SCOTLAND

 

Glimpses of Old World Scotland

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.

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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]."

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Gowan, a meadow daisy in Scotland, was mentioned in “Annie Laurie,” the traditional Scottish ballad:

 

Annie Laurie

“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

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"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."

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Charles Gowans was a "foremastman aboard the Lyon" April 16, 1694, according to "The Old Scots Navy."

 

AYRSHIRE

 

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.”

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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.

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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.

 

ABERDEEN

 

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.

 

DUMFRIESSHIRE

 

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.

 

FIFE

 

Three Gowan families, four Gowans families, nine Gow families and nine Gowie families were enumerated in the 1841 census of Fife County.

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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.”

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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.

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James O’Neill, 32, son of John O’Neill and Alice Gowan O’Neill, died January 6, 1935 at Culross, Fife.

 

KINCARDINESHIRE

 

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.

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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

 

KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE

 

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. 

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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.”

 

LANARKSHIRE

 

“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.

                                             ==O==

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.

                                             ==O==

William Govan of Hawkshaw died in Edinburgh in 1819.

                                             ==O==

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.

                                             ==O==

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.

                                               ==O==

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.

 

 

Family Researchers:

 

                Joseph Shirley, RD3, Box 31, Meyersdale, PA, 15552.

                                             ==O==

J. McGowan was one of the six survivors of the sinking of the Steamship “Trinacria,” according to an article in the February 9, 1893 edition of the “Glasgow Times:”

 

"The steamship Trinacria, belonging to the Anchor Line Steamship Company, Glasgow, has been lost off Cape Vilaño, on the coast of the province of Galacia, Spain, and, according to news received in Glasgow, 36 persons have been drowned. The scene of the disaster is in the neighbourhood of the place where H.M.S. Serpent struck on a rock and went down at the end of the year 1890.

 

The Anchor liner Trinacria, which left Glasgow on the 1st inst., and Greenock the next day, bound for Mediterranean ports, was expected to arrive at Gibraltar to-day. She was built in 1871 by Messrs. R. Duncan and Co., Port Glasgow, and had a gross tonnage of 2,236 and a net tonnage of 1,418.  The ves-sel was under the command of Captain Samuel Murray, who, although he had been in a number of other steamships belong-ing to the Anchor Line, was on his first voyage in the Trina-cria.

\

The crew numbered 32 hands all told.  There were only four passengers - namely, Miss Stirling, Kitty Smith, a child, Miss Carswell, and Mrs. Bell, all from Glasgow for Gibraltar.  The following were the crew:  J.W. M'Ausland, chief officer; F. Thorne, second officer; R. Chalmers, carpenter; D. M'Donald, boatswain; W.J. Reid, R. Spencer, A. Anderson, W. M'Innes, D. Anderson, D. M'Gilp, A. Ralston, and V.B. Molloy, able seamen; J. Kerr and J. Coon, boys; J. Rust, chief engineer; D. Patullo, second engineer; W. Birrel, third engineer; J. Semple, leading stoker; T. M'Kenna, T. Moore, M. M'Hall, J. Kelly, J. Murphy, and W. M'Lain, firemen; J. Devine, J. M'Gowan, and J. Hay, trimmers; J. Craig, chief steward; J. Scott and E. Knight, assistant stewards; J. M'Lusky and B. Vitorrio, cooks; and S. Dale, surgeon.

 

Lloyd's agent at Corunna telegraphed yesterday:- ‘The British steamer Trinacria, from Glasgow for Naples, has been totally lost at Cape Vilaño, Punta del Boy; 37 of the crew drowned; only two saved."

 

A subsequent report corrected the number of casualties, after the chief engineer and six sailors (named below) were found to have made it to shore:

 

J. Rust, first engineer

D. M'Gilp, seaman

A. Ralston, seaman

J. Semple, leading stoker

T. Moore, fireman

J. S. Kelly, fireman

J. M'Gowan, trimmer

 

All survivors were from Glasgow, except Moore who was from Govan.”

 

MIDLOTHIAN

 

Margaret Rogers Gowan, a widow, was born in Midlothian in 1863.  She was enumerated with her mother in the 1901 census of Midlothian.  The enumeration read:

 

      Rogers,      Margaret      58, widow, cleaner at Royal Bank 

                                                    born in Midlothian, Levenhall

      Gowan      Margaret      38, widow, book binder, born

                     in Edinburgh”

                                             ==O==

Ecee Dickens of Cambridge, Ontario wrote November 30, 2000 that he was searching for his uncle, Thomas Gowans Duncan who was born August 31, 1865 in Edinburgh to David Duncan and Jessie Gowans Duncan.

