In the 18th Century, people gained passage to America by selling themselves into indentured servitude to pay back their shipping company that had advanced them the money for the voyage. This servitude sometimes lasted 1-4 years but was dependent upon those that paid for them at port. Most were then offered land, once their debt was paid (usually 50 acres).
William Going/Gowin was recorded as a soldier in the Bedford, VA Militia (1758).
John Phelps was a justice in Lunenburg/Bedford County, VA along with William Callaway. Phelps was also a vestryman in Lunenburg's parish of Cumberland. John Phelps is the father of Betty Phelps that married Francis Pollard of Lunenburg/Bedford County. William Gowin's son Joseph Gowin married Judith, the daughter of Francis and Betty.
A "State of the County Levy" meeting was held in Bedford County on Nov 27, 1754 in Matthew Talbot's (father of Isham to whom William Gowin later bought land in 1767 in this county) house. The following entry was made:
To Wm. Irwin Ass. of Wm. Going for 1 Do. 29 Aug. 1754, Z. I. . . 100
William killed a wolf and was awarded 100 lbs. tobacco for doing so. He assigned payment to Mr. Irwin, which likely means he received cash or store credit.
A tithable list from Lunenburg Co, VA (Bedford, VA) recorded by John Phelps shows a William Gowin in 1752 under the care of William Callaway. When free males appeared for the first time in the household of an individual having their surname, they were at least sixteen years of age. When a free male appeared in his own name rather than in the household of another, he was probably twenty-one years of age. Tithable lists, however, should not be used to establish the exact year when someone was born.
This is our William Gowin/Gowan since those recorded by John Phelps on the full tithable list and in this area correspond to other actions we have confirmed within court records.
In 1752:Wm. Callaway
Wm. Gowin
Robt. Graves
Wm. Simmons .............................................. 7
His son's father-in-law, Francis Pollard, was also a tithable in this county in 1738 under his father, George.
William and Annester Gowin of Lunenburg County and Bedford County, Virginia
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
William Menefee Gowin / Missouri 27th Mounted Infantry - Union Army
William Menefee Gowin, son of Pollard Gowin & Polly Conner and Grandson of Joseph Gowin and Judith Pollard, enlisted in the Missouri 27th Mounted Infantry, Company E, under Captain Applegate on August 4, 1861 in Johnson County, Missouri. He was captured at the battle of Lexington (also known as the Battle of the Hemp Bales) on September 20, 1861. His company was mustered out of service on 27 Jan 1862 and he was listed at age 29.
This is the story of the 27th Infantry and what transpired during William’s service, the account of which was taken from the Missouri Historical Review, v. 8, by State Historical Society of Missouri, Published by State Historical Society of Missouri, 1914, original from Harvard University.
The people of Johnson County were almost evenly divided between the Whig and Democratic parties. The location of the county was outside of the great slaveholding belt of the country along the Missouri river, and, therefore, there was a large number of substantial small farmers settled there from the mountain regions of East Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas, as well as a small number from the free states, who refused to own slaves and who were at heart opposed to that institution. The majority of these men were uncompromising Whigs.
On the other hand the Democrats were mainly large land owners and slaveholders, and were chiefly from Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia and the other slave states. The prestige of wealth and social position was largely on the Democratic and also the secession side, but the Whigs, and Union men as well, were an uncompromising and numerous body of men, whose undaunted spirit could be depended upon in any emergency.
Early in 1861 an independent military company was organized in Warrensburg, for the avowed purpose of serving in the Union army. Emory S. Foster was the captain and Thos. W. Houts its first lieutenant. No military clothing was obtainable, and of necessity a uniform was adopted of red shirts and black pants, so the company was known as the "Red Shirt Company."
At that time there was stored in a room in the courthouse at Warrensburg one hundred muskets belonging to the state, which had been furnished to the county under the militia law of 1857, then in force. These arms were intended by the secession leaders to be used in overawing the Union men. But Foster and his men secured possession of them, and stood guard over them day and night. A demand was made on Foster for these arms, and he was threatened with prosecution if it was not acceded to, but he kept them fully loaded all the time for the use of his company, and afterwards turned them over to Col. Grover, who used them in arming his regiment.
By this time the Union men in Johnson county were fully organized, and what was afterwards the Twenty-seventh regiment of Missouri Mounted Infantry, United States Volunteers, was formed. B. W. Grover was unanimously chosen colonel, but declined the place in favor of his friend, Jacob Knaus. Grover was then chosen lieutenant-colonel; Emory S. Foster, major; Thomas W. Houts, quartermaster; and John J. Welshans, commissary.
Captains McGuire, Isaminger, M. U. Foster, Duncan, Applegate, Turley, Parker, Miller, McCluney, Ijams, Taylor, and Brown; and Lieuts. Shanks, Hall, Box, Starkey, Pease, W. L. Christian, Bird, Burnett, Gallaher, Keaton, Smiley, McCabe and Van Beek, with a thousand of the best and bravest young men in Johnson and Pettis counties, were organized into a regiment, which was called, for want of a better name, the Johnson County Home Guards. There were no United States mustering officers nearer than St. Louis, and no communication with them by rail nearer than Otterville, in Cooper county, with the state government in secession hands, so that nothing could be done but appoint rallying places and devise a code of signals, leaving each company in the neighborhood where it had been recruited.
Captains McGuire and Applegate were, therefore, stationed in what is now Grover township, in the northeastern part of the county, Capt. M. U. Foster at Warrensburg, Capt. Duncan at Kingsville, Capt. Turley at Dunksburg, Capt. Parker at Sedalia, Capt. Miller at Windsor, Capt. McCluney at Fayetteville, Capt. Isaminger in the southeastern part of the county on Clear Fork south of Knob Noster, Capt. Ijams at Cornelia, and Capts. Taylor and Brown at Chilhowee and Rose Hill. Such was the situation when Fort Sumter fell and also when Camp Jackson was taken on the 10th of May, 1861, by General Nathaniel Lyon and Colonel Frank P. Blair.
Then came a change in affairs. The crisis had come, and the Union army found its general in Nathaniel Lyon, who, had his life been spared, would have ranked among the greatest soldiers of the war. After capturing Camp Jackson, Lyon immediately organized a small command in St. Louis, and proceeded with it up the Missouri river.
Claiborne F. Jackson, then Governor, a secessionist, abandoned Jefferson City and fled south, first taking the precaution to empty the state treasury, and steal all the blankets from the state lunatic asylum at Fulton.
On the 17th of June, 1861, General Lyon reached Boonville with a small infantry and artillery force recruited in St. Louis, and there attacked and defeated a large number of secessionists, who were commanded by John S. Marmaduke, afterwards a Confederate general.
By this time, though the Twenty-seventh regiment had been enrolled, organized, and in active service, since the latter part of April, it had not been mustered in by any one possessing any authority from the United States to perform that act. In order to get into the service properly and regularly, Col. Grover rode alone across the country from Warrensburg to Boonville, a distance of seventy-five miles, to meet Gen. Lyon and procure the necessary authority from him to muster in his command. He arrived in time to act as volunteer aide to Gen. Lyon in the battle of Boonville, and received authority from that officer to immediately muster the Twenty-seventh into the service of the United States.
While he was thus absent, Gen. Sterling Price, then in command of the Missouri State Guards, as the secession troops were then called, arrived in Warrensburg on his way south from Lexington, retreating from Gen. Lyon's advance. Gen. Price was accompanied by only a small escort and was very sick, necessitating his riding in an ambulance. He remained in Warrensburg during the afternoon of June 18th, at the Bolton House in Old Town. Major Foster, Capt. Foster and Lieutenant Houts were in town that day with about twenty-eight men, but none of them had any legal authority to order the men. All matters were at that time submitted to a vote and the majority ruled, the ranking officer simply carrying out the will of the majority. The younger men in the command proposed to capture Price at dusk and hurry off with him to Lyon, but the older men would not agree to it, fearing reprisals from the large rebel force then retreating south. In the twilight, in the Colburn pasture in Old Town at Warrensburg, a vote was taken in Major Foster's hat. Thirteen voted yes, the three officers above named being among that number, and fifteen, no. Not long afterwards, Gen. Price and his escort left town in a hurry. Col. Grover arrived about midnight that night with ample authority, and at once ordered a pursuit. We chased that ambulance to the Henry county line, where, in the gray dawn of the 19th, it safely reached a rebel camp too large for our little squadron to attack. So passed away a great opportunity.
As soon as the men could be collected from the various parts of the county, a work requiring nearly two weeks' time, the entire regiment assembled in New Town, at Warrensburg, in the grove east of where Land, Fike & Go's mill now stands, and there, on the 4th day of July, 1861, it was mustered into the United States service by Col. Grover, for "three years or during the war." It then marched to Lexington, thirty-five miles distant, to meet a detachment from St. Louis of Gen. Lyon's rear guard and procure arms. Upon arriving there, it was found that the troops then due had not arrived, so Col. Knaus encamped the regiment near the Fair grounds south of town, and remained there several days, without terits or camp equipage, officers and men alike sleeping on the bare ground, in a drenching rain storm, with a scant supply of food, arms and ammunition.
In the meantime the rebels in Lexington, who could still muster a large force, formed a plan to capture the camp, and did seize and hold Capt. Foster, James M. Shepherd and several others who had gone into town for supplies. But, upon the appearance of two squadrons galloping into town, on parallel streets, one led by Col. Grover and the other by Major Foster, the prisoners were quickly released and their captors fled to the brush without firing a shot.
