LITTLE MAY COWARD

Buried Danville-Shepard Hill Cemetery

Willis, Texas
(Originally Danville, Texas)

"Died Dec. 7, 1868
2 y, 6 mo, 2 days"

The parents of this baby were most likely William Milburn M. Coward and Mary Clark, enumerated on the 1860 Montgomery Co., TX census, p. 41/102: M. M. Coward, 25 (b. abt. 1835 in SC), a Farmer. His wife is Mary, 26 (b. abt. 1834 in AL). They have a 2 year-old son, W. Coward, b. in TX. They were the only Coward family living in the Danville area at this time.

In 1870 on page 6, the family is shown living in Danville Precinct. M. M. Coward valued his personal estate at $150. Willie, is 12; another son, Arch, is 10 and they have a 1 year-old baby named Alice.

Further research and contact with a relative of this family has identified her father as William Myrick Milburn Coward, b. June 1834 in Barnwell Co., SC, d. in Walker Co., TX bet. 1900-1910. The 1850 Barnwell Co., SC census, p. 400, shows 'Milburn' Coward, age 15, in the household of Harriett Coward, aged 45, b. SC. He was the son of James R. Coward and Harriett Jackson of Barnwell Co., SC. It's interesting to note that Milburn had an older sister by the name of May.

He married Mary A. Clark abt. 1856. She was b. in April 1834 in AL. She also died in Walker Co., TX aft. 1910. The family reportedly lived in the Black Jack community in Walker Co., TX after 1860. He served the Confederate Army as a Private in the War Between the States; Co. K, 16th Texas Infantry.

Other children, all born in Montgomery Co., TX, were:

1. William J. Coward, b. 1858; Schoolteacher

2. Archie Coward, b. 16 Oct 1862, d. 15 Sep 1892, Bur. Black Jack Cem., Walker Co., TX

3. Alice May Coward, b. 27 Mar 1869, d. 16 Feb 1933 in Nacogdoches Co., TX; bur. Bethel Cemetery, Appleby, Nacogdoches Co., TX; m. Timothy Morgan Polk on 2 Dec 1892 in Walker Co., TX. She was a schoolteacher.

4. Walter Coward, b. Jan 1873, d. 1919 Boswell, Walker Co., TX, m. Mary Lavinia Pool in 1909.

There were two other children who died young.

Family information provided by Christine Hyman

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Created September 26, 2004