Hiring Pro Genealogists

The weekly show "Who Do You Think You Are?" follows celebrities ancestral roots and provides them and the shows audience with a glimpse into a distant relative(s) journey or ancestral path. The show is supported and produced by Ancestry.com and the professional genealogy team at Pro Genealogists.

Recently the descendants of William Gowin and Anester Unknown that descend through four of their sons, hired Pro Genealogists to research further into the historical records in Virginia and elsewhere to hopefully uncover additional clues or deeper insights into how William arrived in that portion of Lunenburg County, VA that became Bedford County.

We know that this couple is not the same couple as that of the Goochland Co., VA couple, but there are possibilities that William's ancestors were in Virginia or Maryland prior to his arrival. There is also a theory that he is the immigrant. Great-granddaughters of William wrote a letter to one another stating the family is from Glasgow, Scotland - yet we have not been able to prove it. Glasgow and the Tidewater Region of Virginia were heavily trading tobacco during this period and many Scots were in the area we find our William and Anester. Y-chromosome DNA collected from 10 descendant males and through four of his sons proves that William's ancestors were in Scotland in 1400 A.D. and as much as 4,000 years prior, but we don't have any written documentation before 1752.

Scottish, Irish, and colonial American history tells us that people were fleeing Scotland and Ireland following the Cromwell period and well after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 and 1745 to include the results of clan system breakdown and religious persecution. Rents were becoming high in Ireland and other locations, Scottish Lairds were removing people from their land, the Clan system was absolved, and religious freedom was not allowed. Floods of people from across the globe were entering colonial America between 1650-1770.

UPDATE - MARCH 2016
The results of the study from Pro Genealogists provided the following summary, which included searching for all potential variants as well as possible connections to other GOWIN/GOING families in the area:

"Research began for the purpose of documenting the origins and parents of William Gowin who first shows up in Lunenburg County, Virginia, in 1752 as a tithable of William Callaway. The first half of the session focused on finding evidence in Lunenburg County that might illuminate William’s associations. In the second half of the session, the question of William’s origins was pursued into Brunswick County—the predecessor to Lunenburg County. Particular focus was placed on the area of Buffalo and Orrix creeks, to see if any Gowins lived there before 1752. Recognizing the importance of William Callaway, research also sought out connections between him and any Gowins."

• Searches for Gowing or Gowin deeds in Lunenburg County prior to 1754 failed to reveal any such records.
• An investigation for "Gowin" land patents in Lunenburg County prior to 1754 was also unsuccessful.
• Gowin will and estate records for Lunenburg County were also examined. No references to the Gowin family were found.
• Lunenburg County Court Orders did return several people with the surname or variant. NOTE: No connection was verifiable at this time.
• Chancery Records for Lunenburg County were also investigated, with no findings of Gowin.
• Lunenburg County was created from Brunswick County on May 1746. Early court order books did reveal individuals with the same surname, but no connection was verifiable at this time. NOTE: The 80 mile distance of where many of these other families lived seems to suggest no connection.There is not enough evidence that exists to tie any family together.
• Land ownership for Brunswick County were investigated. NOTE: Although there were other Gowin families in this area, the distance from our William Gowin suggests no familial connection.
• William Callaway was also investigated to determine a possible connection prior to 1752, yet nothing was identified to suggest a connection between these two men or their families.
• Stafford County was also reviewed, yet no connection was available.

"This session’s research did not identify the parents of William Gowin who appeared in Lunenburg County tithables list of 1752. The work did focus on specific strategies that might illuminate his ancestry, and it uncovered multiple individuals living in Virginia during the mid-1700s who shared the surname."

"Research then expanded to earlier time periods, but in the same geographic area. This meant conducting additional research in Lunenburg County and Brunswick County."

"No evidence was found of Gowin family members living in the area of Buffalo and Orrix Creeks before 1752, which is the area where William Callaway was living in 1752. Research concluded by expanding to places where William Callaway was thought to have lived prior to arriving in the Lunenburg area. References to the Callaway family were found in Essex County, but not to William living there. No additional evidence was found as to associate Gowin families in Essex County with the Callaway family."

"This session’s work helped exhaust records in the jurisdictions and decades most likely to provide clues to William Gowin’s origins."