Pollard Gowin & Francis Gowin - War of 1812 Kentucky Mounted Volunteers

                                                                     Pollard Gowin & Francis Gowin
                                                            War of 1812 – Kentucky Mounted Volunteers

 

The War of 1812 was fought between the United States against the British forces and their Indian allies.  At this period, there were still many unresolved issues from the War of Independence and the War of 1812 helped resolve them.  The United States declared war on Britain after it had taken hold of many U.S. ships bound for Britain and other European countries where they were trading goods.  They forced these sailors to join their military after taking hold of their ships.  The British forces also worked with the Native Americans to play them against the U.S. over territorial disputes and encroachment.  The British forces supported and encouraged raids on the American colonies by their Native American allies.

On January 18, 1813, a Kentucky militia consisting of about 900 men engaged the British forces at the Battle of River Raisin or aka “The Battle of Frenchtown” since it was in Frenchtown, Michigan.  This was a battle for all of Michigan and the Lower Great Lakes.  There is a great description of this battle provided at this site (http://www.riverraisinbattlefield.org/the_battles.htm).  It was during this battle that the Kentucky forces were overtaken and ultimately surrendered.  Shortly after their surrender, the Native Americans aiding the British decided to massacre the men taken captive.  They started with the wounded and then went on to slaughter all of those taken captive.  Word about the massacre reached home to Kentucky where the legislature authorized Gov. Shelby to personally take charge of the reinforcements.   The request was for 2,000 men, but 4,000 Kentucky volunteers were formed in Newport and immediately sent to General Harrison’s aid. 

A young sixteen year old man named Pollard Gowin was still living with his parents, Joseph and Judith, farming the land in Madison County, Kentucky.  From our records, he appears to be the youngest son of the family at the time.  His older brother, Francis, was about thirty-five years of age and married with three young children at home when the news came to Madison County.  Their father, Joseph, had fought against the British in the American Revolution under the 14^th Virginia Regiment. 

A local man, Colonel William Williams, lived in Madison County and was searching for volunteers to march against the British forces that just created this outrage.  Col. Williams was the commander of the Eleventh Regiment attached to the 2^nd Division, unabridged that soon totaled 423 officers and enlisted.  The Eleventh Regiment consisted of nine companies of men (approximately 35-75 men each) from Madison, Harrison, Clay, and Rockcastle Counties.  The Eleventh Regiment, along with the Second and Fifth Brigades, made up the 2^nd Division commanded by Major Gen. Joseph Desha of Mason County, Kentucky. 

Francis and Pollard must have felt compelled to volunteer because the records show their unit was officially mustered on August 13, 1813 in Madison County, KY under the company command of Capt. John C. McWilliams of Madison County, Kentucky.  John C. McWilliams was a local farmer of Scottish decent and he had previously served as a Sergeant under the command of Capt. Morrison’s Company and was commissioned March 14, 1812.  He was now leading a company of mounted (cavalry horsemen) volunteers.  They were known as the 6^th Company of the Kentucky Volunteer Light Dragoons.   

On September 9, 1813 these brave Kentuckians began their journey up to Urbana, Ohio and then further on to Manary’s Blockhouse (now the town of Bellefontaine) where they arrived the next day.  The morning of September 11^th, they marched on to Fort McArthur staying the night then continued on to Upper Sandusky before reaching Fort Ball on the 13^th.  On the 14^th, they reached the Portage, on the shores of Lake Erie, where they rested for a period. 

Tecumseh and his 1,200 men had been fighting alongside Gen. Proctor, the British General, for a long period of time and they were now at Chatham on the River Thames.  There were no more than 700 British regulars and Canadian militia under his command.  They were running from Gen. Harrison and it was at the River Thames were they decided they would fight the American forces to the end. 

Prior to the battle, Gen. Desha’s unit (of which Francis and Pollard belonged) was formed on the left of the front line so as to hold the Indians in check and to ensure they didn’t flank the Americans.  It was from this particular line that the American leaders felt that they needed to draw out the Indians and asked for 20 volunteers of what was called a “forlorn hope” to charge the Indians and draw their fire when the rest of the men could then advance.  Twenty brave men stepped forward and knew the consequences of their decision.  Their leader was William Whitley of Lincoln County, 63 years of age at the time, who was well known in Kentucky as an Indian hunter.  These men charged ahead and took the volley of over 500 Indians.  Fifteen were killed immediately, four were wounded, and one somehow escaped injury. 

Among those who perished was William Whitley.  A county was later named in his honor and for his bravery on that day.

