I have now made contact with two more relatives with shared DNA. N.Sarah Clayton, living in Port Hope, Ontario, is descended from Sarah Grice, the sister of Alice Victoria Grice.
I have also made contact with Sharon Dodds, descended from Amelia Jennie Cowie and Ernest Tuck.
More to come.

Ancestry DNA results

    I received my Ancestry DNA results early in 2017. I have discovered 2 relatives in the process, both descended from John Cowey and his wife, Jane Gray.

     I first made contact with Hilda Dean. Hilda is the daughter of Hazel (Cowey) and Everett Brown. Hilda is currently living in Belleville, Ontario. Hazel is the daughter of James Cowey and Lillian Arkles.

    The second discovery was Carrie (Stone) Haupt. Carrie is the daughter of Katherine Anne Elizabeth Cowey. Katherine is the daughter of John Nelson Cowey and his second wife, Mary Harris.
Katherine is living in Uxbridge near her daughter, Carrie. I met Katherine, Carrie with her 2 children, Darcy and Rory, and also Katherine's other daughter, Charlene in Uxbridge.

  l to r : Neil, Katherine (Cowey) Stone, Charlene, Cindy (Cowey) Buchhorn, Carrie Stone, and Barbara (Cowey) Clements.

Hello, everyone. It has been a long time since I last entered a blog. I finally submitted my DNA to Ancestry and have now received my results. I am now in the process of contacting all of the possible matches.
 Two matches have been successful. I have found a second cousin, and a 3rd cousin. More details later.

1921 Census

   One of the first oddities of the 1921 Census is the fact that there is not one "Cowey". All entries are "Cowie". Not sure why this happened.
     In Lakeport, Frank and Ruby Cowey are living with their son, John Nelson Cowey. Next door, we find John and Barbara Cowey. Their son, Archie, an invalid, age 27, is living with his parents along with their other children, Ellen, age 25, Nile, age 23, and Nile's wife, Doris, age 17. Also living with John and Barbara is a boarder named Albert Pymer, age 60, a stationary engineer.
     Down the road, we find Mary Jane Cowey sharing her home with her brothers, William, and Robert.
     In the village of Colborne, we find John "Jack" Cowey and his wife, Alice (nee Grice), living on Norton Street. Jack is a mechanic. They are living with their children Greta, age 5, May, age 4, and Cecil, age 1 and 9/12.
   

1921 Census

The 1921 census is now available. I hope to put some information on this site with regards to the families. Stay tuned.

More photos, courtesy of Brian Moore

Sunday, July 21, 2013

   Vernonville Community Centre was the location for our third Cowey Cowie Reunion. It was a beautiful day. Most attendees enjoyed sitting outside under the canopies.

    Special thanks to Donna Smith who stayed with us for most of the afternoon to ensure that we were able to make use of all that the Hall had to offer.

    Thanks must also go to Len Vivian who brought another bag of albums containing photos and newspaper clippings to add to our growing archive.

     A CoweyCowie Booklet, containing 340 + pages of photos, letters, deeds, wills, and stories about the Cowey/Cowie families was offered as a draw prize with the proceeds going towards the cost of the next Reunion. This booklet was won by Josh Franken.

      We welcomed new attendees. Jack Cuffe, descended from James Cowey, Randy Wilson, descended from James Cowey, and his mother Donna Brown.

Prudence Platt

     Prudence Platt married Peter Inglis Cowie and moved out West with him. However, before she met and married Peter she had a son out of wedlock. Frederick Benjamin Platt was born on August 10, 1896 in Norham, Ontario.
      Frederick was adopted by Prudence's brother Charles and his wife.
      At the age of 21, Federick joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1917.
      In 1923, he married Olive Elizabeth Evans on July 25, in Norham, Ontario.
      Frederick passed away in 1971.
 

