George Cowan

There were Cowans in eastern South Carolina as early as 1695 -- first in Charleston, then Beaufort, and later in the Great Pee Dee River basin. There were Cowans in the Savannah River basin in northwestern South Carolina as early as 1765. However, there's only one one Cowan -- George Cowan -- who is known to have lived in north central South Carolina at the same time as Mary Darwin.

Caveat -- it's not proven that George Cowan who had land on the Broad River joining James Darwin's was Mary Darwin's father, but James and Mary named one of their sons George Cowan Darwin -- and that name was used in the family for several generations afterwards.

George Cowan obtained 400 acres on the north side of the Broad River in Anson County, North Carolina in 1752.

In January 1774 Curtis Cullwell files a memorial for two tracts on Bullocks Creek in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Names mentioned included George Cowan. Bullocks Creek drains into the Broad River in the southwest corner of present day York County, South Carolina -- about three miles east of the community of Bullock Creek.

In January 1774 William Byars filed a memorial for six tracts in Tryon County and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Among the names mentioned was George Cowan. The rivers mentioned were the Broad and Catawba. The creeks mentioned were Bullocks and Wrights. The Broad and Catawba Rivers are the west and east boundaries of present day York County, South Carolina. Wrights Creek drains into Little Turkey Creek about eight miles east northeast of Bullock Creek.

George Cowan filed a plat for 400 acres on the east side of the Broad River in September 1774. Names mentioned included James Durvin. George filed a memorial for the 400 acres in May 1775 and one of the men named in it was James Durwin. These documents link George Cowan and James Darwin.

The 400 acres George Cowan obtained on the Broad River in Anson County in 1752 and the 400 acres on the Broad River in what's now York County that George Cowan filed a plat for in 1774 and a memorial for in 1775 are believed to be the same because the southern part of what was Anson in 1752 became part of South Carolina when the boundary between North and South Carolina was finalized in 1772 and much of it became part of York County when it was formed within the Camden District in 1785.

A George Cowan had audited Revolutionary War claims, but it's not known at this time if he was the subject.

In 1799 John Smyth Richardson filed a plat for 411 acres on Turkey Creek in York County. One of the names mentioned was Cowan, but it's not known at this time if he was the subject.