 

“The family emigrated from Scotland to Brantford, On-tario about 1874.  David Duncan built a house in Brantford and later a homestead on the Jennings Side Road where they were market gardeners on the banks of the Grand River.

 

The siblings of Thomas Gowans Duncan were Marshall, John, David, Francelia, Grace and Jessie Duncan.  He was married to Sylvia Lucile Drake who was born in Mobile, Alabama.  They had two sons David Glidden Duncan and Vivian L. Duncan who were born in Detroit, Michigan.

 

Thomas Gowans Duncan was a linotype operator.  He divorced his wife Sylvia somewhere between 1893 and 1915, Sylvia Lucille Drake Duncan was remarried in 1915 and living in Alameda, California with her two boys.

 

Thomas Gowans Duncan went into WWI with the Ca-nadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in 1915.  There were a few errors or lies on his enlistment forms.  He listed him-self as Gowan Thomas Duncan and signed his name that way.  His birthdate was given as 1876 rather than the cor-rect 1865.  It was the correct person because next of kin listed were his family.”

                                             ==O==

Thomas Gowan was born in 1631 at Caldermuir.  About 1658 he went to Ireland and became a minister in Glasslough, County Monaghan, according to "Dictionary of National Biography."

 

Being a Presbyterian, he was among the 61 Ulster ministers ejected in 1661 for non-conformity.  In 1667 he removed to Conner, County Antrim where he was the preacher.  In 1674 he founded a school of philosophy and religion.  He died September 13, 1683 and was buried in Antrim churchyard where  a monument was erected to him.

                                             ==O==

John Govan, a Scotch prisoner in Edinburgh's Tolbooth Prison was "transported from Leith" in November 1679, according to "Directory of Scots Banished to the Plantations, 1650-1775."

                                             ==O==

Thomas Govan, "servant to John Bell in Craigprie, held in Coventer Prison" in Edinburgh was banished to the plantations December 12, 1678, according to "Directory of Scots Banished to Plantations, 1650-1775."  William Govan, pris­oner, was "banished to the plantations" on the same date.

                                             ==O==

William Gowan was mentioned in a contract written in 1797 by Alexander Ferrier in Edinburgh as a tenant of Ferrier:

 

“Alexander Ferrier hereby binds and obliges himself to make up and establish in his person the the feudal right of the subjects after mentioned viz:  All and whole the House and Cellar with the Hayloft and stables some-time possessed by James Gilchrist Stabler, afterwards by John White and now by William Gowan.”

 

PERTHSHIRE

 

Hugh Sidney Gowans, a native of Scotland, was the subject of a biographical sketch which was published in "Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia," written by Andrew Jen­son and published in 1901.

 

The account read:

 

"Hugh Sydney Gowans, third president of the Tooele Stake of Zion, is the son of Robert Gowans and Grace McKay Gowans and was born February 23, 1832 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.  While quite young his parents removed to the city of Aberdeen in the northeast part of Scotland, where he lived until he was about ten years of age.

 

Then he removed with them to the town of Arboath in Fosforshire, Scotland, in which place he he first heard and re­ceived the gospel of Jesus Christ, as taught by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Chrsit of Latter-Day Saints.  He was baptized in his eighteenth year, August 1, 1840 by Elder Joseph Booth, in conse­quence of which he had to contend with much opposi­tion from his parents and other relatives.

 

In the following July, in response to a call made by Elder James Marsden, president of the Edinburgh con­ference, for volunteers to go out and preach the gospel, Brother Gowans offered his service.  He was accord­ingly ordained a priest and started from Dundee, in company with Robert Bain to labor in Fifeshire, under the direction of Elder John Duncan.  After some six months he was called to go to the north part of Scot­land, where he travelled and preached in Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Banff, and other places.

 

In the meantime he was ordained an Elder.  Having la­bored in the ministry for some eighteen months, he returned home and was appointed to preside over the Arbroath branch of the Dundee conference, which po­sition he occupied until he emigrated to Utah with his wife and her father and mother in 1855.  He sailed from Liverpool April 22, 1855 with a company of 581 saints, on board the ship "Samuel Curling."  He ar­rived safely in New York, the journey was continued via Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Atchison and Mormon Grove.  He crossed the plains in Capt. Milo Andrus' emigrant train, arrived in Salt Lake City October 24 in the same year.

 

He spent the following winter on the government Reservation in Rush Valley, Tooele County.

 

In consequence of Indian hostilities, in the spring of 1856, he located in Tooele City, where he has resided ever since.  He was ordained a Seventy in Salt Lake City under the hands of Joseph Young April 20, 1857 and set apart as one of the presidents of the 43rd quo­rum of Seventy at its organization in Tooele City, May 9, 1857.

