This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: BOWSER AND HOPKINS Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/3dB.2ACI/6164 Message Board Post: My Grandfather William H. Bowser was born in Ligonier, Westmoreland, PA...I can not find him in any of the earlier census before 1880...I just found out that they were Pennsylvannia Dutch and I am not quite sure what that means or what records I could find more information about him in. His mother's name was Margaret...she married a William Hopkins some time between my ggrandfathers birth in 1846 and the birth of his step brother in 1857. William also served in the Civil War, so his obituary said, but I can't find any record of him that matches age and place where he might have joined up. Any ideas of where to go next would wonderful! Jeanie