Austin Cowles
| Austin Cowles | |
|---|---|
ca. 1860
|
|
| Counselor in the First Presidency of the True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints | |
| April 1844 – June 1844 | |
| Called by | William Law |
| End reason | Church dissolved |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 3, 1792 Brookfield, Vermont, U.S. |
| Died | January 15, 1872 (aged 79) Hamilton Township, Iowa, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) |
Phebe Wilbur (m. 1813–26) Irena H. Elliott (m. 1827–72) |
| Children | 14 |
| Parents | Timothy Cowles Abigail Woodworth |
Austin Cowles (May 3, 1792 – January 15, 1872) was a leader and hymnwriter of the early Latter Day Saint movement. Over the course of his life, Cowles, an ardent anti-polygamist, was affiliated with Joseph Smith's Church of Christ (later the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), William Law's True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Sidney Rigdon's Church of Christ, James Strang's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, James C. Brewster's Church of Christ, and Joseph Smith III's Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Cowles was born on May 3, 1792, in Brookfield, Vermont, to Timothy and Abigail (Woodworth) Cowles. As a child, he lost an eye when one of his brothers accidentally shot him with an arrow.
Despite minimal education, Cowles became a schoolteacher as a young man and a Methodist Episcopal preacher at age twenty-one. In the latter capacity, he held the first formal religious services in Bolivar, New York, in a barn in 1820. In pioneering the Bolivar area, Cowles and his brother Asa taught at the first schoolhouse, kept the first store, and built the first sawmill and gristmill.
Cowles married Phebe Wilbur on January 14, 1813, and by her had eight children, five of whom survived to adulthood. Phebe died on May 1, 1826, whereafter Cowles remarried to Irena Hix Elliott on October 21, 1827. Cowles and Irena had six children.
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