Elsie Margaret Harrington

Elsie Margaret Harrington, daughter of Nancy Anne Branson and Peter Harrington, was born 11 November 1882 in Merced, CA. Her father died not long after her seventh birthday, leaving her mother a widow with six children to support. Nancy dealt with the challenge by combining forces with her sister Mary Jane Branson Johnson, who had also lost her husband. The two women ran a boarding house in Merced. Elsie’s mother was the housekeeper and cook, while Mary Jane handled laundry after working shifts as a clerk at a drygoods store. Elsie and her siblings, along with Mary Jane’s youngest two children, lived at that boarding house until they came of age.

In the latter part of the 1890s Nancy married John James Napier, known as “Babe” Napier. He would remain Elsie’s stepfather thereafter, though it does not appear he was heavily involved with the raising of the Harrington children, and was often gone on mining expeditions, including at least one trip to the gold fields of Alaska.

Elsie married Otis Marion Cowell on 20 November 1904. Otis, born 9 August 1877 in Manteca, San Joaquin County, CA, was the only son Joshua Cowell of Tioga County, NY and his first wife Vinnetta Rachael Graves of Grant County, WI (where Joshua had been raised). Joshua Cowell had come to California in the early 1860s, part of a large migration of southwest Wisconsin families, and had established a large farm in San Joaquin County that later became the site of the town of Manteca. Local historians view Joshua as being the “Father of Manteca.” The community was known as Cowell’s Station in its earliest days -- it was renamed so as not to be confused with a Cowell's Station near Tracy, named for Joshua’s brother Wright Cowell. In all, Otis had five sisters and a half-sister. Two died young. The other four grew up to marry sons of other Manteca pioneers.

Elsie is shown here front and center. On the left is her first cousin John Clarence Diah Johnson. On the right is her husband Otis Marion Cowell. The two woman standing behind are, left to right, Elsie’s sisters Irene Anne Harrington Salmon and Nina Frances Harrington Riddell. This photo, from an album that belonged to Elsie’s eldest sister Mary Josephine Harrington McDonald Baysinger, was taken in 1908 to 1910. All of the photos featured on this page were derived from that same album.

Elsie and Otis probably met through Elsie’s sister Eunice. Eunice had married Winfred Converse toward the end of the year 1900, and established a household with him in Manteca. This in turn drew Nancy and Babe Napier, who bought a ranch on Castle Road. Elsie and Otis also chose to live in Manteca, at first doing so next door to his parents. The settling of the two sisters and their mother and stepfather here was the spark that led to a migration from Merced, as well as from Mariposa County, to Manteca of a large number of Branson-clan members, and others moved to Stockton, not far north and also in San Joaquin County.

Otis and Elsie would remain in Manteca for many decades. This is where they raised their daughter, Norma, who in turn would be a lifelong local resident. Norma’s son lives there to this day.

Elsie and Eunice and several of their female relatives were actively involved with the Native Daughters, otherwise known as the Rebekah sorority, throughout the early and middle decades of the 20th Century, and served in various capacities for the Manteca chapter, known as Phoebe A. Hearst Parlor #214.

Otis died 26 September 1934 in Stockton. This apparently soured Elsie’s affection for Manteca. In the late summer of 1936, she relocated to Alameda, moving in with her sister Josephine and brother-in-law Daniel W. Baysinger in Alameda. Josephine’s son Elton McDonald and his little girl also shared the home. A couple of years earlier, Josephine’s daughter-in-law Tonia had died, and Josephine had taken over maternal care of her granddaughter while Elton spent his workdays in San Francisco as a chief clerk for Western Pacific Railroad. The shared accommodations were a good arrangement for the sisters. It meant Elsie no longer had to live alone, and Josephine had female help with childcare and housekeeping. Being in Alameda also put Elsie near other relatives such as George Bertrand Johnson, a first cousin with whom she had grown up in the boarding house and whom she viewed as a kind of brother.

Like her husband, Elsie only survived into her late fifties. This was a considerably shorter lifespan than her sisters enjoyed, and was even shorter than that of her brother, Jack. Still, she lasted a half-dozen years as a widow. She passed away 3 August 1940 in Alameda. Cause of death is listed as the delayed effects of a cerebral hemorrhage, probably as the result of a stroke. Her mortal remains were interred with those of Otis at East Union Cemetery in Manteca.

Elsie, at left, is shown standing with her sisters Irene Anne Harrington Salmon, center, and Mary Josephine Harrington McDonald Baysinger, behind their mother Nancy Anne Branson Harrington Napier, in 1931. Nancy is holding the new baby of the family, Irene’s grandson Robert “Bobbie Lee” Patrie.

Child of Elsie Margaret Harrington with Otis Marion Cowell

Norma Emily Cowell

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