The storm, perhaps, prevented the attack on the camp that night, but on the next day Col. Chas. G. Stiefel arrived on a steamboat with a regiment of infantry from St. Louis, and supplied Col. Knaus with a lot of Belgian muskets, of an antiquated pattern, far more dangerous to the men using them than to the foe. A report was circulated over the rebel ' 'grapevine telegraph" that Col. Knaus had received no arms, so when the command arrived the next day but one, at Atkinson's, fifteen miles from Lexington, on the Warrensburg road, it was fired on from the brush by a large rebel force, and several men wounded. But the line soon formed, Col. Knaus leading the center, Col. Grover the right, and Major Foster and Captain Fred. Neet, of the Fourteenth Missouri, the left.
The rapid fire and spirited charge of Col. Knaus and his men soon dislodged the enemy, who broke and ran in all directions, closely pursued all that afternoon as far as Chapel Hill by Capt. Foster and Lieut. Box, with detachments of the mounted men. Upon arriving in Warrensburg the regiment went into camp at Camp Lyon, three miles southeast of town, in the Bear Creek valley, and there remained on active duty, scouting incessantly day and night until about August 20th, when it was ordered to Jefferson City.
It marched to Sedalia, and there the main portion, under Col. Grover, went east by rail, while Col. Knaus followed with the mounted detachment via the wagon road. While passing Lookout Station, or Centretown, on the railroad, while the train was moving through a deep cut, a band of rebel guerrillas fired from behind piles of cordwood on the edges of the cut on both sides down upon the heads of the men who were closely packed in stockcars. Several men were badly wounded, and one, Dan. Cecil, one of the best and bravest boys in Foster's Company, mortally.
Col. Grover, who was on the engine, rallied and formed the men as soon as possible, but the guerrillas, being well mounted, escaped, with the exception of three, whose horses broke loose before they could mount. These three were captured and shot, and several houses where the guerrillas had harbored were burned, and the train then moved on, reaching Jefferson City the same afternoon. On the next day but one, Col. Knaus arrived, not having been molested en route.
Soon after his arrival in Jefferson City, Col. Knaus, then advanced in years, resigned and went home. Col. Grover succeeded to the command of the regiment and was again tendered the colonelcy by an unanimous vote, but declined it in favor of his friend, James D. Eads. Major Foster recruited a picked detachment from the regiment under the personal supervision of Gen. Grant, and called it the Fremont Scouts. He was ordered into active service with this detachment in western Missouri, and Capt. William Beck succeeded him as Major. Col. U. S. Grant was then in command of the post at Jefferson City, and to him Col. Grover reported for duty. A strong friendship sprang up between them and there was also a marked personal resemblance, as they were almost exactly the same size, with the same complexion and the same colored hair and eyes. So, when Col. Grant received notice of his promotion to Brigadier-General, he gave to Col. Grover his uniform coat, which he had never worn, which the latter wore all through the battle and siege of Lexington, and was afterwards buried in it.
By order of Gen. Grant, the regiment was fully mounted, uniformed and equipped on the 1st day of September, 1861, and its proper name and number recorded, the Twenty-seventh Mounted Infantry Missouri Volunteers. It remained at Jefferson City, doing active and incessant service in the field as scouts, until Col. Mulligan, of the Twenty-third Illinois Infantry, who had succeeded Gen. Grant as post commander at Jefferson City, was ordered to Lexington by Gen. Fremont, who then commanded the department of Missouri. Col. Grover was detailed with parts of five companies, commanded by Capts. Maguire, Duncan, Applegate, Parker and McCluney, about three hundred men in all, to accompany Col. Mulligan to Lexington.
On the march, about one hundred men were cut off from the command at Dunksburg, and were dispersed and a large number captured by an overpowering rebel force, so that less than two hundred of the Twenty-seventh actually participated in the battles and siege of Lexington from Sept. 12 to Sept. 20, 1861. These men, however, were at the front, and led by their brave officers, fought Price's advance, themselves forming Mulligan's rear guard all the way from Georgetown, via Warrensburg, to Lexington, a distance of sixty-five miles, without rest or rations, and without dismounting a man, except those who were killed and wounded in the repeated and sharp engagements. When the heroic Mulligan fortified Lexington in order to hold it, as he was directed to do, the Twenty-seventh were stationed, with the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Missouri and the First Illinois Cavalry, on the bluff overlooking the river, while the Twenty- third Illinois Infantry occupied the works surrounding the college.
The most desperate hand-to-hand fighting then ensued around these works, between the little band of less than three thousand Union soldiers, every man a hero, and Price's army of more then twenty thousand men. For eight days and nights, without cessation, this unequal contest raged. It was terminated at last by the capture of the brave Mulligan and his devoted men, through the cowardice of an officer who did not belong to either the Twenty-seventh, Thirteenth or Fourteenth Missouri, the First Illinois Cavalry or the Twenty- third Illinois Infantry, who, without any orders, ran up a white flag, and let the enemy into a commanding position inside of the works.
No better fighting was ever done by any soldiers, in any war, than by the Twenty-seventh at Lexington. Of its officers, Col. Grover and Capt. McCluney received mortal wounds, from which Col. Grover died in St. Louis on the 31st of October, 1861, and Capt. McCluney at his home in Johnson county afterwards. Captains Duncan, Maguire, Parker and Applegate were all wounded, and about one-half of the command were either killed or wounded in this siege.
Long before the surrender, the whole force had been completely surrounded and cut off from water, so that, when Col. Grover fell, never to rise again, in the thickest of the fight, on the afternoon of September 20, he had been continuously on duty and in the battle for sixty consecutive hours, during all of which time not a morsel of food nor a drop of water had passed his lips.
While their brave comrades were thus being overpowered at Lexington, Col. Eads, in command of the remaining seven companies of the Twenty-seventh, formed the advance guard of Veatch's brigade of Hovey's division of the army of the west, afterwards the frontier, then being organized, and marched to Lamine bridge, near Otterville, where it was encamped. Col. Eads was detailed as Post Commander at Syracuse, and Major Beck sent to Sedalia, leaving Capt. Isaminger in command of the regiment.
There were, at this time, two splendid divisions of Indiana Infantry with Cockifair's Battery of four twelve-pound Napoleon guns, all under the command of Col. Jeff. C. Davis, at the Lamine bridge. The regimental officers were such men as Cols. Davis, Veatch, Hovey and Benton, who afterwards rose to high rank in the service. With these were the seven companies of the Twenty-seventh, under Col. Eads, well drilled, mounted and equipped, and thoroughly familiar with the country, the whole command numbering nearly eight thousand men. That these troops would have raised the siege at Lexington and defeated Price, there can be no question. So eager were they to go that their officers could scarcely restrain them. Major Foster, at the head of the Fremont Scouts, drove in the enemy's pickets on the Warrensburg road, close to Lexington, a week before the surrender, and sent one of his men, Frank Johnson, of Warrensburg, into the entrenchments with a message to Col. Mulligan concealed in the sole of his shoe. Johnson went in and out safely, and brought a message back in the same manner from Mulligan to Fremont, stating that he, Mulligan, was surrounded by an overwhelming force, but was "holding the fort," as ordered, and would do so until overpowered, and calling for immediate re-inforcements.
Major Foster took that message to St. Louis, and was turned away from the door of Fremont's headquarters by his Hungarian guard, to whom the English language was an unknown tongue. He then hunted up Col. Frank P. Blair, who was an intimate friend of Col. Grover, and the two were finally admitted to Gen. Fremont's presence, and the whole situation laid before him.
Col. Davis, on the 16th, sent two scouting parties of the Twenty-seventh, under the command of Capt. Foster and Lieut. Box, from Lamine bridge to see if the roads to Lexington were clear. Foster chased in the enemy's pickets five miles from Lexington, on the Sedalia road, and Box did the same thing on the River road, and both returned on the morning of the 18th to Sedalia, and reported those facts to Col. Davis. Davis almost burnt the telegraph wire down with repeated messages to Fremont, beseeching him for marching orders, yet they never came. Had they been issued as late as the 18th, the siege would have been raised, and Mulligan saved on the morning of the 20th beyond a doubt, as the surrender did not take place until late in the afternoon of that day. This useless sacrifice of these brave men at Lexington is a stain upon the military record of John C. Fremont that time will never efface.
The distance between Lamine bridge and Lexington was only sixty-five miles. The roads were in good condition, and the country abounded with ample supply of both food and forage. Blair, who up to this time had been the friend of Fremont, now became his relentless foe. The speech of Blair in Congress, entitled: "Fremont's one hundred days in Missouri," aroused the country and drove Fremont from power. It has no rival in English literature, except the great arraignment of Warren Hastings, by Edward Burke, in the English Parliament. The survivors at Lexington in the Twenty- seventh could not be exchanged at that early day, so their services were lost to that regiment.
Col. Eads was then assigned to duty as Post Commander at Georgetown, and the regiment remained in the field under Major Beck and Capt. Isaminger, taking part in the vainglorious march and inglorious retreat of Fremont from Sedalia to Springfield and return. No one in the army or out of it were more heartily rejoiced over the downfall of Fremont than the remnant of the gallant Twenty-seventh, when that news reached them on the road between those two places.
