Cowan, Thomas
Thomas Cowan, postmaster at Ladysmith, is a citizen of the Dominion and of British Columbia of some twelve years’ standing, having come to this country early in his business career, and the record he has since made shows how deserving he is of the esteem and friendship of his fellow citizens, whom he has so efficiently served as postmaster during the past several years.
Mr. Cowan is a native Scotchman, having been born in the city of Glasgow, September 27, 1868, and his parents, Hugh and Margaret (Boyd) Cowan, are still living in the native land of the hills and heather. A public school near Glasgow furnished him his early educational equipment for life, and on leaving that he immediately went to work in a grocery establishment, continuing in that line in the old country until he was twenty-four years of age. In 1892 he came out to Nanaimo, British Columbia, and some time later to Wellington, in both of which places he continued his work in the grocery trade, and in the latter place was also in business on his own account. He came to Ladysmith to take charge of the grocery department of the Simon Leiser and Company, with which he remained two years. He then received his appointment as postmaster, and is most satisfactorily filling this office at the present time.
Mr. Cowan was married in 1893 to Miss Maggie McKay, a daughter of John McKay, of Paisley, Scotland. They have one child, Maggie. Mr. Cowan is a member of St. Mirren Lodge No. 129, A. F. & A. M., and of Harmony Lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F., and he and his wife are Presbyterians.
R. E. Gosnell, A History of British Columbia, (Vancouver, B. C.: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906). pp. 722-723.