Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/133

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McDowell
McDowell
109

He was a member of the executive council, and commissioner of crown lands in the Sandfield Macdonald-Dorion administration from May, 1862, till March, 18(34 : and provincial secretary in the Macdonald-Tache administration from June, 1864, until 1867. Mr. Macdougall was appointed acting minister of marine in July, 1866, with charge of the eight provincial gun-boats on the lakes, which, with the aid of Vice- Admiral Sir James Hope, he had speedily fitted out for service against the Fen- ians. He was appointed, 1 July, 1867. minister of public works in the first Dominion government, and retained the office till he was commissioned lieutenant-governor of Rupert's Land and the Northwest teri'itories in October, 1869. He was met at the boundary-line of the Red river settle- ment by an armed force, acting on behalf of the provisional government of Louis Riel, which com- pelled him to retreat to Pembina, Minn., and he did not enter on the duties of his office. He rep- resented Canada at the New York exhibition in 1853, was a delegate to the Charlottetown union conference in 1864, to that at Quebec the same year, and to the colonial conference in London to complete the terms of union of the British North American colonies in 1866-'7. He was also a dele- gate to Great Britain, with Sir George Etienne Cartier, to confer with the imperial authorities on the subject of the defences of the Dominion, and for the acquisition of the Northwest territory in 1868-'9. Mr. Macdougall was sent to Great Brit- ain by the Canadian government in 1873 as a spe- cial commissioner to confer with the home govern- ment on the subject of the fisheries, and to make arrangements in Scandinavia and the Baltic provinces for the promotion of emigration to Can- ada. He was created a companion of the bath (civil list) in 1867, appointed Queen's counsel in August, 1881, and subsequently a puisne judge in the province of Quebec. At the beginning of his political career he was a Reformer, but afterward was independent, and did not pledge himself to support any party. He has introduced and carried through successfully some of the most important acts of the Canadian parliament. He is a fiuent and powerful speaker and an eloquent and logical advocate, but his cold and unsympathetic manner has rendered him less popular and successful than he would be were his sympathies broader and his humor less caustic. — His son, Joseph Easton, Canadian jurist, b. in Toronto, 25 March, 1846, was graduated at Upper Canada college in 1864. He studied law and became a barrister in 1870. He was lecturer on criminal law for the Law society of Ontario from 1878 till 1883, junior judge of the county court of York and the city of Toronto from 1883 till 1885, and since that time he has been senior judge of the county court. On 18 Sept.. 1885, he was also appointed judge of the Maritime court of Ontario, which place he still (1888) retains. He became a Queen's counsel in 1883, and is one of the commissioners appointed in 1886 for re- vising the public statutes of Ontario. He was secretary to the Canadian commission that was appointed to visit the West Indies and British Guiana, to improve the trade relations between these colonies and Canada, in 1865-6. Judge Mac- dougall is the author of " Lectures on Criminal Law and Torts " (Toronto, 1882).


McDowell, Charles, soldier, b. in Winches- ter, Va., in 1743 ; d. in Burke county, N. C, 21 March, 1815. His father, Joseph, emigrated from Ireland to the United States about 1730, and after a residence of several years in Pennsylvania set- tled first in Winchester, Va., and subsequently at Quaker Meadows, on Catawba river, N. C. His family is distinguished from that of his cousin John by the name of the " Quaker Meadow Mc- Dowells." Charles was an ardent patriot, and at the beginning of the Revolution was placed in command of an extensive district in western North Carolina. On the British invasion in 1780 he or- ganized troops, fortified posts, and in June of this year attacked the enemy at their works on Pacolet river, compelled their surrender, subsequently gained victories at Musgrove Mill and Cave Creek, but, after the reverses of the colonists at Savannah, Charleston, and Fishing Creek, his army was dis- banded, and he resigned his command previous to the battle of King's Mountain. He was state sen- ator in 1782-8, and a member of the lower house in 1809-11. — His wife, (xrace trreenlee, was noted among the women of the Revolution for her prudence as well as her daring. Her first hus- band. Capt. Bowman, of the patriot army, was killed at the battle of Ramsom's Mill. After her marriage with McDowell, she aided him in all his patriotic schemes, and while he was secretly manufacturing in a cave the powder that was after- ward used at King's Mountain, she made the charcoal in small quantities in her fireplace, carry- ing it to him at night to prevent detection. After this battle she visited the field, and nursed and tended the soldiers. A party of marauders having plundered her house in the absence of her husband, she collected a few of her neighbors, pursued, and captured them, and at the muzzle of the musket compelled them to return her property. She was the mother of a large family. — Charles's brother, Joseph, soldier, b. in Winchester, Va., in 1756; d. in Burke county, N. C, was familiarly known as " Quaker Meadows Joe," to distinguish him from his cousin of the same name, with whom he is frequently confounded. He served in the cam- paigns against the frontier Indians previous to the Revolution, and under his brother Charles in all the battles in western North Carolina before that of King's Mountain. In that engagement he com- manded the North Carolina militia, with the rank of major. He was in the state house of commons in 1787-'92, was a member of the North Carolina constitutional convention in 1788, and largely in- strumental in its rejection of the U. S. constitu- tion. He was elected to congress in 1792, served till 1799, and was active in opposition to the Fed- eral party. He was boundary commissioner in 1797 for running the line between Tennessee and North Carolina, a general of militia, and the recog- nized leader of the Republican party in the western counties. A county is named in his honor. — Jo- seph's son, Josepli J., congressman, b. in Burke county, N. C, 13 Nov., 1800 ; d. in Hillsborough, Ohio. 17 Jan., 1877, was engaged in agriculture during his early life, and removed first to Virginia and subsequently to Ohio. He served in the Ohio legislature in 1832, in 1834 became state senator and general of militia, and the next year was ad- mitted to the bar. He was elected to congress as a Democrat in 1844, and served till 1847.


McDowell, Irvln, soldier, b. in Columbus, Ohio, 15 Oct.. 1818 ; d. in San Francisco, Cal., 4 May, 1885. He received his early education at the College of Troyes, in France, and was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1838, becoming 2d lieutenant in the 1st artillery. His first service was on the northern frontier during the Canada border disturbances, in Houlton, Me., pending the disputed territory controversy. He returned to the academy in 1841, and was assistant instructor of infantry tactics and adjutant until 1845. He