The Fremont Scouts were engaged in a number of brilliant fights with the enemy in the Fall of 1861. They met the Whitley family of guerrillas, in a hand-to-hand set to, on Clear Fork, and completely routed them, driving them into Henry county in wild confusion. In this fight Morris Foster's horse ran away with him, causing him to outrun his comrades, and overtake and capture the Rebel Captain, who was acting as rear guard for his retreating companions. They went to the relief of Col. Hough at the California ford, west of War- rensburg, riding the forty-two miles from Sedalia to that place in less than six hours, and rescued that brave officer, after he had received a disabling wound and had been completely surrounded by a superior force. Foster, with ten of them, captured Col. Lewis, a Confederate officer on recruiting service, and fifteen of his men, at Holden, and brought the whole party safely into our lines. They joined forces with a squadron of the First Missouri Cavalry under Major Henry J. Stierlein, and recaptured 1,200 cattle belonging to a government train, the wagons having been burned before their arrival, rescued the guard, put the guerrillas engaged in the affair to flight after a sharp encounter, in which Dave Greenlee, a former resident of Warrensburg, was killed, and drove the herd overland to Fort Leavenworth, there turning over to the United States quartermaster at that post 1440 head of work oxen in tip-top condition.
The remainder of the regiment fought guerrillas, from the Missouri to the Osage rivers, almost every day in the week. In December, 1861, it took part in the Pope expedition, and participated in the engagement at Milford, where a part of two of its companies (Isaminger's and Foster's), with four companies of regular United States Cavalry, under Col. J. C. Davis, and without either infantry or artillery support, surprised and captured a recruiting camp of 1300 rebels, under Col. Alexander, and marched the whole of that long line under guard to Sedalia, sleeping most of the time on the bare ground in the snow, with the temperature near zero.
In this campaign Capt. Foster, with seventeen men of Company C of the Twenty-seventh, attacked a picket of thirty-three Confederates near Bear Creek, on the Sedalia road, one night, and chased them more than three miles to the outskirts of Warrensburg, killing five and wounding several more, without the loss of a man. He surprised the "Johnnies" around their camp fire, and they fled pell-mell into town at the first fire, with the report that Pope's whole army was coming and not far away.
Col. Clarkson (Confederate) had 1500 men at Warrensburg, but he immediately struck out for Rose Hill, and thus escaped capture by Pope's advance guard, who were moving up the Fort Scott road, some twelve miles south of Warrensburg. Instead of receiving any credit for this exploit, Foster was sharply reprimanded for flushing the game before it could be bagged. But if the First Cavalry on the Fort Scott road had moved as promptly according to orders as Foster did, Clarkson would have been surely captured at Warrensburg.
Upon its return to Sedalia the regiment was ordered to Benton Barracks, St. Louis. Upon its arrival there it found Gen. W. T. Sherman in command. This great soldier was temporarily shelved, because in an unguarded moment he had said that it would require a force of 600,000 men to suppress the rebellion. There, on the 27th of January, 1862, the remnant of the Twenty-seventh Missouri was mustered out. So continuous and severe had been its service since April, 1861, that only 469 men answered to their names on the muster-out roll, as the remaining 531 had been killed, wounded or captured while serving in the field and at the front.
The people of Johnson County were almost evenly divided between the Whig and Democratic parties. The location of the county was outside of the great slaveholding belt of the country along the Missouri river, and, therefore, there was a large number of substantial small farmers settled there from the mountain regions of East Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas, as well as a small number from the free states, who refused to own slaves and who were at heart opposed to that institution. The majority of these men were uncompromising Whigs.
On the other hand the Democrats were mainly large land owners and slaveholders, and were chiefly from Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia and the other slave states. The prestige of wealth and social position was largely on the Democratic and also the secession side, but the Whigs, and Union men as well, were an uncompromising and numerous body of men, whose undaunted spirit could be depended upon in any emergency.
Early in 1861 an independent military company was organized in Warrensburg, for the avowed purpose of serving in the Union army. Emory S. Foster was the captain and Thos. W. Houts its first lieutenant. No military clothing was obtainable, and of necessity a uniform was adopted of red shirts and black pants, so the company was known as the "Red Shirt Company."
At that time there was stored in a room in the courthouse at Warrensburg one hundred muskets belonging to the state, which had been furnished to the county under the militia law of 1857, then in force. These arms were intended by the secession leaders to be used in overawing the Union men. But Foster and his men secured possession of them, and stood guard over them day and night. A demand was made on Foster for these arms, and he was threatened with prosecution if it was not acceded to, but he kept them fully loaded all the time for the use of his company, and afterwards turned them over to Col. Grover, who used them in arming his regiment.
By this time the Union men in Johnson county were fully organized, and what was afterwards the Twenty-seventh regiment of Missouri Mounted Infantry, United States Volunteers, was formed. B. W. Grover was unanimously chosen colonel, but declined the place in favor of his friend, Jacob Knaus. Grover was then chosen lieutenant-colonel; Emory S. Foster, major; Thomas W. Houts, quartermaster; and John J. Welshans, commissary.
Captains McGuire, Isaminger, M. U. Foster, Duncan, Applegate, Turley, Parker, Miller, McCluney, Ijams, Taylor, and Brown; and Lieuts. Shanks, Hall, Box, Starkey, Pease, W. L. Christian, Bird, Burnett, Gallaher, Keaton, Smiley, McCabe and Van Beek, with a thousand of the best and bravest young men in Johnson and Pettis counties, were organized into a regiment, which was called, for want of a better name, the Johnson County Home Guards. There were no United States mustering officers nearer than St. Louis, and no communication with them by rail nearer than Otterville, in Cooper county, with the state government in secession hands, so that nothing could be done but appoint rallying places and devise a code of signals, leaving each company in the neighborhood where it had been recruited.
Captains McGuire and Applegate were, therefore, stationed in what is now Grover township, in the northeastern part of the county, Capt. M. U. Foster at Warrensburg, Capt. Duncan at Kingsville, Capt. Turley at Dunksburg, Capt. Parker at Sedalia, Capt. Miller at Windsor, Capt. McCluney at Fayetteville, Capt. Isaminger in the southeastern part of the county on Clear Fork south of Knob Noster, Capt. Ijams at Cornelia, and Capts. Taylor and Brown at Chilhowee and Rose Hill. Such was the situation when Fort Sumter fell and also when Camp Jackson was taken on the 10th of May, 1861, by General Nathaniel Lyon and Colonel Frank P. Blair.
Then came a change in affairs. The crisis had come, and the Union army found its general in Nathaniel Lyon, who, had his life been spared, would have ranked among the greatest soldiers of the war. After capturing Camp Jackson, Lyon immediately organized a small command in St. Louis, and proceeded with it up the Missouri river.
Claiborne F. Jackson, then Governor, a secessionist, abandoned Jefferson City and fled south, first taking the precaution to empty the state treasury, and steal all the blankets from the state lunatic asylum at Fulton.
On the 17th of June, 1861, General Lyon reached Boonville with a small infantry and artillery force recruited in St. Louis, and there attacked and defeated a large number of secessionists, who were commanded by John S. Marmaduke, afterwards a Confederate general.
By this time, though the Twenty-seventh regiment had been enrolled, organized, and in active service, since the latter part of April, it had not been mustered in by any one possessing any authority from the United States to perform that act. In order to get into the service properly and regularly, Col. Grover rode alone across the country from Warrensburg to Boonville, a distance of seventy-five miles, to meet Gen. Lyon and procure the necessary authority from him to muster in his command. He arrived in time to act as volunteer aide to Gen. Lyon in the battle of Boonville, and received authority from that officer to immediately muster the Twenty-seventh into the service of the United States.
While he was thus absent, Gen. Sterling Price, then in command of the Missouri State Guards, as the secession troops were then called, arrived in Warrensburg on his way south from Lexington, retreating from Gen. Lyon's advance. Gen. Price was accompanied by only a small escort and was very sick, necessitating his riding in an ambulance. He remained in Warrensburg during the afternoon of June 18th, at the Bolton House in Old Town. Major Foster, Capt. Foster and Lieutenant Houts were in town that day with about twenty-eight men, but none of them had any legal authority to order the men. All matters were at that time submitted to a vote and the majority ruled, the ranking officer simply carrying out the will of the majority. The younger men in the command proposed to capture Price at dusk and hurry off with him to Lyon, but the older men would not agree to it, fearing reprisals from the large rebel force then retreating south. In the twilight, in the Colburn pasture in Old Town at Warrensburg, a vote was taken in Major Foster's hat. Thirteen voted yes, the three officers above named being among that number, and fifteen, no. Not long afterwards, Gen. Price and his escort left town in a hurry. Col. Grover arrived about midnight that night with ample authority, and at once ordered a pursuit. We chased that ambulance to the Henry county line, where, in the gray dawn of the 19th, it safely reached a rebel camp too large for our little squadron to attack. So passed away a great opportunity.
As soon as the men could be collected from the various parts of the county, a work requiring nearly two weeks' time, the entire regiment assembled in New Town, at Warrensburg, in the grove east of where Land, Fike & Go's mill now stands, and there, on the 4th day of July, 1861, it was mustered into the United States service by Col. Grover, for "three years or during the war." It then marched to Lexington, thirty-five miles distant, to meet a detachment from St. Louis of Gen. Lyon's rear guard and procure arms. Upon arriving there, it was found that the troops then due had not arrived, so Col. Knaus encamped the regiment near the Fair grounds south of town, and remained there several days, without terits or camp equipage, officers and men alike sleeping on the bare ground, in a drenching rain storm, with a scant supply of food, arms and ammunition.
In the meantime the rebels in Lexington, who could still muster a large force, formed a plan to capture the camp, and did seize and hold Capt. Foster, James M. Shepherd and several others who had gone into town for supplies. But, upon the appearance of two squadrons galloping into town, on parallel streets, one led by Col. Grover and the other by Major Foster, the prisoners were quickly released and their captors fled to the brush without firing a shot.
