I realized today that I had not gotten around to posting my known (more or less) Cowan ancestry. I also realized that I never got around to answering the person who e-mailed me asking about the family celationship to General N. B. Forrest (who is referred to as "kin" to Maj. Cowan in several biographies), and since I don't recall who it was, I'll post it. The ancestry is first, so you can ignore the other if you are so minded. The name of our progenitor comes from old family letters from and two various cousins. It fits most of what I have read from the rest of you folk, but I am open to anything that suggests another direction. Regardless, he is supposed to be the Samuel Cowan that married Ann Walker. His son, my ancestor, married a Walker that was supposedly either a neice or cousin. (This is the family in the letter quoted in P. D. Cowan's little book, Shadow on Chilhowee.)The Houstons and Walkers not only show up in or line periodically, but in the Montgomery line that heavily intermarried with ours. (Its almost one of those "I'm my own grandpa" type of things.) The line, then is: 1.Samuel Cowan m. Anne Walker in Augusta Co. VA 2.John Cowan b. Augusta Co. VA (?) d. abt. 1770 + Mary Walker b. Augusta Co. VA bef. 1770 3.James Cowan b. Abt. 1770 d. 1814-1815 + Mary Polly Weir Montgomery b. 1773 d. aft 1850 4.Rev. Samuel Montgomery Cowan b. 1801 d. 1881 in Tullahoma, Coffee Co.,TN + Nancy Coker Clements b. 1811 in Lincoln Co. TN d. 1900 in Tullahoma, Coffee Co.,TN (They were married just outside Huntsville, Madison Co., AL 5. Dr. James Benjamin Cowan (only child) b. 1831 in Lincoln Cnty., TN d. 1909 in Tullahoma, Coffee Co., TN + Lucy Caroline Robinson b. 1834 Madison Cnty. AL d. 1918 in Tullahoma, Coffee Co., TN (They were married in Huntsville, Madison Co., AL) 6. Minnie Horton Cowan b. 1869 d. 1968 in Nashville, TN. + Tyre Algers Havron b. 1860 in Dade Co. GA d. 1939 in Nashville, TN. 7. James Cowan Havron b. 1908 in Tullahoma, Coffee Co., TN d. (says Im not half dead yet!) + Jane Isabelle Bright b. 1910 in Nashville, TN d. 1983 in Nashville, TN 8. James Tyre Havron b. 1932 in Nashville, TN + Barbara Burt Eagan b. 1937 in Nashville, TN 9. James (Jim) Tyre Havron, Jr. b. 1960 in Nashville, TN + Roseanne Carole Rigsby b. 1956 in Greenville, Muhlenberg Co., KY As t the rest, here goes. The relationship of Forrest to the Cowans is through his wife, Mary Ann (Montgomery) Forrest. Her mother was Elizabeth (Cowan) Montgomery, sister of Rev. Samuel Montgomery Cowan (who was Mary Ann's gardian at the time of her marriage.) Elizabeth's husband, Mary Ann's father, was William H. Montgomery, who turns out to be first cousin to his wife and Rev. Samuel. (Their mother, Polly Weir (Montgomery)Cowan, was a sister to Hugh, William's father.) SO... Mary Ann Montgomery was Rev. Samuel's ward, his neice and 1st cousin, once removed. She was the first and second cousin to Dr./Maj. James B. Cowan, Forrest's surgeon. This does not take into account some other confusing connections between the Cowans and Montgomerys, including cases where folk married the surviving siblings of their deceased spouses. BTW- does the type of testing being done for DNA alow for use of hair or other such stuff? I was once told that there was some hair of my g-g-grandfather in possession of a cousin. He was an only child, and though he had three sons, 2 had no known children and one only daughters. There are no direct descendents that go entirely through the male lines. Just curious. Jim __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com