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Ellen Grace DeWitt (b. October 15, 1898, d. May 26, 1976)

Ellen Grace DeWitt (daughter of Ambrose Stark DeWitt and Effie Speece) was born October 15, 1898 in PA, and died May 26, 1976 in NH. She married George David McGowen I in Media, PA, son of George Edward McGowen and Agnes McGrorty.

Notes for Ellen Grace DeWitt:
Buried at Beverly National Cemetary, 130N, left onto Beverly-Rancocas (Wawa, gas stations). On your right.

stone N767 - Enter main entrance take road right/straight (not hard right). Make right onto next road. Located at 3rd tree from next intersection. 7 stones in from intersection, 12th in from road that you are on. Brick building in the direction that you are heading, past intersection.

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10-15-00 by Laura Patricia McGowen-Iriana

Today, October 15, 1898 my mother Ellen Grace DeWitt was born in
Pennsylvania. She was the middle child of 16 to be born to Ambrose and
Effie DeWitt. Three siblings died at birth or in early childhood but eight
girls and five boys lived to old age. Two sisters Laura and Alice still
are living, both in their 90's.

I decided to write about my mother on this day because I realize my
children and grandchildren know very little about their maternal grand and
greatgrand mother. She is a major player in their lives and they don't
know it. Only my brother, Uncle George or I could put the story of our
mother in proper perspective.

The DeWitt family was an agricultural family and everyone had to work very
hard. Grampa Ambrose was a nurseryman and is responsible for grafting many
new species of trees. He was also an inventor - it was said by my Aunts
and Uncles he invented the spokeless wheel and before it could be patented
someone took it to a farm machinery company and had it produced. This is
only hearsay and can not be confirmed but it sure is a colorful tidbit.

I knew very little of my grandparents because they had both died by the
time I was six years old. Also I lived in Philadelphia and my grandparents
lived in Shamokin Dam, Pa. on the farm with Aunt Alice and supported by
Aunt Laura, Mom and possibly two brothers Russell and Roy. My mother was
very close to her mother and it was said she was Grandma's favorite. That
very well could be since when my mother was a young girl they dedicated her
to God in a way we would not understand today. Her parents gave her to a
religious sect called the Pillar of Fire in Zarephath, New Jersey to serve
God. There she finished her education. She became a missionary and
traveled to the West, setting up Bible clubs in the mountain villages and
telling the good news of Jesus Christ in prisons, played a clarinet in the
Pillar of Fire band and began painting in oil. Remembering that this was
about 1920 + or - a year or two this is quite extraordinary for a woman.

Let me digress for a bit to explain the Pillar of Fire sect to the best of
my knowledge. The name alone was a challenge to me as a child. The POF is
still in existence in Zarephath. It is a bit of irony that our son Joe
stayed at Zarephath for an overnight on the way to a country to serve with
Teen Missions. POF as far as I can understand has a solid Christian
doctrine and pursues individual holiness. They dress mostly in black and
white, wear no makeup, are vegetarians and have not external adornment as
far as hair styling or jewelry. These distinctives are because of their
interpretation of the Bible, which they hold as the infallible word of God.
I never felt anything but love and kindness from these gentle serious
people. It is important that I explain this since it was the name and
distinctives that were a great stumbling block to me in my growing up
years. In fact, it was only after I committed my life to Christ that I
began to see with different eyes the wonderful act of grace it was to be
born to Ellen Grace.

After a time (I'm not sure of the number of years) Mom met and married a
man in Wyoming. She must have left the POF at that time. This is a very
blurry time of history since Mom never told this to me until after my Dad
died. I know there was a time that she was a cook on a ranch and "rode the
range". It was at this time that great sadness entered her life. It was
discovered that the man she married and loved deeply was already married
and a father of children. She had the marriage annulled and the man went
to prison. This brought her enormous shame - keep in mind her spiritual
background and that this was the late 1920's.

Shortly after this awful experience she went back East to Pa. and chose to
go to nursing school at St. Luke's and Children's Hospital. During her
years in nursing training she met my father George David McGowen, Sr. They
married in 1934 a terrible time in American history. Especially terrible
for my father since he had been in the banking industry. He knew banks
were going to close and could not say a word. He saw friends lose
everything of monetary value and people were jumping out of windows.

Mom and Dad had three children. Our sister Alice died at birth in 1936.
George was born in 1937 and I was born in 1938. My parents were both 39 at
that time and no more children were conceived. Things were never easy for
Mom. George was very ill and needed surgery and care. Money was scarce
and to add to her challenges Dad had become a serious alcoholic. Dad
never really was able to be free from alcoholism. There were spans of time
as long as a year that he remained sober but there was great uncertainty of
when the next episode would come.

Mom did not work outside of the home during our growing up years but she
was quite effective in making deals for food and other needs. She also
managed the six-tenement apartment building in which we lived receiving
reduced or no rent. She never told us of the arrangement but we were aware
of the fact that there was an agreement with the landlord. She also cared
for an elderly woman who lived on the first floor. Her name was Henrietta
Heilman Cooke. George and I affectionately called her "Cookie". Cookie
came to live with us when we moved to a better neighborhood in our own
home. I was then 12 years old.

It looked as though things would be better and they were until my father
died two years later. It was a devastating blow for all of us. Mom had the
formidable job of raising 2 teenagers in the city with no extended family
and almost no money. Add to that a daughter who was entering puberty who
was embarrassed by the differences she saw in her mother. Mom appeared
narrow, rigid and out of touch. Maybe that happens to most 12 year olds
but Mom was in there alone. This was a great challenge for Mom as she had
been struggling with depression for years. People didn't talk about things
like that in those days and we had no funds to seek help even if we knew
where to go for help.

Somehow we struggled on until Mom took a refresher course at age 58 and
returned to nursing at St. Luke's and Children's. Two years later I
married and moved to Virginia for one year and then to New England. George
was still in Philadelphia since he had finished 4 years in the Navy and had
returned to attend Temple University.

Mom developed a circulatory condition that caused mental disturbances and
eventually loss of both legs and death. She lived the last three years
with me and my family in New Hampshire. These were the only years that my
young children can remember- some good days - some bad days but no days
that would let them see into the greatness of their grandmother.

Her understanding of who Jesus is and how spiritual life transforms was not
lost. The seeds she sowed with both George and I have grown in our mature
life. Mom was a praying woman and I know she prayed for us - she agonized
over us and not without results. Without her early training in my life and
her continual prayer I would have had a different life. It was only a few
months after her death that I turned my life over to a loving God and
shortly after that all 4 of our children started a walk with God and at
present all of there children that are old enough to understand are
Christians as well.

It is important to pass on family history - the good and the bad. It shows
me the hand of God and his faithfulness.

More About Ellen Grace DeWitt:
Burial: Unknown, Beverly National Cemetary, Beverly, NJ.

More About Ellen Grace DeWitt and George David McGowen I:
Marriage: Media, PA.

Children of Ellen Grace DeWitt and George David McGowen I are:

+George David McGowen II.
+Laura Patricia McGowen.
Alice Marie McGowen, b. November 13, 1935, Philadelphia, PA, d. November 13, 1935, Philadelphia, PA.