The storm, perhaps, prevented the attack on the camp that night, but on the next day Col. Chas. G. Stiefel arrived on a steamboat with a regiment of infantry from St. Louis, and supplied Col. Knaus with a lot of Belgian muskets, of an antiquated pattern, far more dangerous to the men using them than to the foe. A report was circulated over the rebel ' 'grapevine telegraph" that Col. Knaus had received no arms, so when the command arrived the next day but one, at Atkinson's, fifteen miles from Lexington, on the Warrensburg road, it was fired on from the brush by a large rebel force, and several men wounded. But the line soon formed, Col. Knaus leading the center, Col. Grover the right, and Major Foster and Captain Fred. Neet, of the Fourteenth Missouri, the left.
The rapid fire and spirited charge of Col. Knaus and his men soon dislodged the enemy, who broke and ran in all directions, closely pursued all that afternoon as far as Chapel Hill by Capt. Foster and Lieut. Box, with detachments of the mounted men. Upon arriving in Warrensburg the regiment went into camp at Camp Lyon, three miles southeast of town, in the Bear Creek valley, and there remained on active duty, scouting incessantly day and night until about August 20th, when it was ordered to Jefferson City.
It marched to Sedalia, and there the main portion, under Col. Grover, went east by rail, while Col. Knaus followed with the mounted detachment via the wagon road. While passing Lookout Station, or Centretown, on the railroad, while the train was moving through a deep cut, a band of rebel guerrillas fired from behind piles of cordwood on the edges of the cut on both sides down upon the heads of the men who were closely packed in stockcars. Several men were badly wounded, and one, Dan. Cecil, one of the best and bravest boys in Foster's Company, mortally.
Col. Grover, who was on the engine, rallied and formed the men as soon as possible, but the guerrillas, being well mounted, escaped, with the exception of three, whose horses broke loose before they could mount. These three were captured and shot, and several houses where the guerrillas had harbored were burned, and the train then moved on, reaching Jefferson City the same afternoon. On the next day but one, Col. Knaus arrived, not having been molested en route.
Soon after his arrival in Jefferson City, Col. Knaus, then advanced in years, resigned and went home. Col. Grover succeeded to the command of the regiment and was again tendered the colonelcy by an unanimous vote, but declined it in favor of his friend, James D. Eads. Major Foster recruited a picked detachment from the regiment under the personal supervision of Gen. Grant, and called it the Fremont Scouts. He was ordered into active service with this detachment in western Missouri, and Capt. William Beck succeeded him as Major. Col. U. S. Grant was then in command of the post at Jefferson City, and to him Col. Grover reported for duty. A strong friendship sprang up between them and there was also a marked personal resemblance, as they were almost exactly the same size, with the same complexion and the same colored hair and eyes. So, when Col. Grant received notice of his promotion to Brigadier-General, he gave to Col. Grover his uniform coat, which he had never worn, which the latter wore all through the battle and siege of Lexington, and was afterwards buried in it.
By order of Gen. Grant, the regiment was fully mounted, uniformed and equipped on the 1st day of September, 1861, and its proper name and number recorded, the Twenty-seventh Mounted Infantry Missouri Volunteers. It remained at Jefferson City, doing active and incessant service in the field as scouts, until Col. Mulligan, of the Twenty-third Illinois Infantry, who had succeeded Gen. Grant as post commander at Jefferson City, was ordered to Lexington by Gen. Fremont, who then commanded the department of Missouri. Col. Grover was detailed with parts of five companies, commanded by Capts. Maguire, Duncan, Applegate, Parker and McCluney, about three hundred men in all, to accompany Col. Mulligan to Lexington.
On the march, about one hundred men were cut off from the command at Dunksburg, and were dispersed and a large number captured by an overpowering rebel force, so that less than two hundred of the Twenty-seventh actually participated in the battles and siege of Lexington from Sept. 12 to Sept. 20, 1861. These men, however, were at the front, and led by their brave officers, fought Price's advance, themselves forming Mulligan's rear guard all the way from Georgetown, via Warrensburg, to Lexington, a distance of sixty-five miles, without rest or rations, and without dismounting a man, except those who were killed and wounded in the repeated and sharp engagements. When the heroic Mulligan fortified Lexington in order to hold it, as he was directed to do, the Twenty-seventh were stationed, with the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Missouri and the First Illinois Cavalry, on the bluff overlooking the river, while the Twenty- third Illinois Infantry occupied the works surrounding the college.
The most desperate hand-to-hand fighting then ensued around these works, between the little band of less than three thousand Union soldiers, every man a hero, and Price's army of more then twenty thousand men. For eight days and nights, without cessation, this unequal contest raged. It was terminated at last by the capture of the brave Mulligan and his devoted men, through the cowardice of an officer who did not belong to either the Twenty-seventh, Thirteenth or Fourteenth Missouri, the First Illinois Cavalry or the Twenty- third Illinois Infantry, who, without any orders, ran up a white flag, and let the enemy into a commanding position inside of the works.
No better fighting was ever done by any soldiers, in any war, than by the Twenty-seventh at Lexington. Of its officers, Col. Grover and Capt. McCluney received mortal wounds, from which Col. Grover died in St. Louis on the 31st of October, 1861, and Capt. McCluney at his home in Johnson county afterwards. Captains Duncan, Maguire, Parker and Applegate were all wounded, and about one-half of the command were either killed or wounded in this siege.
Long before the surrender, the whole force had been completely surrounded and cut off from water, so that, when Col. Grover fell, never to rise again, in the thickest of the fight, on the afternoon of September 20, he had been continuously on duty and in the battle for sixty consecutive hours, during all of which time not a morsel of food nor a drop of water had passed his lips.
While their brave comrades were thus being overpowered at Lexington, Col. Eads, in command of the remaining seven companies of the Twenty-seventh, formed the advance guard of Veatch's brigade of Hovey's division of the army of the west, afterwards the frontier, then being organized, and marched to Lamine bridge, near Otterville, where it was encamped. Col. Eads was detailed as Post Commander at Syracuse, and Major Beck sent to Sedalia, leaving Capt. Isaminger in command of the regiment.
There were, at this time, two splendid divisions of Indiana Infantry with Cockifair's Battery of four twelve-pound Napoleon guns, all under the command of Col. Jeff. C. Davis, at the Lamine bridge. The regimental officers were such men as Cols. Davis, Veatch, Hovey and Benton, who afterwards rose to high rank in the service. With these were the seven companies of the Twenty-seventh, under Col. Eads, well drilled, mounted and equipped, and thoroughly familiar with the country, the whole command numbering nearly eight thousand men. That these troops would have raised the siege at Lexington and defeated Price, there can be no question. So eager were they to go that their officers could scarcely restrain them. Major Foster, at the head of the Fremont Scouts, drove in the enemy's pickets on the Warrensburg road, close to Lexington, a week before the surrender, and sent one of his men, Frank Johnson, of Warrensburg, into the entrenchments with a message to Col. Mulligan concealed in the sole of his shoe. Johnson went in and out safely, and brought a message back in the same manner from Mulligan to Fremont, stating that he, Mulligan, was surrounded by an overwhelming force, but was "holding the fort," as ordered, and would do so until overpowered, and calling for immediate re-inforcements.
Major Foster took that message to St. Louis, and was turned away from the door of Fremont's headquarters by his Hungarian guard, to whom the English language was an unknown tongue. He then hunted up Col. Frank P. Blair, who was an intimate friend of Col. Grover, and the two were finally admitted to Gen. Fremont's presence, and the whole situation laid before him.
Col. Davis, on the 16th, sent two scouting parties of the Twenty-seventh, under the command of Capt. Foster and Lieut. Box, from Lamine bridge to see if the roads to Lexington were clear. Foster chased in the enemy's pickets five miles from Lexington, on the Sedalia road, and Box did the same thing on the River road, and both returned on the morning of the 18th to Sedalia, and reported those facts to Col. Davis. Davis almost burnt the telegraph wire down with repeated messages to Fremont, beseeching him for marching orders, yet they never came. Had they been issued as late as the 18th, the siege would have been raised, and Mulligan saved on the morning of the 20th beyond a doubt, as the surrender did not take place until late in the afternoon of that day. This useless sacrifice of these brave men at Lexington is a stain upon the military record of John C. Fremont that time will never efface.
The distance between Lamine bridge and Lexington was only sixty-five miles. The roads were in good condition, and the country abounded with ample supply of both food and forage. Blair, who up to this time had been the friend of Fremont, now became his relentless foe. The speech of Blair in Congress, entitled: "Fremont's one hundred days in Missouri," aroused the country and drove Fremont from power. It has no rival in English literature, except the great arraignment of Warren Hastings, by Edward Burke, in the English Parliament. The survivors at Lexington in the Twenty- seventh could not be exchanged at that early day, so their services were lost to that regiment.
Col. Eads was then assigned to duty as Post Commander at Georgetown, and the regiment remained in the field under Major Beck and Capt. Isaminger, taking part in the vainglorious march and inglorious retreat of Fremont from Sedalia to Springfield and return. No one in the army or out of it were more heartily rejoiced over the downfall of Fremont than the remnant of the gallant Twenty-seventh, when that news reached them on the road between those two places.
The Fremont Scouts were engaged in a number of brilliant fights with the enemy in the Fall of 1861. They met the Whitley family of guerrillas, in a hand-to-hand set to, on Clear Fork, and completely routed them, driving them into Henry county in wild confusion. In this fight Morris Foster's horse ran away with him, causing him to outrun his comrades, and overtake and capture the Rebel Captain, who was acting as rear guard for his retreating companions. They went to the relief of Col. Hough at the California ford, west of War- rensburg, riding the forty-two miles from Sedalia to that place in less than six hours, and rescued that brave officer, after he had received a disabling wound and had been completely surrounded by a superior force. Foster, with ten of them, captured Col. Lewis, a Confederate officer on recruiting service, and fifteen of his men, at Holden, and brought the whole party safely into our lines. They joined forces with a squadron of the First Missouri Cavalry under Major Henry J. Stierlein, and recaptured 1,200 cattle belonging to a government train, the wagons having been burned before their arrival, rescued the guard, put the guerrillas engaged in the affair to flight after a sharp encounter, in which Dave Greenlee, a former resident of Warrensburg, was killed, and drove the herd overland to Fort Leavenworth, there turning over to the United States quartermaster at that post 1440 head of work oxen in tip-top condition.
