(November 10, 1860 - July 13, 1940) Mary Florence (Tinsman) Cowell and her husband S. B. Cowell came to Texas from Missouri in 1900. Mrs. Cowell was a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a philanthropic educational organization founded in 1869 at Wesleyan College in Iowa and dedicated to educational opportunities for women. Her friend Dora Hallock, P.E.O. supreme chapter organizer, visited Whitesboro in 1902. Together they organized Chapter A, the first P. E. O. chapter in Texas, in the Cowell home on this site. Mary Florence Cowell was elected president of Chapter A and was instrumental in the organization of the Texas State Chapter of the P.E.O. in Whitesboro in 1928. Elected the first Texas state president of the organization, she eventually became known as "the mother of P. E. O. in Texas."
Mary Florence Cowell
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Mary Florence Cowell is a historical marker in Whitesboro, Grayson County, dedicated in 2000. It is one of 144 historical markers documented in Grayson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 208 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 33.6545, -96.9022 near Whitesboro. The nearest cataloged historic site is Whitesboro (historical marker), about 0.2 miles away. Others within a short drive include Bennett-Richardson House, Diamond Horse Ranch, and Whitesboro.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5181011907. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
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