board.
      The ship's passenger list shows James's age as 24, Elizabeth's as 25 and Agnes E's as 2 weeks. James's occupation is shown as carpenter. The family's address is shown as James Cowdy Junr, Floating-bridge, Toll-house, Southampton, Hants.

      James evidently reached 'Zion' (Salt Lake City, Utah) with his wife and possibly his daughter but left again in 1856 apparently intending to return to England. At that point his daughter had apparently died but James and Elizabeth now had a son travelling with them. It's said that James and Elizabeth had become disenchanted with Mormonism while in Utah and were attempting to escape with another couple, Thomas Margetts and his plural wife Zelpha. Thomas is said to have left a wife and several children behind in Utah.
      There are numerous accounts on the Internet of what happened to this small party but the commonest view is that they were attacked on the Plains by Cheyenne Indians; the Cowdy family and Thomas Margetts being killed and Zelpha Margetts being carried off never to be seen again.
      An alternative and strongly contested view is that the attack was by agents of the Church of the LDS on a group of apostates.
      The following account of the incident is taken from the Mormon Trails Association's website:
      following accounts of Mormon massacres, taken from Whitney's History of Utah, were included in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers' Treasures of Pioneer History, Vol.6, p.40-1.]
      "In August, 1856, [Utah Territorial] Secretary Almon Babbitt's train, loaded with government property, headed for Utah, was attacked and plundered by Cheyenne Indians near Wood River, now in Nebraska. Of the four teamsters in charge, two were killed and one wounded. A Mrs. Wilson was wounded and carried away by the savages, who also killed her child. This was an act of retaliation for an attack made by the government troops upon a Cheyenne village some time before. [In 1854, the Grattan massacre near Ft. Laramie precipitated the retaliatory attack on the Cheyenne village in Sept., 1855 by federal troops under the command of General William S. Harney (for which he earned the sobriquet "Squaw Killer).] Ten warriors had been killed, and the survivors had sought revenge, upon the next white persons who fell into their power. Colonel Babbitt was not with his train at the time, but was killed by the Cheyennes east of Fort Laramie a few weeks later. For some time his fate was shrouded in mystery, but it finally transpired that after leaving the frontier for the west, he and his party were attacked and slain by some of the same tribe that had plundered his train and killed his teamsters.
      "About the time of the attack on the Babbitt train A Franklin D. Richards, Elders Daniel Spencer, Cyrus H. Joseph A. Young, William H. Kimball, James Ferguson and just from Europe, were crossing the plains on their return to Arriving at Fort Kearney they learned from Captain Wharton, officer in command, full particulars of the killing of Colonel Babbitt's men by the Cheyennes. As they were about leaving the fort rejoin their camp on the north bank of the Platte, a discharged diet [person of rank or privilege] from Fort Laramie-one Henry Bauichter-arrived with news of another massacre by the Cheyennes; that of Thomas Margetts and party, about a hundred and twenty-five miles west of Fort The substance of the statement made by the ex-soldier to Millen wood and James G. Willie, the latter captain of one of the emigrant trains then moving westward, was as follows: Bauichter left Fort Laramie on the 29th of August, and having overtaken Margetts had traveled with him and his companions as far as scene of the massacre. The party consisted of Thomas Margetts wife [Susannah], James Cowdy, wife and child, who were returning to England. They had a covered wagon drawn by mules; also two riding horse which were used at intervals by Mr. and Mrs. Margetts. On the 6th of September, Bauichter and Margetts went on a buffalo hunt and between one and two o'clock in the afternoon succeeded in killing a bison about a mile and a half from camp. A bluff intervened between them and the wagon. Margetts took a portion of the buffalo to camp, and half an hour later his companion having secured more of the meat, followed. As he came in sight of the wagon he noticed that the cover was gone, and on approaching nearer beheld, to his horror, the bodies of Mr. Margetts, Mr. and Mrs. Cowdy and their child lying upon the ground. All save the child were dead and it was wounded and dying. Mrs. Margetts was missing. The mules and horses had been taken and the wagon plundered. None of the bodies were scalped. No shots had been heard but an arrow was sticking in Cowdy's thigh. In the distance, riding rapidly away, were a band of about a dozen Indians. Bauichter had lost a gold watch, three hundred dollars in money and some papers he had left in his wagon. Thomas Margetts was brother to Philip, Henry, and the late Richard B. Margetts, all well known and respected citizens of Utah."] His brother, Phillip Margetts was one of 72 missionary elders that used handcarts in the spring of 1857 on their journey east to the Missouri River.

      Cat Judd says that Cowdy, his wife, child and friend Thomas Margetts are all buried near the WY/Nebraska border at a place called "Goshen Hole" near present day Yoder, WY.
    Person ID I2220  Great Horkesley, Essex
    Last Modified 17 Jun 2016 

    Father James COWDY,   b. 4 Sep 1792, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 Jan 1863, Southampton, Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 70 years) 
    Mother Ann HEWER,   b. Abt 1799, Carshalton, Surrey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Sep 1875, Kingston RD Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 76 years) 
    Marriage Abt 1816 
    Family ID F742  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Elizabeth WREN,   b. 29 Sep 1827, Southampton, Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 6 Sep 1856, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 28 years) 
    Marriage Mar 1852  Southampton RD Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Children 
     1. Agnes Elizabeth COWDY,   b. Mar 1853, Southampton RD Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 1856, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 2 years)
    Family ID F844  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 22 Jul 2013 

  • Sources 
    1. [S281] England & Wales Christening Records 1530 - 1906, at Ancestry.com, January 2013.

    2. [S178] BMD index, Q1 1852 Southampton 2c/40. (Reliability: 3).