JOAN RIGGS of Albuquerque is the daughter of Frank Shuttleworth who emigrated from England to the USA in the early 1900's. Frank Shuttleworth has many descendants across the USA.
Joan's father had told her about an ancestor who was a Sea Captain. Being the captain of the ship he was permitted to bring on board his wife, who was pregnant at the time. The child was born in the midst of battle (the Battle of Trafalgar, no less) and was named after the ship on which he was born: Hercules Warborn Dowie
Fact or Fiction? UPDATED 2005
Having spent a number of years investigating the story, we find some elements of fact, and some of fiction:
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Hercules' brother, Robert Dowie (born in 1778), was at the Battle of Trafalgar, on HMS Bellerophon. His rank is listed as "Able Seaman" in the ships pay book.
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We find no evidence that the first Hercules Dowie (1780 - 1851) ever had the middle name "Warborn". He did however have a grandson called Hercules Warborn Dowie, who was born in 1844.
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According to Perth Parish Registers, Hercules' father William was a Sailor. His uncle Robert was a Ship Captain.
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Throughout the 1700 and 1800's, Hercules was not as uncommon a name as one might at first think. There are other instances of the name in other families, and it is noticeable that they are commonly sea faring families, dock workers or builders of ships.