The GOWDY Family
in North Carolina

William F. Gowdy
Will of William F. Gowdy

(Submitted by Nancy Gowdy Gragg) I can go back to William F. Gowdy, Esq who died in 1795, Guilford County, North Carolina.  William Gowdy's children were Robert, Sarah, John C., James, Rebecca, Elizabeth and William Scott.

John, Robert, Elizabeth and Sarah with families moved to Enfield, ILL. about 1815.

His son John C. Gowdy married Elizabeth Anderson in Sumner county, Tennessee and died Feb 5, 1842 near Enfield, Ill.

Their son, William Finney Gowdy Married Jane Orr (interesting story with her family), Enfield, ILL. William Finney and Jane Orr Gowdy's son Sylvester Green Gowdy (Enfield, ILL).

Sylvester Green Gowdy married Mary Emily Miller on Dec 10, 1856, Enfield, ILL. Of their children, I follow Leander Franklin Gowdy who married Emily Adaline Vaught (Brunt Prarie, ILL). Now their children were my great aunts and uncles, Charles Newton Gowdy, Luther Allen Gowdy (I don't remember him, but my sister does), Mary E. Gowdy and Maude L. Gowdy, Nellie M. Gowdy, Kathrine Combs Gowdy, Raymond L. Gowdy. I knew and can remember all of these, except Luther and not much of Nellie) and of course, their oldest son, Claude Franklin Gowdy, my grandfather.

Claude Franklin Gowdy married Rena' Snyder (of Nashville, Ill). They had two children, James Lee Gowdy and Claude Frankline Gowdy, Jr.  Claude died at a young age, but James Lee Gowdy lived to marry Sevilla Elvina LeFavour. They had two children Jacquline Lee and Nancy Sue; divorced and remarried.

What I have is the Illinois family. I have only found two children of John C (William Finney and John Harvey). I was unaware William went to Mississippi.  Would be very interested in the connection and knowing more about the Mississippi side of the family.

(Submitted by Judy Driscoll) William Gowdy b. 1700 Ireland; his son William F. Gowdy born 1747 in Lancaster, PA d. 1795 Guilford County, NC.  He served in the NC legislature. His children Elizabeth, William Scott James III, Robert (my 4th gr. grandfather), Sarah, John C. b. 1775 m. Elizabeth Polly Anderson 11/6/1795 Guilford County, NC, d. 5/10/1809 in Enfield, IL and James and Rebecca.   This Gowdy family were associated with the Buffalo Presbyterian Church in Guilford County and lived there at the time of the Guilford Courthouse Battle. I have copies of the Robert Gowdy family Bible information pages.

(Submitted by Judy Driscoll) My earliest Gowdy is William Gowdy Esq. of Guilford Co. NC.  As far as we know he came there around 1750-1760.  Served as a state senator in the Continental Congress, etc.  He did have a son, John C. but John move to Tennessee around 1798 and on to White Co., IL as did his brother Robert, my ggggr grandfather.  Another of William's sons William Scott James Gowdy III moved to South Carolina about 1790.  I don't know for certain where. As far as I know none of the rest of the family went there.  My ggggrandmother Aminta Gowdy married James S. Craig, the son of James and Rhoda Niblack Craig who lived at Abbeville during the Revolution.  James the father was killed in battle in 1781 (James S. and Aminta were married in IL, both families being members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church).  Interestingly enough, I am just this weekend reading a book called "The Battle for Old 96" which is the early history of SC and the old District 96 of which Abbeville was a part.  It mentions an early fur trader who came down from Augusta, VA to SC to trade, and stayed, his name was Robert Gouedy. His farm became the fort at 96.  He is mentioned several times in the book but no lineage on him.  I suspect that in handwriting Gowdy could very much could look like Gouedy.   And we have noticed that even within our own family the Gowdy and Goudy spellings were interchanged.   I have adopted the Gowdy spelling as my preference since our most recent Gowdy relatives us it.  We don't know as yet about our William's parents or other siblings, he could very well have been a brother to Robert Gouedy.   We know they came from Scotland but haven't tracked them down there. 

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