MATERNAL NAMES
WILLIAM McKEOWN 1753–1790 4th great-grandfather
BIRTH
William McKewn was born the 3rd of April 1573, the son of John M'Keown (McKeown, McEwen) 1732 - AFT 1753 and Elizabeth Allan 1720 - 1759 from Paisley, Renfrew, Strathclyde, Scotland. His birth was during the Highland Clearances and would have seen many highlanders, evicted from their homes arriving in the lowlands.
William was the youngest of four children, a brother Ellis 1748-1748 and two sisters Mary Jane 1748-1749, and Anne 1750 -1751, all of whom appear to have died as infants, as I find no further information on them.
MARRIAGE
William married Elizabeth Mendenhall 1763-1790 daughter of William Mendenhall and Bethea Govan in 1778 and subsequently left Scotland for Tyrone, Ireland. This is where they had their family.
DEATH
Many researchers have William Sr's death as after 1790 Blyth, Lanarkshire, Scotland. I have not yet found proof of his death. I have not found a significant amount of information on William Sr. If anyone can help me it would be much appreciated.
DNA
I think that William McEwen (McKewn b. 3 April 1753 in Paisley, Renfrew, Strathclyde, Scotland d. after 1790 in Blyth, Lanarkshire, Scotland and Elizabeth Mendenhall may be the parents of my ancestor John McKeown who married Elizabeth Cunningham.
This is based on DNA matches with William McEwen Jr. 1780-1860 or 1831. (death date needs further research) William the elder brother of John.
William Jr. married Elizabeth Graham and 2nd Mary Craig. Willam and Mary's son Matthew McEwen married Mary P Smith, immigrated to the USA and became a Mormon. Our family has DNA matches to some of William's son Matthew's descendants.
Unfortunately, this is also a period where few documents have survived which would be necessary to back up this theory, however we do have some DNA.
*Family research has identified him as a possible DNA match to our line through one of his sons.
Citations
(1) B.1753 McEwen William Parish number - 573/3 Ref 10143 Scotland's People
(2) M.1778 N.P.
(3) D. Aft.1790 N.P.