This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Cowden, Williams, Hammack, Thomas Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/nFQ.2ACEB/149.154.1.1 Message Board Post: Your story matches with mine fairly well. I think the Leonard instead of Linn may have started with my grandfather, Bob Cowden, whose actual name was Thomas Walker Cowden. Sems like as a child I recall him referring to him as Linn and when asked about if that was his full name, saying he thought it was Leonard. A better source would be my cousin, Terry Shields, whose mother has done extensive research on the line. His e-mail is TERSHIELD@aol.com. Looking at my copy of Margaret Shields' work, she shows Leonard Cowden born 1797 in North Carolina, dying circa 1860 in Arkansas with burial is Walnut Hill Cemetery, near Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Marriage to Mary Catherine Thomas, his second wife, was about 1846 in Tennessee. Henry, Thomas and Leonard Cowden appear in the 1830 Blount County, Tenn., census. There is also a Bible dated 1830 listing Leonard and Marguret. Another spelling shows the name as Lenord. Margaret notes that there are varied spellings of the name. Linn, Leonard, Lenord etc seems to pop up a lot in different lines of the family, adding to the confusion. By the way, do you know anything about the mysterious Cattern, mother of this Leonard.