Lillian Simmons

1918-2001 · Arkansas

Born 1918, Arkansas

Died 2001

Father: Roy M. G. Simmons

Mother: Laura Freeman

Lillian Simmons was born on 28 April 1918 in Arkansas, a daughter of Roy Milton G. Simmons and Laura Freeman. When the census was taken in 1930 the family was living in Quanah Township, Comanche County, Oklahoma, the farming country around Cache. Lillian was 11, and her brothers and sisters at home were Lela, Lawrence, Lonnie and Mildred. In February 1935 she was sixteen and living at Hattieville, a farming settlement in Conway County, Arkansas.

On 18 February 1935 she married Abraham Isaac Cowan, 21, of Dale in Johnson County. The licence was issued at the Conway County courthouse, and R. W. Morgan, a justice of the peace, married them that day. Claude Johnson, who married Abraham's sister Leoma the following year, signed the marriage bond.

The young couple went to Cache, beside the Fort Sill army post in Comanche County, Oklahoma, the country where Lillian had spent her girlhood and where Abraham's family had settled. Lillian's first two babies died there. Hellen Maxine Cowan was born on 9 December 1936 and lived seven weeks. Clifford Carl Cowan was born on 6 December 1937 and died on 27 May 1938. Both lie in Cache Cemetery.

Her daughter Ruby Janette, called Jan, was born in Oklahoma on 2 July 1941. By 1943 Lillian and Abraham were living at Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas, where their son Delmar Joe was born on 11 April 1943. The census of April 1950 found the family on a farm at Springdale. Lillian, 31, was working twenty-four hours a week as a machine operator in a garment factory, and Abraham was driving a truck as a peddler. Ruby was 8, Joe 7 and Joye 4. Her son Larry was born at Springdale in 1953. In 1954 the family moved to Wichita, Kansas. Her children also included a son, Bill.

Jan died in 1984, aged 42, and Abraham died at Joplin, Missouri, in April 1994. Lillian Cowan died on 9 October 2001, aged 83. She was buried in Cache Cemetery, the same ground as her husband, her two infants and her parents, Roy and Laura Simmons, who had died in 1974 and 1984. Her stone is carved as an open book between two sprays of flowers, and on its last line are the words "My trust is in God."

Parents

Roy M. G. Simmons (1888-1974)

Laura Freeman (1896-1984)

Sources

Conway County, Arkansas, Marriage Records, Book 30, page 346; Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957, FamilySearch, ark 61903/1:1:NMKN-7LD, image 3:1:S3HT-DRW3-P5Y.

Obituary of Delmar Joe Cowan, published 10 April 2021, Wichita, Kansas; United States, Obituary Records, 2014-2023, FamilySearch, ark 61903/1:1:XMWD-4V6F.

United States Census, 1950, Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas; FamilySearch, ark 61903/1:1:6XBW-95KR.

Find a Grave, memorial 83294669, Cache Cemetery, Cache, Comanche County, Oklahoma, photograph added by Kay Copeland, 11 January 2012.

1950 Census of Population, Arkansas, Washington County, Springdale, enumeration district 72-59, sheet 22, lines 1-5; National Archives, 1950census.archives.gov; FamilySearch ark 61903/1:1:6XBW-95KR.

United States Census, 1930, Quanah, Comanche County, Oklahoma; FamilySearch, ark 61903/1:1:XC7H-J8W.

Conway County, Arkansas, marriage record book 30, page 346 (FamilySearch Arkansas County Marriages 1837-1957, ark 61903/1:1:NMKN-7L8); Arkansas Marriage Index 1933-1939, certificate 03577 (ark 61903/1:1:VJTW-NJX); 1950 United States census, Springdale, Washington County, Arkansas; obituary of Delmar Joe Cowan, Wichita, Kansas, 10 April 2021 (ark 61903/1:1:XMWD-4V6F); United States Census 1930, Quanah, Comanche County, Oklahoma (FamilySearch ark 61903/1:1:XC7H-J8W); Find a Grave memorials 83294669 (Lillian Simmons Cowan), 83075870, 83050431, 69301843. Find a Grave memorial 53551159 (Roy M. G. Simmons) and 53551097 (Laura Freeman Simmons).

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Cite: Heirology, "Lillian Simmons (1918-2001)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/lillian-simmons-1918-2001-5ccc54.