a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, November 2, 1803. He experienced conversion in 1818; was licensed to exhort in 1830, and in 1831 connected himself with the Virginia Conference, in which he filled the most prominent stations, to the close of his life, November 28, 1874. Mr. Cowles, became, in 1854, the financial agent of Randolph-Macon College, and raised for the institution an endowment of $100,000. He had a strongly marked character; was noted for his caution and prudence, his sincerity and courage; was a keen judge of character, and a skilfll manager of men; was punctual, industrious, and painstaking. See Minutes of Annual Conferences of the M.E. Church South, 1875, page 141; Simpson, Cyclop. of Methodism, s.v.