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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Banffshire => Topic started by: Gregyboy on Thursday 26 November 09 20:52 GMT (UK)
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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!
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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
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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?
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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
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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.
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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 :D
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
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The T-name for Alexander Cowie is Duncan. I am related to Cowie Carrots though, but not through Cowie Duncans.
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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.
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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)
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I don't know if this information is of interest as the post was a while ago, but I have an Alexander Cowie born 25/07/1809 in Rathven died 3/10/1869 aged 60 in Seatown, Buckie. He married Margaret Jappy/Jappie on 10/10/1857 in Buckie.
I was wondering if it was the Alexander Cowie that you were looking for?
If this is not yours apologies :)
Regards
Penny
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i had no idea how common the surname COWIE was ... i am trying to trace relatives in Australia but can only get back as far as David Cowie and his wife Annie Cowie (nee Townsend). David was born in 1855 and died in 1925 .... i am related through his son Archiblad Meldrum.........
I believe Davids father was John Cowie and Mother jane (?) who were both born circa 1830 (i am guessing in Scotland)....
I cannot find any evidence of david birth in australia.
Oh well... maybe one day ....
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Haha, good luck with this. I live in Buckie and there are loads of Cowie's here. In the past there were even more. Allegedly there were 35 George Cowie's in the same street in one census. You do know about tee-names though don't you? Some families still use them as well. That's why a lad who went to school with me was called "Carrots". He was a Cowie and "Carrots" was the family tee-name stretching way back!
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Hi GDUB.. thanks for your reply..... sounds as though the COWIE clan were breeding like rabbits for a while over in Scotland.... not quite as bad over here in Kangaroo land. Could you help out and explain for me what T-Names are ... it might help my investigations.
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A tee-name is an alternative name used by a family (principally in fishing villages) to distinguish them from others with the same names. Given that in the old days, the only Male Forenames used in most instances would have been: John, William, James, George, Alexander etc. because many of the fishing villages were fairly insular, inevitably there was a concentration of particular Surnames as well, so there would be loads of George Cowie's in Buckie for instance. To distinguish themselves from each other, they would use their tee-name, so you would have for example:
- George Cowie "Carrots"
- George Cowie "Bullins"
- George Cowie "Coup"
Where did their tee-names come from? Any particular individual chasteristic or preference, sometimes from the name of a boat, anything really. The thing is though, if you can tie a tee-name to the family you are researching, it will make things a great deal easier!
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thanks a lot for that .. unfortunately dont have any Tee-names - i am lucky enough to get their first names and as you mentioned sometimes that is not much help either.... i was told we are related from the CAMPBELL COWIES although not verified, so i might try and look at it from that angle but i would imagine there are even more CAMPBELL's than COWIE's in Scotland and thats assuming it was Scotland where the CAMPBELL / COWIE connection came from ....
I think i have basically run into a dead end ... but i dont give up easily .. someone there is a John Cowie who had a son called David Cowie (from Aberdeen) who came to Australia . I also know David had a brother called (u guessed it) JOHN !!!
It's exciting tracing the family but oh brother, how frustrating ....
Thanks again.
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I have a Margaret Cowie marrying a John Anderson. This would have been late 1800s/early 1900s, they had a son Samuel Anderson born in 1916.
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I have been searching for Cowies too.
Alexander (Dougal) Cowie.
The Dougal part is in brackets on his birth certificate.
Some of the Tee Names I have come across attached to Cowie are
Cowie -Spiral, Dosie, Bill, Duncan, Pum, Rosie, Steiner, John, Jamie, Doddle, Dod, Diddle, Coup, Dougal, Guille, Upple,Bussie, Rich.
I would love to hear from anyone else with Dougal attached to Cowie
surname
Anne
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I have been searching for Cowies too.
Alexander (Dougal) Cowie.
The Dougal part is in brackets on his birth certificate.
Some of the Tee Names I have come across attached to Cowie are
Cowie -Spiral, Dosie, Bill, Duncan, Pum, Rosie, Steiner, John, Jamie, Doddle, Dod, Diddle, Coup, Dougal, Guille, Upple,Bussie, Rich.
I would love to hear from anyone else with Dougal attached to Cowie
surname
Anne
I have Dougal Cowie's in my family, is your Alexander b. 1830 d. 1902, son of James Dougal-Cowie and Janet Diddle-Cowie?
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Hi all - my mother was born a Cowie Dougal and I have a lot of information going back as far I can in Buckie and the surrounding areas - I also have a massive brick wall in that line in that I can't find the death of one John Cowie "Dougal" in my direct line who died between 1861-1871. Please let me know if I can be any help to you.
Regards, Rhoda