The Family of
WILLIAM McGOWAN, SR.
(c.1708-1782)

And Some of His Descendants in North Carolina,
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri,
Kentucky, Illinois and all points West.

Our earliest known ancestor to date was William Magowne (ca.1708-1782). (Magowne is just one of more than a dozen spellings found in old records.) Below are links to research dealing with William and some of his descendants which I will post generation by generation as best I can. This will include documents and transcriptions contributed by myself and many other dedicated McGowan/McGowen researchers. That's not to say that everything on these pages is absolutely correct. If you find something which is incorrect, please let me know. This information is for the use of all McGowan/McGowen family researchers and descendants. However, due to recent events in which some of my research was published on the Internet without my permission, I must ask the obvious..... that these materials be used for your own family research only, and that they "Not" be republished in Print, on the Web, or anywhere else... without first asking permission. This is only common courtesy. Thank you.

Some of us refer to our family as the Eastern Cousins (those who remained in North Carolina) and the Western Cousins (those who went West to Tennessee in 1819 and later). I will endeavor to post documents and records from all branches of the family, dealing with the earlier generations first. One cousin who has visited this web site, let me know that there were some McGowans listed here who's names she didn't recognize. Good! I hope everyone will find new branches and members of our extended family. Over the years, I've come to realize just how large our family is and without the assistance and contributions of researchers of the various family branches from Carolina to California, this web site wouldn't be possible.

Below are links to pages on which I have posted various records on our early family in Perquimans, Tyrrell, Hyde, Beaufort & Craven Cos., in coastal North Carolina, and White Co., TN. From White County, branches of the McGowens moved to Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Texas and Kansas, and from these locations to other nearby states and across the country.

I have compiled a list of McGowan / McGowen researchers of both the Eastern and Western Cousins, about forty-five in all, with whom I have corresponded at some point in the past, however I realize that some of these email addresses are several years old and no longer valid. I would appreciate hearing from everyone interested in researching our family and learning about yourself and any other family researchers you may know.

~ McGOWAN ~ RECORDS ~

"How Green Was My Valley" by Richard Llewellyn:

"I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me those who are to come, I looked back and saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers, and in front to see my son, and his son, and the sons upon sons beyond ...... And their eyes were my eyes.

As I felt, so they had felt and were to feel, as then, so now, as tomorrow and forever. Then I was not afraid, for I was in a long line that had no beginning and no end, and the hand of his father grasped my father's hand, and his hand was in mine, and my unborn son took my right hand, and all, up and down the line that stretched from Time That Was to Time That Is, and Is Not Yet, raised their hands to show the link, and we found that we were one, born of Woman, Son of Man, made in the Image, fashioned in the Womb by the Will of God, the Eternal Father."

Copyright 2003