 

He was appointed assessor and collector for Tooele County in 1865, and held the office for six years.  In August of the same year he was elected mayor of Tooele City, in which office he was three times suc­cessively re-elected.  May 16, 1868 he was elected ad­jutant of Company A, First Cavalry Battalion, Nauvoo Legion, and commissioned as such with the rank of first lieutenant by Gov. Durkee.

 

In 1872 he was called to go on a mission to Europe.  He left Salt lake City October 25th, and sailed from New York November 6 on board the steamer "Minnesota" of the Guion Line, which arrived in Liverpool November 19.  During this mission Elder Gowans presided successively in the Bedford, Durham and Newcastle and Manchester confer­ences, and was re­lease to return home.

 

As the leader of a company of emigrating saints he sailed from Liverpool on the steamship "Wyoming" May 12, 1875 and arrived in New York May 24th, and in Salt Lake City June 3.

 

On August 7, 1876 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Tooele County and on the 27th of September following he was elected chairman of the central and ex­ecutive committees of the People's Party in Tooele County, and took a prominent part in recovering the county from the Liberal rule.

 

At the organization of the Tooele Stake in June 1877 he was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a member of the High Council.

 

In August 1878 he was elected probate judge of Tooele County and re-elected to the same office in August 1880.  At the quarterly conference of the Tooele Stake held in Grantsville in January, 1881, he was sustained as first counselor to Heber J. Grant, president of Tooele Stake.

 

In October 1882, he was sustained and set apart by Pres. John Taylor to preside over the Tooele Stake, succeeding Heber J. Grant, who was called to be one of the Twelve Apostles.

 

On July 16, 1885, he was arrested at his home in Tooele City on the charge of unlawful cohabitation with his wives.  He was taken before Commissioner McKay in Salt Lake City and by him bound over in the sum of $1,500 to answer to the findings of the grand jury.  On the 23rd of September he was arraigned to plead to three indictments for the same offense, being the first man in the Territory on whom Prosecuting Attorney W. H. Dickson and the grand jury com­menced their illegal business of segregation, to all of which he pleaded not guilty and was placed under $3,000 bonds--$1,000 on each indictment.

 

On February 11, 1886 he was brought into court, but was only tried on one of the indictments under the plea of not guilty (the other two indictments were held over for future use), on the express condition that he would go on the witness stand and give evidence for the pros­ecution, which he did.  No other witnesses were called.  Judge Zane charged the jury, who found a ver­dict of guilty without leaving their seats.

 

At his request, sentence was deferred until the 26th, when, in answering the question in the negative, if he had any promises to make in regard to the future, he was sentenced to six months in the penitentiary and to pay a fine of $300 and costs--in all $520.

 

The same day he was taken to the penitentiary, where he served out his sentence, less the deduction allowed by the Cooper Act.  He also served thirty days in lieu of the fine, being discharged August 30, 1886."

                                             ==O==

James Gowan was married about 1800 to Isabel Sorlie in Perthshire.  She died about two years later, perhaps in childbirth.  James Gowan was remarried July 14, 1803 to Jean Pitkeathly.

 

Children born to James Gowan and Isabel Sorlie Gowan include:

 

      Christian Gowan                                           born about 1802

 

Children born to James Gowan and Jean Pitkeathly Gowan include:

 

      Bethia Gowan                                          born about 1805

      Laurance Gowan                                      born about 1807

      Catherine Gowan                                     born about 1810

      Robert Gowan                                          born about 1812

      Lucy Gowan                                             born about 1814

      William Gowan                                        born about 1817

 

Christian Gowan, only child of James Gowan and Isabel Sorlie Gowan, was born about 1802 in Perthshire.  She was married July 14, 1822 in Muthill to Peter Fisher.  In 1826 they lived in Monzie.

 

Children born to them include:

 

      John Fisher                                          born in 1826

      Mary Fisher                                         born in 1832

      Peter Fisher                                         born in 1834

      James Fisher                                        born in 1836

      Peter Fisher 2^nd                                  born in 1838

 

ROSS & CROMARTY COUNTY, SCOTLAND

 

Duncan Gowan [also shown as Donald Gowan], a farmer from the parish of Aich, was captured in battle in 1745, ac­cording to "Prisoners of the '45."  He was a soldier in Cro­marty's Regiment serving under Sir Bruce Gordon Seton, a Scotch leader in support of Prince Charles.  In June 1746, Duncan Gowan was a prisoner aboard the "Alexander & James," docked at Tilbury Fort near London.  Later he was confined aboard the "Liberty & Property," a hospital ship anchored on the Medway River between Kent and Sussex.  He was "transported to America, March 31, 1747."  "Donald Gowan, prisoner was transported to Barbados or Jamaica, March 31, 1747," according to "Directory of Scots Banished to Plantations, 1650-1775."

