This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/nFQ.2ACEB/26.92.2.1 Message Board Post: Dear Betty, Samuel and Walter Cowden of Mecklenburg Co., NC were also from Augusta Co., VA. They had two known brothers, William Cowden and Robert Cowden. Robert Cowden lived in Augusta Co., VA., and Mecklenburg Co., NC., the part which later became Cabarrus Co., NC. Robert's wife was indeed named Hannah, though her maiden name as yet has been undiscovered by myself. Robert Cowden died in Mecklenburg Co., NC, and has a will on record in which he names his brothers Samuel and Walter. Samuel and Walter both died in Mecklenburg, and their estates were lumped together and settled that way. Only one of Samuel Cowden's sons inheirited from the estates of his father and uncle - Walter Cowden (II in my records to tell him from his uncle better). Samuel did have another son, named John Cowden, but he MAY have died young. John and Walter Cowden's mother was the widow Martha Wilson, widow of Samuel Wilson, of Augusta Co., VA. She and Samuel Cowden married there, but later divorced, he moving to NC, and she staying there. She later re-married to Dennis Callaghan or O'Callaghan, and moved to another place in VA. She had several children by him, I'm told. She had 2 or 3 daughters by Samuel Wilson, too. Her daughters' husbands became the guardians for John and Walter Cowden when Samuel Cowden died. I THINK Walter Cowden moved to Hancock or Hanover Co., VA., where he worked for/as a saddler, and MAY have married Mary Long, and I think they died early in life, possibly leaving an orphan son, but this is unproven as yet. The brother William Cowden is named in a deed which is very much like a will, in which he leaves his property and all rights to them to his brother and proper heir, Robert Cowden. Both he and Robert owned land which later ended up in Spartanburg/Greenville Cos, SC. The deeds concerni! ng Robert's land there show up well after his death, and that's why they are missed by most researchers. Sometimes the names of Cowen and Cowden (and variant spellings) ARE confused in the records, but so far, I haven't had much trouble in this line. However, since I don't know what happened to John Cowden, there COULD POSSIBLY be a mix-up in the names, and he did at least know of his Aunt Hannah (?) Cowden, wife of Robert. Hannah (?) Cowden did pay for the burial expenses for Samuel and Walter Cowden, as the Cowden men all died in the 1780s in Mecklenburg Co., NC. Sincerely, Lisa Hale