By Col. Cliff H. MacLean-Hansen, Retired
Of the 25 staff officers of a Highland Chief, these two were the most important: Am Seanachaidh [the Sennachie or Genealogist of the Chief's House] he was solely responsible for the clan register, records, genealogies and family history. The other, Am Marischal Tighe [the Seneschal composed of two men] were both well versed in the genealogies and precedents of all the clans.
Within the croft families of the Western Isles, the children became the family Sennachie. They mentally stored the family genealogy. The Sabbath, greatly revered, permitted few household chores. Children were not on the Sabbath permitted to play outdoors.
To alleviate boredom, the children, standing abreast before the hearth, would in unison recite their family tree. This was an oral presentation; no written notes. Everyone knew the family kinship. However, with the gradual passing of the olden ways and immigration to distant lands, all this oral family history was lost.
Information about landed gentry, royal and semi‑royal lineage is plentiful. Judicial and county records reveal Rent Rolls and also inventories of household plenishing afford a glimpse of those who tilled the soil. The kirk records may be lost. If a crofter was charged with assault, violation of Game Laws, sheep stealing or a political uprising, he will appear in judicial records. Any of these activities would warrant an arrest record.
In more recent times, in Scotland, compulsory registration of birth was required. Yet, when you research in Edinburgh, you will discover records of many areas have been lost. Families could record the current birth of a child or record it whenever they happened to be near a registration office ‑ a year or so later.
Most likely, a crofter's name will be found in estate and farm account books. A few of these record books exist today. Remember tenants changed their names and their children's name lo that of Ihe Laird whenever it was to their advantage ‑ to gain a better rental fee or a cottage. This can be vexing.
If you are fortunate enough to tie your family to one of these account books, you are "home free" at least for a generation or two. For once, with complete exactness, you may stand on an earthen area once tilled by your ancestry. The recorded details reveal much about daily life.
If you visit the recorded area today it might be quite different. During the famine times, which I shall discuss later, the landed proprietors would destroy cottages and even small estate communitlies to eliminate a refuge for desperate people. When the sheep era became popular, destruction of living abodes swung into high gear.
When planning a researching trip to Scotland allow ample time to visit the Dumfries museum. They have amassed more artifacts which portray life from early times to the present than you will find elsewere. To aid researchers, the museum has published many fact sheets pertaining to the area and its people. Usually, they are readiiy available. To defray printing costs, you should make a cash donation into a collection box. The material's value to you determines the amount.
==O==
Myra Vanderpool Gormley wrote:
"Scottish place names are of various origins, mainly Celtic, but somehave Norse, English or Norman roots. There are some common habitation surnames in Scotland, such as Lindsay, which some name experts say may have been derived fromplaces in England that were taken to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Like many of our surnames, the origins of Lindsay may never be known. Some claim it is of Norman origin, from De Limeway [near Pavilly, north of Rouen, France], but it also may have been derived from a place of that name, which was a division of Lincolnshire in England.
Our ancestors may have acquired a place name as a surname by living at or near some place. This is particularly true of topographical features. Dwelling at or near a lake, a brook or a river distinguished one man of the same given name from others who lived elsewhere. Some Scottish topographical names include:
Blair [field or plain]; Brodie [at the muddy place]; Burn [stream or brook]; Cameron [crooked hill]; Chisholm [a waterside meadow where cheese was made]; Craig [rock or crag]; Douglas [dark stream]; Drummond [ridge]; Forbes [field]; and Glendinning [glen of the fair hill].
Others referring to descriptive places are:
"Gordon [spacious hill]; Keith [wood]; Leslie [garden of hollies]; Logan, [a little hollow]; Muir [moor]; Ramsey [ram's isle or wild garlic island], Ross [dweller at the promontory or peninsula]; Skene [bush]; Sutherland [south land] and Urquhart [woodside]."
==O==
Gowan, a meadow daisy in Scotland, was mentioned in “Annie Laurie,” the traditional Scottish ballad:
“Maxwelton's braes are bonnie
Where early fa's the dew,
And it's there that Annie Laurie
Gi'ed me her promise true;
Gi'ed me her promise true,
Which ne'er forgot shall be,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doun an' dee.
