James Cowling was born in Washington, D C, in June 1833.
Between March 1863-March 1868 he served in 4th U S cavalry.
In 1880 he was living with his wife, "Emma", age 26, and daughter Jessie, age 11, both born Georgia, in Bethesda, Montgomery, Maryland.
In his will, dated 1896, he left all his personal property to his wife, Mary Emma, unconditionally. His real estate he bequeathed to her "for her natural lifetime" after which it was to be divided amongst his nieces and nephews.
At the time of the 1900 census he and Mary were living in Lee district, Fairfax. Mary's birth was shown as August 1849 Georgia. They had been married 25 years and Mary had had one child who was still living.
By 1910 they were living Burke Precinct, Lee, Fairfax. Married for 37 years, the child was still alive.
After James's death in 1913 Mary contested the will with the nieces and nephews in an attempt to gain full title of the 67 acres of land James had left.
I have not been able to find a record af the marriage of James and Mary but the evidence of the census indicates the it was after the birth of Jessie. I have not found any other reference to Jessie (she was not the bride of Edwin Mitchell).
The wording of the will suggests that Jessie was not James's child and he wanted his property to remain in the possession of his family. Mary then took legal action so that she could leave it to her daughter. "Find a Grave" has Mary's date of birth as 12 August 1848. She is identified as the wife of James but there is no mention of Jessie.
I would appreciate any help in (a) tracing the record of the marriage of James and Mary (b) finding Jessie's birth details and (c) what subsequently happened to Jessie.