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by Chris Pattillo

CGS Member extraordinaire Stewart Traiman just finished scanning the Frank Covell Manuscript Collection and our Technology Committee Chair, John Ralls, has uploaded the material to our website. You can access the material by clicking on Online Resources from the Research Tab, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for Resources Developed by CGS Members.

The following information about the collection is from a blog post was written in 2010 by blog editor Kathryn Doyle. The Spring 2011 edition of The California Nugget included an article about Frank Covell that was written by CGS members Georgia Lupinsky and Virginia Turner, titled “Frank Covell: California Pioneer and Family Historian.”

20 September 2010

Spotlight on the Manuscript Collection: The Covell Family Papers

Posted by Kathryn Doyle

The Covell collection was received in March 2010 and contains vital, deed and probate records, obituary and news articles, family correspondence, mementos, many original photos and portraits, school yearbooks, pedigree charts and family history files on the Covell and Coover families and related lines. It was compiled by Leah Jeanette Porter Gainer, great-granddaughter of Frank Marion Covell; Ann Eliza Peffers, granddaughter of Archer Morgan Covell; and Leah Coover, daughter of Leah Jeanette Covell and Homer Porter. Mrs. Gainer died December 29, 2007. 

Ann Eliza Peffers Covell

The patriarch of the family in California was Frank Morgan Covell, born to Morgan Covell and Laura Chamberlain on March 12, 1851 in Ridgebury Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Frank came to California by 1871 and settled in the Santa Cruz area. His interest in genealogy is evidenced by his 1918 hand-written account of the family that details military service by his ancestors in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

The collection is filled with personal material that can enrich and amplify a family history. Items include a diary that Frank kept for a brief period of time in which he notes: “May 10th 1872. Took Annie Peffers to dance. Made Charly Myars mad. He won’t hurt anybody I guess.” Frank and Annie were married a year later.

A Covell family portrait from the collection

Also in the file is Frank’s 1926 letter written to granddaughter Esther Covell, reminiscing about his 1868 high school graduation and sharing with her some of the hopes and dreams he had as a young man. These items and many more are awaiting the visits of interested descendants and researchers. 

Archival boxes in our Manuscripts room

The Covell Family papers are a 40 linear inch collection with the following surnames: Aronen, Chamberlain, Chisolm, Coleman, Coover, Covell, Farum, Finley, Gainer, Gammon, Holway, Kane, Maki, Peffers, Porter, Quinn. The family geography includes: California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Photographs by Kathryn M. Doyle. COVELL family information provided by Georgia Lupinsky and Virginia Turner.