Her brow is like the snawdrift,
her neck is like the swan,
Her face it is the fairest
That e'er the sun shone on;
That e'er the sun shone on,
And dark blue is her e'e,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doun an' dee.
Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet;
And like winds in summer sighing
Her voice is low and sweet;
Her voice is low and sweet,
She's a' the world to me,
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doun an' dee.”
Verses and melody by Lady John Scott
==O==
"Mr. Gowen, captein of the skowts, received consideration of his debt" for his services to Queen Mary in quelling a rebelion about 1553, according to "Camden Society Publications."
==O==
Charles Gowans was a "foremastman aboard the Lyon" April 16, 1694, according to "The Old Scots Navy."
David Gowan was chosen by the Fenwick Kirk to be its presbyter at the next Synod in its session of April 22, 1655:
“The qlk day the Session doe nominat and chuse David Gowan to their presb and nixt Synod and …. their of-fice.”
==O==
James Gowan was a charter member of the Kimarnock Presbyterian Church of Fenwick, Ayrshire which was organized February 2, 1830, according to “Record of Presby,” David Ronald, clerk. Rev. William Orr was ordained as their first minister
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John Gowan, wood merchant, was called as a juror April 5, 1817 in the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh to hear the trial of “Alexander Maclaren, weaver in Kilmarnock and Thomas Baird, merchant there.” The defendants were accused of the crime of sedition during the turbulent period after the Napoleonic War, according to the “London Times” of April 10, 1817.
==O==
Mrs. Marrion Gowan Curry, daughter of Mrs. Margaret Gowan in Burn was buried May 26, 1735.
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Robert Gowan of Muirkirk was married March 24, 1816 to Mary Mitchell of Sorn, according to Ayrshire marriage records. Children born to Robert Gowan and Mary Mitchell Gowan are unknown.
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Samuel Gowan of Ayrshire was among the riflemen who were wounded September 10, 1857 in the fighting in India, according to a journal maintained by Dr. McCaulay. The doctor indicates that Samuel Gowan died shortly after being wounded.
Anthony Gowan Philip, first child of Adam Wilson Philip and Christian Davidson Philip who were married April 6, 1834 in, Echt, Aberdeen, was born in 1836. Anthony Gowan Philip was the grandson of Alexander Davidson, 1779-1851 and Katherine Glennie Davidson, 1778-1851, who were married April 25, `807 in Old Machar, Aberdeen, according to Elizabethe Dolan of Australia.
Thomas M’Gowan was burgh chamberlain of Dumfries town when the Dumfries Town Hall burned November 21, 1908. M’Gowan’s records, consisting of the burgh accounts for 30 years, had been removed to safety because he did not regard the Town Hall Record Office as a safe place to house them, according to edition of the “Dumfries and Galloway Standard” of that date.
Three Gowan families, four Gowans families, nine Gow families and nine Gowie families were enumerated in the 1841 census of Fife County.
==O==
Anne Gowan was married in Dysart, Fife in 1788 to Robert Dobie, according to Deborah Collins. Children born to them include:
John Dobie born about 1790
Jess Dobie born about 1793
Robert Dobie, Jr. born about 1797
Barbara Dobie born in 1804
Barbara Gowan was married in 1801 to David Dobie in Dysart, according to the research of Andrew S. Bowman. She died January 16, 1853, according to “Fife Wills.”
==O==
Jean Gowan was married to George Patterson January 19, 1751 at Torryburn, Fife, according to Lynette Begg, Box 289, East Maitland, New South Wales, 2323, Australia.
==O==
James O’Neill, 32, son of John O’Neill and Alice Gowan O’Neill, died January 6, 1935 at Culross, Fife.
David Douglas Gowan, born into a fisherman's family in Kincardineshire, Scotland in 1843, would be the last man you would expect to find living in the wilderness of Arizona Territory. The adventurous wanderer ran the risk of co-existing with the treacherous Apache to mine silver in the Tonto region. He is credited by some as the discoverer of the Tonto Natural Bridge early in his Arizona residence which lasted for 49 years before his death in 1926.
