The Pennsylvania Cowans

Same Name.

The genealogical problems created because people have the same or similar names are too numerous to count. I have heard that if you find ten online family trees and one of them has a different person, that's the one that may be correct. That person didn't just copy another person's "research."

I recently had to sort through 5 counties in England to determine the correct woman to put into my tree. It's hard work. I even made a spreadsheet, which I avoid as much as I possible. I hate them, but they work well when sorting out people.

This brings me to another example.

In 1971, John Kerr Fleming wrote a book entitled The Cowans from County Down. He states that four brothers, Hugh, David, John, and William Cowan, immigrated to the United States from Ulster around 1720. According to Fleming, they were Ulster Scots, or Scottish people who had settled in Ulster Province in Ireland and had lived there for several generations before immigrating. The four brothers lived near each other in Pennsylvania before their descendants moved around the country.

 Fleming includes transcribed documents in his work, and traces the family history forward to the time of publication. The Cowans from County Down is very often cited in many books about the area around Salisbury, North Carolina, where my Cowan ancestors lived.

Since 1971, our access to information has changed, and we also have the benefit of DNA to guide us in the right direction.

In 2012, Terry Cowan published A Cowan History: The Family of David Cowan (1665c. - 1730 of the Pequea Valley, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, His Antecedents and Descendants. In this book, Mr. Cowan presents another version of the Cowan story using new research and DNA analysis. He argues that Hugh Cowan may have come from Ulster, but David, John, and William were not his brothers (according to Y-DNA analysis) and most likely came from the Chirnside area of Scotland.  Like Mr. Fleming, Mr. Cowan cites many sources and documents to argue his point.

So what's a Cowan researcher to do?

Do your own research, of course!

Just because people have the same surname does not mean they are related.

Just because people with the same surname are living fairly near each other does not mean they are related.

You can always use family histories that you find as clues, but remember, they may not be correct. New documents may come to light. New technologies like DNA become available. 

While I tend to believe the updated research by Mr. Cowan, I plan to fully analyze both books and their sources, plus any additional sources I come across, to develop my own argument. 

It's okay to be different!

James L. Thompson Makes A Generous Gift

James L. Thompson Makes A Generous Gift

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 17 Theme: At Worship

Generation 8My 3rd Great Grandfather

Rigsby, Kienlen, Aden, Thompson

I was raised Roman Catholic like my dad, but my mom was Baptist. When I was little, we would attend Sunday Mass with my dad at Seven Holy Founders, then head over to the First Baptist Church of Affton for Sunday School. Once we moved, when I was about 10 years old, my mom had trouble finding a church she liked so we would go to Mass with my dad. She eventually found her way to Canaan Baptist Church. Her faith was strong, and that church and congregation meant a lot to her.

(logo credited to the original artist, Piotr Mlodozeniec)

My heritage is a diverse mix of Christianity. Besides the Catholics and Baptists, there were Quakers, Presbyterians, Methodists, Reformed Dutch, and Anglicans. There were probably more that I can't recall at this moment. Some ancestors led their faithful flocks, and others led more secular lives. Like many family historians, I have at times been surprised by the intermingling denominations in my family tree. I am fortunate to interact on a daily basis with people from all over the world, from many diverse cultures and with many different belief systems. I embrace this diversity in my own tree and in my community. It makes life interesting!

In 1861, James L. Thompson, a Methodist who came from Presbyterian stock, along with Samuel Miller, deeded 2 1/2 acres of land to Obion Chapel Methodist Church for a church and cemetery. Thanks to this generous gift, people are still worshiping in that same location today. He lived just uphill from the church, and the rest of his tragic story I will save for another day.

Transcription of land deed: 
James L. Thompson and Samuel Miller to Deed 2 ½ acres Methodist Church, Obion Chapel. Registered on the 11 day of April AD 1861. We have this day granted and do hereby grant to the Methodist Protestant congregation at Obion Chapel the following tract of land in Obion County bounded as follows: Beginning at a small black oak Thompson's SW corner thence W 12 poles to a hickory with hickory pointers thence N 17 poles to a stake with 2 hickory pointers thence E 24 poles to a dogwood with 2 white oak pointers thence S. 14 poles with ash dogwood hickory pointers thence W 12 poles to the beginning containing by estimation two and a half acres to have and to hold to the same congregation their heirs their assigns forever we hereby warrant and will forever defend the right and title to the said land against all lawful claims what ever. In Testimony where of we have hereunto set our hands and seals this day of 1860 Ack. James L. Thompson [seal] and Samuel N. Miller [seal].