The remainder of the regiment fought guerrillas, from the Missouri to the Osage rivers, almost every day in the week. In December, 1861, it took part in the Pope expedition, and participated in the engagement at Milford, where a part of two of its companies (Isaminger's and Foster's), with four companies of regular United States Cavalry, under Col. J. C. Davis, and without either infantry or artillery support, surprised and captured a recruiting camp of 1300 rebels, under Col. Alexander, and marched the whole of that long line under guard to Sedalia, sleeping most of the time on the bare ground in the snow, with the temperature near zero.
In this campaign Capt. Foster, with seventeen men of Company C of the Twenty-seventh, attacked a picket of thirty-three Confederates near Bear Creek, on the Sedalia road, one night, and chased them more than three miles to the outskirts of Warrensburg, killing five and wounding several more, without the loss of a man. He surprised the "Johnnies" around their camp fire, and they fled pell-mell into town at the first fire, with the report that Pope's whole army was coming and not far away.
Col. Clarkson (Confederate) had 1500 men at Warrensburg, but he immediately struck out for Rose Hill, and thus escaped capture by Pope's advance guard, who were moving up the Fort Scott road, some twelve miles south of Warrensburg. Instead of receiving any credit for this exploit, Foster was sharply reprimanded for flushing the game before it could be bagged. But if the First Cavalry on the Fort Scott road had moved as promptly according to orders as Foster did, Clarkson would have been surely captured at Warrensburg.
Upon its return to Sedalia the regiment was ordered to Benton Barracks, St. Louis. Upon its arrival there it found Gen. W. T. Sherman in command. This great soldier was temporarily shelved, because in an unguarded moment he had said that it would require a force of 600,000 men to suppress the rebellion. There, on the 27th of January, 1862, the remnant of the Twenty-seventh Missouri was mustered out. So continuous and severe had been its service since April, 1861, that only 469 men answered to their names on the muster-out roll, as the remaining 531 had been killed, wounded or captured while serving in the field and at the front.
------------
For William, the specific details of this battle and the service provided by Company E are provided on the muster-out rolls. Written at Benton Barracks on 27 Jan 1862 is the following from the muster-out roll card for Company E, 27th Missouri Mounted Infantry:
"After the organization of this company, upon a three year basis, they processed their arms from LieutCol. Grover by order of Gen. Lyon and commenced service 4 August 1861 until the command of Capt. Applegate after their organization were marched to Jefferson City, MO. August 19, 1861 under the command of LieutCol. Grover from Jefferson City, August 20th, 1861 marched to Osage river to guard Railroad bridge across that river. About August 24, 1861 returned to Jefferson City on the 26th of August such members of this company as were mounted were detached under command. LieutCol. Grover with the 1st Illinois Cavalry Col. Marshall to march to Lexington to re-inforce the union forces at that city Dunksbury (sp), Pettis Co., MO. this company was ordered on a scout to Johnson County, MO ten miles south at Knobnoster were attacked by a body of the enemy lost several horses but no men killed or wounded. Overtook the main command north of Blackwater and proceeded with them to Lexington attached to the command of Col. Marshall. Marched to Warrensburg in Johnson Co., about Sept 8th, 1861, but finding the enemy in force in the vicinity of that place fell back the same evening closely pursued by the enemy burnt Blackwater bridge which retarded their progress this detachment of Company E participated in the nine days fight defending that city against a vastly superior force, but were finally obliged to surrender losing their arms and equipments and horses on the 4th day of August in connection with the Regt. was doing services wholy without tents or clothing sufficient to shield them from the weather or of equipment to hold their ammunition or utensils to properly cook their rations."
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Gowan and the Clanna Rory or the Rudricians
From the book "A History of the Clanna-Rory or Rudricians" by Richard Francis Cronnelly, Irish Genealogical Foundation, written in 1864
M'Gowan or Smith (Clan Cionga)
The MacGaibhnions, Augliee M'Gowan and Smith, are of the Irian or Rudrician race springing from Angus Gaibhnion or Ghobain, son of Fergus Gaileng. See Magennis's pedigree.
The MacGowan's were formerly chiefs in Dalariada, a principality in eastern Utonia; also of a district in the County of Leitrim forming the parish of Rossinver; and several highly respectable families of the name have been located in the County of Cavan from a very early period.
This family gave birth to many eminent ecclasiastics and literary men, and among the latter class may be mentioned Tadg Mac-an-Gowan, chief historiographer to the O'Conners toward the close of the 14th Century; Felan M'an-Gowan by whom, assisted by the O'Dugans of East Galway, was compiled "The Book of the O'Kellys," commonly called the "Book of Hy-Many"...
Arms - Argent a lion rampant gules between two cinque foils vert. Crest - a talbot passant.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you consider the surnames that match our Y-DNA from multiple DNA databases, we match with several surnames (Quinn, MacGuinness, O'Neill, Ogg or Og, and possibly others whose current name may be hard to match) that are mentioned in this book and other material written about the Clanna Rory. It certainly makes you wonder...
There is still a lot of research to be collected that is missing between our ancestors William & Annastacia Gowan and the history found on our surname (Scotland and Ireland) within written historical materials. Within the analysis, we need to continue matching Y-DNA surname results with historical records. This will allow us to 'triangulate' the origin or history through association and location.
M'Gowan or Smith (Clan Cionga)
The MacGaibhnions, Augliee M'Gowan and Smith, are of the Irian or Rudrician race springing from Angus Gaibhnion or Ghobain, son of Fergus Gaileng. See Magennis's pedigree.
The MacGowan's were formerly chiefs in Dalariada, a principality in eastern Utonia; also of a district in the County of Leitrim forming the parish of Rossinver; and several highly respectable families of the name have been located in the County of Cavan from a very early period.
This family gave birth to many eminent ecclasiastics and literary men, and among the latter class may be mentioned Tadg Mac-an-Gowan, chief historiographer to the O'Conners toward the close of the 14th Century; Felan M'an-Gowan by whom, assisted by the O'Dugans of East Galway, was compiled "The Book of the O'Kellys," commonly called the "Book of Hy-Many"...
Arms - Argent a lion rampant gules between two cinque foils vert. Crest - a talbot passant.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you consider the surnames that match our Y-DNA from multiple DNA databases, we match with several surnames (Quinn, MacGuinness, O'Neill, Ogg or Og, and possibly others whose current name may be hard to match) that are mentioned in this book and other material written about the Clanna Rory. It certainly makes you wonder...
There is still a lot of research to be collected that is missing between our ancestors William & Annastacia Gowan and the history found on our surname (Scotland and Ireland) within written historical materials. Within the analysis, we need to continue matching Y-DNA surname results with historical records. This will allow us to 'triangulate' the origin or history through association and location.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Coming to America - Difficulties of Travel & Arrival
The Palatine Germans who emigrated to America during the early 18th Century and before onboard the same British ships that many Scots and Irish traveled on, tell of the disembarkation process at their destination:
“First the ones who could pay full price were allowed to pay and get off the boat. Next the healthy ones were sold (for indentured service) to their new masters for the full fee. Then the unhealthy ones were sold at auction. This process often took several weeks. If one of the family died (during the voyage), the rest of the family members were held accountable for passage fees of the deceased.”
Despite all this, the Scots/Irish, like the Germans, thought they had found the promised land. But by the end of the first half of the 18th century, the peaceful coexistence of Palatine German and Scots/Irish immigrants had worn thin. Both held firm to their respective European cultural traditions and social and religious mores. In fact, by 1743 coexistence was no longer possible in cohabited parts of Pennsylvania as reflected by this account: ”...the proprietaries, in consequence of the frequent disturbances between the governor and Irish (Scots/Irish) settlers, after the organization of York and Cumberland counties, gave orders to their agents to sell no lands in either York and Lancaster counties to the Irish; and also to make advantageous offers of removal to the Irish settlers on Paxton and Swatara, and Donegal townships, to remove to Cumberland county, which offers being liberal, were accepted by many."
“First the ones who could pay full price were allowed to pay and get off the boat. Next the healthy ones were sold (for indentured service) to their new masters for the full fee. Then the unhealthy ones were sold at auction. This process often took several weeks. If one of the family died (during the voyage), the rest of the family members were held accountable for passage fees of the deceased.”
Despite all this, the Scots/Irish, like the Germans, thought they had found the promised land. But by the end of the first half of the 18th century, the peaceful coexistence of Palatine German and Scots/Irish immigrants had worn thin. Both held firm to their respective European cultural traditions and social and religious mores. In fact, by 1743 coexistence was no longer possible in cohabited parts of Pennsylvania as reflected by this account: ”...the proprietaries, in consequence of the frequent disturbances between the governor and Irish (Scots/Irish) settlers, after the organization of York and Cumberland counties, gave orders to their agents to sell no lands in either York and Lancaster counties to the Irish; and also to make advantageous offers of removal to the Irish settlers on Paxton and Swatara, and Donegal townships, to remove to Cumberland county, which offers being liberal, were accepted by many."
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Kingdom of Dalriada, Principal Families of Ulster: In Ulidia (or Down) and Part of Antrim Ireland - Gowan
Please see the note below after reading.