Marjorie A. Templeton, Foundation member of Payson, Arizona became interested in his colorful exploits and provided the research for this article. She found separating fact from fiction about Gowan somewhat difficult, as did Jerrell G. Johnson who in 1970 traced his life in "The Arizona Scotsman" and Alan Thurber who wrote about him in "The Arizona Republic" February 21, 1988.
Early in his manhood David Douglas Gowan sailed out of Bervie Harbor destined for London and the excitement of the hub of the empire. On the waterfront of the Thames he became intoxicated with tales of exotic ports of call of the British Navy and signed on as a seaman aboard an English man-of-war. On the cruise past Spain into the South Atlantic, Gowan became bored with the tedium of the British navy at sea and jumped ship at a port in west Africa. Knowing the penalty for desertion, Gowan signed on with the first outbound ship to sail. This happened be a stench-ridden slave ship on its way to the Carolinas with its unfortunate human cargo. Upon arrival, in its first day in port, Gowen again jumped ship and began to sample life in America.
After a brief period of service on coastal vessels, the Civil War broke out, and David Douglas Gowan enlisted in the U.S. Navy, according to "The Arizona Scotsman." After the war, he returned to being a merchant mariner and signed on for a voyage around Cape Horn to California. Upon arrival, he again left the ship and employed himself up and down the California coast. In time he owned his own boat and returned to fishing, the profession of his fathers back in Scotland. It all ended quickly when his boat capsized in a Pacific storm, and he barely escaped with his life.
Having had his fill of the sea, he left it, never to return. Venturing inland he arrived in Arizona in 1874 at age 31. Observing its wide-open expanse with land for the taking and hearing reports of men becoming rich with its gold and silver and its cattle and sheep, Gowan determined to settle in the Territory. He returned to California, obtained a herd of sheep and with a companion drove them back to Arizona.
When he learned, the hard way, that sheep were not suited to that area, he turned to prospecting for silver. It was then that he ran into the Apaches. He related that it was in 1877, once while the Indians were pursuing him, intent on removing his scalp that he discovered the Tonto Natural Bridge. While fleeing from the Apaches down Pine Creek Canyon, he came upon a vast stone arch towering over a tunnel. He climbed up the vertical rocky wall of the canyon and hid on a ledge just below the crest of the arch. After three days, the Indians gave up the search, and Gowan began to survey his safe haven.
What he had stumbled onto was the world's largest natural travertine arch with five acres of fertile soil on its top. The bridge was 183 feet above the canyon floor; the tunnel underneath was 400 feet long and 150 feet wide. Thus was the bridge discovered, according to the legend.
David Douglas Gowan recognized the value of the vicinity and homesteaded there. He built a shack on top of the arch and claimed the land below as well. Additionally he filed mining claims up and down the canyon and took enough silver from them to keep him in beans and bacon.
He also recognized the potential of the arch to be developed as an attraction. With this in mind, he contacted his nephew and namesake, David Gowan Goodfellow in England and interested him in removing his family to Arizona to undertake the development of the arch. Goodfellow arrived in 1893 with his wife and three children. They came by ship to New York and then by train to Flagstaff. Gowan met them at the depot with a wagon, and six days later had them on the site of their new home.
Little by little, they developed the site. They built a house, hauling the lumber in on pack mules. Six years were spent in building a road with picks and shovels. Later they began to add tourist cabins.
As the visitors began to come, David Douglas Gowan began to spend more and more time working his mining claim and prospecting in the wilderness. Finally, when civilization began to encroach upon his solitude, he withdrew completely. He gave the Tonto Natural Bridge to his nephew and moved up the canyon to the seclusion of a cabin.
Goodfellow began the construction of a four-story lodge with wide porches and a tremendous diningroom. They dug out a swimming pool with "four horses and a Fresno." With all the building activity, the Goodfellow family did not maintain close contact with their uncle. On a cold December night, a passerby looked in on Gowan's cabin and found no fire in the fireplace and no sign of the occupant. He alerted the family and neighbors. The next morning, they found the body of David Douglas Gowan on the trail, seated in the snow and leaning against a boulder. It was obvious that his heart had just given out, and that he died quietly January 1, 1926 in his 83rd year.