Gen. Harrison had 3,000 men under his command with nearly all of them but 120 regulars of the 19^th United States Infantry were mixed Kentuckians and Ohioans.  There were a number of men that had remained back at the Portage to guard prisoners that had arrived on ships.  But those that had marched on to the River Thames took part in a glorious victory that left Tecumseh dead, his men scattered running, nearly all of the British and Canadian military captured, and Gen. Proctor fleeing the scene on carriage and then eventually on bareback.  The men from Kentucky yelled the war cry “Remember the River Raisin” as they charged forward into battle. 

After the battle, on 7 October, they began their journey back to Kentucky.  They finally reached Maysville, Kentucky on 20 October, where on November 4^th, 1813; most were honorably discharged from their service.  Just sixty-five days after being mustered in Newport.  Their journey had them march as little as 995 miles and as many as 1,100 miles for some.  Never before had a unit of men journeyed this far to fight in battle.

On the muster documents for the company of Capt. John C. McWilliams, it indicates that this unit was discharged on November 8^th, 1813. Listed on the muster are “Francis Goen” and “Pollard Goen” as privates. 

They both returned home to Madison County, KY.  Pollard probably remained as a farmer with his father until on 6 Oct 1817, at the age of 20, his father signed for him to marry Mary or Margaret “Polly” Conner, of Madison County.  Together, Pollard and Polly, went on to have seven children of whom many went on to serve on the side of the North in the Civil War.  Francis Gowin went home to live a wonderful life in Madison and Garrard counties.  He became the father of six children and died at the age of 75. 

 

William Gowin of Bedford Co., VA - What we know of the early years - May 2013

In the book "History of Pittsylvania County" by Clements, we begin to get a glimpse into the early inhabitants of this new territory.  The author states that "while eastern Lunenburg (i.e. Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Charlotte, Halifax, and eastern Pittslyvania) numbered among it's early settlers many families from eastern and Tidewater Virginia, as well as the Scotch-Irish of the Buffalo and Cub Creek Settlement, we may safely assume the first settlers of Lunenburg's western lands (i.e. Patrick, Henry, Franklin, Bedford, and western Pittslyvania) were the Quakers, Germans, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania who having made their way down the Valley of Virginia, crossed through the gaps of the mountains into Piedmont Virginia."  The "Valley of Virginia" was also known as the Great War Trail of the Iroquois Indians.  Many of the trails of this period were used by the Native Americans for trading, hunting, etc. and some were later changed into highways used today. 

This was rugged frontier and it was not meant for the weak of body or spirit.  For those who traveled from PA and MD, most of them began their journey from areas in or around Lancaster County, PA and the Baltimore/Ann Arundel, MD locations.  The trails that brought them extended down through the Shenandoah Valley that became Augusta and Orange counties.  An early Ulster Scots (Scots-Irish) settlement known as the "Beverly Manor" developed in 1739 known as the "Irish Tract" due to the large number of Ulster-Scots who had already settled the region.  Col. William Beverly, a wealthy planter of Essex County, VA, gave the name to this region and he enjoyed the benefits of the emigration of Ulster-Scots to the area. Many of these early settlers began to move over the mountains into eastern Virginia.  The Beverly Manor people were suffering from brutal attacks from local Native American tribes and between the late 1730s to the late 1750s, large communities had moved away and continued following trails into eastern portions of Virginia.  One such trail (red line in photo) led right into the Peaks of Otter and nearly onto the land later owned by our last known ancestor, William Gowin.

Those who remained protected in the Northern Neck of Virginia and other Tidewater Region areas of eastern Virginia didn't understand that people would choose to extend so far from the protection offered by large communities, forts, and English forces.  Those who dared to travel into this area from the Northern Neck and Tidewater Region were not as many as those from PA and MD. 

The author states that when they divided up Brunswick into Lunenburg on 1 May 1746, John and William Caldwell represented the Scotch-Irish settlements made on Cub Creek ten years earlier.  Cornelius Cargill "had probably moved into this new section from Surry County of Tidewater, for he is thought to be the son of the reverend John Cargill who went from England to the Leeward Islands in 1708, and later settled in Surry."  "Thomas Lanier represented the Huguenot family of John Lanier who settled about 1685 south of James River."  This was a new area that was unoccupied for a long period of time and all of the settlers of Lunenburg were new to the area when it formed.

