In addition to eight sons born to Calvin T. and his wife Elizabeth (nee Coleman) Covell, there were also four daughters: Emeline (1829-1889), Rebecca (1838-1921), Elizabeth (1840-1856), and Augusta (1842-1928). Here are their stories.
Emeline Covell was the first born of the 12 Covell children. She was born Nov. 28, 1829 in Ridgebury, Pennsylvania.
She married Joseph Hinchman in 1849 in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. They had two children: Melvina (1850-1921) and Edwin (1858-1932).
They moved to Whitehall in 1862 where they remained until 1884. Due to the poor health of her husband Joseph, they tried a change of climate and settled in Arkansas.
Joseph died in 1887. Emeline died in Berryville, Carroll, Arkansas June 19, 1889. They are buried in Oakhurst Cemetery.
Rebecca Covell was born April 23, 1838 in Ridgebury, Pennsylvania. She came to Whitehall in 1862 where she joined her other siblings.
She married Hiram Edward Staples in Whitehall May 26, 1864. They had four children: Dudley Edward (1865-1926), Maggie E. (1872-1872), Hiram Earl (1875-1911), and Mayme “Mary” (1876-1876).
Rebecca was a firm advocate of women’s rights and a strong suffragist. She believed women should help build and advance the community in which they lived by taking part in the public work.
Hiram died at his home in Whitehall Nov. 21, 1915. Rebecca died in Whitehall July 5, 1921. They are both buried in Oakhurst Cemetery.
Elizabeth P. was born Aug. 18, 1840 in Ridgebury, Pennsylvania. She died in Wellsburg, New York Jan. 3, 1856. There doesn’t seem to be any other information about her. She is buried along with her parents in Ashland Cemetery in Wellsburg, New York.
Augusta Melissa Covell was the youngest of the four Covell daughters. She was born in Ridgebury, Pennsylvania Dec. 22, 1842.
In August 1863, she joined two brothers and two sisters who had come to the White Lake area and where the Covell brothers became prominent in the lumber industry.
She married John C. Lewis in Whitehall July 25, 1865. He was a pioneer lumberman and financier. They had three daughters: Elizabeth (1869-1942), Nettie (1875-1901), and Florence (1888-1986).
John Lewis operated a lumber mill with James Carless from 1863 until around 1874, when it became the C. E. & A. J. Covell mill. Lewis also had a mill boarding house on Lake Street, where the Lewis family lived until building the house on Mears in 1878.
The last 20 years of her life, Augusta spent the winters in St. Louis with her daughter Florence, returning each year to spend the summers at her home in Whitehall. Augusta died at her home in Whitehall Sept. 23, 1928. John Lewis had died in 1894. They are both buried in Oakhurst Cemetery.
Although eight of Calvin and Elizabeth’s children came to Whitehall to live, it appears that Calvin did not. He may have come a time or two for a visit, perhaps. Elizabeth died in 1859, Calvin married again in 1861, and he died in1879. Calvin and Elizabeth are both buried in Ashland Cemetery in Wellsburg, New York along with their four young children.