The Goodfellow family went on to complete their uncle's dream. The lodge was completed the following year, and the resort began to operate in earnest. It has enjoyed success intermittently from that time to the present. From the time David Douglas Gowan staked his claim there, the arch and the resort have been on private property. On summer weekends 1,200 to 1,500 people come down the steep road to view the arch, but few use the lodge. A quarter million dollars have been spent recently to rebuild the lodge and tourist accomodations. Now, Tonto Lodge is again open for business. As for Tonto Natural Bridge, it's been there all along.
==O==
Isabel Gowan was born in Bervie, Kincardineshire about 1778 of parents unknown. She was married April 23, 1795 to Andrew Milne, a shipmaster who was born February 15, 1767 in Gourdon, Kincardineshire to John Milne and Mary Watt Milne. Children, all born in Bervie, include:
John Milne born January 5, 1796
Elizabeth Milne born August 23, 1798
Isobel Milne born June 21, 1800
Mary Milne born June 12, 1802
Andrew Milne born August 31, 1804
Alexander Milne born December 22, 1806
James Milne born January 16, 1810
Robert Milne born June 4, 1812
Marrion Gowan was born about 1761 in Kirkcudbrightshire of parents unknown. She as married about 1780 to Walter Arnot. He died at Croft Head December 29, 1823 at age 58. She died there March 23, 1845 at age 84 and was buried beside him in Galtway Cemetery.
==O==
Roger McGowan of South Australia wrote
“I am looking for anything on my ggg grandfather, Alexander McGowan / M'Gowan/MacGowan. Alexander was a Presby-terian Minister and was born in 1737 at Knockreoch, in the parish of Kells and died 12 Oct 1826 in Dalry. The only thing I have on his parents is from a Parish publication which said that they were humble and most of his children are listed on Alexander's head stones in the Dalry church yard cemetery. I have an old Readers Digest Book of Roads and in it, I've found three Kells, all in Ireland, Antrim, Kilkenny and Meath. I would dearly love to know if Alexander was born in Ireland so I can resume my search. His eldest son James M'Gowan was born: 27 May 1787 in Dalry, Kirkcudbrightshire, he become a Presbyterian minister and moved to Liverpool [not necessarily in that order] he married Susannah Jackson, 28 June 1819 at Liverpool. James, Susannah and their 11 children sailed from Liverpool to Australia on the Planter in 1838.
Roger MacGowan,
South Australia”
Bill Copland replied to Roger MacGowan on July 1, 2002:
“Kells is the name of a parish in the county of Kirkcud-bright. It is centred on the town of New Galloway, and is the neighbouring parish to Dalry.
This is a summary of the information on the McGowan gravestones, from a book available from the Dumfries & Galloway Family History Society:
‘Stone 305
Rev. Alex MacGowan, minister 34 years, died 12 October 1826 at 81 years
Son John Newall McGowan, died 31 Jan 1791 at 9 months.
Son William McGowan, died 22 October 1795 at 4 weeks.
Son John McGowan, surgeon, Royal Navy, died at Liver-pool 18 Mar 1819 at age 26.
Son David McGowan, died 2 December 1823 at age 20.
Son Thomas Newall MacGowan, surgeon, Manchester died 6 January 1846 at 46 years.
Son, Joseph Henderson MacGowan, surgeon Royal Navy, died at St. Helliers, Jersey, 1854
Widow Mary Newall, died 21 June 1867 in her 97th year.
Stone 306
Erected by Rev. Alex MacGowan, youngest son George Knight died in Bristol 12 June 1878 at 65 years.
First son Rev. James MacGowan, died in Adelaide, S. Australia 14 Apr 1856.
Anna MacGowan, died in Kirkcudbright 19 April 1865.
Agnes Murray MacGowan, died 13 December 1873.
There is a note added to these as follows:
[see Fasti Ecclesiae ii 408]
Mrs. Mary Newall MacGowan was daughter of James Newall of Stranfasket. Also among her 17 children were:
Mary MacGowan, married Glover.
Patricia Heron MacGowan, married Robert Malcolm-son.
Wilhelmina MacGowan, author of 'Tales Founded on Fact.'
Oswald MacGowan.
Jane Margaret MacGowan, married Edmonstone.
Stewart MacGowan, female, married Thorburn.”
You will be able to get a Death Cert for Mary Newall as she did after 1855. Stranfasket is a farm northwest of Dalry.”
