Source:Maurer, B.L. Romance of Cowan's Gap

▼Inline Citation

Source:Maurer, 1899

▼Related

person:Samuel Cowan (17)

Image:Samuel Cowan, C33-49.jpg

Cowan's Gap Cowans

Document. Burning of the Old Cowan House

Document. Romance of Cowan's Gap

▼Commentary

A comparison between Maurer's 1899 article, and the earlier 1878 Newspaper account (See: Document. Burning of the Old Cowan House is of interest. Most likely, Maurer is the author the 1878 Newspaper article. While the outline of the story is essentially the same (in many places the stories are verbatim copies) there are significant differences. In particular, Mauerer describes the husband as "John Cowan", while the newspaper article identifies him as "Edgar Cowan". Most likely, both are wrong, as land records show that th the property in question was secured by warrant under the name of "Samuel Cowan". While "Edgar" does not seem to have been picked up by many genealogists (if any), many genealogists use either the name "John Cowan" for this early land owner of Cowan's Gap, or use "John Samuel Cowan", under the assumption that "Samuel" of the records, was his middle name. This family line is normally thought of as of Scots Irish ancestry. Middle names were not in routine use among the English (and the Scots Irish in particular), until after 1760. Prior to this date, the use of a middle name often indicates germanic heritage. Persons born before this date, such as Samuel, would not have been likely to have had a middle name if they were Scots Irish. There are indications that persons in this line were members of the Church of the Bretheren, whose origins lie in the Palatinate of Germany. Its possible that they were ethnically German, and therefore would have used middle names. Overall, however, this seems to be an unlikely explanation of this discrepancy. More likely, Maurer simply erred in his presentation, both in 1878 and in 1899.