McCowan (Main)

The McCowan family is a series of variations of family names in Seth's ancestry. Graves can have the names McEwen, McCowan, McCown, or McCoun with records that have McCowan, McCown, or McCoun as last names. It is unsure how the family intended the family to be named, but due to the earliest records of members of the family, it most likely should be McCoun.

Etymology
The name McCowan is an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Eoghain and also Gaelic Mac Gille Comhgain. The name means "son of the servant of Comhghan."

The meaning of the name could indicate that the McCowan family derives from a slave owned by St. Comhghan.

St. Comhghan
Saint Comhghan was a Roman Catholic priest who founded a church located in Inverie, Scotland. The church is know longer standing and the name is unknown, but there is an ancient graveyard dating back to the 600's to 800's AD. Artifacts from the church was most likely taken from its original location where it was built probably in the late 500's AD.

The identity of the "servant" of St. Comhghan remains unknown to this day.

History
Records of the McCowans first appear in Ayrshire, a former county in the Strathclyde region of Scotland, where they held a family seat in very ancient times. Some say they held the family seat well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 AD.

Motto
The McCowan family motto is "Sic atur in altum." Which means "This is the way to Heaven." in English.

Families
The McCowans are of Scots-Irish ancestry The earliest known member is James McCoun I who was born in 1601 in Scotland. The McCowans moved to Ireland sometime before 1690 and after 1700, most of the members changed their name to McCown, or their names were misspelled in records.

McCoun (1601-1681)
Main Article: McCoun  Evidence of the McCouns first appear around 1601 and remained with the name McCoun until about 1735, but McCouns first began naming their children and renamed themselves with the last name in the late 1670s. No McCowan relatives go by the name McCoun anymore.

McCown (1681-present)
Main Article: McCown  Evidence of the McCowns first appear around 1681 with Alexander McCown being the oldest name-bearer. The McCowns is probably a little bigger than the amount of McCowans in the world due to the age of the family. McCowns can now be found mostly in Texas, USA and is a continuous name of the family.

McCowan (1834-present)
Main Article: McCowan  Evidence of the McCowans first appear around 1834 with William McCowan Sr. being the oldest name bearer. McCowans are now mostly found in Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee.