Andrew McDole or McDowell was born by July 3, 1799.** This can be learned from the Minute Books of White County. After Andrew's father, John, died about 1819, James Elrod was appointed the administrator of John McDowell's estate. James Elrod was married to Elizabeth McDowell, John's daughter. At first James was the only administrator because Andrew was under 21. Then on July 3, 1820, both James Elrod and Andrew McDowell appear in court pursuing the collection of debts against John's estate, so Andrew must have turned 21. For this information I am indebted to Daniel G. Webber. I don't know that I would ever have found this out except from the postings Dan put on GenForum. He let me know all the information in this paragraph and more. It was good to find out that Andrew was part of a family.
** Sept 20, 2013. It looks like Andrew was not born until after the 1800 census. Now that I have found his family in the 1800 census of Fairfield Co., SC, it seems Andrew was not born until later than June 1, 1800. John McDowell and his wife only had 2 little girls in the 1800 census. Perhaps Andrew was born soon after. When Andrew wanted to participate in settling his father's estate, he may have been unsure of his birth date or maybe he just felt he was "old enough."**
Andrew was probably born in South Carolina because his sister was born in South Carolina in 1795. Elizabeth McDowell Elrod lived long enough to be in the 1860 census, so we know where she was born. I have not found any evidence that her father was in Tennessee any earlier than 1810, so I expect that Andrew was born in S.C., also. In another post I will list the children of James Elrod and Elizabeth McDowell that I have courtesy of Geraldine Elrod Pollard of Tennessee. Geraldine and Daniel Webber are descendants of Elizabeth and James.
Andrew McDole or McDowell first shows up in a census in 1820 in White County. He is a young man with a wife (both are 20-29 years old) and two boys under 5 years old. His father has died, so we don't get to see Andrew living next door to John.
A few doors away from Andrew, we see the family of Wesley Green who purchased 150 acres of land with Andrew in February 1827. What is the relationship between Wesley and Andrew? We don't know, but they are both young men in their twenties. I wonder if they could be cousins? Something to explore.
I have the deed for the land the two men purchased. It's 150 acres on Cane Creek, which is basically NW of Fallingwater River where Andrew's father lived. What is interesting is the land was only a penny an acre. I need to research which piece of Tennessee legislation allowed land to sell for only one cent. It was land that no one had owned before.
When I went to Sparta, TN, I looked at microfilmed tax records from 1810-1830. Andrew is listed in 1823 on a list titled "Taxable property and polls in Capt. Rhea's company for 1823, returned by Wm. J. Smith Esqr." Andrew owes $0.90 for his poll tax. There is no acreage listed. In 1822 Andrew paid tax on 100 acres and poll tax for himself for a total of $2.50. The land is situated on Cane Creek. Since Andrew was already living on Cane Creek, possibly he was just buying more land when he and Wesley bought the 150 acres. Or Andrew may have been renting his 100 acres; usually, though, the landlord would have paid the tax on the land.
On October 17, 1825 Andrew attended an estate sale in his neighborhood. Moses Davis was deceased, and Andrew purchased six geese from Moses' estate for $2.50. So Andrew was an intelligent man: he got an alarm system, eggs, and poultry all-in-one. A couple other names from the local area are purchasers at the estate sale, Brittain Medlin/Medley and William J. Smith. It is good to study neighboring families in case that they will turn out to be relatives. Interestingly, Moses Davis had a horse and a STUD HORSE listed in his inventory. The horse sold for $7 and the STUD HORSE sold for $87. Like the stud horse mentioned at the top of this blog, he was worth lots of money. I guess these Tennesseans really valued good horseflesh.
ANDREW in the CENSUS
Since the last census Andrew appears in is the 1840 census, we don't know the names of his wife and children. From comparing the data in three censuses, I can infer the ages of his children, even though I don't have many names. This is what I have found from the 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses:
1820 Tennessee, White County
McDole, Andrew
2 males under 10 Born between 1810 and 1819
1 male 16-24 ......Born between 1794 and 1804
1 female 16-24....Born between 1794 and 1804
1830 Tennessee, White County
page 34. McDowel, Andrew
1 male under 5....Born between 1826 and 1830
2 males 5 -9........ Born between 1821 and 1825
2 males 10-14.....Born between 1816 and 1820
1 male 20-29.......Born between 1801 and 1810
1 female 5-9........Born between 1821 and 1825
1 female 20-29....Born between 1801 and 1810
1840 Tennessee, DeKalb County. A new county formed in 1838.
Andrew McDole
2 males 5-9..........Born between 1831 and 1835
2 males 10-14......Born between 1826 and 1830
Andrew is not listed
1 female under 5...Born between 1836 and 1840
1 female 10-14......Born between 1826 and 1830
1 female 30-39. ....Born between 1801 and 1810
In the post from December 28, 2010, I listed the neighbors of John and Andrew McDole in the 1840 census. Andrew was not in his home on census day. In two other households near Andrew's, the father was named as the head of household, but he was not present at the time. If the father had been dead, his wife would have been listed as the head of the household. So, where were the men? What kind of professions did they have that would take them away from home? I recently read that the men near Falling Water River would sometimes take their wares to New Orleans to sell them. If you can help answer any of these questions, please leave a comment.
From the censuses it appears that Andrew and his wife were close in age, both being born about 1800. If I overlap the years of birth that I get from all 3 censuses, they were born between 1801 and 1804. As I have said earlier, Andrew was most likely born in 1799.
The two oldest sons were born between 1816 and 1819, probably John and Smith. By 1830, three more sons were born. One boy was born recently, between 1826 and 1830. (I bet one was born in 1829 or in 1830 because of the way he is counted in 1830 and 1840. In 1840 the family thought he was still under 10. Unless, of course, the first child had died, and there was another boy born soon after.) The two middle boys were born between 1821 and 1825, as was a daughter. A youngest brother was born after 1830, but before 1835. The youngest child was a daughter born after 1835. The total is two daughters and six sons.
So in 1850, after Andrew seems to be gone, he had 2 grown sons over 30 years old, probably John and Smith, married before 1840. Two more grown sons 25-29 years old, and possibly married between 1841 and 1845. A grown daughter 25-29 years old, who probably married about 1840-1846. The 5th son would be between 20 and 24, and may have gotten married about 1846-1850. The youngest son could be 15-19, and possibly be single. The youngest girl could be 10-14 and still single. Of course, there could have been more children born after 1840. Mrs. McDowell would be just about 50 in 1850. I have found one woman who might be Andrew's widow, if they stayed in Tennessee. If the McDowell family moved to another state, the possibilities are wide open.
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