 

STIRLINGSHIRE, SCOTLAND

 

Margaret Gowan “died at Milton aged 17,” January 22, 1829, according to “Campsie Deaths, 1829.”

                                             ==O==

John Gowans, son of Peter Gowans and Jean Clark Gowans emigrated from Crieff, Stirlingshire to Tennessee before 1829, according to "Scottish Emigrants to the U.S.A." by Donald Whyte.

                                             ==O==

The name Goyne is an ancient and widely cast name in Stirlingshire, according to Col. Carroll Heard Goyne, Jr. of Shreveport, Louisiana.  It is found in the geography of Scotland in the name of Dumgoyne [Fort Goyne] Hill in Stirlingshire.  At the base of Dumgoyne Hill is Glengoyne [Goyne Valley), and situated therein is the village of Dumgoyne.  Also, there is a parish between Forfar and Aberdeen, Scotland by the name of Glengoyne.  The “Sunday Mail” of Glasgow, in its "Discover Scotland" series, reports that Dumgoyne Hill derives its name from an Iron Age fort that sat atop the hill.

 

WEST LOTHIAN, SCOTLAND

 

William Gowans was born March 19, 1835 at Bathgate in West Lothian, according to correspondence from Colleen Slater, a descendant of Vaughn, Washington September 4, 1898.  He was married about 1854 to Isabelle Dick who was also born at Bathgate January 11, 1836.  Shortly afterward, they removed to Selkirk where all of their children were born.  In 1901 they accompanied a son-in-law in removing to Washington state.  William Gowans died there in 1918, and Isabelle Dick Gowans died there in 1923. 

 

Children born to them include:

 

      Isabelle Gowans                                    born about 1856

      John Gowans                                         born about 1859

      Annie Jane Aurther Gowans                 born March 3, 1862

 

Isabelle Gowans, daughter of William Gowans and Isabelle Dick Gowans, was born about 1856 at Selkirk.  She was married about 1872 to William Stewart.

 

John Gowans, son of William Gowans and Isabelle Dick Gowans, was born about 1859 at Selkirk. 

 

Annie Jane Aurther Gowans, daughter of William Gowans and Isabelle Dick Gowans, was born March 3, 1862 at Selkirk.  She was married about 1879 to James Donaldson who was born at Selkirk in 1854.  They emigrated to the United States in 1901 and settled in Washington State, accompanied by her parents.

 

WIGTOWNSHIRE

 

David Gowan, a tailor, age 79, died November 4, 1851 “at Clayhole, on the 11^th instant, much regretted,” according to “Wigtown Free Press” in its edition of April 17, 1851.

                                             ==O==

John Gowan was married December 23, 1747 to Elizabeth Adair of Portpatrick, Wigtown, Scotland.  Children born to John Gowan and Elizabeth Adair Gowan are unknown.

                                             ==O==

Joseph Potts Gowan, “son of Mrs. Gowan, Irish Street in Dumfries,” died Monday, December 25, 1843, according to the Thursday, January 4, 1844 edition of “The Wigtownshire Free Press.”

 

Charles M’Gowan died July 21, 1846, according to the “Wigtownshire Free Press” edition of August 6, 1846:

 

“M'Gowan, Charles died at his father's house, in Dum-fries, on the 21st ultimo, Charles, only son of Mr Wm. M'Gowan, architect.  The deceased was a youth of re-markable promise, and greatly beloved by all who knew him for his talents, tireless industry, and sterling moral worth.”

                                             ==O==

Jane Gowan M’Millan, age 77, “relict of Anthony M’Millan” died November 11, 1844 at Garliestown, according to the No-vember 21, 1844 edition of “The Wigtownshire Free Press.”

                                             ==O==

Mrs. Mary Gowan McHarg died October 25, 1844 at White-cairn, Glenluce.  She was the widow of Thomas McHarg, “late farmer in Gass, Kirkcowan,” according to the “The Wigtown-shire Free Press” of October 31, 1844.

                                             ==O==

Elizabeth M’Gowan was married to John Cummings.  She died March 15, 1961, according to her death announcement in the March 18, 1961 edition of the “Dumfries & Galloway Standard:”

 

“CUMMINGS.- On 15th March, 1961, Elizabeth M'Gow-an, dearly loved wife of John Cummings, 20 Burns Street, Dumfries.- Interred in St Michael's Cemetery.”

