The Family of John and Serena (Rice) Covell - Acknowledgements

This story of the Covells could not have been written without the help of many people. I am grateful to each of them for their contributions. At the same time, I take responsibility for any errors in this presentation of the Covell story, or if I have muddled things up. The contributors are shown below in chronological order. Please let me know if you have any corrections or clarifications that should be made.

Birney Seth Covell, Jr., grandson of Seth Warner Covell, provided invaluable information about the children of John and Serena Rice Covell, and particularly about the descendants of their son, Seth Warner Covell.  Two decades ago, Birney researched his ancestry from Cape Cod to western New York to Barron County, Wisconsin, to the state of Washington on a trip where he did first hand research.

Andrea Wagenbach, a descendant of Helen Louisa Covell, provided the service records of Benjamin Covell, and of the two Richard Covells. The Revolutionary War Service Pension File of Richard Covell also mentions his brother Seth as serving in the Revolutionary War. Andrea provided much of the information about her line of descent.

Faith McClenny of the Pend Oreille County (Washington) Historical Society provided obituaries of John Harrison Covell and his family.  Rayette Wilder of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, provided a photocopy of a biography of John Harrison Covell that was published in 1904.  This line ended with John's children, hence there are no family contacts.

Fred Pflugrath of the Wenatchee (Washington) Area Genealogical Society located the funeral home records and graves of Augusta Covell and Charles M. Covell.  In both cases, the handwritten funeral home record appeared to read "Correll," hence their cemetery records and grave markers were "Correll." The cemetery's name at the time of burial was IOOF Cemetery, and that name appears in the old records:  it has since been changed to "Fraternal Cemetery."  Charles M. Covell's residence is shown as "Dover," a place that has not existed for many years. Fred worked through all of this and came up with the the funeral home records, cemetery records, photos of the grave markers of Augusta and Charles, and photos of the Chelan Butte where they lived.  The Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society provided material from a local history book, The Settlers of Chelan Butte (how local can you get?), that included a brief biographical sketch of the "Covils," and a plot map showing where they lived.  Neither Augusta Covell nor Charles M. Covell married and neither had children, hence there are no family contacts.

John Christeson, formerly of Barron County, Wisconsin, put information about the four sons of John and Serena Rice Covell who were Civil War soldiers on the "findagrave" website.  He included also closely related Civil War soldiers, Alonzo J. Barton, husband of Lucy Jane Covell, and John C. Rowland, son-in-law of Helen Louisa Covell. John is very active in researching those who served our country in military service and remembering them with a place on the internet.

For about five years, I searched in vain for the great-grandparents of John Covell.  John's parents are Seth and Lydia (Sisson) Covell, John's grandparents are John and Rejoice (Smith) Covell, but who were the great-grandparents?  Richard Lamb provided the answer in an email to me and pointed me to the obscure document that provided the proof and tied the family to Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and Thomas Rogers.  Richard Lamb is a descendant of Thomas Covell, son of Seth Covell and Lydia Sisson.  Richard credits Catherine Pouls, a descendant of Seth Covell's brother, Richard Covell, with finding the connection of John Covell and Rejoice Smith to their Cape Cod ancestors.

Circumstantial evidence pointed to Seth Covell and Lydia Sisson as being the parents of John Covell, but it lacked that final document making a clear connection.  Brenda Miller provided that, and it was most appropriate these days:  John and Seth are connected on a list of delinquent mortgages in Chautauqua County, New York, in the early 1800's. Brenda also provided several great documents including Seth Covell's permission slip from his father allowing Seth to enlist to serve in the Revolutionary War. The permission slip was necessary because Seth was eight years-old at the time. Brenda Miller is a descendant of Seth B. Covell, son of Seth Covell and Lydia Sisson.

Thank you to everyone for your help and contributions to this Covell story.

Jim Barton

Home      Table of Contents