I hope these notes on Castle Cowan will find an appreciative audience among the members of the list. I do hope that there are some Cowans who have an interest in our family's Scottish origins, for in our origins are men and women of grit, education, wealth and character. A knowledge of our sources can be a source of pride and a robust stimulus to our genealogical endeavors. Many Scots in early 1700's emigrated directly to the North American colonies from Scotland and were not the Scotch-Irish who came to our shores through the experience of a generation or two in the north of Ireland. The middle Atlantic port of Perth Amboy in New Jersey is a recognition of this direct immigration as the port was founded by emigrants from Perth, Scotland. I recall particularly a John Cowan from Perth who settled in what is now Blair County, Pennsylvania and who was a contemporary of Hugh Cowan in Chester and Lancaster County. This John Cowan' s story is related in an account of A Cove Family. Descendents later moved on into Indiana. Many students of the Cowan name know the family originated on the west bank of Loch Lomond, near the picturesque village of Luss around the year 1130 or so. The name Cowan is an English spelling variation of the Scottish name Colquhoun, meaning a neck of land. By the mid 1400's, a few decades before Columbus and his voyages to what is now America, several Colquhouns rose to positions of eminence in the Scottish court. Among them was Sir John Colquhoun of Luss who for a time was Sheriff of Dumbartonshire and Keeper of Dumbarton Castle. This is a massive fortress still manned by military troops on a steep volcanic remain overlooking the Clyde Estuary. In the years 1439 to 1478 when he passed on, Sir John was a loyal and valued servant to the early Stewarts, King James II and King James III. In return for his service, Sir John Colquhoun was infefted with lands in Fifeshire, seat of the early Scottish capital in and around St. Andrews. His particular holdings were called the "lands of Saline," just northwest of Dunfermline and across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh. These lands of Saline were held by the Colquhouns for over two hundred years. In addition, Sir John acquired other lands in Scotland, principally in the vicinity of Stirling. Stirling Castle was a favorite of the early Stewarts who were obliged to provide private lodges and lands for their court officials and their families. In the 1500's, the 16th century, many Colquhouns from Camstradden, just south of Luss (now the location of the championship Loch Lomond Golf Course) relocated to the Colquhoun holdings in Fifeshire, to the lands of Saline. Over time, these Colquhoun families descended into the branches, Colquhoun of Bohearty and Colquhoun of Corston. According to Buchanan of Auchmar, the official Colquhoun genealogist and writer of The Chiefs of the Colquhouns, these Colquhouns of Bohearty and Corston changed the spelling of their name to Cowan. Among the holdings of Cowan of Corston was a fortified tower house which was acquired in 1669. The fortified tower or castle was originally three stories high with an attic in the roof. There was a watch room at the top of the interior stair, where approaching persons, friend or foe, could be watched. The floor joists were of black oak and the roof covered with heavy paving slabs for protection against burning arrows. There was also a vaulted basement for a place for cool storage. Numerous outbuildings were attached to the tower, but the kitchen, for fire deterant purposes, was a one story detached building. The tower was originally 26 feet north to south and 22 feet east to west. In the early 1800's Castle Cowan was abandoned. In 1887 three of the walls collapsed. One wall now stands, the remainder of the castle being in ruins. As a boy in Pennsylvania my domain was a cavernous barn filled with rectangular bales of hay and silos briming with glistening mountains of wheat. I could have used a castle fort, a Castle Cowan. Boys need these fortifications for divers purposes, for holing up and holding out against the forces of evil. And I am so much the better in the knowledge that there really was one, and that it still remains. jcmaclay