hi john
thankyou for your response
i will check out the names in lonan as you suggested and will let you know what i come up with
regarding john cowley how on earth did you find all that!
i have a gut feeling he is the one i am looking for but i will have to verify it at the museum
bizarrely mary ann cowley johns sister married a john kinley in 1873 he died then she married robert quine in 1875 he died they had the 2 children mentioned in the will then she went onto marry robert collister in 1883
with a little more research i should be able to confirm whether this john is the one i want
thankyou again lesley