MARGARET ANN FUDGE COOVERT

Early Life and Marriage

Margaret (sometimes referred to as Marguerite) Fudge was born in Preble County, Ohio, on February 14, 1844, the one of five children born to parents David and Catharine Fudge. She married John Wesley Coovert on December 25, 1866. John was a Civil War veteran who served in the Union Army’s 147th Indiana Regiment, Volunteer Infantry. 

Move to Oregon

After their wedding, Margaret and John lived in Preble County for three years, during which time their first two children were born. In 1869, John traveled west, first to San Francisco and then to Portland by boat, before eventually settling on a farm in the Webfoot area near his uncle Abram Coovert. It is unclear whether Margaret accompanied him at that time or if she and the children arrived later in 1872 with her sister Elizabeth, who was married to another of John’s uncles, Johnson E. Coovert.

Family and Children

Margaret and John had three children:

• Letha Ellen Coovert, born in 1868
• William Alonzo Coovert, born in 1870
• David Asher Coovert, born in 1873

Tragically, Margaret died at the age of 29, shortly after the birth of David Asher. Following her death, the infant went to live with Margaret’s sister, Elizabeth, while the two older children remained with their father.

Death and Burial

Margaret passed away on November 2, 1873. Her obituary, published in the Pacific Christian Advocate on January 8, 1874, recounts her final moments:

“Margaret Ann Coovert, daughter of Catherine and David Fudge was born in Preble Co., Ohio, Feb 14, 1844. She was married to John A. Coovert on 25 Dec. 1866 and in Dec. 1869 she came with her husband to Oregon. As she lay dying, she gave her weeping husband directions about her children, including an infant only a few days old, and on the 2nd of Nov. 1873 she fell asleep in Jesus.”

Margaret’s headstone, unfortunately, has been broken off at the base and now rests against the base of a large tree. It is likely that it was originally located nearer to Elizabeth’s grave, but the base has not yet been located.

John W. Coovert’s Later Life

After Margaret’s passing, John remarried twice and continued to live in Oregon until his death in 1920. He is buried in the Amity Cemetery in Amity, Oregon. Several of John’s relatives, including his uncles Abram and Johnson Coovert, as well as Margaret’s sister Elizabeth Fudge Coovert Robertson, are buried at the Odell Pioneer Cemetery.