Captain Thomas Cowan's Family

Captain Thomas Cowan's Family52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Thomas and Mary Elizabeth Barkley Cowan

Week 11 Theme: Large Family

Generation 10
My 5th Great Grandparents

Rigsby, Kienlen, Aden, Thompson, Cowan


I come from what is considered an average-sized family. I have two sisters. I only have cousins on my mom's side. I remember spending time with my cousins growing up, and we were all about the same age, or I should say most of us were born within the same decade, except the youngest who still likes to remind us he is the youngest (You know who you are!).

My mom's family was a bit different. I always thought it was funny that she was the same age as her Uncle Ray. They graduated from high school together.

I recently learned that she was the Maid of Honor at her Aunt Martha's wedding.

There is a lot of overlap in large families, and relationships were not always what we 
expect them to be based on today's perspective. 

Thomas Cowan and Mary Elizabeth Barkley had a large family of fourteen children.
It must have been a struggle to raise such a large family during an exciting
but difficult time in our nations's history.
This is a fairly well-researched family, given the number of descendants
that exist today.  Even so, there are still mysteries to be solved.

Connections

“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”
― William James 

A lot of people who know me do not understand why I research my family history. It's kind of a nerdy hobby, but I love it. Time and time again, I realize that I am connected to so many people and so many places. It changes the way I see my family, and also the way I view the world.

In 2016, I took a trip to the U.K. with my daughter Jennifer. We carefully planned every stop, and one place on both of our lists was Lindisfarne. I mean, who doesn't want to walk where Vikings walked? Holy Isle is a tidal island. You can only drive to the island when the tide is low. We had to plan for this, which even affected the day we left for our trip. But we made it.

It was a beautiful place and we had a great time exploring. We even climbed down to the sea floor to get this shot. It was one of our favorite stops.

A few months after we returned, I learned that our Scottish Cowan ancestors may have originally come from Lindisfarne/Holy Island. I have not verified this and may never be able to, but I do have to wonder why we liked it there so much. Do memories of places stay with us in our DNA? Are we naturally drawn to places? 

Today I was again reminded of these connections. While browsing through baptism records from the Old Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri, I came across this entry:

I don't read French, but I know enough to see that Louis Blanchet, son of Louis Blanchet and an Osage woman, was baptized in October. His Godmother was Catherine Maréchal, my 5th Great Grandmother. Louis Blanchet (the father) was the founder of St. Charles, Missouri. I will admit that it's pretty awesome to know that my ancestor was friends with someone whose name is still known. What's even more awesome is to know that I myself have a connection

to Louis Blanchet.

On a cold weekend in November, 2010, Jennifer and I participated in our third archaeological excavation at the home of Louis Blanchet. His home is pictured in the background, and my daughter is hard at work digging around some big tree roots that made for a difficult dig. Little did I know at the time that our family had a connection to Louis Blanchet. Funny how things happen. We could have done something else with those weekends, but we didn't. 

I am fortunate to be living in the same general location as my French-Canadian ancestors did

almost 300 years ago. We can visit the old stomping grounds anytime we want. 

My granddaughter Rose has seen the reconstructed French colonial church on Main Street in

St. Charles. We've also taken her to Fort de Chartres, in Randolph County, Illinois a few times. Quite a few of my ancestors have lived here, visited here, or at least knew people here when it was a French military outpost in the middle of nowhere.

Rose singing in between the doors in the main gate of Fort de Chartres

Rose climbing in the foundations of the barracks

My daughter Kristin and Rose enjoying some frozen lemonade, just like our

French ancestors did at Fort de Chartres

(not really, but they would have enjoyed it)

Someday I hope to show my descendants how they are connected to people and places by those who came before us. I want them to know they have deep roots in America, and even deeper ones in other countries. I want them to know that they should treat everyone with kindness because they could be connected somehow, "in the deep."  I want them to grow up to realize that they are not only Americans, but citizens of the world.