Townsend Jones County Photos - Jones County, Iowa

Children, all born in Jones County, Iowa
Grover C.	1885-1885
Percye Dell	1886-1966
Baby	1888-1888
Loanza May	1889-1971
Baby	1891-1892
Clara Bell	1895-1968
Milly Jane	1895-1895
Ira Jess	1896-1957
Joe Dillon	1898-1917
Harvey James	1901-1979

Andrew Jackson Townsend 1856-1914

On February 12, 1856 Andrew Jackson Townsend was the first born child to Samuel D. and Nancy Loanza (Tabor) Townsend. His brother Jesse was born the next year. They lived in Monmouth, Jackson County, Iowa.

In 1861 his father Samuel D. volunteered for the Civil War, enlisting as a Private for the Union forces. Samuel died of 'heart disease' during the strenuous march to the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862.

AJ, as he was often called, married Anna Waters in 1875. They had a son that year, Wylie Townsend. Soon after they divorced.

In 1884, AJ married Eva Elizabeth Cockill and they lived in the Scotch Grove and Center Junction area of Jones County, Iowa. They had 10 children, 4 of which died in infancy. The surviving children, in order of birth: Percye Dell, Loanza May, Clara Bell, Ira Jess, Joe Dillon, and Harvey James.

AJ and Eva divorced in 1905. AJ continued to live in the area. He was well known all over the county by the white stud horse he rode all over for service. (Photos circa 1900.)

Andrew Jackson Townsend died in 1914 and is buried in Wyoming Cemetery, Wyoming, Jones County, Iowa. His death certificate lists alcoholism as the cause of death.

Eva Elizabeth Cockill 1870-1945

Eva Elizabeth Cockill was born in Scotch Grove, Iowa, on October 12, 1870. She was the first of four daughters born to Joseph H. and Hanna Permilia (Leggett) Cockill. (Joseph was born in England and Hanna was born in Pennsylvania and somehow they ended up in Iowa. One of the many family stories waiting to be uncovered.)

At the age of 14, Eva married Andrew Jackson Townsend. She gave birth to 10 children, but only 6 survived infancy.

Children (all Townsend): Grover C., Percye Dell, Loanza May, Clara Bell, Milly Jane, Ira Jess, Joe Dillon, Harvey James, and 2 unnamed infants.

In 1905 she and "AJ" divorced. After raising her children, she remarried to a gentleman named Steven Arthur Leek. They had no children. He passed away in 1924 and Eva continued to live in her small house in Center Junction until her death on November 22, 1945.

Some notes from her grand-daughter, Gertrude Alida Townsend:
"My paternal grandmother was a very stern hard-working woman. She walked very erect and was probably 5'7" or more. She was said to have had dark auburn hair but it was pure snow white when I knew her. When I was 13 she asked me when I was going to get married, since she

got married so young I suppose. She took in washing's and ironing's to raise her family. She was divorced at age 35, with 4 children at home ages 1-13. She received a lifetime pension after her son Joe Dillon Townsend died in the Army in 1917. I don't believe it was much but enough to make her comfortable. She owned a 6-room house in the southwest part of Center Junction (Iowa) and had lived there as far back as 1901 that I know of. [She had bought her house with money received as an inheritance from her deceased father's family in England.] Her youngest, my dad Harvey, was 18 years old and gone off to Business College in Cedar Rapids when she married Mr. Leek. He died in 1924. I don't know how they got along, but she had a hard time with AJ Townsend, as he was an alcoholic. Stephen Leggett (Eva's brother) said Grandma was very, very happy with Steven Leek."

Photos and Postcards - Family Photos

Û Townsend

Family Photos

Eva Elizabeth Cockill and Andrew Jackson Townsend