When John Borden Cowan was born about 1823, in Alabama, United States, his father, Samuel Cowan, was 46 and his mother, Sarah Margaret Keith, was 45. He married Mrs. John Borden Cowan in 1848, in Texas, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. He lived in Johnson, Arkansas, United States in 1860. He died about 1898, in Newton, Arkansas, United States, at the age of 75, and was buried in Case Cemetery, Fallsville, Newton, Arkansas, United States.