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
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.
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.