Reunion 2013

•   Reunion 2013

 

 

July 21, 2013

  

 

Vernonville Community Centre

 

Clear your calendars to attend

 

12 noon until 5pm

 

displays, family tree take-aways

 

pot luck

 

bring your laptops to download family trees

2011 update (continued)

James Cowey and Jane Lockie had 5 children that we have found:

John b.1800
James b. 1802
Margaret b. 1803
Robert b. 1810
Ellen b.1813

John emigrated to Upper Canada with Jane (Gray) and their 5 children 1n 1840. But what have we found about the others?

Margaret may have had a son (father unknown) Robert, who emigrated to Upper Canada between 1841 and 1850. He worked as a blacksmith in Lakeport, had married and had children.

In the UK census of 1861 Margaret and her sister Ellen, both unmarried, are living in Howtel, a village in the Parish of Kirknewton, where they were born. Margaret was an agricultural labourer, and Ellen was a house servant. By this time there are 2 nieces living with them as well, Catherine, age 13, and Margaret, age 10, daughters of brother Robert.

James Cowey (the spelling changed frequently) lived in High Trewitt, located south of Ilderton. In the 1861 census James is married to a Jane,and they have had at least 8 children:

Elizabeth b.1835
Jane b.1837
Margaret b.1839
Ellen b.1841
Mary b.1843
Georgian b.1848 (could be a Catherine)
Thomasine b.1849
James John b.1852

James was an agricultural labourer (a hind?) and moved at least five times.

Robert Cowie (the spelling changed frequently) lived in Kirknewton, Bamburgh, Berwick, and Unthank Square. He worked as a tilemaker. His wife's name was Margaret, and they had 6 children:

James b.1835 also a tilemaker, born in Kirknewton
John b.1839 also born in Kirknewton
Jane b.1843 born in Bamburgh
Mary b.1846 born in Berwick
Christian or Catherine b.1848 in Berwick
Margaret b.1851 born in Unthank Square

Robert's father James, lived with Robert and his family after the death of his wife Jane and can be found in the 1841 census ,age 75, still working as a husbandman (remember his son John also was a husbandman before emigrating to Upper Canada). The family was living in the Village of Beadnell, near Bamburgh.

There is still much to find regarding this family. It could be an excuse for another trip to Northumbria, England soon!!!!!!!

2011 update

It has been a long time since I last updated. Last February I hired a professional genealogist, Ann Brooker, from Embleton, Northumberland County, England.
I was hoping Ann could find John Cowey's family, parents, siblings, and so on. I was also interested if anything could be found about "the other Robert Cowey", who lived in Lakeport as a blacksmith. He married Mary Craig and together they had four children.
Ann was successful. Here is what she found:

John Cowey's parents were James Cowie b. c 1762 married Jane Lockie June 9 1794 at Cornhill

Their children: John b.1800
James b. 1802
Margaret b. 1803 all of the children were born in the
Robert b. 1811 parish of Kirknewton
Ellen b. 1813

The other Robert Cowey was born in 1826 in the Parish of Kirknewton. His mother was Margaret Cowey (no father was listed) and the supposition is that he is, in fact, John Cowey's nephew and followed John and Jane Cowey to Upper Canada at a later date. He can be found at the age of 15 living in the home of George Johnston, a blacksmith, in Howtel, Parish of Kirknewton. He was a blacksmith's apprentice.

By 1851, Robert has disappeared from the England census. He probably emigrated to be with his uncle before 1850.

Robert's mother, Margaret, can be found in the 1851/1861 census' living with her sister Ellen. Both are listed as paupers. They were living in Howtel, Kirknewton Parish. In 1861, two nieces, Catherine and Margaret are living with the sisters.

James Sr. lived with his son Robert in the 1841 census, but died about 1844.

There is still much work to be done, but I am pleased with the progress. I will keep an update on this blog with further information.

Thank you, also, to Heather (Cowey) Jay, for the gift bags that were given to each child attending the Reunion. Most appreciated.

Barbara (Cowey) Clements our Registrar, copying photos that were brought to the Reunion.

This page was copied from Mary Cowey's book of Psalms. Art Broomfield brought it to the Reunion along with some of Mary's personal correspondence.