In June 1752 John Phelps was responsible for collecting tithes from those residing within his region of what was then Lunenburg County, Virginia. The area from which John Phelps was responsible for led

up the Staunton River and included what is now northern Halifax and Pittsylvania and southern Charlotte and Campbell counties. Using the existing tax lists before this period, it's easy to see that there was a surge of habitants to this area following the 1750 list. Many of the arrivals appear to be from Maryland and Pennsylvania.  On Phelps list, we find our "William Gowin" having his tithes paid for by William Callaway, a wealthy planter of the area, along with Robert Graves, William Simmons, and three slaves.  William was probably working for Callaway as many before him had done and who were also listed under Callaway. 

Bedford County, Virginia was formed from Lunenburg County on 13 Dec 1753.  The residents who were previously recorded in the area that John Phelps collected tithes now found their property within the boundaries of this new county. 

We then find "William Going" on 29 Aug 1754 recorded in the Bedford County records as killing a wolf and "assigning" it to William Irwin.  The attached document is the initial record of entry before assigning payment to Mr. Irwin.

  This means that he either collected tobacco, money, or store credit from William Irwin.  Wolves were known to cause problem for these frontiersman, so the killing provided relief from the attacks, but also represented a punishment to outlaw animals and an attempt to bring order to a rambunctious natural environment.  This event was brought over from the "old world" where they feared and mistrusted the predator.  During this period, a wolf's head could provide a bounty of up to 300 lbs. of tobacco and more if it was trapped. 

The frontier was being pushed and the Native Americans were making almost daily attacks on those who attempted to lay claim to their territory.  These attacks were sometimes very brutal where families were stripped of their clothing and possessions, their house burned, and in some cases, scalped.  Those who were lucky either escaped or were allowed to run free.  However, many were either dragged off or killed.  In 1756 the attacks reached a peak and the local leaders sent message back to the governor of Virginia for military aid.  The governor was not too pleased with those that were living on the edge of the frontier from a support standpoint, but liked that these settlers provided a buffer from the attacking Indians.  Gen. Braddock was dispatched to provide aid from these attacks.  When word spread that his forces were defeated, large numbers of inhabitants fled the area for other parts of Virginia and North Carolina.  Most of those that fled to North Carolina were Scots settlers on the western edge of Lunenburg.  Our William Gowin was living on the eastern edge of Bedford County adjacent to what became the Campbell County boarder with Bedford County. 

It was at this time that a commission was sent up to Capt. John Phelps to command a company of Bedford Militia.  "William Going" was recorded as a private in this militia along with many of his contemporaries and neighbors. 

In Sep 1756, George Washington visited the area of Pittslyvania County and some of the surrounding region to survey the forts and gain insight into attacks and the ability of those living within the area to provide proper defense from the Native Americans.  In Sep 1758, William Going is in the Bedford militia serving as a private.

Sometime between 1755-1758 William Gowin/Going and Annester Unknown were married.  We base this date on the birth of their sons American Revolutionary War pensions.  On 3 May 1759, William and Annester are recorded as witnesses to a deed of gift for William Bramblett/Bramlett.  We know that they must have been married by this date.  In May 1761, William Going is involved in a court case with Mr. Haisty.  We are not sure what this case was about at this time. 

On 20 Mar 1762, William Going has 240 acres surveyed which will be the same land that is finally patented to him in 1780.  Originally we believed he moved to this land, but we discovered a judgment that showed he was renting a plantation from Thomas Overstreet in 1763 and additional writing on the judgment seemed to indicate he may have been there since 1761 (the date of the judgment is 1765).  He is recorded on the judgment of also maintain the livestock for Thos. Overstreet.  Samuel Brown was a witness and it is interesting that a Samuel Brown was recorded with William Callaway 2 years before William Gowin (1750) on that years tithable list.  We can't infer too much from this because the judgment was 10 years removed from when we find our William for the first time and is ample time for him to establish a relation with Samuel Brown.

On 2 Dec 1766 William Going, Thomas Overstreet, and Isham Talbot witness a land transaction between Randolph/Randle Woodward to George Smith containing 116 acres on the west side of Orricks Creek.  On 23 Jun 1767 William Going purchases 84 acres on the west side of Orricks Creek from Randle Woodward and witnesses were Thomas Overstreet, Isham Talbot, and George Smith.  On this same date, William Gowen was witness to Jeremiah Snow purchase of 153 acres on both sides of Orricks Creek.  Additional witnesses were George Smith and Isham Talbot. 

In 1768 Thomas Overstreet placed a judgment on William Going for money owed to Overstreet.  In 1769 William Going sells the 84 acres he purchased from Randle Woodward to William Austin.  William is then recorded as a witness to the will of the school teacher, Robert Allen, on 20 Jul 1770, along with John Quarles and John West.  William is then recorded in 1770/1 in the Bedford County road orders to help clear the road near his property by removing stones. 

