I have family history sheets that date back to the late 1600's in Scotland and N. Ireland. The family is originally from Scotland, but then moved to N. Ireland and from there came to America. The family name was MacCowden in Scotland, but upon moving to N. Ireland, they dropped the Mac and just kept Cowden. Thomas MacCowden is the first father that I have. He was born in Scotland, abt 1670. They lived in an area around Letterkey, Scotland. There is an area known as Cowdenbeath, and also Cowden Knolls. Both were owned by the Cowden/MacCowden family. The Cowden/Cowdin family are most likely related, as we think that William Cowden and James Cowdin were brothers and sons of Thomas MacCowden. I have a lot of information to those who wish to have it. There is a small cost for copying. There are more than 100 pages of information. I have been keeping track of both the Cowdin and Cowden families who originated from Scotland and Ireland. We are not Irish, though, we are Scottish!! There are many Cowden families still in Scotland, however, feel that we are traitors of a sort, and do not want to give much information about the family. I have been working on the family trees since 1978. If you have inquiries, please send them via snail mail for now to Kerry Marlow, 1160 McClellan Drive, Lake Orion, Michigan 48362-1935. Phone # in the late evenings (after 6pm) in 248-693-8695. I will be more than happy to see if I can help you out. Have a great day. Kerry