JOHN McDOWELL, HESTER's Husband?

You might wonder why the postings have been arranged in this order. In general, I have placed them chronologically in the order in which I found the information. First, I knew that Nancy Ann McDowell was born in Taney County, Missouri on January 19, 1850. I had that one family Bible fact. Once I found her as a baby with her mother in 1850, I could see the McDowell family was still there in 1860. I could surmise that Nancy Ann and family were in Mills County, Iowa by 1864 so that she could marry George Hamaker. So the bigger mystery was, where did Nancy Ann's mother and father come from, and what was her father's name?

I have no exact proof of Nancy Ann's father being John McDowell. I have various overlapping facts that point to John McDowell being the father, and John's father being Andrew McDole or McDowell. I know the family name is McDowell, it's just that at a certain time and in a certain place, Andrew seemed to favor McDole. More details later. There are documents that say Andrew is the son of another John McDowell because John died in White County, Tennessee and left various estate-settling papers behind. Andrew was one of the administrators of John McDowell's estate. More about Andrew later; this is about his son John.

John shows up under his own name in the 1840 census in Dekalb County, Tennessee. He lives next to Andrew McDole, which supports the idea that he is Andrew's son.

In John McDole's house
There is one male 20-29 years old. John
There is one female under 5 years old. Emmeline
There is one female 5-9 years old. Who is this?
There is one female 20-29 years old. Hester

In 1840 Hester was 21 years old, and John was in his twenties. The female 5-9 years old could possibly be their daughter, born when Hester was 15 or 16. The girl could also be another relative; for years I thought she might be Tersie Thompson and that Tersie was Hester's youngest sister.

It seems quite obvious that John and Hester could have had other children besides Emmeline, Owen, James, and Nancy Ann. If they had been married about 1837 when Hester turned 18, John and Hester could have had a child in 1838, 1840, 1842, 1844, 1846, 1848, and 1850. Of course, they could have had more children, but to have 4 children in 13 years of marriage is fewer children than usual. So I am inclined to believe this is another child of their marriage.