I see from the recent listings of pedegree lines that there are several list members interested in Samuel Cowan, the Immigrant. In reviewing my Notes, I have found two early references to a Samuel Cowan that may prove productive to additional research. First, in one of the LDS films there are listings for "Representative Elders, Presb. Ch. in Ireland." That's the Entry Heading that will help you locate the exact film. For 1726 we have Alderman [John] Cowan of Monreagh Presb. Ch., County Donegal. For 1732 we have Samuel Cowan, Urney Presb. Ch., Co Tyrone. For 1734 we have William Cowan, Strabane Presb. Ch., Co. Tyrone For 1765 we have Issac Cowan, Donegore Presb. Ch., Co. Antrim. After locating the above info in my Notes, I then turned to Alexander Lecky, IN THE DAYS OF THE LAGGAN PRESBYTERY to cross check my references with his entries in the Appendix for Ruling Elders and Commissioners. No Samuel Cowan listed for Urney. I then reread the heading information and found that the Laggan Presbytery entries are for members who attended meeting between 1672 and 1700. Therefore, no problem with an omission. The LDS film supplements the Laggan Presbytery material and extends the time frame of men who were Repfresentative Elders. Just for the record, the men listed by Lecky for Urney are as follows: Matthew Semple, John Wallace, Robert Gamble, John Stevenson, John Burnside, Robert Allison, William Paton, Wm. Stevenson, Robert Wyly, Michael Simson, John Swan, John Smith, William Waker [spelling variation for Walker?] Wm. Rodger, David Shiels, John M'Arthur, Alex. Wylie, Joseph Lyon, Captain Robert Hamilton, John Monteith, Robert Pont, Robert Orr, Hohn Hamilton, John Holmes, John Fulton, John Robinsone, H. Noble, James Brown, Samuel Simple, James Brock, Robert Wilson, Robert Smith, Joseph M'Crory, John Hemphill, Robert Riddell, Robert Neyley. The importance of the above listing is that you have the names of a group of men, a thirty years time frame during which there was some association, and a specific geographical location. Good record. Next I turn to A TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND to locate Urney. URNEY, a parish, partly in the barony of RAPHOE, county of Donegal, but chiefly in that of STRABANE, county of Tyrone, and province of ULSTER, 2 miles (s.s.w.) from Strabane, containing, with the village of Claudy and part of the town of Strabane (each separately described) 7277 inhabitants. This parish ...comprising of 14,489 statute acres, is bounded on the north-west by the county of Donegal, and is situated for the most part between the rivers Finn and Mourne, which, uniting at its northern extremity, form the Foyle. The greater portion of the land is remarkably fertile, and under its present improved treatment produces abundant crops of all kinds of grain...." Basically, the Urney parish is south of Londonderry on the Foyle River, in the south east section of Donegal and the north west section of Tyrone, in the general area known as The Laggan. We now have a good fix on a Samuel Cowan in Urney in 1732. There are no printed references to any Samuel Cowan in County Down until much later. Given the Scottish naming patterns, this Samuel could have been the father or an uncle of Samuel Cowan, the Immigrant. This is additional evidence that the 7 brothers were from Donegal in the Laggan area. It seems to me that the situation is of a death in the family of a female spouse, the subsequent remarriage of the widower husband which was followed by the exodus of the children of the first wife as immigrants to the Pennsylvania where there had been a significant emigration from Donegal to Pennsylvania beginning in about 1717. I am running short of time, so my next entry will be on Samuel Cowan, County Derry Faughanvale Parish, Derryarkin. An entry from the 1740 listing of Protestant Householders. Adherents of the County Down theory as the source of these Cowans are cordially invited to produce their evidence. Please leave your hat tricks for Dr. Seuss. jcmaclay John Cowan McClay Cowan of Cowansville