Volume 10 , Issue 47

Louthan Family Immigration

According to information sent to me by Thomas Fetters of Illinois, the roots of the Louthan family lie Somehwere in Scotland according to stories handed down over the ages. One story relates that there were three brothers that came from Scotland about 1737 and landed at New York. One of the brothers remained in New York while the second moved to Frederick County, Virginia. The third brother was unknown to the storyteller.

Best known of these Louthan immigrants would be Henry Louthan. Born in Scotland in 1719, he arrived in Frederick County, Virginia (British North America) in 1737 at the age of 18. henry and his first wife had four children who went separate ways into Pennsylvania. Remarrying, Henry and his second wife, Nancy, had seven children which began the family that is so well known today.

There is an alternative story that tells of Henry marrying an Irish girl, Mary, in Scotland. They had four children, including Moses Louthan, before she died. Henry brought the four children to America with him in 1750 and later married a Virginia girl, Nancy, who bore nine or ten children. This story is from several biographies of Moses Louthan that were printed in Pennsylvania at the turn of the century in several county histories. (Some of these publications are notoriously unreliable.)

The second brother appears to have been William Louthan who stayed, at least initially, in the New York area. He appears to be the father of Margaret Losther, who married Governor Jon Pge of Virginia and who has demonstrable connections to Henry Louthan's family. William is certainly the father of William Lowthen (1743-1814) who married a Sudna Hughes.

The third brother appears to be John Louthan, or Lowther, of Botecourt County, in Vifginia. At a court hearing held for Botecourt County on November 15th of 1775, we find this record: "Ordered that the Church wardens do bind Jas. Lowther, orphan of John Lowther, dec'd, to Hugh Weir, blacksmith, accdg. to law." James Lowther seems to have been born about 1761 and would have been a minor of 14. he married a girl named Francis, and lived in Frederick County, Virginia according to the 1790 census. James later died about 1820.

While there are some minor inconsistencies, this association fits well with the facts as known and the family stories handed down over the years. -- info submitted to NW Okie by Thomas Fetters, Nov 22 2008.
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