“Gowan Hills Parish of Currie” was a geographic location in Lanarkshire in 1842, according to the records of William Pat-erson, “Treasurer for the Poor - at infra.”
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Lizzie Gowan, “a general servant, age 24, born in Parlick, Lanarkshire” living in the household of Robert McDonald, “a head teacher on Castleview,” was enumerated in the 1891 census of adjoining Ayr, Ayrshire.
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James Gowan of Omoa Town in Lanarkshire Parish and Marion Hamilton of Bothwell Parish were married February 20, 1853, according to parish records. Children born to James Gowan and Marion Hamilton Gowan are unknown.
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Walter Gowan was born in Lanarkshire in 1771 and emigrated to the United States in 1818, according to “Hoosier Journal of Ancestry,” page 18:
“Walter Gowan, age 47, a farmer, born in Scotland, county of Lanark; wife, Jennet, formerly Rabbs is age 69. One child, Walter Gowan, Junior, is age 26. The family sailed from Dumphries, Scotland May 18, 1818 in the Scotch Merchant Vessel “Thompson,” commanded by Capt. William Thompson, arriving in Philadelphia July 11, 1818.”
It is unknown where Walter Gowan, Jennet Rabbs Gowan and Walter Gowan, Jr. lived in Indiana.
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John G. Gowans was born in Baillieston September 25, 1887, according to “Maryland in the World War, 1917-1919.” He was enlisted from Lonaconing, Pennsylvania June 27, 2928 in a depot brigade. He was discharged December 7, 1918.
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James McGowan, 49, lodger, shoemaker, born in Ireland, was enumerated in the 1881 census of Gorbals, Lanarkshire living in Model Rooming House in Enumeration District 97, page 7.
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Margaret Campbell Darling MacGowan died April 20, 1884, according to the “Natal Witness” published May 22, 1884 in South Africa. She, “relict of Jas. MacGowan, Glasgow, Scotland, Bridgeton died at Rothesay, Bute, Scotland, U. K.” James MacGowan apparently was a soldier or a government employee in South Africa.
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William Gowans, bibliophile and publisher, was born March 29, 1803 in Lanarkshire. He was a product of vigorous Scotch peasantry and lived on a farm near the Falls of the Clyde, where he attended school. His family emigrated to the United States in 1821, according to "Scottish Emigrants to the U.S.A." by Donald Whyte. A short residence in Philadelphia was followed by some five years in Crawford County Indiana.
When William Gowans was about 25 years old he went to New York City and tried his hand at various occupations, including gardening, news vending and stone cutting. In 1830 he played a minor part with Edwin Forrest at the Bowery Theatre.
Later he set up a bookstall on Chatham Street, consisting simply of a row of shelves, protected with wooden shutters, an iron bar, and a padlock. He also recounted that he was a boarder for several months about 1837 in the household of Edgar Allen Poe, according to the "New York Evening Mail," December 10, 1870. For the rest of his life he was ever identified with books. He was not much concerned with books with uncut pages and luxurious bindings as he was with second-hand and rare volumes, and "unconsidered trifles and remnants." His locations were many, and for a brief period he sat up shop as a book auctioneer. From 1863 to the end of his life he was the "Antiquarian of Nassau Street" with his shop at No. 115 on that thoroughfare. He was more a book collector than a book salesman. When a customer complained that a book was "too high," he would reply, "Well, we'll make it higher," at the same time placing it on a tall shelf out of reach.
His books filled the store, floor, basement and sub-cellar, the treasures in the depths discovered only with the aid of a small tin sperm-oil lamp. "Books lay everywhere in seemingly dire confusion, piled upon tables and on the floor, until they finally toppled over, and the few narrow aisles which had originally been left between the rows became well-nigh impassable," according to the "New York Post." His executors sold at auction some 250,000 bound volumes after eight tons of pamphlets had been sold as waste paper.
