UPDATE 2/23/2006 from Anne Jennings:  Dr. Will Cowell’s home is no longer standing. Several times I have heard it told that when the owners were ready to tear down the house because of severe termite damage that the tenants refused to leave. The story told is that the operator of the bulldozer lifted one corner of the house to encourage the tenants to get out of the house. It worked. The house was torn down and a new brick home was built on the site. That home stands on the site today and is owned and occupied by heirs of V.S. Cowell.

According to records of Alma O. Roberts and Currituck County North Carolina Cemetery Records, published in 1995 by The Albemarle Genealogical Society, William Humphries Cowell (b. 5 Dec. 1831 - d. 30 Sept. 1895) married Elizabeth L. Morgan on 22 June 1858 and had one child who died in infancy. Dr. Will Cowell then married his second wife, Martha A. DeFord (b. 12 Nov. 1847 - d. 10 Nov. 1908) who is buried on the J. P. Morgan Farm in Shawboro and they had four children. Susanna D. Cowell (b. 10 Nov. 1885 - d. 5 Oct. 1947), who never married, and a boy named Pat were twins. Dr. William H. Cowell, Jr. (b. 6 March 1871 - 27 Dec. 1938) never married. Virginius St. Clair Cowell, called "V. S." or "Doc" was born 27 Aug. 1880 and married Ruth Sawyer on 15 Sept. 1945. Ruth Sawyer was married at one time to a man by the last name of Brown and had at least one son named Charles Brown. It is the heirs of Charles Brown who own and occupy the brick home now on the site where Dr. Will Cowell’s home once stood.

The Old Cowell Farm or plantation was large and covered land around Sligo and East Ridge Road. The Marshall P. Cowell Cemetery is located off of East Ridge Rd. and has been used continually since at least as far back as the Revolutionary War. I have attended an internment at this cemetery within the last ten years. Markers do not survive but according to the Ferebee records, Capt. Joseph Ferebee (b. 31 May 1754 - d. 20 Dec. 1820) of the Revolutionary War is buried here. Benjamin Cowell (b. 2 June 1804 - d. 15 March 1849) and his wife Amanda Ferebee Cowell Burgess (b. 25 Oct. 1811 - d. 28 Nov. 1863) are also believed to be buried here. Amanda Ferebee Cowell Burgess was also the wife of J. M. Burgess.