This is what we know from William's first 18 years in the region.  The records infer that he knew some of the influential men of the period and region. 

This region of Virginia was very important to the economy because it provided the tobacco to support the trade with Glasgow Scotland.  From 1750-1777 the trading of tobacco with Glasgow merchants reached it's peaks and was known as the Golden Era of Scotland's trade of tobacco.  Many Scottish merchants were living in this area and began to marry.  Because this area was still dense and populated primarily by planters with money and those who worked to earn a living, it didn't have the proper education possibilities afforded to those counties in the east where schools were built.  Instead, most of the teachers were Scots who were indentured to teach a single home (and possibly his neighbors children) where they lived with their master until their servitude was complete. 

Alexander Stewart was a Scotsman who taught the children of William Callaway of Bedford County.  William Douglass, a Scotsman from near Wigtown, was a teacher to Thomas Jefferson from 1752-1757.  He was also a Reverand and later presided over the St. James Northam Parish of Goochland County, VA.  Many Scots had moved into this area from the period 1748-1770.  Most were from the areas near or south of Glasgow to the border region, although a few may have also came from Fife.  During this period, northern Scots were also arriving to the colonies through South Carolina and then moving into Virginia, North Carolina and then into what became Georgia. 

We have followed the history of those that carried a variant of our surname, searching for possibilities within surrounding counties to no avail.  From existing records, their doesn't seem to be any parents or relatives of William Gowin in 1752 or before.  The internet and genalogical work has allowed us to locate present day male descendants of all of the Gowan, Gowen, Going, Goin, etc. lines and Y-DNA has allowed us to test the possibility of relatedness.  To date, all of those with the variant surname whose ancestors lived in Virginia differ in Y-DNA from the many male descedants of William Gowin.  Our Y-DNA is believed to be indigenous to Scotland, having been on the island for more than 8,000 years, while theirs is one of two primary Haplogroups of Africa. 

Our surname is that of the Gaelic version "gohbainn" which means "blacksmith" and was likely spelled as "Gowan" or possibly even "McGowan".  Our Y-DNA research by Dr. Tyrone Bowes shows that we are originally of Scottish descent with an origin of an area near Ballantrae Scotland on the western coast and very near the areas of Glasgow, Kirkcudbright, Wigtown, and other locations where many of the Scots inhabitants of this area of Virginia were also from.  Many of the Ulster Scots (Scots-Irish / Scotch-Irish) were originally from this same area of SW Scotland before migrating across the very small body of water to Northern Ireland and then further to the colonies a few years later or after leaving the ports in Glasgow and Wigtown. This research is based on the census of the 1800s and Y-chromosome DNA matches at the time of the research. New evidence may suggest a different location within Scotland.

William Gowin lived in that portion of Lunenburg County that became Bedford County, married there to Annester Unknown, had children, and his prolific family further moved on in the early 1800s into Madison/Garrard County, KY, Bedford County, TN and on to Indiana.  Their migration west continued where relatives stretched across the U.S. and some as far west as Australia/New Zealand. 

His ancestry is incomplete, but we are beginning to understand more about how he may have arrived into this area of Virginia.  It would be too easy for us to find a record that shows who his parents are, so we are left to evaluate the information that is available and use current tools (Y-DNA) to aid in our research.  Y-DNA has allowed us to "rule out" those in Virginia for at least those that we can find a male descendant and excpet men of this period with the "Mc" addition that were mainly in Augusta/Orange County prior or in other states such as Maryland, South Carolina, or possibly North Carolina. 

A scientifc approach to our origin using Y-DNA

Recently, I enlisted the services of Dr. Tyrone Bowes in Dublin where he has adopted a scientific method of evaluating Y-DNA surname matches at the 37-marker mark to isolate the origin of one’s ancestor at the time surnames were required (about 1100 years ago). We corresponded many times while he was compiling his analysis and I waited for the results.

In the study I received recently, Dr. Bowes writes how his analysis enables him to pinpoint the origin. “A commercial 37 marker Y chromosome DNA test will potentially provide one with the names of many hundreds of individuals with whom one shares a common male ancestor, but what often perplexes people is how one can match many individuals with different surnames? The answer is quite simple. Roughly 1,000 years ago one’s direct medieval male ancestor, the first for example to call himself ‘Gowan’ was living in close proximity to others with whom he was related but who assumed other surnames like McWhirter, McCulloch, Hannah, Ferguson, and Wilson. Given that 1,000 years have passed since surnames were adopted there will be many descendants of these individuals some of whom will today undergo commercial ancestral DNA testing. Hence the surnames of one’s medieval ancestor’s neighbours will be reflected in today’s DNA test results.”