The basic assmuption for our Y-DNA haplotype (12b1a), is that they were part of the ancient Dal nAraidhe (aka Dalriada) kingdom. This assumption is based on the same bloodline existing between a number of families that included the McGenis, McCartan, Neeson, Coulter kinship and possibly also McEvoy and McVeigh (traditionally McGenis and MacCartan branched off from each other in the sixth century AD but were always recognised as belonging to the same bloodline). Some of the information below has Irish mythology woven within - as most Irish who have attempted to establish ancient right to Ireland.
From "Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation by John O'Hart", Cionog (or Cionga), brother of Ros who is No. 63 on the "Line of Ir," p. 301, was the ancestor of MacAonghuis [oneesh]; anglicised MacGuinness, Maginnis, Magennis, Magenis, MacInnes, Guinness, Angus, Ennis, Innis, etc. The ancient Arms of this family were: Vert a lion ramp. or, on a chief ar, a dexter hand erect, couped at the wrist gu.
Number 82 on the "Line of Ir" was Aongus Gabhneach: his son; a quo O'Gaibhnaigh, anglicised Gowan, MacGowan, O'Gowan, Gibney, Smythe, Smith, etc.
The following is taken from the book "Irish Pedigrees; or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation" by John O'Hart, Fifth Edition, 1892
THE Chiefs and Clans of Ulidia, and the territories they possessed in the twelfth century, as collected from O'Dugan's Topography, are as follows:--
Gowan (gobha: Irish, a blacksmith) and MacGowan (modernized "Smith," "Smeeth," and "Smythe") were of the Irian race and of the Clan-na-Rory, and were mostly expelled by the English into Donegal, whence large numbers of them emigrated to the county Leitrim, and more lately to the county Cavan.
Most of the remaining information derives from the book "The Dublin Review", edited by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman, Published by W. Spooner, 1851.
The Irian race noted in the quote above derives from the irish mythology and the Milesian patriarchs, Eremon, Eber, Ir, and Ith. The Milesian came from Spain around the 3rd Century and partitioned the land between them. Ir took Ulster, Eiber took North Munster, Ith South Munster, and it is believed that Eremon held on to the areas of Leinster and Connaught. From these four patriarchs sprung a line of kings, who ruled Ireland as monarchs, or ardrigh, for more than a thousand years before the Christian era. Members of the four Milesian had shared the royal succession until it became restricted to the Eirmonians. From the reign of Nial of the Nine hostages (A.D. 400), until Brian Boroimbe, none but the Hy Niall (i.e. Eirmonians) held the royal seat.
All known descendants of Ir have traced their descent from Ruadhri, King of Ulster, about the middle of the 1st Century, before Christ. There are many probable traditional findings all tending to prove that the race of Ir at one time possessed all of the land of Ireland. They were sole masters of Ulster (primarily the small areas of Antrim and Down) for a very long period of time. The Irians were a distinct race and were later known as Cruthians or Picts. In a span of about 70 years, the Irians and their land (most of Ireland) were taken over by the Eremonians. They Irians held on to the areas of Ulster. This took place about two centuries preceeding the advent of St. Patrick.
The name "Uladh" was applied to the province of Ulster, but in after times was confined, as mentioned, to a large territory on the east of Ulster, called Ulidia. This territory was also called Dalaradia (dal: Irish, a part or portion, and Araidhe, a man's name), signifying the descendants of Araidhe, a king of Ulster in the third century; and comprised the present county Down, with a great portion of Antrim, extending from Iubhar or Newry, Carlingford Bay, and the Mourne mountains, to Slieve Mis mountain in the barony of Antrim; thus containing, in the south and south-east parts of Antrim, the districts along the shores of Lough Neagh and Belfast Lough, Carrickfergus, and the peninsula of Island Magee to Larne; and thence in a line westward to the river Bann. The remaining portion of the county Antrim obtained the name of Dalriada. Ulidia is remarkable as the scene of St. Patrick's early captivity (it being there that he was sold as a slave to a chieftain named Milcho, whose flocks he tended near Mis mountain), and is celebrated as the place where he made the first converts to Christianity; and finally, as the place of his death and burial.
Bob Gilchrist writing in Argyll Colony Plus notes: `In Northern Ireland ... the Kingdom of Dalriada came to exist, being established by a Gaelic-speaking people whom the Romans had known as the warlike and tempestuous Scotti.'
Historically we know that in the beginning of the sixty century, about the year 502 AD, Fergus, with Lorne and Angus, the three youngest sons of the Dalriada King Erc, led a great organized invasion of the Scotland coast by the warriors of Dalriada. They successfully occupied the area now know as Argyll and some of the islands including Islay. Thus the Dalriadic settlement in Argyll was founded by the three sons of Erc. These Scotti come to colonize the west Highland fringe known as Dalriada or Oirir-Chaidhell, Argyll, or `the Coastland of the Gael'. Fergus established himself as king over this area which came to be known as the Second Dalriada.
Fergus and his men were known as Scotti and they gave this name to the whole country. He chose as the center of his kingdom a site on a hillock known as Dunadd. Dunadd was the capital of Dalriada for about 345 years. The early fort sat upon a rocky knoll, thirty metres high, in the center of the plain of the Great Moss, four miles northeast of Lochgilphead. This was the seat of Fergus Mac Erc and it is said that he brought with him from Ulster the Lia Fiall - Jacob's Pillow - later to be known as the Stone of Destiny. A hillock and a rock are all that remain. Historians believe that this was the place where kings were crowned; that St. Columba crowned Aidan here in 574 AD using the disputed Stone of Destiny as the throne.
In the Downpatrick area of Ireland remained the Dal Fiatach, who irregularly shared the kingship of Ulaid (Ulster) with the Dal nAraidhe who occupied most of Antrim, and were considered kin to the Ui Eachach Cobha (Iveagh) of west Down. Both of the latter were considered an alien race by the increasingly predominant Gaels, and were dubbed Cruthin (Cruithni).
The makeup of Ulster itself is very complex. As the Gaelic clans of the Ui Neill (O'Neill, O'Donnell, etc.) rose in power, they gradually pushed the original Ulidians (Ulster people) eastward into counties Antrim, Down and northern Louth. As mentioned above, the Ulidians were establishing colonies on the Isle of Man and in the Rhinns of Galloway. Meanwhile the O'Neills continued their pressure eastwards, the Vikings raided and even settled in the 8th-9th centuries, and the Norman invaders smashed the old kingdom of Ulidia in 1177 and colonised the entire coastline of Antrim and Down. Under this funnelling effect (O'Neills to the west, Normans to the east) one must assume of long-term residents must have packed their bags and loaded their corracles, and headed off in the most convenient direction -- to Galloway Scotland just across the water.
The clans of Iveagh managed to hold out in their woody and marshy fastness, under their McGenis and McCartan chiefs, but eventually succumbed during the seventeenth century to the troubles of the Stuart period. After this time a lot of them probably made their way quietly to the New World.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE TO THE READER ABOUT THE MONARCHS (CHIEFS) OF IRELAND:
The basic assmuption for our Y-DNA haplotype (12b1a), is that they were part of the ancient Dal nAraidhe (aka Dalriada) kingdom. This assumption is based on the same bloodline existing between a number of families that included the McGenis, McCartan, Neeson, Coulter kinship and possibly also McEvoy and McVeigh (traditionally McGenis and MacCartan branched off from each other in the sixth century AD but were always recognised as belonging to the same bloodline). Some of the information below has Irish mythology woven within - as most Irish who have attempted to establish ancient right to Ireland.
From "Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation by John O'Hart", Cionog (or Cionga), brother of Ros who is No. 63 on the "Line of Ir," p. 301, was the ancestor of MacAonghuis [oneesh]; anglicised MacGuinness, Maginnis, Magennis, Magenis, MacInnes, Guinness, Angus, Ennis, Innis, etc. The ancient Arms of this family were: Vert a lion ramp. or, on a chief ar, a dexter hand erect, couped at the wrist gu.
Number 82 on the "Line of Ir" was Aongus Gabhneach: his son; a quo O'Gaibhnaigh, anglicised Gowan, MacGowan, O'Gowan, Gibney, Smythe, Smith, etc.
The following is taken from the book "Irish Pedigrees; or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation" by John O'Hart, Fifth Edition, 1892
THE Chiefs and Clans of Ulidia, and the territories they possessed in the twelfth century, as collected from O'Dugan's Topography, are as follows:--
Gowan (gobha: Irish, a blacksmith) and MacGowan (modernized "Smith," "Smeeth," and "Smythe") were of the Irian race and of the Clan-na-Rory, and were mostly expelled by the English into Donegal, whence large numbers of them emigrated to the county Leitrim, and more lately to the county Cavan.
Most of the remaining information derives from the book "The Dublin Review", edited by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman, Published by W. Spooner, 1851.
The Irian race noted in the quote above derives from the irish mythology and the Milesian patriarchs, Eremon, Eber, Ir, and Ith. The Milesian came from Spain around the 3rd Century and partitioned the land between them. Ir took Ulster, Eiber took North Munster, Ith South Munster, and it is believed that Eremon held on to the areas of Leinster and Connaught. From these four patriarchs sprung a line of kings, who ruled Ireland as monarchs, or ardrigh, for more than a thousand years before the Christian era. Members of the four Milesian had shared the royal succession until it became restricted to the Eirmonians. From the reign of Nial of the Nine hostages (A.D. 400), until Brian Boroimbe, none but the Hy Niall (i.e. Eirmonians) held the royal seat.
