Julia Cowles

(1785-1803)

Biography

Born on October 18, 1785, in Farmington, Connecticut, Julia Cowles was the daughter of Mary Lewis and Zenas Cowles.  Her parents encouraged her interest in education, and in 1797 she began attending Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Academy.  In 1799, she attended school in Middleton, Connecticut,  but that experience was shortlived.  She spent the next year at home, but in 1800 Julia and her cousin Fanny Cowles (1783-?) visited New York.  Shortly thereafter, Julia contracted tuberculosis.  Although she became engaged to John Treadwell, son of the former Governor of Connecticut, her health worsened, and she died on May 21, 1803.  She concluded her diary-writing in 1802; these entries constitute more mature reflections on the "precious time" left to her as she becomes aware of her pending death.

Residence

Connecticut

Writings

Diary, letters

Papers

 

Bibliography

The Diaries of Julia Cowles. Ed. Laura Hadley Moseley. New Haven: Yale UP, 1931. 94 pp.

Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of a Pioneer School from 1792 to 1833, Being the History of Miss Sarah Pierce and her Litchfield school. Cambridge: UP, 1903. 465 pp.