Re: Tow&Shipman
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In reply to:
Re: Tow&Shipman
9/09/01
Thanks, Jimmy, for the information on Willis Francis Tow and the comment about the Tow arriving on a ship.
Most of the contacts I make with descendants of Tows or Towes result in me receiving the same family lore you cited about the ship; Tows came on a ship to a colony and one died.In my line, this lore cites either three or five Tow brothers (depending on who is telling the story) who came to North Carolina on a ship from Scotland.This ship foundered on the coast of North Carolina and the daughter of one of the brothers was lost.The brothers then settled in North Carolina.This was supposed to have happened in the early 1700s, when North Carolina was a colony of Great Britain.
A cousin who attended genealogy classes in Nevada told me she had recited this family lore to the instructor.The instructor said she had heard this same story from a majority of the people who had attended her classes, regardless of their surnames.The number of people in the ship, the coast upon which the ship foundered and some other details varied from one person to the next.However, it would appear that, from her experience with this kind of family lore, most of the people in the U.S. descended from people who were shipwrecked on the east coast.
I hope that someone will find a record of our ancestors emigrating from a specific place and arriving at a specific place in America on a specific date.But there are too many records of ships passengers, colonial censuses, tax lists, court records, etc., for me to search through in the time I have remaining.In the interim, I can only hope that an independently wealthy descendant of the first colonial Tow will start at about age 21 and dedicate his/her life to finding out who started this huge extended family.
I enjoyed the chat with you.
Jim Tow
More Replies:
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Re: Tow&Shipman
3/09/02