All known descendants of Ir have traced their descent from Ruadhri, King of Ulster, about the middle of the 1st Century, before Christ. There are many probable traditional findings all tending to prove that the race of Ir at one time possessed all of the land of Ireland. They were sole masters of Ulster (primarily the small areas of Antrim and Down) for a very long period of time. The Irians were a distinct race and were later known as Cruthians or Picts. In a span of about 70 years, the Irians and their land (most of Ireland) were taken over by the Eremonians. They Irians held on to the areas of Ulster. This took place about two centuries preceeding the advent of St. Patrick.
The name "Uladh" was applied to the province of Ulster, but in after times was confined, as mentioned, to a large territory on the east of Ulster, called Ulidia. This territory was also called Dalaradia (dal: Irish, a part or portion, and Araidhe, a man's name), signifying the descendants of Araidhe, a king of Ulster in the third century; and comprised the present county Down, with a great portion of Antrim, extending from Iubhar or Newry, Carlingford Bay, and the Mourne mountains, to Slieve Mis mountain in the barony of Antrim; thus containing, in the south and south-east parts of Antrim, the districts along the shores of Lough Neagh and Belfast Lough, Carrickfergus, and the peninsula of Island Magee to Larne; and thence in a line westward to the river Bann. The remaining portion of the county Antrim obtained the name of Dalriada. Ulidia is remarkable as the scene of St. Patrick's early captivity (it being there that he was sold as a slave to a chieftain named Milcho, whose flocks he tended near Mis mountain), and is celebrated as the place where he made the first converts to Christianity; and finally, as the place of his death and burial.
Bob Gilchrist writing in Argyll Colony Plus notes: `In Northern Ireland ... the Kingdom of Dalriada came to exist, being established by a Gaelic-speaking people whom the Romans had known as the warlike and tempestuous Scotti.'
Historically we know that in the beginning of the sixty century, about the year 502 AD, Fergus, with Lorne and Angus, the three youngest sons of the Dalriada King Erc, led a great organized invasion of the Scotland coast by the warriors of Dalriada. They successfully occupied the area now know as Argyll and some of the islands including Islay. Thus the Dalriadic settlement in Argyll was founded by the three sons of Erc. These Scotti come to colonize the west Highland fringe known as Dalriada or Oirir-Chaidhell, Argyll, or `the Coastland of the Gael'. Fergus established himself as king over this area which came to be known as the Second Dalriada.
Fergus and his men were known as Scotti and they gave this name to the whole country. He chose as the center of his kingdom a site on a hillock known as Dunadd. Dunadd was the capital of Dalriada for about 345 years. The early fort sat upon a rocky knoll, thirty metres high, in the center of the plain of the Great Moss, four miles northeast of Lochgilphead. This was the seat of Fergus Mac Erc and it is said that he brought with him from Ulster the Lia Fiall - Jacob's Pillow - later to be known as the Stone of Destiny. A hillock and a rock are all that remain. Historians believe that this was the place where kings were crowned; that St. Columba crowned Aidan here in 574 AD using the disputed Stone of Destiny as the throne.
In the Downpatrick area of Ireland remained the Dal Fiatach, who irregularly shared the kingship of Ulaid (Ulster) with the Dal nAraidhe who occupied most of Antrim, and were considered kin to the Ui Eachach Cobha (Iveagh) of west Down. Both of the latter were considered an alien race by the increasingly predominant Gaels, and were dubbed Cruthin (Cruithni).
The makeup of Ulster itself is very complex. As the Gaelic clans of the Ui Neill (O'Neill, O'Donnell, etc.) rose in power, they gradually pushed the original Ulidians (Ulster people) eastward into counties Antrim, Down and northern Louth. As mentioned above, the Ulidians were establishing colonies on the Isle of Man and in the Rhinns of Galloway. Meanwhile the O'Neills continued their pressure eastwards, the Vikings raided and even settled in the 8th-9th centuries, and the Norman invaders smashed the old kingdom of Ulidia in 1177 and colonised the entire coastline of Antrim and Down. Under this funnelling effect (O'Neills to the west, Normans to the east) one must assume of long-term residents must have packed their bags and loaded their corracles, and headed off in the most convenient direction -- to Galloway Scotland just across the water.
The clans of Iveagh managed to hold out in their woody and marshy fastness, under their McGenis and McCartan chiefs, but eventually succumbed during the seventeenth century to the troubles of the Stuart period. After this time a lot of them probably made their way quietly to the New World.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE TO THE READER ABOUT THE MONARCHS (CHIEFS) OF IRELAND:
- The whole succession is based on the legend of the rapid and complete subjugation of Ireland by the sons of Milesius. Modern historians do not accept this and prefer to think of the Celtic "conquest" as being more cultural than military and taking place over a period of many centuries rather than in a specific year.
- It is highly unlikely that any High King ever really had absolute power over the entire island. Though the numbering starts with Heber and Heremon, the first Milesian rulers, the Annals name many pre-Celtic rulers that do not appear.
- For thousands of years, there was little written history of Ireland. The Celts had an oral tradition and the stories of Kings, Chieftains and Heroes were passed from generation to generation by bards, whose jobs (and perhaps lives) were on the line if they failed to sufficiently praise and glorify their masters. Therefore, much of the "history" became influenced by political pressure and therefore inaccurate. When the annalists eventually came to put this history on paper, they had only the old traditional stories to use as raw material.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Our Y-DNA Information - 2/2/2009
A researcher on the "I1c-Y-Clan" message board wrote that our Y-DNA (I2a2a1a formerly I2b1a1) "is fairly prolific in western County Down in Ireland. In the Bradley & McEvoy survey, the surnames Byrne, Coulter, Dunleavy, Haughey, Kelly, McCabe, McCartan, McEvoy, McGinn, McGuinness, McVeigh, Murphy and Neeson all have medieval presence in and around that county, though the Norman invasion of the thirteenth century and the Elizabethan wars of the sixteenth may have sent many off to pastures new. Other local surnames with I2b1a connections were Bell, Gillespie, Gowan(Gowin), Loughlin, McAleavey, McManus, Magee, Quinn, Ward."
It was not uncommon for the Irish and Scots to travel to and from Northern Ireland and Scotland, as most did. Indeed, the early Celts within western Scotland (Argyll, Strathclyde and the Hebrides area) that were part of the Dal Riata (and believed to be subclade M284) were cousins of the Northern Ireland tribe known as Dál nAraidi, the second kingdom of Ulster. It is doubtful whether the Dál nAraidi kingdom existed, except as a loose confederation of small kingdoms, until the 8th century, long after the Cruithne kings had ceased to have any real control over the high-kingship of Ulster.
Among the Cruthnian tribes that survived in Ireland were the Loíges and Fothairt in Leinster. The name of the first of these tribes survives in the modern form of Laois as the name of one of the counties of Leinster. The other main group lived in County Down, became allied to the Dal Fiatach kingdom, and are ancestral to the chiefs of the Magennis (sometimes spelled McGuinness) and McCartan clans. The Annals of Ulster refers to a deceased County Down man in 698 as "nepos Predani", the Latin form of a "son of the Cruthin". Despite a separate ethnic sense, the Cruithne / Cruthin groups were culturally a part of the Gaelic world at the arrival of Christianity and writing, c.500AD.
It was not uncommon for the Irish and Scots to travel to and from Northern Ireland and Scotland, as most did. Indeed, the early Celts within western Scotland (Argyll, Strathclyde and the Hebrides area) that were part of the Dal Riata (and believed to be subclade M284) were cousins of the Northern Ireland tribe known as Dál nAraidi, the second kingdom of Ulster. It is doubtful whether the Dál nAraidi kingdom existed, except as a loose confederation of small kingdoms, until the 8th century, long after the Cruithne kings had ceased to have any real control over the high-kingship of Ulster.
Among the Cruthnian tribes that survived in Ireland were the Loíges and Fothairt in Leinster. The name of the first of these tribes survives in the modern form of Laois as the name of one of the counties of Leinster. The other main group lived in County Down, became allied to the Dal Fiatach kingdom, and are ancestral to the chiefs of the Magennis (sometimes spelled McGuinness) and McCartan clans. The Annals of Ulster refers to a deceased County Down man in 698 as "nepos Predani", the Latin form of a "son of the Cruthin". Despite a separate ethnic sense, the Cruithne / Cruthin groups were culturally a part of the Gaelic world at the arrival of Christianity and writing, c.500AD.
The Blood of the Isles by Bryan Sykes and OUR Family DNA
Discussion post about the DNA results from "The Blood of the Isles" aka "Saxons, Vikings, and Celts". From the best-selling author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, an illuminating guide to the genetic history of the British Isles. One of the world's leading geneticists, Bryan Sykes has helped thousands find their ancestry in the British Isles. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts, which resulted from a systematic ten-year DNA survey of more than 10,000 volunteers, traces the true genetic makeup of the British Isles and its descendants, taking readers from the Pontnewydd cave in North Wales to the resting place of "The Red Lady" of Paviland and the tomb of King Arthur.
Our family Y-DNA results matched 100% with some of these 10,000 volunteers, specifically from those who were residing at the time in the areas of Argyll, Strathclyde, Tayside, Fife, the Hebrides (islands off the coast), and the Border region.
Argyll, archaically Argyle (Earra-Ghàidheal in modern Gaelic), is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dal Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western seaboard between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath. In 1975, counties in Scotland were abolished (from Wikipedia).
The Hebrides contain the largest concentration of Scottish Gaelic speakers in Scotland. They comprise a widespread and diverse aarchipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English speaking peoples, which is reflected in the names given to the islands (from Wikipedia).
Strathclyde is on the west coast of Scotland and stretches from the Highlands in the north to the Southern Uplands in the south. The regional administrative capital as well as the largest city was Glasgow.
