Matthew A. Cowden was born on January 8, 1841, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to James and Ann Cowden. His father was a merchant who owned $2,700 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Columbia, Pennsylvania.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 14, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company B of the 45th Pennsylvania Infantry on August 20. The regiment took part in the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the siege of Vicksburg, the Knoxville campaign, and the Overland Campaign. He was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. He mustered out on July 5, 1865.
He settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the war, and he married Mary Hayes. Their son Hayes was born on March 30, 1871, but he died on August 7, 1871. By 1870, he was working as a “patent medicine dealer,” and he owned $18,000 of personal property. His wife died on February 11, 1889.
Cowden travelled abroad in the summer of 1889, and his passport described him as 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with auburn hair and grey eyes. He married Sarah Towne around 1894, and they travelled abroad together later that year. By 1900, they were living in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He died in Lewisburg on December 17, 1907.