                                             ==O==

Helenora M’Gowan, “eldest daughter of the late William M‘Gowan,” was married August 10, 1846 to A. M’Master merchant, of Wigtown, at Stranraer “on the 10^th instant by the Rev. Mr. Smellie,” according to the “The Wigtownshire Free Press” of August 10.

                                             ==O==

Hugh M’Gowan, mariner was married September 15, 1845 at Kirkcudbright to Anne Barr by Rev. Mr. M’Millan, according to the “Wigtown Free Press” of September 25, 1845.  Children born to Hugh M’Gowan and Anne Barr M’Gowan are unknown.

                                             ==O==

Mrs. James M’Gowan gave birth to a son December 6, 1844, according to the December 12 edition of the “Wigtown Free Press.”

                                             ==O==

Mrs. Jessie M’Gowan Findlay, widow of Douglas Findlay, died August 30, 1887 at age 67, according to “Wigtown Free Press” edition of September 8, 1887.

                                             ==O==

Mrs. Margaret M’Gowan Rae, wife of Robert Rae, road surveyor, died April 24, 1868 “at the Bridge of Bladnoch,” according to the “Wigtown Free Press” April 30 edition.

                                             ==O==

Mrs. Margaret M’Gowan White, 85, wife of William White, farmer, died “at Creech Mills near Sorbie” September 3, 1865, according to “Wigtownshire Free Press,” edition of September 14, 1865.

                                             ==O==

Elizabeth M’Gowan, “spouse of Mr. J. Sproat, died at Carrick, Borgue, on the 10th current [March 1844], after a long and severe illness,” according to Wigtownshire death records.

                                             ==O==

Helen M’Gowan McWilliam  89, weaver, wife of John Mc-William, died April 18, 1844, according to Wigtownshire death records.

                                             ==O==

John M’Gowan, “book deliverer, aged 29 years,” died at Wig-town, on the 30th ult., [December 30, 1882], according to the “Wigtownshire Free Press” of January 4, 1883.

                                             ==O==

William McGowan was enumerated in the census of 1841 in Burgh District 4 on Back Street, Wigtown, page 15:

 

“McGowan,        Wm.                       45, laborer, born here

             Mary                      40, born here

             Margt                     20, born here

             Anthy                     18, born here

             Eliz                          8, born here

             Jean                          5, born here

             James                       2, born here

McClaskey,         Wm                10 mos, born here

Gowan,                Maitland          3 mos, born here”

 

Reliance cannot be placed on the ages given in the 1841 census.  The enumerators were instructed to “round” the ages of the adults to the nearest multiple of five.

 

The family reappears in the 1851 census of Wigtown, but William McGowan had died during the decade.  The family  again appears in Burgh District 4 on Back Street, page 8:

 

“McGowan,         Mary                     56, widow, head of household

              Elizabeth             17, daughter

              Jane                     15, daughter

              James                  12, son

              Maitland             10, son”

                                             ==O==

William M’Gowan, saddler of Stranraer, was married May 25, 1845 to Miss Jane Smith of Oxenford, according to marriage records of Wigtownshire.  The wedding was held in the United Presbyterian Church of Ayr by the Rev. William Smellie.

                                             ==O==

Mrs. William McGowan “late of New Galloway, died February 2, 1848, aged 74 years, on the 10^th inst,” according to the “Wigtown Free Press” of February 17, 1848.

                                             ==O==

Isabella M’Gowan, age 6, “youngest daughter of James M’Gowan,” died February 19, 1873 at Sorbie Village, according to “Wigtownshire Free Press” edition of March 6, 1873.

                                             ==O==

The death of James M’Gowan on August 8, 1843 was reported in the “Wigtown Free Press.”  He lived at Moss-side, Mochrum Parish “and was long afflicted with a painful complaint which he bore with Christian patience and resignation.”

                                             ==O==

Robert M’Gowan, “commercial traveller, Glasgow” was mar-ried to Henrietta Elizabeth Adamson, “only daughter of the late David Adamson, Wigtown at the square, Wigtown, on the 10th inst., by the Rev. John Squair, U.P,” according to the “Wigtown Free Press” of April 18, 1884.

                                             ==O==

William M’Gowan was married May 25, 1845 to Jane Smith, according to the May 25 edition of the “Wigtown Free Press:”

 

“At Ayr, on the 25th instant, by the Rev. William Smellie, United Presbyterian church, Stranraer, Mr William M'Gowan, saddler of Stranraer, to Miss Jane Smith of Oxenford.”