All of these areas seem to correspond with the information collected via Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) matching Y-DNA results. It also appears to match with many of those that carried our surname recorded in early times (pre 1700's).
Within the Gowen Research Foundation, there is belief that the surname was associated with the JAMES BURNS family. The evidence above would certainly place our Y-DNA in a geographic region (although large) with that family, but it doesn't rule out the possibility.
However, all of this information should be taken lightly and only as a way of hopefully providing greater clarity within the context of a hypothesis.
Our family Y-DNA results matched 100% with some of these 10,000 volunteers, specifically from those who were residing at the time in the areas of Argyll, Strathclyde, Tayside, Fife, the Hebrides (islands off the coast), and the Border region.
Argyll, archaically Argyle (Earra-Ghàidheal in modern Gaelic), is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dal Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western seaboard between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath. In 1975, counties in Scotland were abolished (from Wikipedia).
The Hebrides contain the largest concentration of Scottish Gaelic speakers in Scotland. They comprise a widespread and diverse aarchipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English speaking peoples, which is reflected in the names given to the islands (from Wikipedia).
Strathclyde is on the west coast of Scotland and stretches from the Highlands in the north to the Southern Uplands in the south. The regional administrative capital as well as the largest city was Glasgow.
All of these areas seem to correspond with the information collected via Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) matching Y-DNA results. It also appears to match with many of those that carried our surname recorded in early times (pre 1700's).
Within the Gowen Research Foundation, there is belief that the surname was associated with the JAMES BURNS family. The evidence above would certainly place our Y-DNA in a geographic region (although large) with that family, but it doesn't rule out the possibility.
However, all of this information should be taken lightly and only as a way of hopefully providing greater clarity within the context of a hypothesis.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
What about the name & Clan Gowan
The surname of GOWAN/GOWEN/GOWIN was originally derived from the Gaelic Mac a Ghobhainn a name meaning 'the son of the smith'. The original bearers of the name would have been skilled workers in metals.
First found in Invernessshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) divided between the present day Scottish Council areas of Highlands and Western Isles and consisting of a large northern mainland area and various island areas off the west coast. The shire was anciently both a Pictish and Norweigian stronghold, where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.
They are also said to be an old Stirlingshire family and the name is also found in Elgin and Galloway. Early records of the name in Scotland mention Gilbert Makgowin, a follower of the earl of Cassilis, 1526. John Riauch McGawin in Auchanichyke was fined for reset of Clan Gregor in 1613 (Reset meant receiving or concealing stolen goods). Willielmus M'Gawyne is recorded in Hauch in 1643 and Alexander M'Gowne was documented in Dumfries in 1672. Abraham M'Goune and Alexander McGowne, were residents of the parish of Borgue in 1684. It is possible that families of this name are descended from a king of the Strathclyde Britons, who was killed in the year 1018.
A good researcher and genealogist would know that the spelling of the name pre-20th Century was mainly phonetic. Therefore, someone with the current surname of GOWIN may also have been once recorded as GOW, GOWEN, GOWAN, GOING, GOIN, GOAN, GOANE, and many other variants. The same is true of adding a 'Mc', 'Mac', 'Mak', 'M', etc. in front of it. The first people in Scotland to acquire fixed surnames were the nobles and great landowners, who called themselves, or were called by others, after the lands they possessed.
There is an early recorded family noted on the Isle of Islay. An early eighteenth-century history of the Campbells of Craignish says that this family of hereditary smiths were at that time commonly called Clan Gowan and incidentally, says there was another branch of them long established in Morvern, in mainland Argyll. According to Scots Kith and Kin, Clan Gowan (or Gowans) was in Perthshire. It is a sept of Clan MacDonald of the Isles, also a sept (cousin) of Clan MacPherson. See also, Clan MacGowan.
Mac an Ghobhain was anglicized to MacGowan and Gowan. Mac Gobha, later McGow, was also made MacGowan. As the maker of arms and armor, the smith was an important hereditary position in each clan and were found throughout the Highlands. The Gowan usually ranked as third officer in the chief's household.
There was also a Clan M'Gowan noted in fourteenth century Nithsdale in Dumfriesshire, and in Sterlingshire there was an old family of MacGowans of uncertain origin.
In the reigns of David II, there was a Clan M'Gowan, probably located somewhere on the River Nith, whose chiefship was adjudged to Donald Edzear (RMS., I App. II, 982). This Edzear was a descendant of Dunegal of Stranith (Nithsdale), whose seat was at Morton, Dumfriesshire, about the beginning of the 12th Century. The Name here may indicate descent from Owen the Bald (the Eugenius Calvin of Simeon of Durham), King of the Strathclyde Britons, who was killed in 1018.
First found in Invernessshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) divided between the present day Scottish Council areas of Highlands and Western Isles and consisting of a large northern mainland area and various island areas off the west coast. The shire was anciently both a Pictish and Norweigian stronghold, where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.
They are also said to be an old Stirlingshire family and the name is also found in Elgin and Galloway. Early records of the name in Scotland mention Gilbert Makgowin, a follower of the earl of Cassilis, 1526. John Riauch McGawin in Auchanichyke was fined for reset of Clan Gregor in 1613 (Reset meant receiving or concealing stolen goods). Willielmus M'Gawyne is recorded in Hauch in 1643 and Alexander M'Gowne was documented in Dumfries in 1672. Abraham M'Goune and Alexander McGowne, were residents of the parish of Borgue in 1684. It is possible that families of this name are descended from a king of the Strathclyde Britons, who was killed in the year 1018.
A good researcher and genealogist would know that the spelling of the name pre-20th Century was mainly phonetic. Therefore, someone with the current surname of GOWIN may also have been once recorded as GOW, GOWEN, GOWAN, GOING, GOIN, GOAN, GOANE, and many other variants. The same is true of adding a 'Mc', 'Mac', 'Mak', 'M', etc. in front of it. The first people in Scotland to acquire fixed surnames were the nobles and great landowners, who called themselves, or were called by others, after the lands they possessed.
There is an early recorded family noted on the Isle of Islay. An early eighteenth-century history of the Campbells of Craignish says that this family of hereditary smiths were at that time commonly called Clan Gowan and incidentally, says there was another branch of them long established in Morvern, in mainland Argyll. According to Scots Kith and Kin, Clan Gowan (or Gowans) was in Perthshire. It is a sept of Clan MacDonald of the Isles, also a sept (cousin) of Clan MacPherson. See also, Clan MacGowan.
Mac an Ghobhain was anglicized to MacGowan and Gowan. Mac Gobha, later McGow, was also made MacGowan. As the maker of arms and armor, the smith was an important hereditary position in each clan and were found throughout the Highlands. The Gowan usually ranked as third officer in the chief's household.
There was also a Clan M'Gowan noted in fourteenth century Nithsdale in Dumfriesshire, and in Sterlingshire there was an old family of MacGowans of uncertain origin.
In the reigns of David II, there was a Clan M'Gowan, probably located somewhere on the River Nith, whose chiefship was adjudged to Donald Edzear (RMS., I App. II, 982). This Edzear was a descendant of Dunegal of Stranith (Nithsdale), whose seat was at Morton, Dumfriesshire, about the beginning of the 12th Century. The Name here may indicate descent from Owen the Bald (the Eugenius Calvin of Simeon of Durham), King of the Strathclyde Britons, who was killed in 1018.
A family letter from 1923
In 1923 a hand-written letter between two granddaughters of Joseph Gowin stated that they were told from family that the Gowin (Gowan) side of the family was from Glasgow Scotland and the Garret family was from Ireland (no county/location given).
Many Scots left Scotland through the port of Glasgow (The Broomielaw) during the 16th and 17th Centuries. Highlanders were known to arrive in Glasgow after being cleared from the Glen and receive sponsorship by those that had taken shelter earlier. Most would board a ship for the new colonies or remain in the lowlands. Since many were farmers and did not own land in Scotland, they were easily pushed out of their homes after a lowlander would purchase the land to use it for sheep.
The bridge over Argyll Street in Glasgow is still known as 'The Highland Man's Umbrella' as they would shelter there from the rain with all their goods waiting for a berth on a boat to the Americas. That was a time when Glasgow was the second biggest port in the world.
The early 18th Century in Scotland was also a time of the Jacobite Rising (1715 & 1745). Most Scots who supported this rising took shelter in the new colonies or were sent there after capture. The wars in America contributed to the destruction of many records when buildings and their contents were set to fire so it has been difficult, at best, to date for us to find any link to Scotland for our family. Perhaps additional Y-DNA testing and written records will unveil this knowledge soon.
Many Scots left Scotland through the port of Glasgow (The Broomielaw) during the 16th and 17th Centuries. Highlanders were known to arrive in Glasgow after being cleared from the Glen and receive sponsorship by those that had taken shelter earlier. Most would board a ship for the new colonies or remain in the lowlands. Since many were farmers and did not own land in Scotland, they were easily pushed out of their homes after a lowlander would purchase the land to use it for sheep.
The bridge over Argyll Street in Glasgow is still known as 'The Highland Man's Umbrella' as they would shelter there from the rain with all their goods waiting for a berth on a boat to the Americas. That was a time when Glasgow was the second biggest port in the world.
The early 18th Century in Scotland was also a time of the Jacobite Rising (1715 & 1745). Most Scots who supported this rising took shelter in the new colonies or were sent there after capture. The wars in America contributed to the destruction of many records when buildings and their contents were set to fire so it has been difficult, at best, to date for us to find any link to Scotland for our family. Perhaps additional Y-DNA testing and written records will unveil this knowledge soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)