Person:David Cowan (34)

Contents 1 Sources 2 Overview 3 Notes 4 Child LIst 5 Ancestry Lineages		Cowan Tapestry Register Data Notebooks Analysis Bibliography Graphics YDNA Cowan Links Index
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Sources

Ancestry 1850 Census, WIlliamson, TX

Ancestry 1860 Census, Llano, Texas

ANCESTRY 1870 census, Tow Valley Llano Tx

Findagrave Gives DOB as 21 October 1805 and DOD as 24 Aug 1878; both from modern gravestone that is not contemporary with Davids life.

Ancestry, Texas rangers Muster Roll, Oct 1858

Overview

Black line is approximate route of Wilderness Road. Red Hexagon marks location of Rose Hill. Green Hexagon marks location of Cowan's Mill. Blue hexagon marks locaiton of reconstructed Martin's Fort.

David Cowan was born in 1805 in Lee County Virginia, where his parents were probably living along Martin's Creek. His parents may have been born in this area, but records for their presence there at an early date, are not currently available. In anycase, they sold their property on Martin's Creek sometime in 1808, moving to Lincoln County Tn. There, his father (David (35) appears in court records as early as 1811.

Notes

From Janell Cowan, 22 October 2013, personal communication

David Cowan b. 23 Dec. 1780 in Virginia (maybe Washington Co. because Lee Co. was not formed until 1792). He died Oct. 1826 in Lincoln Co., Tennessee. He married Ruth Campbell 23 Dec. 1803 in Lee Co., Virginia. Ruth b. 4 Mar. 1784 in Cecil County, Maryland. d. 29 Dec. 1870 at Tow, Texas. Ruth's parents were Joseph James Campbell & Mary Walker Or Gibbs. Her father died Oct. 1826 in Lincoln Co., Tenn. at the same time [as] David Cowan. Speculation is that they were both murdered together. Ruth Lived in Cecil County, Maryland during the Revolutionary War.
The court records in Lincoln County, Tennessee has David Cowan as a juror on the June term 1811. As early as 1813--1814 Land entries were made by David Cowan. He was a member of the County Court, appointed Tax Assessor for his Civil District in 1821. David Cowan served in the Tennessee House of Representatives 14th. & 15th General Assembly 1821--1825 for Lincoln County. On Oct. 13, 1826 the Court at Lincoln County, Tenn. appointed men to lay off one year's provision for the widow & children of David Cowan who died without making a will.
David & Ruth had three known children:

1) David Calvin Cowan b. 1805 in Virginia d. 1875 at Tow, Texas

2) Ella E. Cowan Thorp b. 9 Nov. 1807 d. 30 Dec. 1848

3) Gideon Perry Cowan b. 1820 Georgia or Lincoln County, Tenn. d. 2 June 1892 Tow, Texas (all in Llano County)

I have two conflicting reports of who the parents of the first David Cowan that married Ruth Campbell might have been. No. one was that it was a David Cowan that married Janet or Jane Wright. No. two was that James C. Cowan b. 1773 in Washington Co. VA d. 1829 in Lincoln Co., Tenn. that married in 1798 to Clarissa Sharp.
I personally wonder if our David b. 1780 might have been out of the Henry Cowan line since so little information is known about his descencents.
David & Ruth were in Lee County, Virginia in 1803 & 1808 Census Rolls. David & Ruth sold 176 acres of land on Martin's Creek to Thomas Hardy on 24 May 1808. They were not on 1820 census

Lee COunty VA Message Board, Feb 2002

I have a reference to a land sale in 1808 from the Lee County Virginia Abstracts Deed Book No. 2 1805-1812 pg 16: 24 May 1808. David and Ruth Cowan to Thomas Hardy, 176 acres on Martins Creek....near present day Rose Hill, VA.
The land sale in 1808 is apparently about the time my Cowans pulled up stakes in Lee County and moved to Lincoln County, Tennessee -- They show up in land records there about 1810.
Most of my Cowans seem to have died without leaving wills, but estate administration records suggest that David's father was named James or James C. Cowan. They were apparently close to the family of James Jonas Campbell in Lee County (he is Ruth Cowan's father), and several of the Campbell sons went with the Cowans to Tennessee (notably, son Joseph, who appeared to have been David Cowan's closest friend. They appear together in numerous Lincoln County documents -- and were murdered together in 1826).
His son, David Calvin Cowan, led the immediate family to Texas in the mid 1840's, selling all the family lands in Lincoln County. I have considerable documentation, including photographs of David Calvin Cowan, and other family members (including his mother Ruth Campbell Cowan).

GenForum, Feb 2000

I am looking for information on David Cowan or Cowen. The family owned land along Coldwater Creek (Lincoln Cty, Tenn) by 1811, and by 1814 they owned property (and apparently settled) where Little Bradshaw Creek flows into Elk River in the far western part of Lincoln County, in what would now be the Delrose area, and including an area once known as Cole's Bend. There was once a post office on this property known as Charleston.

David was born 23 Dec. 1780 in Virginia. He married Ruth Campbell (b. 4 March 1784 in Cecil Co. Maryland - d. 29 Dec. 1870 in Llano Co. Texas).

David Cowan was associated with the Campbell family in this same area -- all apparently migrating to Lincoln County, Tennessee from Lee County, Virginia sometime between 1805 and 1811.

Family tradition has it that David was a member of the Tennessee Assembly from Lincoln County in 1825 and 1826, but I have been unable to confirm. The Biographical Directory of the Assembly suggests another David Cowan, but the citations are so vague that it does not confirm or deny -- it seems to make an assumption based on census records the author managed to locate.

David Cowan and his brother in law Joseph Campbell were murdered in 1826 -- I would like to find further information about this.

His son, David Calvin Cowan, led the immediate family to Texas in the mid 1840's, selling all the family lands in Lincoln County. I have considerable documentation, including photographs of David Calvin Cowan, and other family members. But the father is where my ancestor research hits a dead end.

Child LIst

Martha Ruth Cowan 1828 – 1910

Luther Holmes Cowan 1833 – 1919

Margaret Helen Cowan 1837 – 1893

Thomas Jefferson Cowan 1839 – 1911

David Calvin Cowan 1843 – 1846

Gideon Perry Cowan 1846 – 1922

James Calvin Cowan 1850 – 1931

Ancestry Lineages

Data extracted from Ancestry Public Member Trees, 22 october 2013

*Alternative views, not necessarily captured in the Ancestry Public Member Trees