William Gowans did some publishing from time to time, his earliest production being a reprint of the English edition (1701) of Dacier's translation of "Plato's Phacedo" in 1833. Between 1842 and 1870 he issued 28 catalogues of his books. These catalogues are full of "his antiquarian reminiscences, his quaint and shrewd opinions, and curious speculations." Other worthwhile publications were the historical reprints known as "Gowans' Bibliotheca Americana" (5 volumes, 1845-1860). Additional self-revelation is included in a sketch he wrote of a fellow bibliophile, "Reminiscences of Hon. Gabriel Furman," [Gabriel Furman, "Notes, Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn on Long Island, 1865"]. He married in middle age Susan Bradley of New York who died in 1866, leaving no children to William Gowans and Susan Bradley Gowans. William Gowans died November 27, 1870 in New York City, according to Scribner's "Dictionary of "American Biography,” Volume VII, page 459.
Additional information on the life of William Gowans is contained in W. L. Andrews' "The Old Booksellers of New York," obituaries in the "New York Evening Mail," December 1, 1870, "New York Evening Post," November 29,1870, "Nation," December 1, 1870 and "Catalogue of the Books Belonging to the Estate of the late William Gowans". His portrait appears in Gowans' "Bibliotheca Americana."
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James Gowan was married to Margaret Cunningham August 16, 1630 at Glasgow, according to parish records. Children born to James Gowan ans Margaret Cunningham Gowan are unknown.
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William Gowan was married July 28, 1618 at Glasgow to Marion Ross, according to parish records. Children born to William Gowan and Marion Ross Gowen are unknown.
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William Gowan was married to Janet Paul June 24, 1630 at Glasgow, according to parish records. Children born to William Gowan and Janet Paul Gowan are unknown.
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William Gowan was married July 11, 1639 to Bessie Wilson at Glasgow, according to parish records. Children born to William and Bessie Wilson Gowan are unknown.
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Andrew Gowans, son of James Gowans who was born in Bute, Rothesay, was born about 1850. He was married about 1875 to Hannah MacDougall, according to Fred Cohen, a descendant of Brisbane, Australia who wrote November 16, 1999.
Andrew Gowans was enumerated in 1881 as the head of a household in Govan, Lanarkshire:
"Gowans, Andrew 36, Blacksmith,
Hannah ??,
Isabella 5, born in 1876
Andrew 2, born in 1879
James McDougall 1, born in 1880"
Isabella Gowans, regarded as a kinsman, was married November 26, 1845 in Bute, Rothesay to James McDougall. Children born to them include:
Isabella McDougall born in 1847
Hannah McDougall born in 1850
Dugald McDougall born in 1853
==O==
Walter Gowans was born of parents unknown January 8, 1797 at Leshmagow in Lanarkshire, according to Laura Beauchamp, a descendant of Littleton, Colorado, who wrote April 24, 1998. He was married to Ann Orr in Shotts, Lanarkshire January 3, 1830.
Children born to Walter Gowans and Ann Orr Gowans include:
Walter Gowans born in 1831
Alexander Gowans born about 1836
James Gowans born in 1842
William Gowans born in 1843
William Gowans, son of Walter Gowans and Ann Orr Gowans, was born in 1831 in Bothwell, Lanarkshire. He was married to Martha Barrie January 21, 1870 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
Children born to William Gowans and Martha Barrie Gowans include:
Walter Gowans born in 1870
David Barrie Gowans born in 1872
Mary Smith Gowans born in 1875
Ann Orr Gowans born in 1876
William Barrie Gowans born in 1879
Thomas Baxter Gowans born in 1881
Walter Gowans, son of William Gowans and Martha Barrie Gowans, was born in 1870 in Hamilton. He became a mason and worked in various construction projects in Lanarkshire. In the early 1900s he emigrated to Detroit, Michigan, according to Laura Beauchamp, his great-granddaughter.
David Barrie Gowans, son of William Gowans and Martha Barrie Gowans, was born in 1872. He emigrated to Detroit along with his brothers and sister. He became a greengrocer there.
Mary Smith Gowans, daughter of William Gowans and Martha Barrie Gowans, was born in 1875 in Hamilton. She did not remove to the United States and continued to live in Scotland in 1928.
Ann Orr Gowans, daughter of William Gowans and Martha Barrie Gowans, was born in 1876 in Hamilton. She emigrated to Detroit along with other members of her family.
William Barrie Gowans, son of William Gowans and Martha Barrie Gowans, was born in 1879 in Hamilton. He emigrated to Detroit where he became a travel agent.
