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Archiver > SCT-ISLAY > 1999-08 > 0935428857


From: "Cory Smith" <>
Subject: Re: [SCT-ISLAY] The roots of Smith
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 10:20:57 -0700


To Jim and Mary-Lina - This may shed some light on the McGowan-to-Smith
mystery. I have not been able to document this, but have been told that
Smith derives from Mac A Gobhavainn. "a ghobha" means blacksmith. Mac A
Gobhavainn is pronounced "Mac A Govin" which is pretty close to sounding
like McGowan. For what it is worth .... Cory Smith, Coos Bay, Oregon


-----Original Message-----
From: Mary-Lina <>
To: <>
Date: Saturday, August 21, 1999 12:39 PM
Subject: Re: [SCT-ISLAY] Fwd: Returned mail: REDIRECTED TO LIST


>Well, Jim, here we meet again...with you talking about McGowan and SMith
>and all that. IF McGowan was CHANGED to Smith (although I fail to see how
>the French could mistake one for the other- and Smith isn't a French name
>anyway... Give me the phonetic pronunciation in gaelic of "McGowan" I
>know a little French and would like to test it out myself. Also, if the
>McGowans were already in Islay, did they migrate to County DOnegal Ireland?
>I am interested to read what comes out of your query.
>But what is all the garbage that follows until your message???????
Mary-Lina
>
>
>At 02:45 PM 8/21/99 EDT, you wrote:
>>
>>--part1_850359a5.24f04db6_boundary
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>>
>>please place on islay list
>>
>>--part1_850359a5.24f04db6_boundary
>>Content-Type: message/rfc822
>>Content-Disposition: inline
>>
>>Return-Path: <>
>>Received: from rly-yg05.mx.aol.com (rly-yg05.mail.aol.com [172.18.147.5])
by
>> air-yg02.mail.aol.com (v60.28) with ESMTP; Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:41:29
>> -0400
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>> rly-yg05.mx.aol.com (v60.25) with ESMTP; Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:41:20
>> -0400
>>Received: from localhost (localhost)
>> by imo19.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.7.3/AOL-2.0.0)
>> with internal id OAA18566;
>> Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:41:20 -0400 (EDT)
>>Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:41:20 -0400 (EDT)
>>From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <>
>>Subject: Returned mail: User unknown
>>Message-Id: <>
>>To:
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>Content-Type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status;
>> boundary="OAA18566.935260880/imo19.mx.aol.com"
>>Auto-Submitted: auto-generated (failure)
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>>--OAA18566.935260880/imo19.mx.aol.com
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>>The original message was received at Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:40:10 -0400 (EDT)
>>from
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>>*** ATTENTION ***
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>>An e-mail you sent to an Internet destination could not be delivered.
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>> ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>... while talking to bl-3.rootsweb.com.:
>>>>> RCPT To:<>
>><<< 550 <>... User unknown
>>550 <>... User unknown
>>
>>--------------------
>>Final-Recipient: RFC822;
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>>Status: 5.1.1
>>Remote-MTA: DNS; bl-3.rootsweb.com
>>Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 550 <>... User unknown
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>> for <>; Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:40:10 -0400 (EDT)
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>>Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:40:09 EDT
>>Subject: McGowans or Smiths in Islay 1800s+
>>To:
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
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>>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>>X-Mailer: AOL 4.0.i for Windows 95 sub 135
>>
>>I am a member of the Glasgow & West Of Scotland family history society and
I
>>am resarching the name Smith In Anderston, Barony Parish, Glasgow, at a
>>meeting a few years ago the subject for the night was a talk by Bill
Lawson
>>"Co Leis Thu" a Geanealogist from Isle Of Harris , " West Highland and
>>Island family research" Bill Lawson spoke of censuses and how names had
been
>>changed by census enumerators one example was that the name McGowan had
been
>>changed in Islay to Smith by the enumerator who on this occassion was a
>>frenchman who did not understand gaelic. Are there any locals from Islay
on
>>this list who would concur with this statement and know of any examples?
>>
>>I have got back to 1851 in Anderston, Glasgow with my Smiths < My mothers
>>maiden name> and wonder if perhaps they came from Islay?
>>
>>Jim McPherson.
>>
>>--OAA18566.935260880/imo19.mx.aol.com--
>>
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>>
>>
>>==== SCT-ISLAY Mailing List ====
>>Anyone who has books relating to the Isle of Islay are welcome to
>participate in our "Virtual Library" for Islay, visit:
>>http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/islay/library.htm
>>
>>
>
>
>==== SCT-ISLAY Mailing List ====
>You can find older, archived messages from this mailing list by visiting:
>http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/islay/archive1.htm - and starting in
april 1999, you can access archived messages at
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ISLAY-

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