This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Dowell Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/AST.2ACEB/448.1 Message Board Post: Shannon, The only clue I have ever seen about the origins of Nicholas DOWELL is found in his will written in Bohemia, Cecil County, July 19, 1704, "I give and bequeath.... then "to Returne to my said Brother's Children meaning my brother Joseph's Children in Bennetts Cattle [Castle] in London." REF: Wills, Liber 3, Folio 734 I have always taken this to mean that Nicholas had no descendants in Maryland unless they predeceased him or had been disinherited. Do you have indication that he had offspring in the colonies?