This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Cowan Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/DMQ.2ACIB/1123.1 Message Board Post: Roy - I just looked up this family last week. Small world, but you have a live living Cowan male from this line and that alone could solve which Cowan line in Abbeville you should be tracking down!!!!! We have a Cowan DNA Project through http://www.FamilyTreeDNA.com - the testing will tell you all if you connect to one of the already tested Cowan males which might narrow down your search. I know that it would cross off one line in that area or match your line to them. This is exciting news for researchers of this line that did not know there were still living Cowan males. We know that there were several different DNA Cowan lines in that area at the same time and if we could get samples from each of the different lines, we might be able to sort them better. I have pointed out your post to another Cowan researcher from this line and will follow up to make sure that you all get in touch with each other. He was out of town, but I expect to hear from him when he returns. I do for a fact know that this is also his line and from the information that you have posted, feel sure that you all will be having a lot of information to share. Good posts like what you made get action. Posts to this list are sent to Cowan-L@rootsweb.com which is the Cowan Surname List. When you look for this family in the census look for Sheppard mis-spelled with only one "p" if I remember correctly. I have pulled a lot of the census for this family and would be glad to send them to you if you do not have them already. I am very interested in this Cowan line - I think that sorting them out might help connect some other groups.