Cowie

[Gregyboy]

Hello there,

I am searching for several branches of my family tree, and now I am searching for the Cowie's. My great-great-great-grandfather William Cowie, was a Cowie Duncan born in 1844. He married Anne Coull and his parents were Alexander Cowie born 1809 and Janet Murray born 1812. I am searching on the deaths of his parents, and also his sister Mary Cowie who I found in the Rathven Parish Records.
Any info would help, Thanks!

[KirstyG]

Hi

Is William's sister the Mary Cowie christened 26th January 1834 in Rathven?

Parents married 31st October 1833 Rathven.

I think I have found them in Buckie for the 1841 census (Freecen) Folio: 3 Page: 14
Still there in 1851 "35 Village Of Buckie" with William aged 8.
Possibly at New Street in 1861 with son John.

As Mary does not seem to be with them in 1861, I looked for a marriage. There was one in 1857 Rathven to a William Cowie, and another in 1862 to James Cowie. (There a huge number of Cowies in Rathven).

You would have to check the certificate for parents names to confirm if any are the correct one.

It does look as though they all lived past 1855 in which case they should all have death certificates on Scotland's People.

There are 18 possible matches for Mary (birth year 1834 +/- 2 years) 4 of which are in Banffshire.

Kirsty

[Gregyboy]

Yes, the Mary who was born in 1834 was the correct one. I reckon she was married by 1861. She was still living in 1901 as she was in the census as living with my great-great-great-grandfather. William died in 1912 but I am unsure if Mary was still living then. Alexander and Janet were dead by 1901.
I was just wondering, how did you find like the births of Mary Cowie etc. Do you use ScotlandsPeople online?

[KirstyG]

I did use Scotland's People to look for the deaths, but the birth I found on The LDS family search website (also refered to as the IGI) - it's free.

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/frameset_search.asp

Do you know who Mary married? Is she with her husband in any of the census records you have? It would help for identifying possible death records/MIs.

Kirsty

[Gregyboy]

Sorry, but I am unsure if she is married or not. Her birth was registered on the Rathven Parish Records. I am planning on going through to the Register House in Edinburgh. I can maybe get it there.
If you could get Alexander Cowie and Janet Murrays deaths that would be useful. I have their full births.
Alexander 25/7/1809 parents William Cowie and Elspet Cowie
Janet Murray 16/10/1812 parents William Murray and Mary Cowie
Mary Cowie is in the 1901 census at 68 years old living with her brother William.

[KirstyG]

Unfortunately there are so many Cowies marrying Murrays in that area it means that there is more than one possible death for Janet  so you would have to view the individual entries to tell which is yours.

Without a lot more information guessing at which Alexander Cowie is yours is futile

There does appear to be a Tee name (Carrot) in the comments section of the 1861 census entry I found, but I am not 100% certain I have the right Alexander. Tracing the appropriate Tee name may give you a better chance of correctly identifying your family.

Are you familiar with the practice of using Tee names?
http://www.urie.demon.co.uk/genuki/ABD/names.html


Kirsty

[Gregyboy]

The T-name for Alexander Cowie is Duncan. I am related to Cowie Carrots though, but not through Cowie Duncans.

[KirstyG]

I can't have found the correct Alexander in the 1861 census then as he was a Carrot.

I do wish they had been a little bit more inventive when naming their children 

There are 316 Cowies living in Rathven, just in piece 164 in the 1861 census! I have seen 20 different Tee names in the first page of results, and that's not including all the variant spellings of the same ones. I don't envy your search trying to sort them out.

I have not seen Duncan as a Tee-Name in the 1861 census for Cowie.

[Gregyboy]

They had four children.
Mary 26/1/1834
Jane 1837
John 1839
William 1844 - 11/9/1912
They were definetely living in 30/12/1869 when William married Anne Coull. They were dead by 1901 so I'll try searching inbetween then. Their deaths were sometime between 1870-1901. Mary Cowie was still living in 1901. In the 1901 census, she was living with brother William, his wife Anne, sons William and Peter and daughters Jean-Anne and Mary-Jessie. (The children I just mentioned are William's, not Mary's incase you were wondering)