Brief Life History of William
When William Cowan was born about 1784, in Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, his father, James Cowan, was 34 and his mother, Mary Gibson, was 33. He married Elizabeth Morison on 23 August 1808, in Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 1 daughter. He died in 1861, in Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, at the age of 78.
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Family Time Line
Sources (6)
- William Cowan, "Scotland Census, 1841"
- Record Transcription: Scotland, Parish Births
- Record Transcription: Scotland, Parish Marriages
Spouse and Children
Parents and Siblings
World Events (7)
1802 · John Playfair publishes summary of James Hutton's theories of geology.
In 1802, John Playfair published the Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth. His influence was by James Hutton’s knowledge of the earth’s geology.
1811 · The Tron Riot
The Tron riot was a riot which occurred in Edinburgh, Scotland on New Year's Eve. A group of young men attacked and robbed wealthier passers-by. One police officer was killed in the riot. Though the total count of participants is unknown, sixty-eight youths were arrested, with five sentenced to death for their actions during the riot.
1815
The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo marks the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena.
Name Meaning
Scottish and Manx: shortened form of McOwen and McKeown . See also McEwen .
Sottish and Manx: from a shortened form of Irish Ó Comhdhain and Mac Comhdhain ‘descendant or son of Comhdan’ or Gaelic Mac Comhghain ‘son of Comhghan (‘the twin’). Pronounced to rhyme with Owen, the name sometimes appears as Coan and Cohen in Down, and has been used interchangeably with Irish Coyne in Connacht and McIlhone in Tyrone. In the Isle of Man the name is pronounced /'kauən/ (with Cow- as in English cow).
Scottish and Manx: sometimes a variant of Colquhoun , pronounced Cohoon in Scotland and Cahoon in Ulster.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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