Thomas Baxter Gowans, son of William Gowans and Martha Barrie Gowans, was born in 1881 in Hamilton. He came to Detroit. He and his brothers were members there of "Clan Campbell," a fraternal organization.
==O==
Christian, widow of Symon de Govane, held lands in Govan in 1293. Adam of Govan was one of an inquest at Peebles, Scotland in 1304. William de Gouane witnessed a charter William, laird of Douglas, between 1306 and 1329. Sir John Gowen was rector of the church of Maxtoun in 1326, and in 1325 John de Govan made a grant in Brummelaw to the Friar Preachers of Glasgow. Laurence de Govan was sheriff of Peblys in 1359. William Govan or Guvane was canon of Glasgow, from 1425 to 1445. John de Govane was prior of the Predicant Friars of Glasgow in 1451. John Gowan was a tenant under the bishop of Glasgow in 1511. William Guvane of Cardno appears as a Peebleshire laird in 1530. David Gowane was listed as a portioner of Schettilstoun in 1606. Margaret Gooven was a resident of Edinburgh in 1634.
From a study of the old records it is evident that the Govans of Peebleshire were a family of same importance in the fourteenth century. They retained possession of Cardrona, their ancestral estate, until 1685. After that time they appear only as burgesses of Peebles and owners of certain patches of land in its neighborhood.
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William Govan of Hawkshaw died in Edinburgh in 1819.
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George Gow and Henry Gow were burgesses of Dysart in 1580. Michael Gow and Robert Gow of Culcoly were among the fellowers of Stewart of Kinnaird in a raid in 1595.
"The tradition that the Gows are descended from 'Hal o' the Wynd' who took part in the clan battle on the Inch of Perth, in 1396, is merely a piece of folklore," according to Black.
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The name Gowans was recorded in Linlithgow and Perth, and four of the name are in the "Commisariot Record of Dunblane" in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
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James Gowans, son of Alexander Gowans and Elizabeth Gilmore Gowans, was a collier of Shettleston, Lanarkshire in 1856. He was married about 1852 to Janet Robertson. They came to America in 1883 and settled at Amesville, Pennsylvania.
Children born to them include:
Elizabeth Gilmore Gowans born about 1853
Margaret Robertson Gowans born November 24, 1856
Alexander Gowans born in May 1861
Elizabeth Gilmore Gowans, daughter of James Gowans and Janet Robertson Gowans, was born about 1853. She was married about 1871 to John Cousins.
Margaret Robertson Gowans, daughter of James Gowans and Janet Robertson Gowans, was born at Middlequarter, Shettleston in Lanarkshire November 24, 1856, according to a letter written November 22, 1994 by Joseph Shirley, a great-grandson of Myersdale, Pennsylvania.
Margaret Robertson Gowans was married June 25, 1880 to John Cross, a coalminer who brought his wife and children to the United States in 1888.
John Cross was enumerated as the head of a household June 14, 1900 census of Clearfield County, Byler township, Enumeration District 49, page 13:
"Cross, John 45, born February 1855 in Scotland
Margaret 42, born November 1857 in Scotland
John 17, born December 1880 in Scotland
Alexander 15, born December 1884 in Scotland
James 14, born November 1885 in Scotland
Jessie 13, born January 1887 in Scotland,
daughter
Matthew 9, born August 1890 in PA
George 8, born April 1892 in PA
Nellie 6, born May 1894 in PA
Margaret Robertson Gowans Cross died October 3, 1907 at age 50 at Bunton, Maryland in Allegheny County.
Eight children, five sons and three daughters were born to John Cross and Margaret Robertson Gowans Cross including:
John Cross born December 26, 1882
Nellie Laird Cross Casteel born about 1884s
Alexander Gowans, son of James Gowans and Janet Robertson Gowans, was born in May 1861. He was married to Mary Lees in 1885. They came to the Pennsylvania coal mines, but returned to Scotland when the mines were shut down by strikes.
