Sophia Cowling has long been one of my brickwalls. She is the mother of Calista Bailey, who was the wife of Richard Williams, my father's great-grandparents. All I knew was that her mother's name was Peggy and that she is buried with most of her family in the Methodist Cemetery in Brewster. There was a David Cowling and a G.W.Cowling buried near John Bailey's parents, but I couldn't find a connection.
Recently, I was able to find out that David Cowling's wife's name was Margeret (or Peggy). Using this information I was able to determine that David was Sophia Cowling's father. I still don't know who G.W. Cowling is, but I'm working on it.
Apparently, only in Putnam county is the name spelled Cowling. David was probably born in Barnstable, Mass. as David Cowen or MacCowen, the son of James MacCowen and Priscilla Robbins. James MacCowen was Scottish and married Priscilla, from an old Barnstable family, in 1736.
Priscilla was the daughter of Samuel Robbins and Desire Chase. On her father's side she goes back to the early settlers of Cape Cod. On her mother's side she goes back to illustrious Quakers, including the Rev Francis Marbury. Priscilla is descended from his daughter, Katherine, who married Richard Scott, who were adherents of Roger Williams and settled Rhode Island. Katherine's sister, Anne Hutchinson, is more famous as she was put on trial as a Quaker by the Massachusetts Colony. Eventually, she moved to New Amsterdam with her family where she and most of her family were killed by Indians. The Hutchinson Parkway is named after her.
The Marbury family tree is well documented and goes back to William the Conqueror.
