Does anyone have any information on the origin of the name Trow? I have a pet theory. Most of the Trows historically have been clustered around mid Wales and Shropshire. This follows the upper end of the Rivern Severn. And uniquely there used to be sailing barges on the Severn that took goods down to Bristol and back. They were called the Severn trows. I have this fond romantic theory that we're all descended from river-faring bargee families!
(I'm a total novice at this. I've only just registered. I'm Steve Trow and my grandfather Walter Trow came from Kerry, Montgomeryshire. He was born about 1864 and there's a baptismal record from Kerry church which only gives his mother's name - Margaret Trow, 'a single woman'. Family lore has it that he was an orphan but that looks like a cover up for illegitimacy. He's in the 1871 census living with his uncle John Trow and his wife, also called Margaret. By 1881 he was the apprentice blacksmith and living with the Kerry blacksmith John Owens and his wife Emma at Grapes Cottage (I have no proof but think Emma may have been his mother's sister)