 

Children born to William M’Gowan and Jane Smith M’Gowan are unknown.

                                             ==O==

William M’Gowan of Whitlets, Ayr was married July 10, 1846 by the Rev. B. Laing of Colmonell to Jean M’Whirter, second daughter of the late Gilbert M’Whirter of Colmonell, according to the July 16, 1846 edition of the “Wigtown Free Press.”

 

POLAND

 

Gowin Village was located in the Polish Province of Kujawsko-Pomorskie in 1876, according to the research of Jeffrey Dreves.

 

SILESIA

 

Gawen, Gauen and Gaven were spellings used by an ancient aristocratic Silesian family, according to "Neues Allgemeines Deutsches Adels," Lexicon III.  Hans von Gawen was mentioned in the year 1412 as a captain in the service of the Prince of Liegnitz.  He had two brothers Albrecht von Gawen and Conrad von Gawen.  The son of Conrad von Gawen, of the same name is mentioned in 1421.  Nicol Gawen was men­tioned as living in the Schweidnitz District in 1519.  In the same year Heinrich von Gawen lived at Cossau in the Liegnitz District.  Liegnitz and Schweidnitz are towns in Niederschle­sian, located in Poland in 1990.

 

SPAIN

 

"Hispanic Family History Research in the Best Records in the World”

By George R. Ryskamp, JD, AG

 

The records of Hispanic countries are unmatched anywhere in their quality, quantity, and availability. In most cultures, church records are the beginning point of research for the genealogist, but this is especially true of the Hispanic culture, for the parish records of Spain, Mexico, and Peru are the old-est and most complete of any in the world.

 

A brief survey of the Guia de la Iglesia en Espana (Oficina de Estadistica: Madrid, 1954), which lists more than 90 percent of the parishes of Spain, offers proof of the antiquity of record keeping in the Spanish parish. The oldest known parish rec-ords are found in Solsona, Spain and date from the year 1394. At least 37 parishes have records before 1500. Nearly one-third antedate the year 1600, and nearly one-half antedate the year 1650.  As early as the end of the 15^th century, Cardinal Cisneros, in the first synod of Alcala, ordered that records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths be kept throughout Castile.

 

Latin American parish records (at least of baptisms and marri-ages) were kept with equal faithfulness.  By the time the Americas were colonized, these record systems were immed-iately transferred to the New World, where the earliest records in Lima, Peru begin in the year 1537.

 

Hispanic parishes were not only the principal units of eccles-iastical organization, but also the main social unit for much of the rural life in Hispanic countries.  Because of the intimate daily role the parish then played (and in many areas still plays), its registers usually provide the most extensive and accurate glimpse into the lives of one's Spanish ancestors.

 

For centuries, the registers of Hispanic parishes have reflected the lives of even the poorest laborers in tiny villages through-out Spain and Latin America. Baptisms soon after birth, marri-ages, deaths, local occurrences, and national events are all found in these registers.

 

Spanish records are not only the oldest records, but they are also the best in terms of quality.  While in most countries baptismal records give only the name of the child baptized and the name of one or both parents, generally after 1790 (and in many cases before), Hispanic baptismal certificates give the name of the child, both parents, and all four grandparents--and they may even state the locality where all were born.

 

Although they generally only begin in the late 1800s, the civil registers of most Hispanic countries are even more detailed. Those of Spain have been described by Gerald Hamilton-Ed-wards as "the fullest in Europe or of any country in the world." 

 

For those doing Hispanic family history research, the chances for success are better in Spain and her former colonies than anywhere else in the world. Saul Vela, chairman of the 15th Annual Texas Hispanic Genealogical Association Conference in 1994, adopted the motto "Si, se puede," which means, "Yes, you can succeed" in doing Hispanic family history research.  In Hispanic countries, most families can trace their ancestry into the 17th century; in Spain, many can find lines back to the 16th century and even earlier. In fact, I have personally traced several lines of common laborers from Spain and Mexico into the early fifteen hundreds.

 

The availability of Hispanic parish records is often lessened by two historical circumstances: most Hispanic countries have passed through a large number of wars, and the Catholic Church has frequently been the target of passionate outbursts of destruction.  Fortunately, even where records have been destroyed, gaps can usually be bridged by using other records, such as civil registers, notarial records, military records, tax lists, and censuses.  Nearly every family can achieve some success, even in areas where records have been heavily devastated by wars and revolutions.

