Many times we hear that some of the Cowan Family members went from place x to NC - we don't ever link then in North Carolina or in Rowan County, North Carolina and years later, they are the East Tennessee Cowan Lines. Today, I was reading about William and Elinor Caldwell Rutledge and their family - daughter Nancy Rutledge married Robert Cowan. This is the Robert Cowan that has a DAR marker on his grave that shows he was a Pivate in the Militia, 1 Bn., Lancaaster County, PA during the Revolutionary War. This is the same Robert Cowan that is buried in the Old General Delaney Cemetery. The section that I was reading said that the William Rutledge family moved to North Carolina (Tennessee) in 1777 - my thought is that many of the records that say just North Carolina allow us to picture them in North Carolina as we think of it in 2002, when in fact they were really in the area of Tennessee that was for a period of time was known as North Carolina. Example - I have noticed in my own research that many times I have been told that a family member was born in 1850 in Mitchell County, North Carolina; however, Mitchell County did not come into being until 1861. <g> In your research remember that people have lived and owned the same land for generations - the county and/or state lines have been the item in changing. So I am wondering, if when it has been stated that some of the Cowan group went to North Carolina that they really went to what is now known as Tennessee and that all along it was really the same area both trips!!!! It was just a thought since there are Cowans that went to North Carolina and we really don't know exactly where in North Carolina. I know I always thought of them as being around Rowan County. Laura Cowan Cooper *---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---* Laura Cowan Cooper [email protected] *---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*---*