My favorite Ulster ancestor is Sir Robert Cowan, son of Alderman John Cowan of Londonderry and grandson of Robert Cowan, presbyterian elder who was married 1662, St. Columb's (Derry) Cathedral. I am fond of him because he was kind enough to write a letter in 1733 discussing the family genealogy which confirmed what my "uncle" Dr. James B. Cowan wrote in 1895 from Tullahoma, Tn. when he too was writing a letter to a distant relative about the family genealogy. It sure helps to have ancestors who kept the family tree up to date and like I have said many times, "Skill in genealogy is good but luck is much better." Sir Robert Cowan made his fortune while employed with the East India Company and his younger sister Mary inherited it after his death. She married yet another Stewart, Alexander Stewart of the Ards, and they lived in the BIG house called Mount Stewart which is on the National Trust. >From The Cowans of Stirling who provided goods to the royal family at Stirling Castle to the Derry Cowans including merchant John Cowan and his son Sir Robert Cowan we seem to have always been in the mercantile trade. Perhaps that is why two of my 5th great uncles, Nathaniel and Samuel Cowan opened the first store in Knoxville, Tennessee continuing on the tradion of their fathers. Regards, Robert Cowan My kids all call me "Sir"