Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/149

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Mcdowell


Mcdowell


in addition to the large number by letter. He was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, 1814- 63, and a founder and charter director of Prince- ton Theological seminary, 1813-63. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Union college ill 1818. He was moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in 1820, and served as stated clerk, 1836-40. He is the author of: Bible class Questions (1814); Questions on the Bible for Use in Schools (1819); A System of The- ology (1826); and Human Depravity and its Remedy (1830). A memoir by the Rev. William B. Sprague was published in 1864. He died in Philadelphia, Pa, , in February, 1863.

McDowell, John Anderson, representative, was born in Killbuck, Holmes county, Ohio, Sept. 25, 1853 ; son of James Coleville and Sarah {Anderson) McDow-ell ; grandson of Matthew and Nancy (Hutchinson) McDowell, and a descend- ant of John McDowell of Washington county, Pa. He removed with his parents to Monroe township, Ohio, where he resided on a farm and attended the district school. The family subse- quently returned to Killbuck and he vras em- jjloyed in his father's store, and attended the village school, the Millersburg high school and Lebanon Normal university. He was married, Aug. 21, 1879, to Esther E., daughter of Lemuel Hole of Damascus, Ohio. He was graduated from Mount Union college, Alliance, Ohio, in 1887. He was principal of the Millersburg high school for two years, superintendent of Millers- burg schools for seventeen years, and engaged at different times as instructor in teachers' insti- tutes in several counties of Ohio and as instructor ill tlie summer school of Wooster university. He was a Democratic representative from the seven- teenth Ohio district in the 55th and 56th con- gresses, 1897-1901.

McDowell, Joseph, representative, was born in Winchester, Va., Feb. 25, 1756 ; son of Joseph McDowell, who emigrated from Ireland about 1730. To distinguish him from his cousin Joseph, son of John, he was known as " Quaker Meadow Joe." He served against the Indians on the frontier and in the patriot army under his brother. Gen. Charles McDowell. In the battle of King's Mountain he commanded the militia of North Carolina, having the rank of major, and before the close of the war he had attained the rank of general of militia. He w^as a member of the house of commons of North Carolina, 1787- ^2, was a delegate to the state constitutional con- vention in 1788 and was the leader of the faction that opposed the adoption of the Federal Consti- tution. He was a representative in the 2d and 3d congresses, 1791-94, and was a commissioner to settle the North Carolina and Tennessee bound- ary. He died in Burke county, N.C.,in 1801.


McDowell, Joseph Jefferson, representa- tive, was born in Burke county, N.C., Nov. 13, 1800 ; son of Joseph (q. v.) and Margaret (Mof- fett) McDowell of Quaker Meadow, and a descend- ant of Ephraim McDowell, who left Ireland, May 20, 1729, arrived in America in August, 1829, and settled, with other hardy pioneers from Ireland, in Augusta county, Va., between 1730 and 1740, and married Margaret Irvine. Joseph J. was married to Sally Allen, daughter of the Rev. John and Elizabeth (Allen) McCue. He engaged in agriculture, removed to Kentucky, and thence to Highland county, Ohio, and was a representa- tive in the Ohio legislature, 1832 ; state senator, 1833-35; was made brigadier-general of the state militia in 1834 ; in 1835 was admitted to the bar, and practised in Hillsboro. He was a Demo- cratic representative from the seventh Ohio dis- trict in the 28th and 29th congresses, 1843-47. He died in Hillsboro, Ohio, Jan. 17, 1877.

Mcdowell, Katharine Sherwood (Bonner), author, was born in Holly Springs, Miss., Feb. 26, 1849. She attended seminaries in Mississippi and Alabama. In 1872 she removed to Boston, Mass., and became private secretary to Henry W. Longfellow, who encouraged her in her liter- ary pursuits. She is the author of " The Radical Club," a poem, in which she ridiculed that organ- ization and which is said to have eventually killed it. She returned to Holly Springs in 1878, at the height of an epidemic of yellow fever, to nurse her father and brother, who were stricken. She was married in 1870, to Edward McDowell, of Holly Springs, Miss. Under the pen name

  • ' Sherwood Bonner," she wrote Like unto Like

(1881); and Dialect Tales (1884). She died in Holly Springs, Miss., July 22, 1884.

McDowell, Samuel, jurist, was born in Pennsylvania, Oct. 27, 1735 ; son of Ephraim and Margaret (Irvine) McDowell. In the French and Indian war he was a member of Captain Lewis's Virginia militia, and took part in the skirmish which led to Braddock's defeat, July 9, 1755, and he was a witness of Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, Oct. 17, 1781. He was a member of the Virginia house of burgesses ; commissioner in 1782 to settle the Kentucky claims ; removed to Danville, Ky., the next year, where he organ- ized the first civil court in the territory, holding the court in a log house in Danville ; was presi- dent of the first state constitutional convention held in Danville, April 19, 1792 ; was judge of the circuit court of Kentucky, 1792-1812, and a representative in the Kentucky legislature. He died in Danville, Ky., Oct. 25, 1817.

McDowell, Wllliam Eraser, educator, was born in Millersburg, Ohio, Feb. 4, 1858 ; son of David and Rebecca (Fraser) McDowell and grandson of Matthew McDowell and of William