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This article is designed as a non-linear discussion of Indian Captivity Stories in the Handley Cowan and Walker families of southwest Virginia and east Tennessee. there are a substantial number of these stories, some of which exist in multiple versions, varing from source to source. These stories include substantial family information which has been used in the past to reach genealogical conclusions. The stories are not, however, necessarily consistent with each other, and some versions are more reliable than others. The main idea underlying this article is that these stories have been used by genealogists as accurate depictions of their family history, whereas the reality is that considerable distortion has been introduced into them, particularly in terms of describing family relations. These distortions are not thought to have been deliberate, but have occurred as some writers have attempted to reconcile discrepencies that they found in the stories that had been related to them by family members.
The non-linear nature of the article comes from the fact that there are several separate but related "mini-articles" articles being devloped, each of which deals with a separate topic, but which taken together support an analysis of the captivity stories. The goal is to attempt a sorting out of fact and fiction, and show how these stories came to be, and how distortions were introduced into them. An additional goal is to provide a sounder basis for understanding of the genealogical relationships among the Cowans.
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