 

Spanish surnames systems also favor successful family history research.  Fortunately, surnames were regularly used in Spain for centuries before the colonial period, even before the advent of parish records; naturally, this facilitates the tracing of a family. By the end of the 19th century, Spain and most Hispanic countries had adopted a unique system wherein every person has two surnames. Both are used on all official documents, as well as in referring to oneself and being referred to by others.  The first surname is the paternal. The second is the maternal surname, or what we might call the mother's maiden name.  Therefore, if Juan Gomez Jimenez and Maria Vega Fernandez marry and have a son, Jose, he would be named Jose Gomez Vega.

 

Of equal importance to the Hispanic family researcher is the fact that

an Hispanic woman never changes her name. Even though Maria Vega

Fernandez is married, her death certificate will list her as Maria Vega

Fernandez, probably adding the comment that she was the wife of Juan

Gomez Jimenez. This custom eliminates the problem frequently encountered

in American or British research of trying to find the mother's maiden

name.

 

NOTARIAL RECORDS: KEY TO ENRICHING THE FAMILY HISTORY

 

Hispanic parish records are so exceptional, and the govern-ment records so complete, that many family historians tend to overlook another even richer source: notarial records.  Unlike most other record sources, which

are limited in scope, notary records cover the full breadth and depth of

life. A mere summary of the kinds of documents that appear in notarial

archives includes: wills, adoptions, emancipations, sales of rural and

urban land, construction of buildings, proof of purity of blood,

nobility records, transfers of titles, dowries, rescue of captives, sale

of slaves, marriage contracts, sale of cloth, sale of horses, printing

of books, commissioning of famous works of art, apprenticeship papers,

proofs of origin for emigrants, and contracts with teachers. Significant

family history is to be found in the records of the notary "because it

would be difficult to find any human act in private or public life in

which the pen of the notary did not intervene to give faith and

testimony [to that act]."

 

Unfortunately, some people did not make use of the notary to provide legal validation of transactions, but for the many whose ancestors had sufficient social or financial status to use notarial services (often only having a small farm was enough), these records will provide a great amount of human interest and daily life information about ancestors.

 

Certainly, as Gonzalez de Anezua, a noted Spanish historian, has said:

 

"[Looking] in a notarial register is like observing from a high hill . .

. the panorama of Spanish life and [coming away with] its people, famous

and humble, who, confiding in professional secrecy, laid before us their

weaknesses and . . . their beautiful virtues."

 

THE DIVERSITY THAT IS HISPANIC RESEARCH

 

A dictionary definition of the word "Hispanic"--such as "Of or relating

to the people, speech, or culture of Spain, Portugal, or Latin

America"--cannot express the extension or diversity of the Hispanic

peoples, indigenous in areas from the southwestern United States to the

southern tip of South America and from Spain to the Philippines. Through

a colonial experience that began a century before the earliest

Anglo-American colonies were established and that lasted 50 to 100 years

longer, Spanish characteristics, language, and institutions

interacted--sometimes peacefully, sometimes violently--with indigenous

peoples to form new nations and cultures. Wherever early Spanish

colonizers traveled, they brought with them the language, culture,

institutions, and record systems of their homeland. Contemporary

Mexicans, Guatemalans, and other Latin Americans, although Hispanic, are

not Spanish. They have combined not only culturally, but also through

blood lines the languages, people, and culture of Spain with indigenous

cultures, words, and peoples to form dynamic new races and cultures.

 

Most Hispanics will also find that their ancestry has more than just

Spanish and Native American lines, and that it could include French,

German, Eastern European, Italian, African, or Portuguese lines as well.

Just as the United States has been a melting pot, so have the countries

of Central and South America.

 

The statistics of immigration to Latin America show the diversity of

that heritage. Before the end of the colonial period around 1820, an

estimated 12 million Spaniards had emigrated, primarily to Mexico,

Central, and South America. The immigration that followed in the next

century, however, was considerably greater. Out of a total of 54 million

people coming from Europe to the American continents between 1820 and

1920, 20 million went to Latin America, primarily to Argentina, Brazil,

Cuba, and Uruguay. Large numbers of those came from Italy, Spain, and

Portugal. However, English, Irish, French, and German surnames are also

found in Central and South America. Among this diversity of heritage,

both immigrant and indigenous, an individual Hispanic can effectively

search for the most personal of unique heritages--one's ancestral

families.

 

George R. Ryskamp is an associate professor of history at Brigham Young

University in Provo, Utah and an Accredited Genealogist specializing in

Spanish language research and United States probate and legal systems.

You can visit his Web site at http://www.hfhr.com/.

 

THE CARIBBEAN

 

What is the Caribbean?