Ballantrae, Ayr, Scotland

According to Dr. Bowes, our GOWAN ancestor was near the township of Ballantrae, Ayr, Scotland. He stated that the name was likely “Gowan” with an “a” at the time. The surnames that live within Ayrshire and Wigtownshire near Ballantrae not only match with us on Y-DNA, they match many that lived near our last known ancestor, William Gowin, who lived in Bedford County, Virginia.  They also matched surnames of those whom William had close associations. Names for both association with our last known ancestor and on Y-DNA matches include: Irvine’s, Mitchell’s, Wilson’s, Hannah, Sharps, Burns, Gillespie, McCullough, Parker, Ferguson, Carson, Carswell, MacDonald, McWhirter, Brown, McTaggart, McNeil, Mills, etc.

Dr. Bowes writes “The method of using reoccurring surname matches as revealed by commercial ancestral Y-DNA testing to pinpoint a Genetic Homeland works by exploiting the link between the Y chromosome, surname, and land which are typically passed from father to son. In the absence of a link to the land the process of pinpointing an origin becomes much more challenging. Hence one must determine whether the Scottish Gowan’s had a link to the land, this can be done by examining where farmers with this surname were found...Near Ballantrae are place names of Gowan’s burn (small river) and Knockgowan (Gowan’s hill). One also finds Wilson’s Glen, Wilson burn, and Tormitchell (Mitchell’s cattle field)."

Dr. Bowes continues, "Almost everyone with Scottish ancestry will be genetically related to at least one of the prominent Clans and families. Although there is no mention of Clan Gowan in this area, there are reference’s to our close genetic relatives including the McDonnell’s (McDonald’s) and McNeill’s found to the northeast of Ballantrae across the Firth of Clyde on the Mull of Kintyre. While to the South one finds Clan McCulloch."

Ballantrae is south of Glasgow by 65 miles. Interestingly, nearby is Maybole (about 24 miles) where William Burness was living when he met and married Agnes Broun (Brown?) before he moved to Alloway where their son, Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, was born. This is interesting because our William Gowin's sons married “Burns” women who were believed to be related to Robert Burns. The matching of the Burns family location and our GOWAN origin seems to point to some credence.

The parish name of Ballantrae is said to be Gaelic and means the town upon or above the shore. Ballantrae Is the nearest town. There are three lighthouses visible from the village, Corsewall Point, Wigtonshire, and Pladda. The land was primarily used for oats, wheat, bear potatoes, turnips, beans, sheep, goats, cattle, and fish. The population in 1777 was 770. The population in 1831 was 1506. The registers do not go back further than 1744, and are not in a good state of preservation.1 

Although the origin of our GOWAN family may be near Ballantrae, that period of time was 1100 years ago and it is more likely that our family moved closer to Glasgow or even south to Wigtownshire, due to the clearances of farmers which forced many to migrate quickly and all but disappear from this area by the mid-1800s. The towns of Irvine, Ayr, Cummock, Kilmarnock, Maybole, Prestwick, and many others have not only our own surname, but also those we share through DNA and written genealogy. We can’t rule out Wigtownshire because not only is our name found there with all of the others mentioned in this posting, it is also a location of one William Douglass who was a teacher to James Madison and Thomas Jefferson before becoming a Reverend and settling at St. James Northam Parish in Goochland County.  We've already proven that our William Gowin and Annester (Unknown) are not the same couple as the Goochland County William Gowan and Anna Stacia Sullivan couple, but there were other William Going’s recorded in Goochland at the same time and in other districts that may lead us somewhere. If nothing else, there was a migration from this same area of Scotland to Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia in the late 1600s and early 1700s.

There has always been family lore of our GOWAN family coming to the colonies from Glasgow, the results by Dr. Bowes seems to point to a high degree of confidence that this story is plausible. Remember, Glasgow was and is still today a shipping port. The Tidewater Region of Virginia was trading tobacco with Glasgow in the period.  Industrialism and the eviction by those with money buying local land was forcing people to move from their rural farms to the larger cities.  Glasgow may have also only been the port of exit and a way of describing the larger vicinity.

We have already started looking for possible clues within this region of Scotland. We are hopeful that clues will begin to emerge.  During this period of time, people didn't travel large distances and land was only passed on to family.  This meant that farmers usually remained within close proximity (100 miles) of where their ancestors lived.  Sometimes for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.  Some remain in the area today.