Santa
Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM W. COWAN
Since 1868 William W. Cowan has been a familiar
figure in the public life of San Jose and Santa Clara county,
for many years being known as an agriculturist whose work along this line has
tended to advance materially the farming interests of the community. As
assistant gardener of St. James Park, of San Jose, he has given his attention
to the art of beautifying the grounds and surroundings of this charming resort
of the city. Born in Chester county, Pa., April 28,
1836, he was a son of John and Ann Eliza (Gay) Cowan, the former of whom died
in 1850.
Early thrown upon his own resources
through the death of his father, William W. Cowan found employment as a mere
lad on the neighboring farms. Although he was thus practically homeless he was
fortunate in the community in which his boyhood years were spent, the people
being mainly Quakers, and their quiet, earnest and consistent efforts toward a
moral elevation left such an impression upon the character of Mr. Cowan that it
has held supremacy throughout all the years when trials and temptations have
thickly beset his path. Until 1868 he remained in his eastern home, caring for
his mother and following the pursuit of farming, when he came to California and
in company with T. Scott leased the John Johnson ranch of one hundred acres
located just north of San Jose and engaged in the raising of stock and grain.
They also became extensively interested in the cultivation of potatoes and
secured a distinction for the fine crops they produced. Subsequently they set
out forty acres to blackberries and in season shipped as many as one hundred
and thirty crates to San Francisco daily, drawing them to Alviso and thence by
water, also employing the same transportation for their other crops. During the
twenty-one years in which the firm of Cowan & Scott continued they set out
various fruits and also conducted a dairy supplied by twenty-five cows. In 1890
Mr. Cowan sold out his interests and removed to San Jose where he located on
Devine street and conducted a coal and wood business
at the corner of St. Julian and San Pedro streets. On disposing of this
interest he assisted in the landscape gardening of Alum Rock Park, and in 1896
was appointed to his present position of assistant gardener of St. James Park.
This park is located in the center of the beautiful Garden City, and consists
of ten acres laid out in an artistic and beautiful manner, board walks
extending from the fountain in the center through green lawns bright with
flowers, and shaded with both native and foreign trees, and all kept in perfect
condition by the excellent care of the gardener and his assistant, the latter a
man who brings to his work both an unusual degree of native talent and an
ambition to excel in whatever he undertakes. This is considered one of the most
beautiful and artistic parks of the state and due credit is given those who
have made it so.
Mr. Cowan’s beautiful home, located
on George street and surrounded with choice flowers,
is presided over by his wife who was formerly Sarah Emma Scott, also a native
of Chester county, Pa. Although their union has never been blessed by the birth
of children their home has not been devoid of youthful faces and voices, for
they have reared to manhood and womanhood a niece and two nephews, namely: Philip
E. Scott, Mrs. Leonore Watkins and Amon S. Johnston. In his fraternal relations Mr. Cowan is
associated with the Knights of Pythias, of which he
is past chancellor, and member of the Grand Lodge of the state; and also
belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1126-1127. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.