Children born to Alexander Gowans and Mary Lees Gowans include:
James Gowans born May 17, 1886
Jean Gowens born in July 1889
Janet Gowans born March 7, 1891
James Gowans, son of Alexander Gowans and Mary Lees Gowans, was born May 17, 1886 in Shettlestone. When he was 23, he accompanied his father to Fernie, British Columbia to work in the coal mines. When the Canadian mines were shut down by labor strikes, his father returned to Rutherglen, Scotland to his wife and children. James Gowans remained at Fernie until 1913 and then removed to Edmondton, Alberta. He worked in the mines there until 1915. At that time he joined the Canadian Army at the outset of World War I. He was married to Alice Elizabeth Wright February 9, 1915.
He embarked for Europe in April 1916 and landed in Liverpool in May 1916 and had an opportunity to visit with his parents and family in Rutherglen. He arrived in France June 10, 1916 and was posted to the Seventh Canadian Battalion. He was wounded in the Battle of the Somme River on September 16 and wounded again on April 9, 1917 in the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
He was returned to England and stationed at Seaford on the English Channel until the Armistice, November 11, 1918. He returned to Vancouver, British Columbia in December and was joined by his wife and daughter who was born April 14, 1916. In April 1920 he purchased a home at 5853 Joyce Road in South Vancouver and lived there the remainder of his live.
Four children were born to them:
Elizabeth "Betty" Gowans born April 13, 1916
Jean Gowans born Sept. 9, 1919
Mary Lees Gowans born March 2, 1921
James Arthur Alexander Gowans born October 15, 1926
Elizabeth "Betty" Gowans, daughter of James Gowans and Alice Elizabeth Wright Gowans, was born April 13, 1916 at Fernie while her father was overseas. She was married about 1934 to Michael Collins. They were later divorced. Later she was remarried to Michael Dean Burbridge.
Jean Gowans, daughter of James Gowans and Alice Elizabeth Wright Gowans, was born born September 9, 1919 in Vancouver. She died March 21, 1922.
Mary Lees Gowans, daughter of James Gowans and Alice Elizabeth Wright Gowans, was born March 2, 1921. She was married about 1940 to Robert Cecil Scott.
James Arthur Alexander Gowans, son of James Gowans and Alice Elizabeth Wright Gowans, was born October 15, 1926 in Vancouver. He was married in August 1956 to Rita Beckmeyer. Six children were born to James Arthur Alexander Gowans and Rita Beckmeyer Gowans.
Janet Gowans, daughter of Alexander Gowans and Mary Lees Gowans, was born at Amesville, Pennsylvania March 7, 1891. Her family returned to Scotland and then later emigrated to Canada, settling at Red Deer, Alberta. She was married about 1910 to Rev. Thomas Sneddon. He was 90 years old in September 1975. Four children were born to them.
==O==
Colin Gowin of Kenvay was denounced as a rebel in Tiree in 1675.
==O==
Jean M. Gowen was enumerated March 30, 1851 living in the household of James Frame, her grandfather in the Parish of Dalsert in Lanarkshire, Enumeration District 4. She was five years old and born in Glasgow.
==O==
James McGowan was enumerated in the 1881 census of Lanarkshire, living in Glasgow:
“McGowan James, born in 1841, Dundee, Forfar,
LKS, Glasgow
Catherine born in 1842, Dundee, Forfar,
LKS, Glasgow
John born in 1862, Duneee, Forfar,
LKS, Glasgow
Francis born in 1864, Dundee, Forfar,
LKS, Glasgow
Mary born in 1866, Dundee, Forfar
LKS, Glasgow
John born in 1868, Dundee, Forfar
LKS, Glasgow”
==O==
Joseph McGowan and John McGowan were enumerated in 1881 living in the household of Neil Deveny and Isabella Deveney in the census of Gorbal, Lanarkshire, Enumeration District 86, page 23 at 23 Clyde Terrace:
“Deveney, Neil 50, laborer, born in Donegal
County, Ireland
Isabella 35, wife, born in Donegal
County, Ireland
McGowan, Joseph 19, laborer, lodger, born in
Armagh County, Ireland
John 16, laborer, lodger, born in
Armagh County, Ireland”
==O==
Gowan McKay, “agricultural laborer from Lanarkshire” was listed as a passenger aboard the “Timaru” December 31, 1874 bound for Port Chalmers, New Zealand from Glasgow.