Thomas C. Cowherd (March 20, 1817 – April 4, 1907) was a British-born

tinsmith A tinsmith is a historical term for a skilled craftsperson who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession was also known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profe ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, and father to 16 children in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, including James H. Cowherd, the second earliest manufacturer of telephones to

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (; born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian Americans, Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He als ...

Early life and family

Cowherd was born in

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

, Westmorland, England, to William Cowherd and Mary Cooper. When Thomas was two years of age, his mother Mary died. He apprenticed as a tinsmith from age 13 to 20 in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. His family immigrated to Canada in 1837. Cowherd eventually settled on Colborne Street in

. He became President of the Brantford Branch Bible Society, President of the Brantford Mechanic's Institute and Literary Association, a school trustee, and was elected as a town councillor in 1869. His first marriage, to Ann Batty (26 March 1818 – 9 March 1847), produced five children; she died in 1847 shortly after giving birth to the fifth of these, a daughter named Annie, who died later that year. Cowherd then married Ann's sister, Ellen Batty (14 January 1829 – 1926) of Westmoreland, Yorkshire, England, on 26 September 1847; they produced eleven more children. As Thomas Cowherd's career advanced he operated a tin and sheet iron shop plus a hardware store, opposite Brantford's grand Kerby House."The Bells Of Hope Street", Southwestern Telephone News, Spring 1937, pp. i & 15. His children by Ann were Mary Ann (d. 1842), Thomas (b. 1840), William (1845–1893) and Anna (d. 1847). Ellen gave birth to Jennie (b. 1848), James H. (1849-1881) who married Mary Pickering, Christopher, who worked with James producing telephones, Alfred (b. 1853?), Amelia (b. 1854), Frederick (1857–1876), Ida (b. 1858), Charles William (1865–1931), Harold, Alice and Florence (m. 1869).

Earliest telephone production

The Cowherd family were friends and associates of the scientist and telephone inventor

. Bell used the Cowherds' tinsmithing services to help produce new prototypes for the telephone, and to open Canada's first telephone factory (possibly the world's first such plant).Waldie, Jean H. "Factory at Brantford Was World's First Phone Manufacturer",

London Free Press ''The London Free Press'' is a daily newspaper based in London, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Southwestern Ontario. History ''The London Free Press'' began as the ''Canadian Free Press'', founded by Willia ...

, 3 October 1953. Bell also called on them to string telephone lines made from common stovepipe wire, and to assist in demonstrations. Thomas spent many hours speaking with Alexander on the telephone between the Cowherd home in Brantford and the Bell Homestead, Canada's first point-to-point telephone line which ran approximately 3 miles (5 km) between the two homes.F.D.R. "Here, There, Everywhere", ''

Brantford Expositor The ''Brantford Expositor'' is an English language newspaper based in Brantford, Ontario and owned by Postmedia. It provides the readers with coverage of local news, sports and events to the community as well as coverage of provincial, national ...

'', 20 August 1936. The two were said to be "great chums".Waldie, Jean H. "Brantford's Lost Industry: World's First Telephone Factory", ''

'', September 1953. Canada's first telephone factory was built by Thomas's son, James H. Cowherd (July 1849 – 27 February 1881). It was a three-story brick building on Wharfe Street in Brantford, Ontario (next to the early home of the ''

''), at the back of the Cowherd's home property, that soon started manufacturing telephones for the

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the AT&T Corporation, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America fo ...

, eventually leading to the city's style as ''The Telephone City''.

Poetry and writings

Thomas wrote verse "...with considerable merit", according to Thomas's son-in-law J.B. Parker, a journalist in Conway, Arkansas. He was a prolific poet and songwriter, and much of it appeared in newspapers (their home's property was adjacent to the ''

''). He ultimately published a collection in 1884 of over 300 pages of verse, "The Emigrant Mechanic and Other Tales Said In Verse Together With Numerous Songs Upon Canadian Subjects", which included 'An Address To Brantford, 1853': Other verses included 'To The Christians Of Brantford' (1853), advising the public on the perils of alcohol in a moralistic overtone, as well as verses of praise to the visiting

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

(1860):Muir, Gary. "An Introduction To Lesser-Known Brant Poets", ''

'', 30 May 1992.

Later years

Correspondence between Thomas and Bell often contained conversations about

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. Cowherd was himself a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and was called "quite preachy". Their son-in-law, J.B. Parker, described Thomas's home as "Just a typical English family, enjoying its own fireside and historical and magazine reading, with Thomas H. Cowherd inclined to poetical effusions and enjoying considerable prominence as a contributor to the press and later publishing a volume of his poems." The Bells were frequent visitors to their home, and Cowherd's wife was accomplished at producing home-brew from the family's mammoth vines. "...most of the brew went to invalids, for they gave much of their time and funds to looking after undernourished and aged people in temporary distress". Thomas Cowherd died in Chatham, Ontario in 1907.

References

Footnotes Citations Bibliography * Reville, F. Douglas
History of the County of Brant: Illustrated With Fifty Half-Tones Taken From Miniatures And Photographs
Brantford, ON: Brant Historical Society, Hurley Printing, 1920. Retrieved from Brantford.Library.on.ca on 4 May 2012.

External links

* *
His poems at Poemhunter

His poems at reedbookonline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowherd, Thomas 1817 births 1907 deaths British emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada People from Kendal Alexander Graham Bell English male poets History of Brantford