Mrs. Francis M. Gowen, aged 56, a well-known Lewis County pioneer, died at the family home at Silver Creek, Friday, July 8 [1927]. Sophronia Thomas was born in march, 1871, at Sidney, Fremont County, Iowa, and at the age of 16 she came with her parents to Toledo, where in 1896 she was married to Francis Gowen. They moved to Silver Creek in 1902, where they have since resided.
She is survived by the widower and seven children, three boys, Ernest, Dewey and Myron; and four girls, Mrs. Pearl Baird, Misses Daisy and Ruby, of Silver Creek, and Mrs. Violet Hart of Bellingham. There are four brothers, E. O. Thomas of Buenos Aires, Ore., Noah Thomas of Yakima, George Thomas of Aberdeen and John Thomas, residing somewhere in the east; and one sister, Mrs. Nettie Conrad of Centralia.
Funeral services were held Sunday, July 10, at the Fissel Funeral Home in Chehalis, Rev. C. E. Bots of Toledo officiating. Burial was at the Mt. View Cemetery in Centralia.
Contributed by: Shelli Steedman