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William Cowan (abt. 1830)

William Cowan
Born about in Irelandmap
[spouse(s) unknown]
Died [date unknown] in Englandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 7 Sep 2017
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Biography

William was born about 1830. He was likely the second son of Robert Cowan and Mary Degnan.

The limited information we have about William comes from memories that have been passed along by his siblings to their children and made known to us. Some such information was passed to us through (Robert) Frank Cowan.[1].

William was just coming into his adulthood on the eve of the Great Famine[2], where a million people would die and another million leave the country. No wonder William joined his older brother Thomas around 1847-8 to leave home (for England), and look for opportunities not available in Ireland at that time.

Brother Thomas would return to Ireland. But knowledge of the final whereabouts of WIlliam has been lost - it was said that his last letter home spoke of a terrible cholera epidemic, which historically places this moment in 1848-1849[3]. Since he was never heard from after that, it is supposed he died young in England, perhaps of that very epidemic.

Sources

  1. Memories passed along by Frank Cowan, Nephew
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholera_outbreaks_and_pandemics




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with William by comparing test results with other carriers of his ancestors' Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with William:

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Categories: Ireland, Cowan Name Study