Hi David,

The Lewis Cowell of St Georges School was almost certainly the other Lewis H., the son of John Thomas Cowell & Ann Kneale (from censuses). Which leaves your IOM information resting only on a child of the right age with the same forenames being with the William Cowell family in the 1881 census, and the family memories about this Cowell family.

Was William Cowell ever recorded as a brewer, other than on Louis's marriage cert?
Where is Louis Henry Jones/Cowell in 1891?

If the father of Ann Killey's illegitimate son was -- Jones (which his child would often be called in the usual Manx way), and she gave him up to be fostered by the Cowell family who could have been friends or relatives, then he would look on the Cowells as being his family. There are many reasons why the next generation would not have heard of Killey - she could have married/ died/ emigrated.
I think it would be a pity to close off any options, when you have so few formal records for him.
- Just a suggestion, to follow up all possible leads.
And thanks, Mary, for looking up the baptism.

Sue