9670 Individuals
in our Database | |  | | | | John Thomas Cowles Sex: Male | | | |  | | Birth Date | 1710 James City County, Virginia | | | | | Father | Richard Cowles | Born: 1635 England | | | Mother | | Born: | | | John Thomas Cowles
Notes: | (from Cowles Families in America)
According to tradition, John came directly from England to Virginia, and settled near Williamsburg, James City County, but he was the immigrant ancestor admits of grave doubt.
It is not uncommon for families when they reach the name of the last known ancestor to conclude that he was the original immigrant, whereas he may have been born in the immediate neighborhood.
The present case may be no exception to the general rule and it would be well to bear in mind that all the branches of the Cowles family of Virginia may be descended from Richard Cowles who was in Virginia in 1614 and perhaps earlier.
Thomas is the only child of John Cowles mentioned in the tradition but from the evedence contained in the will of John Cooper, he probably had other children listed below.
The name of his wife is unknown.
If the inference is correct that he names one of his sons Edmund, of which there can be but little doubt, the presumption is strong that he was a descendent of Edmund Cowles who was in Charles City County and James City County, VA, in 1666 and perhaps earlier, and who patented land which had been bought by Richard Cowles in 1614, perhaps his father.
| | Notes: | THOMAS (1) COWLES, according to tradition, came from England about 1700, with his wife, Obedience, to Lobbs Landing, James City County, Va., and bought Lobbs Landing and the old homestead, a farm called Cowlesville, which remains in the Cowles family to as late as 1920. Cowlesville is situated about 2 1/2 miles east of the mouth of Diascund Creek. The Lobbs farm, also owned by the Cowles family, is bounded on the north by Cowlesville and on the south by Chickahominy River (Appendix III). Tradition is untrustworthy and, for various reasons stated in the Introduction, the compiler is of the opinion that Thomas Cowles was a native of Virginia and a descendant of Richard Cowles of Kenniges Creek, Charles City County (Appendix VI). The following description of the old homestead was written by one of the family in 1901: "I was born and raised at the old Cowles farm in James City County, Va. No one knows when this house was built as it is quite a curiosity to see the massive hewn timbers in the basement. Of course it has been kept up until the old place has partially lost its old colonial style. We still own this place, and there is the old burying-ground with so many ancestors, but strange to say, though they all seemed persons of means, there is not a stone to mark the graves." It is said that Thomas and Obedience Cowles had eleven sons and daughters, but the name of only one child, John, is given; another son went to near Baltimore and another to North Carolina, it is said. Eleven children, but the names of ten are unknown.
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FOR=414 Ancestors Chart | Parents 2 | 4 persons | 8 persons | 16 persons | 32 persons | 64 persons | 128 persons | 256 persons | 512 persons | 1024 persons | - | Richard Cowles
b.1635 England
See Notes | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Parents 2 | 4 persons | 8 persons | 16 persons | 32 persons | 64 persons | 128 persons | 256 persons | 512 persons | 1024-persons | - | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 persons | 4 persons | 8 persons | 16 persons | 32 persons | 64 Persons | 128 persons | 256 persons | 512 persons | 1024 persons | - | | | |