By Peter E. Carr

The Caribbean Historical & Genealogical Journul

 

There are many ways to divide an area.  Besides the obvious na­tional boundaries, the Caribbean may be divided geographi­cally, culturally and linguistically.  Even religion may be used as a divisive tool.  The word Caribbean is derived from the Is­land Carib indians who at the time of first contact with the Spanish explorers inhabited most of the Lesser Antilles from Guadeloupe southward.

 

The Caribbean encompasses the area of land and water north of Venezuela, Columbia, Panama and Costa Rico, east of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, south of the Greater .Antilles and west of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies.

 

After their discovery in 1492, the Caribbean islands as well as all other Spanish possessions became known to the Spaniards as "Las Indias". This was due to the fact that Columbus thought he had reached the East Indies [not India].  Eventually the Caribbean islands became known as the West Indies.

 

Ethnographically, the present‑day Caribbean area may be di­vided into the Spanish, English, French, Dutch and American Caribbean.

 

The Spanish or Hispanic Caribbean consists of the islands of Cuba, the Dominican Republic [occupying the eastern portion of the island of Hispaniola] and Puerto Rico.  In these islands, the culture and customs are derived from Spain.  Geographi­cally, they form part of the Greater Antilles along with the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Jamaica [Spanish until 1655] and Haiti [Spanish until 1697] which occupies the western port of the island of Hispaniola.

 

The British Caribbean compromises the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, Redonda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados, Turks & Caicos, Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, Do­minica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, the last six having been ac­quired in 1815 from France.  Many of the island groups consist of various smaller islands.

 

Those islands having a French influence are Guadeloupe, Mar­tinique, St. Bartheiemy and lhe north portion of St. Martin (St. Maarten).  Of courset Haiti was once the French colony of St. Domingue which had been ceded by Spain to France in 1697.

 

The south portion of St. Martin (St. Maarten) is of Dutch influ­ence along with the Netherlands Antilles [Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire] as well as St. Eustatius and Saba.

 

The United States presently has dominion over the islands of Puerto Rico and lhe Virgin Islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix.  These last three having been acquired from Denmark in 1917.  They had been in Danish control since 1754.

 

Venezuela has various islands dependencies which are located in the Caribbean proper along with the state of Nueva Esparta consisting of the islands of Margarita, Coche and Cubaqua. There are various other islands located on the north coast of South America and eastern coast of Central America which belong to the various nations bordering the Caribbean Sea or Sea of the Antilles as it is termed in Spanish.

 

The Lesser Antilles may be further subdivided into the Wind­ward and Leeward Islands.  The Windward Islands, those fur­thest east, are composed of the islands of Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada and the Grenadines, a chain of small is­lands located between St. Vincent and Grenada.

 

The Leeward Islands group are the American and British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Redonda, Montserrat, Dominica, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, St. Eustatius and Saba.

 

As previously stated, religion is also a dividing factor in the Caribbean.  All of the areas which were originally settled by Spain became predominantly Catholic.  The French‑controlled portions were Catholic, too.

 

The British, Dutch and Danes brought other denominations into the area.  These consisted of the Anglicans, Methodists, Luther­ans, Presbyterians and various others.

 

From the time of the arrival of the first African slaves in the early part of the 16th century, African religions also became part of the Caribbean culture.

 

BARBADOS

 

Frances  Goeing, "ye wife of John Goeing" died in May, 1679 in Barbados, according to the "Register of Christ Church" as published in "Our Early Emigrant Ancestors" by John Camden Hotten.

                                             ==O==

"Cousin William Gowan, son of William Gowan, deceased," was mentioned in the will of

Thomas Comb, carpenter of St. Johns Parish, which was written as he was departing for England March 13, 1675, according to "Barbados Records," Volume I.  Thomas Comb may have lost his life on the voyage; his will was proved in court June 13, 1676.

                                             ==O==

George Gowin was witness to the will of William Watters, planter of Barbados, which was written September 16, 1657, according to "Barbados Records," Volume I by Joanne McRee Sanders.

                                             ==O==

"Servant Mary Gowin" was mentioned in the will of Thomas Quintyne of St. Johns Parish.  The will was written "14th day of the 2nd month, 1694, according to "Barbados Records."

                                             ==O==

Elizabeth Gowing was married in 1693 to John Grey, ac­cording to Barbados Marriage Record RL1, page 20.

                                             ==O==

Thomas Gowns was a witness to the will of John Kendall of St. Johns Parish which was written "8th day of the 11th month, 1684, according to Barbados Record Book 6, page. 10.

 

MONTSERRAT, LEEWARD ISLANDS

 

Patrick Goune was a resident of the island of Montserrat in July 1713, according to