Mary Mueller - Colonial Boston

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Permalink Reply by Diana Mayo McAninch on February 28, 2010 at 11:02pm

I can't help much, but with the Germans, you might try Lutheran. One good thing is that they tended to keep excellent records of births, baptisms, etc.

My own connection with Massachusetts is the Mayos of Roxbury. I believe all my Germans are from Pennsylvania.

Permalink Reply by Liz Loveland on March 3, 2010 at 5:19pm

Hi Chris,
I just searched the New England Historic Genealogical Society's databases, and while I found numerous records of Mary Mueller, I didn't find any that were from the right time and place. I did find some records for Samuel Cowan that initially looked promising, but they also turned out not to pan out. There are, however, a heap of hits for Samuel on Google Books, many of them from PA tourism books! I grew up in PA but did not know till now that there is a Cowan Lake there. I suggest trying Google Books as one of your next steps. It might also be worthwhile to hire an NEHGS researcher to look through their on-site records for you if you are unable to get to Boston to do it yourself. They likely would have a good idea of what books/sources/etc. to check to help you compile more information on the families and the general tenor of the time period/trade/etc.

Permalink Reply by Chris Cowan on March 3, 2010 at 7:02pm

Thanks.

Yes, I have found quite a few hits on Google Books (I have probably 100 books marked "to read"). Most of the relevant info related to the Forbes Road and the French/Indian War will contain at least one reference to a Cowan. The Forbes road just happens to end in this same part of PA.

While there is a Cowan Lake, the actual place is called Cowan's Gap, and it is now a state park. Accounts of its history appears in multiple locations on the Internet, and there is even a wikipedia entry. I call this the "canonical" account of the history. The is also a Cowans Village in that area, and there is a Cowans Lake in eastern Ohio, as well.

Unfortunately, the commonality of the given name Samuel with the surname, Cowan makes it very difficult to ascertain whether this the right person. Of course, the fact that I have alternate accounts saying that the Cowan's Gap progenitor's name was Robert or James Cowan, just add to the confusion.

I've discovered so far that finding records from the PA "frontier" (1770's - 1810's) is difficult. Later Cowan generations all seemed to be Church of the Brethren (which unfortunately kept sparse records, unlike Lutherans or Catholics for example). I'm also left wondering whether Mary and family were one of the Moravian denominations (like the Brethren), or this is just coincidental since they ended up near the rest of the Pennsylvania "Dutch".

I have did contact a loyalist researcher who found the entry "Cowan Mr" in a muster roll from a British unit that would have in Boston at that time. We had a little bit of debate about whether the Mr actually meant Mister or Major. It was somewhat odd, because this abbreviation "Mr" was used only once in the entire roll. I had been reading that the British used an abbreviation scheme that was slightly different than what we are used to today. I wish I could still find the reference about this, because this scheme was a bit alien.

I had seen the NEHGS and will probably pursue that next. I have several books on Colonial Sugar Traders and Smugglers, and recently stumbled upon info about the Germans who settled Waldoboro, Maine and then moved to Boston after some fights with the Native Americans. So far, most of these references say that many of this group of Germans, became the traders and shipping merchants when they arrived in Boston.

Of course, I have not completely ruled out a "Red Shanks" angle either.